3.1. General remarks.

The majority of the returned questionnaires were more concerned with activities addressed to the individual than training courses and seminars. Some difficulty arises in data analysis from cases where the respondent filled in Section Three of the questionnaire — which was designed for training courses and seminars — referring to individual activities.
On the other hand, as we have already pointed out, this may represent terminological confusion related to the peculiar way language is used in this field. In any case, the choice of organisations for on-site visits proved successful, locating some particular situations where training activities, courses and seminars are held, whether or not in conjunction with other educational activities. Consequently, since this choice was made on the basis of the questionnaire findings, the questionnaire itself proved an effective instrument for identifying interesting experiences.
The first important finding from these visits was that each activity the organisations conducted, each approach to education, advice or information, was strictly related to the particular national situation - its political, legislative and social background. It is as if all these organisations had found their own niche to work in and bring their own possibilities of action into focus.
By the same token, many of these organisations played a leading role in determining their country's laws and policies, which, in turn, now seem to be extremely well matched to the social programmes of these organisations.
This national specialisation has numerous practical consequences in key matters: for example, who pays for the training of persons with disabilities and personal assistants (in Sweden, persons with disabilities pay for the training of their personal assistants through public funding, while in Ireland each group pays for its own training); and who decides the kind of training (in Sweden persons with disabilities choose the topics for their personal assistants from a set range of possibilities and according to their needs, while in Ireland a national curriculum for becoming a personal assistant has been established).
Educational activities usually deal with aspects of training devoted to autonomy for persons with disability, and are related to the specially chosen target (i.e. motor impairment, severe cognitive impairment), to the country's social system, and to the organisation's objectives.
Together with more traditional technical aspects, a strong interest in psychological, social and socio-organisational themes is shown. Topics such as the history and philosophy of independent living are common, but also group and relationship management techniques, as well as employment related aspects (rights and duties).
This last category evidently reflects the new social image of persons with disabilities as being more autonomous in their lives, choices and decisions. Sometimes, they reach these objectives by themselves, sometimes with the aid of a personal assistant. What's more, new problems are arising regarding the close, daily relationship between the person with disability and his/her personal assistant/s. Conflicts are frequent, caused by work or interpersonal factors, and attempts to regulate them within employment contracts have already been made. As a consequence, the aspects most frequently covered within courses these days are reliability as an employer on the one hand, and managing to get respect and avoid intrusiveness on the other.
Finally, a general trend has been discovered in the adoption of new educational techniques and methodologies such as group work and role-playing. These have undergone a transformation, and are now centred on the real situation itself. Other innovative techniques have been introduced, and these are described in national studies (this applies to the Swedish and German organisations visited).
The participants in these activities feel more involved in the training process; they are encouraged to make their own personal contribution, and this fact not only contributes to create a better atmosphere within the group, but also brings about a different quality of learning.