 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Online Information on Employment and Training Opportunities for Disabled PeopleProject Reference Group Meetings |
||||
|
Agenda |
Eve Davidson - ISaware
Bob Lee - Tameside College
Mary Moss - ISaware/WEA
Erica Stross - Workable
Alex McDonald - Toucan
Jenny Craven - REVEIL project, CERLIM
Tish Dockerty - MTMC
Ruth Gould - Full Circle Arts
Rowan Purdy - MIND in Manchester
Colin Floyd - Manchester Youth Service, Disability Project
Nicola Teece - MCIN
Ian Harford - WEA
Diane Topping - CAB
Peter Fell - IRISI
Annika Ireland - Voluntary Action Manchester (VAM)
John Clark - Project Evaluator
Dave Ellis - Toucan
Agreed, matters arising will be covered through the agenda items.
To date the project has trained 19 'information workers' through direct teaching time and expect another 11 through the process of Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) for this year.
Evaluation forms about the course etc., have been circulated to the trainees and are slowly returning, the results/themes from these will be shared with the Reference Group.
Other training has been started with groups such as the Newbridge Centre (Stockport) where the training has been initially 'on site'. The aim to work this, through APL, into the full NVQ qualification system.
'Taster' groups are being organised, but barriers through the lack of accessible facilities and training materials are a concern, with various groups. It has been clear that there is a lack of basic computer skills and virtually none around the Internet.
The aim is that the these sessions will lead into the NVQ level 1for disabled individuals, it seems that the best path may well be through the use of APL, giving greater flexibility in delivery of training.
There has been an increase in the number of organisations interested in undergoing some form of training with the project. This has arisen through 'new' organisations becoming aware of the project and as previous groups having completed their own decision making process.
For 1999 the 'information workers' having already undergone training will receive further training up to NVQ level 2, and it remains a possibility that 'new' workers can be entered directly at this level.
Changes have been made to the site, in terms of new links, feedback form etc., and are being uploaded from today.
We are still in the process of organising and gathering information about its accessibility etc.
Any feedback or comments from the group and from other parties is welcome and encouraged.
The project made a presentation to the above conference, with approximately 80 delegates in attendance. The work being carried out by various projects under the umbrella of 'Digital Cities' covers the use of 'smart card' technology and 'virtual museums' but there is no mention of accessibility within the project activities.
It was important that at least one project is in effect raising the issues involved, it was apparent that access was not one of the criteria during the designing of their project work.
A transnational presentation, through a workshop, to approximately 45 people - more than had registered for the session. Again we highlighted the project activities and the whole issue of accessibility, which it appears not to have been taken into consideration. Other European project working within the Horizon strand had not realised that accessibility issues arose out of the use of the Internet despite the fact that they are disseminating through it.
A brief project presentation was made to the 'Technology' workshop, the aims of this workshop was technology in its broadest sense - not concentrating on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
There was a fuller demonstration of the Information Service during an informal evening session looking at the type of information available through the Internet and the issue of accessibility.
Also in attendance were representatives from Russia and the Republic of Moldova.
The minutes of the plenary session have just been made available and will be circulated to the group and via the project web site.
Project presentation to the conference emphasising the need that access issues are taken on board by all projects, not those who are 'concentrating' on the area of disabilities. Again it was clear that access and the design of web sites was simply not thought about, including projects funded through Horizon.
A representative of the national co-ordinating body, ECOTEC, will be publicising the access issue via their newsletter to all ESF funded projects in the UK. The project will continue to push for a requirement that funded project web sites should be made accessible - at least meeting the requirements of the Bobby Accessibility checker.
The conference proceedings are available from the Toucan web site at: http://toucan-europe.co.uk/conf.htm
The project will be presenting a paper to the above conference about the project information service etc.
Before attending the conference we will contact the European Disability Group for information regarding current themes and activities between the EU and USA.
Initially the aim of this report was to audit the computer facilities available within the region and their accessibility for Disabled people. It has become clear that outside of 'social service centres' or 'assessment centres' those facilities are not accessible, this has arisen because the idea of access has simply not been addressed during the planning and resourcing of these facilities.
The report has moved to promote the idea of 'universal design' and accessibility to the World Wide Web. The hardware and software exists for access but the level of awareness of their existence is low for Disabled people (due to the lack of availability to use/demonstrate) and service providers (who are generally not aware).
These are now available from the project home page and are based on the Web Accessibility Initiatives (WAI) guidelines. They have been produced in an user-friendlier format, for example running to only 3 pages (the WAI latest guidelines are approximately 40 pages).
Joint work with the ISaware project on training session/awareness events Link into the Labour Telematics Centre's 'Training Theme Team' Link to MCIN project on training delivery Establish if there are any local notes on 'accessible software'
In January 1999 Jane Burslem is organising for the RNIB to present a workshop, on designing accessible web pages, in Bury. It is primarily aimed at workers from organisations in Bury, but the project will be looking to use this event as a starting point for the above actions and to carry on the themes that were identified from the September AccessibilITy '98 event.
The most recent TAD meeting was held in Madrid, Spain on the 23rd & 24th November. From the management meeting the contents of the TAD web site were agreed (see paper presented).
The 'On-Line' project invited two representatives from the UK, Chris Hammond from Full Circle Arts and Sarah Ross from the WEA, to attend the CEPES conference on Employing Disabled People which was held on the 24th.
The aim of the conference was to raise employers' awareness of disabled people and to address the issues involved in breaking down the barriers to employment.
The TAD group has been contacted by a project based in Gran Canaria, they are funded through Horizon but have only just received approval.
The lead organisation, FUNDESCAN a social co-operative, are promoting the project TECFORMIN which is to train 20 Disabled people in the use of computers and job search skills.
As the project fits into the agreed workplan the partners have agreed that they can join TAD, the next stage is to establish formal links and exchanges of documentation.
As part of the interim report on the national project's activities John Clark will be contacting the members of the Group to gain further information. The basic questions will be:
What has your organisation's involvement with the On-Line project? What use has this been to your organisation and its clients? What can be done to improve the usefulness/effectiveness of the project?
NW Horizon Network - this group of Horizon projects is looking at how the work/outputs of these projects can be disseminated and improve their impact upon the wider society. There is a feeling that projects working around the area of Disability tend to communicate within the 'same world'.
One of the aims will be to hold an Employers Conference in 1999 to highlight the project work and increase opportunities for Disabled people to enter into employment.
7. Date of Next Meeting
Tuesday 9th March 1999 10.30am - 12.30am
St Thomas's Centre
Ardwick Green North
Manchester
| Information Service | Project | TAD | Contact | Sitemap |
Last updated: 6 August 1999
© 1999-2000 Toucan Europe Ltd
webmaster@on-line.org.uk