With the financial support of DG Employment and Social Affairs
of the European Commission
EBU Board Update Press Release: Delivering Europe’s vision of social inclusion means extending Opportunities to disabled people Council Directive 2000/78 EC establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation Save free post for the blind in Europe EBU to meet Head of EC’s Copyright Unit Blind and partially sighted people and digital switchover in the UK Production of didactic resources by ONCE Design for all - ISO Guide 71 Announcement : Fourth edition of ONCE International Award for R&D in New Technologies for the Visually Impaired Coming Events
Since the beginning of 2005 the Board has met twice : in Potsdam (Germany) in
March and in Zakynthos (Greece) at the end of June.
We have begun to evaluate the new system of Commissions and Working Groups,
where we are aware of some teething troubles. It is obviously too early to make
major changes, but, based on the Board's discussion, the Director and I will be
producing a paper for the next Board meeting in Sofia (Bulgaria) in November
which will propose some fine-tuning. This will obviously be a major item of
discussion at the half-term meeting between the Board and Commission Chairs
which is due to take place in Edinburgh next February.
We have been made aware of threats to the living standards and quality of life
of blind and partially sighted people in both France and Germany. This has led
to major campaigns by our members, and the Board has provided support in various
ways. We are also aware of developments in Russia which could potentially have
an adverse effect on blind and partially sighted people, and again the Board has
offered its support.
The Rights Commission, chaired by Tony Aston, has done a lot of work to develop
EBU’s policy on genetics which was first considered at the Athens General
Assembly, and this will shortly be sent out to gain the views of members. You
will also be aware that John Heilbrunn is leading some work on HIV/AIDS amongst
blind and partially sighted people on behalf of the WBU. A short questionnaire
was sent out recently, and I hope those who have not done so yet will let us
have their replies.
We have concluded a co-operation agreement with the Center for the Blind in
Israel. We have established the format for the EBU's "Vision for Equality" and
"Arne Husveg" awards and advised national members about them. The former will be
awarded at the General Assembly every four years to organisations or individuals
who have shown an outstanding commitment to advancing the rights and status of
blind and partially sighted people, and a call for nominations will go out
shortly. The Arne Husveg award is intended for former EBU officers who have
especially distinguished themselves, and nominations by individual officers or
EBU national members submitted by the end of November each year will be
considered. Lastly we have begun the process of preparing for the next General
Assembly and Women's Forum in 2007, and are seeking European funding to see if
we can defray the cost.
The Liaison Commission with the European Union has continued to be busy. It made
a good response to a European consultation on e-accessibility and access to the
information society. We have produced guidelines on the labelling of medicines
in braille which were requested by packaging companies and are now going on to
consider how patient information leaflets could be made accessible. While on the
subject of access to information, our Technology Working Group has had
productive meetings with Adobe, the makers of PDF software, and their intention
is that the next version of the software should be more accessible.
The European Commission has now produced its draft regulation on the rights of
air passengers with reduced mobility for which we have been working for some
time. We are very happy with this, since for the first time it will place the
regulation of assistance from the point of arrival at the airport to the plane
and back again at the other end on a statutory basis, so we must be vigilant to
see that it is not watered down in the course of the legislative process.
Finally, with the accession of ten new countries to the European Union the
European Central Bank is reviewing the current series of Euro bank notes, and
the Commission is reviewing coinage. Both bodies are involving EBU on behalf of
blind and partially sighted people at the very start of the process, which is
welcome in itself and also a mark of the respect in which EBU is held.
In June I led delegations to meet three EU Commissioners or their top officials,
and our German colleagues went to meet their Commissioner. Board member Wolfgang
Angermann, supported by our Director, Mokrane Boussaid, also went to see the
Commission to lobby on behalf of the free post scheme for the blind in the
forthcoming review of European postal services. You will be aware that a short
questionnaire about your experience of free post schemes has gone out from RNIB,
and it would be very good if those who have not already done so could respond to
the survey as soon as possible so that we have the best possible information
base from which to lobby. I would say that all these meetings were positive -
certainly in tone and also to some extent in outcome. The Information
Commissioner, Commissioner Reding, was particularly enthusiastic about making it
a condition of research proposals that organisations of disabled people should
be involved.
I have had a busy summer travelling. In addition to a visit to the United States
and Canada, I was a guest of the Bulgarian Association of the Blind for a week
at the end of April and of the All Russia Association of the Blind for three
days in May. On both these visits I was very warmly and hospitably received and
they gave me a very good opportunity to gain a better insight into the
conditions of blind and partially sighted people in Eastern Europe and the
excellent work being done by organisations of the blind on their behalf. As you
know, it is an aim of my Presidency to see what EBU can do to help level the
playing field between the countries of Western and Eastern Europe. The Board at
its last meeting in Zakynthos agreed to set up a Capacity Building Working Group
in order to pursue this objective with energy and vision.
Last February I spoke about braille at a UNESCO exhibition for Mother Language
Day. With the help of friends in Canada, the USA and Spain, we had been able to
assemble an excellent exhibition promoting the importance of braille and there
was no doubt that it made a great impact. We need to build on this foundation to
raise the profile of braille and also the need for support for the Louis Braille
Museum in Coupvray, near Paris, France.
July 2005
Back to contents
by Rodolfo Cattani,
Chair, EBU Commission for Liaising with the EU
Member, Executive Committee of the European Disability Forum
As a result of the Amsterdam Treaty of 1999 the European Union established
the legal base to take action to combat disability discrimination and
discrimination on a number of other grounds. This power was contained in Article
13 of the Amsterdam Treaty. The Article, which is still in force, provides that
the European Council ".... may take appropriate action to combat discrimination
based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or
sexual orientation".
This Article does not confer any legal rights on individuals, but allows the
Community to adopt legislation to combat discrimination. In 2000 the Union
adopted two new non-discrimination laws, one addressing discrimination on the
grounds of race and ethnic origin and prohibiting discrimination in many
different areas, another prohibiting employment-related discrimination on the
grounds of religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation.
Both new laws are "directives", which are a special form of European legislation
setting general objectives which the Member States are obliged to achieve,
either by adopting or amending national laws. Directives set minimum standards,
and Member States can set higher standards or provide higher levels of
protection.
This Directive is designed to prohibit employment-related discrimination on the grounds of disability, as well as on a number of other grounds. There are general provisions of the Directive, which are those that apply to disability discrimination as well as to the other forms of discrimination covered by the law, but there are also specific provisions, which apply to disability discrimination only.
Four kinds of discrimination are prohibited: direct discrimination, indirect
discrimination, harassment, instruction to discriminate.
Direct discrimination occurs where there is a direct and obvious link between
the negative treatment, e.g. the refusal to give someone a job, and the
disability.
Indirect discrimination occurs where an apparently neutral provision or practice
disadvantages people with a disability more than it disadvantages people without
a disability, and the provision or practice cannot be justified. The provision
or practice is "neutral" because it does not specifically refer to any kind of
disability.
Harassment occurs where people are teased, excluded or otherwise treated badly
because of their disability. Harassment occurs also where unwanted conduct
related to disability takes place with the purpose or effect of violating the
dignity of a person and of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading,
humiliating or offensive environment.
Instruction to discriminate occurs, for example, where an employer tells people
interviewing or selecting new employees not to choose any disabled people. The
person who receives such an instruction is not allowed to discriminate under the
law, but it is also illegal to give such an instruction.
In principle discrimination cannot be justified, but in certain limited
circumstances an action that would usually be classified as direct
discrimination is allowed. The difference in treatment is permitted where it is
based on the characteristic which amounts to a genuine occupational requirement
for a certain job. This means that where a person has to have a (particular)
disability in order to do a job, e.g. advise and support other people with the
same disability, it will not be discrimination to exclude people without that
disability. Likewise, where a job requires that an individual has certain
physical or intellectual skills, it will not be discrimination to reject people
who do not have those skills because of a disability. Positive action is
discussed in more detail below. However, in principle positive action measures
which benefit disabled people will not be classified as discrimination against
non-disabled people.
It is much easier to justify indirect discrimination, than it is to justify
direct discrimination. An open-ended justification exists for indirect
discrimination. In essence, this means that if there is a legitimate reason for
applying the "neutral" provision, no indirect discrimination will exist.
This Directive only prohibits employment-related discrimination. Employment is defined broadly to cover access, recruitment and promotion; working conditions, including dismissals and pay; vocational training, including most university education; and membership of an organisation of employers or workers, such as a trade union. The Directive does not cover social security schemes.
The Directive allows Member States to adopt positive action measures. These are measures which go beyond a simple prohibition of discrimination, and give certain advantages to less favoured groups. In addition the Directive allows for extra positive action measures, compared to the other grounds covered, for disabled people. It is important to underline that the Directive only allows but does not require Member States to adopt positive action measures in favour of disabled people and that it is up to each Member State to decide for itself whether to adopt positive action measures and, if so, what kind of measures to adopt.
The Directive offers individual victims of discrimination a number of different legal possibilities.
i. Going to court and allowing disability NGOs and trade unions to bring court cases to enforce the law.
The Directive specifies that individuals who feel they have been the victim of discrimination have to be able to go to court or bring a legal procedure to enforce the law. The Directive also allows organisations "with a legitimate interest", such as disability NGOs and trade unions, to bring the court case in cooperation with the individual victim. This is a very new development in most Member States, and offers NGOs the possibility to support test cases.
ii. Proving discrimination
In most court cases it is up to the individual bringing the case to prove that the other person has broken the law. However, it is often very difficult to prove that another person has discriminated against you. Therefore the Directive specifies that the alleged victim does not have to conclusively prove that discrimination has occurred. Instead the alleged victim has to produce enough evidence to lead the court to "presume" discrimination has occurred. Once this presumption has been established, the employer then has to prove that in fact no discrimination has occurred. If the employer cannot do this, the court will conclude that the victim has suffered discrimination and punish the employer.
iii. Victimisation
Victimisation occurs when an employer punishes a person who has claimed that he or she has been the victim of disability discrimination. The Directive specifies that it is illegal to punish a person in these circumstances.
iv. Distributing information and promoting a dialogue with NGOs
The Directive requires Member States to distribute information about non-discrimination law. This information must be directed at employers and potential victims of discrimination.
In addition the Directive requires that Member States engage in a dialogue with the social partners (i.e. representatives of employers and workers) and encourage a dialogue with NGOs which are interested in combating discrimination.
The Directive requires that Member States have to abolish all laws,
regulations and administrative provisions which discriminate. Member States also
have to report regularly to the Commission.
Member States must ensure that people who are found guilty of discriminating are
punished. The punishments have to be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.
This means that the punishment must be real and significant.
Member States must adopt national laws to prohibit disability discrimination in
the area of employment. These laws must comply with all the conditions and
requirements outlined above. Where a Member State already has a disability
non-discrimination law, it must check whether that law complies with the
requirements of the Directive. If not, that law must also be changed.
The Directive specified that the 15 "old" Member States had to adopt disability
non-discrimination laws by December 2003, and that the 10 "new" Member States
had to have such laws by May 2004 when they entered to the European Union.
However, the Directive also specified that Member States could request an extra
period, up until December 2006, to adopt disability non-discrimination law if
necessary. According to a publication of the European Commission, four Member
States have requested an extension with regard to disability (Denmark and the
UK, 1 year, France and Sweden, 3 years).
If a Member State does not adopt an adequate disability non-discrimination law
by the set deadline, a number of possibilities exist. Firstly, the Member State
can be taken to court (the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg) by the
Commission, which has already begun legal actions against six of the "old"
Member States with regard to the non-discrimination directives (however, not all
actions relate to disability). The Commission has stated that it will be very
active in checking that Member States do adopt the appropriate
non-discrimination legislation, and will take legal action if necessary.
How can individuals be protected in case there is no anti-discrimination law
?
European law is supreme. This means that it is at a higher level than all forms
of national law, including even national constitutions. As a consequence all
national courts in all Member States must apply European law over national law.
Where there is a conflict between European law and national law, national courts
must apply European law. In the case there is no national anti-discrimination
law, which a victim of discrimination could base a claim on, he/she can however
bring a court case against his/her Member State and claim financial compensation
from the Government, because it failed to comply with European law.
In the Directive there are some specific provisions which only apply to
disability discrimination.
Disabled people face many barriers which are not caused by direct or indirect
discrimination. In order to adapt the environment to remove such barriers, the
Directive provides for what is called "reasonable accommodation".
The Directive states :
In order to guarantee compliance with the principle of equal treatment in
relation to persons with disabilities, reasonable accommodation shall be
provided. This means that employers shall take appropriate measures, where
needed in a particular case, to enable a person with a disability to have access
to, participate in, or advance in employment, or to provide training for such a
person, unless such measures would impose a disproportionate burden on the
employer. When this burden is, to a sufficient extent, remedied by existing
measures as an element of disability policy in the Member State, it should not
be considered disproportionate.
This means that employers must remove barriers by making a reasonable
accommodation, for example adapting premises and equipment, changing patterns of
working time, redistribution of tasks or providing extra training.
The obligation to make a reasonable accommodation is never unlimited - if making
such an accommodation would impose a disproportionate burden i.e. be too
expensive or pose a risk to health and safety, employers do not have to make any
accommodation. However, in most cases, making reasonable accommodations is
neither difficult, nor too expensive. In addition, where public subsidies exist
to enable an employer to make an accommodation, the employer cannot argue a
disproportionate burden exists.
A measure which would otherwise amount to indirect discrimination against a
disabled person will be allowed, if the disadvantages for a specific disabled
person are removed by the employer making a reasonable accommodation. Therefore,
an employer can continue to indirectly discriminate against disabled people as a
group, as long as disabled individuals (who make their positions known to the
employer) can benefit from a reasonable accommodation.
The instance of indirect discrimination will not necessarily disappear once a
reasonable accommodation is made. Firstly, it is important to realize that
indirect discrimination is a group related concept, whilst a reasonable
accommodation is an individualized measure which is targeted at a particular
disabled person. Secondly, even once a reasonable accommodation has been made
for an individual, the indirect discrimination will not necessarily disappear.
As already pointed out, the Directive allows Member States to take positive
action measures in favour of the covered groups. In addition the Framework
Employment Directive contains a specific provision regarding disabled persons.
The Directive specifies:
With regard to disabled persons, the principle of equal treatment shall be
without any prejudice to the right of the Member State to maintain or adopt
provisions on the protection of health and safety at work or to measures aimed
at creating or maintaining provisions or facilities for safeguarding or
promoting the integration into the working environment.
It is not clear exactly what this measure means. Member States are allowed to
adopt special rules to protect the health and safety of disabled persons at work
-- however, these rules could either benefit disabled people or, if they are too
paternalistic, could exclude disabled people from work or prevent them from
deciding for themselves whether to take any risks at work. This part of the
Directive could therefore either work for disabled people, or against them. The
Directive also allows Member States to adopt positive action measures to promote
the integration of disabled people at work.
Back to contents
EBU is concerned at the future liberalisation of the European Postal Market as this might well undermine free post schemes for the blind. Blind and partially-sighted people once again run the risk of being discriminated against. EBU national members are called upon to lobby their national governments with a view to positive action.
The European Commission is currently planning a revision to the
Postal Services Directive. This directive regulates the European Internal Market
in postal services, and in particular sets 2009 as a probable date for full
liberalisation of this market. The Commission will produce a proposal for a new
directive on postal services in late 2006.
EBU is concerned that the free postal service for blind and partially sighted
people might be eroded as the European postal market liberalises. It is, after
all, free, and as such has no commercial value to a postal operator. For this
reason, we would like to see explicit wording in the revised directive to
safeguard the service by making free post for blind and partially sighted people
an obligatory requirement upon member states.
An EBU delegation visited the European Commission in June this year to ask for
the Commission to put such wording into the new Directive. Though the Commission
was not in principle against this idea, they did say that they would want to see
political backing for such a clause in order to feel that they have the mandate
to incorporate it into the Directive.
EBU national members are in the process of making contact with their government
ministries responsible for postal services. They are asking them to express
their support for the notion of clear wording in the revised Postal Services
Directive, calling for protection of the free postal service for blind people.
Further information is available from Dan Pescod, RNIB European and
International Campaigns Manager, at :
dan.pescod@rnib.org.uk
EBU representatives will meet with Mr Lueder, Head of the Copyright Unit,
EC DG Internal Market, on Friday 18 November 2005,
in advance of the next meeting of WIPO's Standing Committee on Copyright and
Related Rights (21-23 November)
EBU wants to highlight the need for studies to clarify and, if necessary,
recommend improvements to the legal situation surrounding the transfer of
material created under a copyright exception from one jurisdiction to another.
We would welcome the European Community's support for this at WIPO's Standing
Committee.
In particular, we should like to see the Database Directive amended so that exceptions permitted under the Copyright Directive can also apply to databases.
3.1 We should like to know if the Commission has any centralised information on
the transposition of the Directive in the 25 member states. In particular, we
are interested in the ways that have been found to transpose Article 6.4.1, on
the interplay between exceptions and technological protection measures
3.2 The EUAIN project, a co-ordination action funded by the European Commission
under the FP6 e-Inclusion strategic objective and supervised by DG Information
Society, includes a deliverable addressing this issue. EBU should like to
discuss how we can work with the Copyright Unit to monitor and evaluate the
practical workings of Article 6.4.
3.3 We should also like to see the Directive amended to :
a) require a minimum level of exceptions in each member state ;
b) to specify import rights in respect of material created under an exception for the benefit of people with a reading related disability.
DG Information Society and DG Enterprise have both taken initiatives in relation
to DRM since the promulgation of the Copyright Directive, and we should like to
learn if more work is planned so that we can play a full part in it where
appropriate.
Further information is available from David Mann, EBU Copyright and Publishing
Working Group, at : david.mann@rnib.org.uk
Back to contents
by Leen Petrie,
Chair, EBU Accessible Television Working Group
Head of Broadcasting and Talking Images, RNIB
Every day another 100 people will start to lose their sight. There are around
two million people in the UK with sight problems. RNIB is the leading charity
working in the UK offering practical support, advice and information for anyone
with sight difficulties. When RNIB conducted a survey in 2001 we found that 94 %
of blind and partially sighted people used television as a key source of
information, news and entertainment.
When we look at the three government requirements for analogue TV switch-off
that were formulated in 1999 of availability, affordability and uptake, it
becomes clear that there are six outstanding issues that need to be tackled to
ensure that blind and partially sighted people are not excluded from digital TV.
Some of these issues are emerging in Government thinking, but there are others
that do not have a solution yet. The six “tests” for blind and partially sighted
people are :
It is crucial that there is financial assistance to meet the higher costs of
receivers that blind and partially sighted people face. These higher costs are
related to the fact that there is a special service to give blind and partially
sighted people access to TV just like subtitling is provided for deaf and hard
of hearing people. The service is an additional narration that helps blind and
partially sighted people understand and follow programmes. The audio description
fits between passages of dialogue to describe action sequences, body language,
costume and scenery, etc. to allow the viewer to understand exactly what’s
happening on screen.
People who need a digital terrestrial receiver that has the technical capacity
to receive audio description end up paying much more than cheapest price for a
Freeview Set-top box of £25 figure that gets quoted. The price of the Netgem
Audio Description I-player, the freeview box that can receive audio description
is £125. As it would not be fair to expect blind and partially sighted people to
pay more for digital TV than their sighted counterparts, the solution for this
issue is very straightforward : blind and partially-sighted people on low
incomes should be provided with a free set-top box.
The next key issue for blind and partially sighted is that there needs to be
a free helpline service before, throughout and after switchover. It is essential
that blind and partially sighted people can use a free telephone helpline to
obtain advice on the digital TV services that are available to them, access
features and access services.
To ensure a good quality helpline service, the helpline staff need to be trained
on disability issues, on what equipment is available for blind and partially
sighted people and on audio description. This free and qualified helpline
service is not just an essential requirement for blind and partially sighted
people. It is also an issue for people who are deaf and hard of hearing, for
example, or people with cognitive impairments. If this helpline service is to be
of value to those people, we have to ensure that the staff on it are fully
trained to understand those disabilities and provide advice to those disabled
people as well.
There absolutely needs to be a trusted domestic installation service. Blind
and partially sighted people have more difficulty than people with full vision
to install a digital box and adjust their aerial if necessary. Anyone who has
tried installing a digital box will know that a lot of the information on how to
set the system up is given on the TV screen without voice output. It is
consequently extremely difficult or impossible for someone with a sight problem
to install a digital box.
RNIB therefore urges for a trusted domestic installation service to be set up
with staff trained to install the box and able to advise blind and partially
sighted people on how to use the box, how to navigate and how to access audio
description.
This installation service needs to be free for blind and partially sighted
people on low incomes. When the retuning for Five took place, a similar service
was used around the country quite successfully, and we suggest that this model
would be looked at .
RNIB thinks that there absolutely needs to be a choice of set-top boxes. At
the moment there’s no choice of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) boxes to
receive freeview audio description. There is one box available in the market,
which means there is no competition that can influence the price of the box . It
also means that blind and partially sighted people have not got the same
possibility as other users to choose a box with an increased functionality, with
a more ergonomic remote control or with more user-friendly features.
RNIB strongly promotes that the capacity to receive audio description be built
into all integrated digital televisions by equipment manufacturers. There is at
the moment no solution yet for cable customers, which means that blind and
partially sighted people who are cable subscribers are unable to receive
description, and this issue needs to be resolved by the regulator, broadcasters
and equipment manufacturers.
Electronic programme guides, Teletext and interactive services are at the
moment not accessible because they rely on people seeing the screen and they
have no alternative voice output. It means that it is almost impossible for
blind and partially sighted people to use and navigate digital television, to
know what channel they are on or to consult the electronic programme guide. RNIB
is absolutely adamant that we need an affordable solution for electronic
programme guides before any analogue signals in any area of the country are
switched off, because it is completely unacceptable that blind and partially
sighted people would have to put up with no longer being able to access
television.
In addition, blind and partially sighted people have no access to on-screen
interactive text services and teletext. This is a regression, because in the
analogue environment a technical solution for creating voice output for teletext
has been developed, but no similar solution exists for digital teletext yet.
There needs to be a strong encouragement for blind and partially sighted
people to move to Digital TV, just like for other consumers. RNIB would argue
that in order to give blind and partially sighted people a real incentive to
embrace digital television, the targets for audio description need to be
increased.
At the moment those targets stand at 6 % going up to 10 % of programming. We
think the target should be at least at 50 % of programming for blind and
partially sighted people to benefit from going digital.
In public information campaigns the benefits of digital television are not
emphasised enough. RNIB calls for the availability of audio description to be
advertised as a big advantage of switching to digital. This message needs to go
out not just blind and partially sighted people but also to their friends and
family, as everyone who is in touch with a blind and partially sighted person
can potentially advise them on audio description and the fact that it is only
available on digital TV. This message about audio description should be part of
any general public information campaign.
And lastly all the information that is made available to the wider public should
be available to blind and partially sighted people in their preferred
alternative formats, whether that is Braille, large print or audio.
This gives us six serious challenges to making switchover an inclusive
process for blind and partially sighted people. It also gives six clear
recommendations from RNIB on how to tackle them. To make progress on meeting
these six tests, a strong commitment from the government, from the broadcasters
and from the manufacturing industry will be necessary. RNIB is very pleased that
Lord McIntosh has emphasised that vulnerable consumers are an essential part of
moving to digital TV and that nobody will be left behind. This is reassuring for
blind and partially sighted people, but the proof of the pudding is in the
eating.
Back to contents
by Teresa Lajarin,
Member, EBU Commission on Social Policy
One of the most important activities undertaken at present by ONCE in Spain is the production and adaptation of didactic resources for people with blindness and partial sight. These resources are basically the following :
- Braille transcription of text books and their reproduction ;
- Braille transcription of exams and class notes ;
- Production of tactile plates and material (graphs, plates, maps, etc.) ;
- Sound recording of school books and notes ;
- Adaptation of cards, stories, games and small children's books (Nursery schools and first years of Primary Education).
This activity is undertaken by ONCE pursuant to the existing cooperation
agreements in the field of education with the various educational authorities of
the Spanish State, and to develop it, ONCE has a network of Resource Production
Centres which have two national centres in Madrid and Barcelona respectively,
which, apart from the educational production, are also dedicated to
transcription, sound recording and tactile production of cultural, professional,
etc. resources and five Educational Resources Centres in Madrid, Barcelona,
Seville, Pontevedra and Alicante. Finally, there is a professional specialist in
book production who cooperates with this network in each ONCE centre.
Each year, normally at the end of the previous academic year, each pupil or
his/her family requests through his support teacher the list of books and
tactile materials that will be needed for the following school year. This
petition is processed through a computer application and received in the
Production Centres, where first of all they check in the computerized catalogue
whether the book or material has already been produced in braille or sound or
tactile format. If it is the case, steps are taken to make a copy and send it
afterwards by mail to the petitioner, if it does not exist, they start the
transcription or recording work, and as soon as the first volumes are produced
they are sent to the petitioner.
In the case of books, cards or stories for small children, in general it is
necessary to make very concrete and specific adaptations for each child and,
often, they are made by his teacher or support teacher with the cooperation of
specialist professionals from each of the centres we have mentioned before.
At the present time, this very important assistance for the good course of the
evolutionary, educational and school inclusion process of pupils is offered
exclusively by ONCE free of charge.
Back to contents
by Dr Gottlobe Fabisch,
ANEC Secretary-General
Design for All means that products and services should be designed and
manufactured for as many consumers as possible. People tend to consider the
concept as serving only a minority of people even though anyone can be disabled
in one way or another at any time, as a result of a broken leg, for instance.
Moreover, with age, we all have more disabilities - in sight, hearing and
mobility, to name the most obvious. Eurostat statistics show that over 77
million people - 20 per cent of the population in Europe - are 60 years of age
or more. Eurostat also predicts that most EU regions will see the number of
older people double by 2030. Hence, there is an increasing market for products
designed for all.
It is a basic consumer right to have access to safe products and services.
Therefore ANEC, the European consumer voice in standardization, took an active
role in contributing to the elaboration of ISO/IEC Guide 71, which is based on
the concept of Design for All. In particular, we are glad that CEN and CENELEC
adopted this document in 2002. From it, CEN/CENELEC Guide 6 was born, which is
identical with the international guide. We hope that the European
Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), too, will promote Guide 71.
Consumer representatives, however, know that it is not sufficient to have a
guidance paper or a standard to foster progress on new concepts. It is equally
important to implement them, which requires a change of mindset. Therefore, in
2003 ANEC called for the implementation of CEN/CENELEC Guide 6 in our 'Design
for All Policy Statement' (ANEC2003/DfA/027). The EU Commission, who had
launched the European Year of People with Disabilities, also in 2003, was
politically very supportive.
The prompt adoption of ISO/IEC Guide 71 as CEN/CENELEC Guide 6 was triggered
actually by the European Commission, with the help of European Standardization
Mandate 283. The European Commission can issue standardization mandates in order
to ask the European standards bodies to deliver standards or other deliverables,
to support EU public policy goals. Mandate 283 called for the drafting of a
guidance document on how to address the needs of older and disabled people in
product standards. The same mandate also asked for a mechanism to ensure that
the guide is used and continuously improved. Finally the mandate requires a
review of existing standards that might need to be amended in line with the
guide.
It took two years to develop this mechanism, which was adopted by CEN members in
December 2004 following intensive lobbying by ANEC. The implementation mechanism
foresees that copies of Guide 6, accompanied by a cover letter, shall be sent to
all technical committees, workgroup chair persons and secretariats. The
mechanism will consist of a reference in the foreword to those standards where
aspects regarding the need of older persons and persons with disabilities have
been addressed. The responsibility lies with the technical bodies. It is left to
their discretion whether to use a checklist or matrix for this, to show how and
which of the needs have been addressed.
As to the review of existing standards, Design for All principles should be
considered during the regular review of standards that takes place at least
every five years. CEN is also committed to review the mechanism before the end
of 2006.
This mechanism may not be ideal, but ANEC considers it a useful step forward and a valuable starting point, bearing in mind that the change of mindsets in technical committees requires training and time. This said, ANEC calls for sustainable support for the Design for All principles. On the one hand, we encourage consumer representatives to promote the use of Guide 6 in technical committees. On the other hand, we suggest establishing a central 'expertise and information point of contact' within CEN dedicated to Design for All issues as a means of ensuring that CEN/CENELEC Guide 6 is used by standard makers and continuously improved, for the benefit of all consumers.
This competition is convened every two years to further scientific research
and technological developments that substantially contribute to the integration
of blind and partially sighted people. Research areas include engineering,
artificial intelligence, computing, telecommunications, micro-technology and
nanoelectronics.
The Prize winner will receive 240 000 Euros.
Entries must be submitted in English or Spanish, and sent no later than 30 June
2006 to the Competition Secretariat, at :
4th ONCE International R&D Award in New Technologies for the Visually Impaired
Calle José Ortega y Gasset, 18
28006 Madrid
Full text of the terms and conditions and of application form are available in
Spanish and English from :
www.once.es/otros/premios/imasd/index-i.cf
18 - 19 February 2006 EDINBURGH (UK)
Joint meeting Board / Commission Chairs
May 2006
MOSCOW (Russia)
September 2006 Switzerland
March 2007
Italy
Contact : Vaclav Polasek, EBU Secretary General
Tel : +420 2 2146 2246
Fax : +420 2 2146 2145
Email : polasek@sons.cz
26 - 27 November 2005 FREDERICIA (Denmark)
Commission on Cooperation with Blind and Partially-sighted People in Developing
Countries
Contact : John Heilbrunn
Email : jh@dkblind.dk
26 – 27 November 2005 HURDAL (Norway)
Commission on the Rights of Blind and Partially-sighted People
Contact : Tony Aston
Email : taston@enterprise.net
23 – 26 February 2006 Denmark
Commission on Access for Blind and Partially-sighted People
Contact : Peter Brass
Email : mail@pbrass.de
17 - 18 November 2005
BIRMINGHAM (UK)
RNIB Techshare 2005 Conference
RNIB's flagship international conference on technology for people with sight
problems.
More information available at :
www.rnib.org.uk/techshare
Email : techshare@rnib.org.uk
18 - 20 November 2005
MADRID (Spain)
TIFLOINNOVA 2005
organised by ONCE-CIDAT to display the latest products and trends within the
market of assistive technology for blind and partially-sighted people.
More information available at :
www.once.es/tifloinnova2005
23 – 25 November 2005
GENOVA (Italy)
HandyTED
A major Italian conference and trade fair dedicated to the use of Information
and Communication Technologies for disabled people's inclusion in education
systems and access to learning
1 - 2 December 2005
BIRMINGHAM (UK)
Tactile Graphics 2005
The third international two-day conference and exhibition on tactile diagrams,
maps and pictures is a special event which will bring together everyone involved
in design, production, procurement, use and support of tactile graphics.
Tactile graphics are images which are touched rather than looked at. This
exciting event, which also offers pre-conference workshops, covers all aspects
of tactile graphics for blind and partially sighed children and adults in
education, work and life activities.
Presentation topics will include: all types of tactile graphics solutions,
applications and good practice, technologies for producing tactile graphics,
tactile graphic literacy, training and perception.
For more information and details of how to book :
www.nctd.org.uk/conference
Email : info@nctd.org.uk
Tel : +44 121 665 4257
30 January 2006
PARIS (France)
Instruments for Making Web Accessibility a Reality
More information :
http://inova.snv.jussieu.fr/colloques/villette-01-06/index_en.php
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