QUESTIONNAIRE BULGARIA
EBU Questionnaire Survey on the situation of blind and partially sighted
people
across the 27 EU Member States
September 2007
Name: Dr. Morfi Skarlatov
Organisation: UNION OF THE BLIND
IN BULGARIA
Country: BULGARIA
e-mail address:
Telephone number: + 359 2 812 70 15 / 359 2 812 70 50
1/ Benefits
1.1. Does your country have any form of benefits system/ allowance for
blind or partially sighted people?
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Yes
1.2. If yes, is this allowance sufficient or does it need to be
increased ?
Needs to be increased
2/ Transport / Mobility
2.1. Does your country provide blind and partially sighted people with
any form of assistance for access to public transportation?
Yes
2.2. If yes, in what form?
Free public town transport, reduced price for
tickets to the train transport – 2 time.
2.2.1. Facilities allowing a better accessibility of public transport for blind and partially sighted people:
2.2.2. Financial aid:
2.2.3. If yes, is this assistance available :
At reduced cost.
Free of charge
Other (please explain)
Don’t know.
2.3. Are there any measures facilitating the mobility of blind of
partially sighted people?
Yes
2.3.1 If yes, are they:
Financing of guide dogs.
Tactile paving.
Provision of auditory means of communication.
Provision of auditory signals at crosswalks.
Other (please explain)
Don’t know.
2.4. Concerning accessibility / transport in general, what suggestions
for improvement do you have?
3/ Employment
3.1. Are private companies under any obligation to recruit a certain
number of disabled people?
Yes
3.2. Are some jobs reserved in priority for:
3.2.1. Disabled people?
3.2.2. Blind or partially sighted people?
3.3. Are there any targeted wage subsidies or bonus for employers who
recruit blind and partially sighted people?
Bonus.
Yes
Targeted wage
subsidies.
Don’t know.
3.4. Does your country have sheltered workshops or any other kind of
structure employing only blind and partially sighted people?
Yes
3.5. Are there any other incentives in your country to facilitate blind
and partially sighted people’s employment?
No (explanation) They can work only at the
specialized blind factories owned by the UBB
3.6. What is the situation with regard to the employment of blind and
partially sighted women: Under-employment
Discrimination in recruitment.
Discrimination in wages.
Don’t know
3.7. Concerning employment in general, what kind of suggestion for
improvement do you have?
4/ Education
4.1. Does your country have specialized schools for blind of partially
sighted children?
Yes
4.2. Is it possible for blind of partially sighted children to attend
mainstream schools?
Yes
4.2.1. If yes, are there any support services for blind and partially sighted children?
Provision of books in Braille.
Provision of Braille writing devices.
Provision of adapted electronic devices.
Support by specially trained teachers.
Other (please explain)
Don’t know.
4.3. Can blind or partially sighted students at university benefit from
some form of financial aid to purchase an adapted computer?
4.4. With regard to education in general, what kind of suggestions for
improvement do you have?
5. REHABILITATION CENTRES FOR BLIND AND PARTIALLY SIGHTED PEOPLE
5.1. Does your country have any rehabilitation centre for blind or
partially sighted people?
Yes
5.2. Concerning rehabilitation centres, what suggestions for improvement
do you have?
Increase the number of centres.
Improve existing
centres.
Yes
Increase the capacity of the centre.
Yes
Improve the training of staff (auxiliary nursing staff,
special education teacher …)
Yes
Modernise the methods of rehabilitation to
daily life.
Modernise professional training.
Other (please explain)
Don’t know.
5.3. Have you noted any progress in these areas?
Yes / No / Don’t know
5.3.1. If no, did you notice a decline in the quality of the rehabilitation measures for blind and partially sighted people?
6/ VOCATIONAL TRAINING
6.1. Does your country have a specialized vocational training centre for
employed or unemployed blind and partially sighted people?
Yes
6.2. Can blind or partially sighted employed or unemployed people attend
mainstream vocational training centres?
Yes / No / Don’t know
6.3. If yes, are there any support services for the blind and partially
sighted?
Provision of books in Braille.
Provision of Braille writing devices.
Provision of adapted electronic devices.
Support by specially trained teachers.
Other (please explain).
Don’t know.
6.4. Have these measures been adopted since your country’s accession to
the EU or did they exist before?
Yes / No / Don’t know
6.5. With regard to vocational training in general, what kind of
suggestions for improvement do you have?
7. ACCESSIBILITY OF ICTs
7.1. Is it possible to obtain support for ICTs for blind people of all age categories:
At school.
At university.
At work.
At home.
What kind of support ? (Please explain)
7.2. Is it possible to obtain support for ICTs for partially sighted people
of all age categories ?
At school
At university.
At work.
At home.
What kind of support ? (Please explain)
8/ E-GOVERNMENT
8.1. How do you evaluate the accessibility of public websites
(E-government; documents, forum, services, interactive pages, etc.)
Very good.
Good.
Medium.
Bad.
Very bad.
(Please explain):
8.2. Is your government doing anything to make E-government websites
accessible to blind and partially sighted people?
9/ EU INFLUENCE
9. Do you think that the EU has had a positive influence on the situation of
blind and partially sighted people in your country ?
(Please explain):
10/ Finally, do you have any expectation with regard to your country’s
belonging to the EU?
10. Do you have expectations with regard to:
Employment.
Yes
Education.
Yes
Vocational training.
Yes
Rehabilitation centres.
Yes
Transport / mobility.
Yes
Accessibility of buildings and traffic lanes.
Yes
Access to information (accessibility of ICTs)
Yes
Financial support.
Yes
Gender equality.
Yes
Other (please explain)