QUESTIONNAIRE THE NETHERLANDS
EBU Questionnaire Survey on the situation of blind and partially sighted
people
across the 27 EU Member States
September 2007
Name: Mildred Theunisz
Organisation: Viziris
Country: The Netherlands
e-mail address:
info@viziris.nl
Telephone number: +31 30 299 2878
1/ Benefits
1.1. Does your country have any form of benefits system/ allowance for
blind or partially sighted people?
.gif){kind=small}
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?
assistance at the railway station.
-
assistance when transferring from and to railway station and other forms
of public transport.
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 /
/ yes / 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.
Don’t know.
2.4. Concerning accessibility / transport in general, what suggestions
for improvement do you have?
Better provision and better quality of tactile paving, auditory signaling of
crosswalks, better accessible ticket machines for tickets for the public
transport, better accessible websites for travel information. Auditory means
of communication more generally available. Better accessible bus stations.
3/ Employment
3.1. Are private companies under any obligation to recruit a certain
number of disabled people?
No
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.
Targeted wage
subsidies.
Yes
Other (please explain).
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
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?
A lot of blind and partially sighted people are
unemployed caused by several aspects. One is that employers find it;
difficult’ to employ them, employers have to wait for a long time for their
adaptive equipment.
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?
Yes
4.4. With regard to education in general, what kind of suggestions for
improvement do you have?
Better and quicker accessibility of educational material
in alternative format. Students have problems with getting their material in
time. Mainstream education makes a lot of use of multimedia material which is
difficult to use when you have a visual impairment and making these accessible
takes more time.
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.
Improve the training of staff (auxiliary nursing staff,
special education teacher …)
Yes
Modernise the methods of rehabilitation to daily life.
Modernise professional training.
Other (explanation)
Provide more client driven training.
Don’t know.
5.3. Have you noted any progress in these areas?
No
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
6.3. If yes, are there any support services for the blind and partially
sighted?
Provision of books in Braille.
Yes
Provision of Braille writing devices.
Yes
Provision of adapted electronic devices.
Yes
Support by specially trained teachers.
Yes
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?
Old
6.5. With regard to vocational training in general, what kind of
suggestions for improvement do you have?
Same as for mainstream education.
7. ACCESSIBILITY OF ICTs
7.1. Is it possible to obtain support for ICTs for blind people of all age categories:
At school.
Yes
At university.
Yes
At work.
Yes
At home.
Yes
What kind of support ? (Please explain)
there is support for the products you buy, limited
support for the functioning of the products, but not if you have problems in
the daily use of the ICT. One can get training when the product is bought
but this is limited and afterwards there is no support anymore.
7.2. Is it possible to obtain support for ICTs for partially sighted people
of all age categories ?
At school.
Yes
At university.
Yes
At work.
Yes
At home.
Yes
What kind of support ? (Please explain)
with the same limits as stated above
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):
although a lot of the ‘owners of the websites
have the intention to make it accessible in practive a lot of them are not
accessible at all. Or only partly.
8.2. Is your government doing anything to make E-government websites
accessible to blind and partially sighted people?
Yes
(Please explain):
The Dutch government has decided to set up a set of
standards which have to be met, including accessibility(W3C etc) for people
with a handicap, for all public websites – ministries, councils, cities and
other public authorities. The set of standards is ready now it has to be
implemented and followed by the public authorities.
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 ?
Yes
(Please explain):
regulation from EU in which accessibility is an issue
contributes to the work and is pushing national government to do more.
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.
Vocational training.
Rehabilitation centres.
Transport / mobility.
Yes
Accessibility of buildings and traffic lanes.
Yes
Access to information (accessibility of ICTs)
Yes
Financial support.
Gender equality.
Yes
Other (explaination) Accessibility of banking and
payment systems.