QUESTIONNAIRE SPAIN
EBU Questionnaire Survey on the situation of blind and partially sighted
people
across the 27 EU Member States
September 2007
Name: ANA PELAEZ NARVAEZ
Organisation: ONCE
Country: Spain
e-mail address:
rrii@once.es
Telephone number: +34.91.436.53.00
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?
Reserved places.
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?
It would be necessary to develop a design for all concept: Call on the EU to
address this discrimination by requiring all manufactured goods and services
that are sold in EU countries to conform to 'Design for All' criteria and for
manufacturers to be required to produce and distribute product information in
a range of formats.
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.
Other
(explanation) For people with disabilities in general
(not just for blind or partially sighted people), a subsidy amounting to
3,908.58 euro shall be made available. In addition, there will be a reduction
in the employee's social security payments (including work-related accidents
and illnesses and joint collection) for the entire duration of the contract.
This reduction shall be 70% if the employee is under 45 years old and 90% if
the employee is more than 45. Companies may also apply for subsidies to make
adjustments to the workplace and to supply personal safety equipment.
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?
Yes (explanation)
For all
disabilities, the principle of employees having the right to select their
employers is limited by the obligation to observe measures that set aside
reserved jobs for people with disabilities.
Legislation for the public administration states that at least 5% of their
workforce should be workers with disabilities. In case of private companies
this is at least 2%.
3.6. What is the situation with regard to the employment of blind and
partially sighted women:
Under-employment.
Yes
Discrimination in recruitment.
Discrimination in wages.
Don’t know
37. Concerning employment in general, what kind of suggestion for
improvement do you have?
The need to implement the concept of social
cost-effectiveness in companies and, as a last resort, the concept of social
economy and strengthening initiatives linked with corporate social
responsibility in the business world. All this with the aim that companies and
society recognise the added value of work carried out by blind and partially
sighted people
To identify employment opportunities for blind and partially sighted people,
shaping our policies to take into account changes in the general sociological
framework and avoiding “pigeonholing” in types of jobs that have been
historically fruitful but which are now nearly obsolete
Setting-up alternative measures to quotas in the private sector: In these
rules there should be some alternative measures to quotas that can be
implemented by companies that, due to their activity or their special
characteristics, may find it difficult to meet the quotas mentioned above;
these rules should indirectly encourage employment for people with
disabilities.
In this sense, the ONCE through its Foundation ONCE, is launching awareness
campaigns to encourage the incorporation of people with disabilities into the
business world.
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.
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, The ONCE provides all technological material
blind or partially sighted students may need to study, such as adaptation of
computers, libraries, classrooms, etc.
4.4. With regard to education in general, what kind of suggestions for
improvement do you have?
It is necessary to guarantee that all new
methodologies carried out through computer work in the classroom, are used in
agreement with universal design, and therefore are accessible for blind and
partially sighted people. Even more, when the ONCE provides the technical
adaptation tools for free and the Public Administration of social services
finance the computer.
At the moment, the problem is that the software being used to support the
pedagogical contents in the classroom is LINUX and it is not accessible.
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.
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?
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, Every year the ONCE offers vocational
training in its Educational Resource Centres and it also supports all students
in mainstreamed centres. During the last years, there has been a clear
tendency to move from attendance to specific centre to mainstreamed ones.
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 (explanation) TThe
ONCE provides any other service that blind and partially sighted people may
need including accommodation, maintenance, transport grants, etc.
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?
To promote the sharing of good practice in
identifying employment opportunities for blind and partially sighted people in
order to raise employment levels of blind and partially sighted people.
Identifying and developing vocational training actions linked to the new
sources of employment for blind and partially sighted people would definitely
increase those numbers.
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.
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)