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EUD Members News |
Paralympic Games accessible for Deaf people |
After the recently concluded Winter Olympics, the Paralympic Games were also accessible for deaf people, with even more services. The valuable cooperation between the Italian Association of the Deaf (ENS), Raisport (the national TV news sports service) and the Authorities of the Piemonte Region continued to work.
The captioning and interpreting service was available for the whole event from the 10 th to the 18 th of March 2006.
During the Opening Ceremony, at the Olympic Stadium there was captioning on the gigantic screens, along with an interpreting service in International Sign.
With regard to TV live broadcast, the Ceremony was captioned by the RAI Televideo service and interpreting in Italian Sign Language (LIS) was also provided.
During the competitions, Rai (the national TV broadcasting) has broadcasted everyday Olympic News with interpretation in Italian Sign Language. Also two 20-minutes news specials on the Paralympics, during the program “Pomeriggio Sportivo di Raitre” (“Raitre Sport Afternoon”), were signed in Italian Sign Language.
All the interpreting services were provided by the Italian Association of the Deaf (ENS), with the sponsorship of the Piemonte Region Authorities.
The ENS would like to express special thanks to the Piemonte Region Authorities and to the Sport Programs as well as to the Social Secretariat of RAI (the national TV broadcasting), for the sensitivity they have shown on the occasion of the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. |
Source: Press release by ENS
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Deaf in Denmark can now follow the same news as the rest of the population |
For the first time ever deaf in Denmark will have the possibility of seeing the same news simultaneously with the rest of the population. On 31st March 2006 digital TV will start. "It is a historic event" says Mr. Asger BERGMANN, the President of the Danish Deaf Association.
Deaf in Denmark are able to receive their own Sign Language channel with this new DIGI-tv. It is the result of many years of struggling and of negotiations between the Danish Deaf Association and the national TV-channels, DR and TV2, and the Culture Ministry in providing better TV service for deaf citizens. The Sign Language channel will be a part of the digital broadcasting and enables deaf to choose between looking at the news and the news with a Sign Language interpreter. |
Source: Danish Deaf Association
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Swedish Sign Language Week ”Sign Language 25 years” |
14 th May 2006 will be a great day for Swedish sign language users. On that day 25 years ago the Swedish Parliament made the historical decision to officially recognize Sign Language as the first language of deaf people.
The Swedish National Association of the Deaf, the Swedish Deaf Youth Association, the Stockholm Deaf Club and the Stockholm Deaf Youth Council together will celebrate this with several days of activities, seminars, exhibitions, lectures and a Sign Language Gala at the Stockholm Town Hall.
The main seminars taking place on Thursday 11th May and Friday 12 th May 2006 will contain among others the inauguration, the investigation into the review of the position of Sign language, and the youth perspective.
For more information, please contact the Swedish Deaf Association (www.sdrf.se) or see www.tsp25.se . |
Source: Swedish Deaf Association
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EUD News |
EUD Seminar and General Assembly : 12th - 14th May 2006, Vienna, Austria |
The theme of the EUD Seminar 2006 is “Multiple discrimination”.
The programme will be available on the EUD website (www.eudnet.org) in April. |
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Seeking statistics on Sign Language and subtitling on television |
EUD is currently updating its fact sheets on Sign Language and subtitling on television.
We are interested in receiving information about Sign Language availability on TV as well as programming which is subtitled across the EU. If you have statistics or research figures on this subject, please email them to info@eudnet.org |
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EDF News |
Advancing disability rights in Europe: the President of the European Parliament offers his support |
Ensuring that disability becomes a priority issue in the European integration process was at the core of a meeting between Josep BORRELL, President of the European Parliament and Yannis VARDAKASTANIS, EDF President.
In particular, BORRELL and VARDAKASTANIS exchanged views on how to reinforce EU’s non-discrimination strategy and to strengthen disability legislation in Europe. Ensuring that the European Structural Funds are no longer used to finance barriers and create new forms or discrimination for disabled people, was also one of the key issues tackled this morning.
“The European Parliament has always been a key ally for the European disability movement” said VARDAKASTANIS. “We are confident that this institution, elected directly by the European citizens, will continue to defend a Human Rights approach to disability at the highest political level.
There is no doubt that the Parliament has a key role to play to ensure necessary attention to the 50 million Europeans with disabilities in the Lisbon Agenda and the discussions on the Future of Europe”.
In 2007, the EU will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the non-discrimination Article 13 of the EU Treaty and the European Year for Equal Opportunities. “2007 will also be the 10th anniversary of the European Disability movement. If this is not yet the right moment to put an end to disability discrimination in Europe, it will simply never be”, stressed Yannis VARDAKASTANIS. |
Source: EDF Press Release
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European Union News |
Equal Rights in Practice |
The latest issue of ‘Equal Rights in Practice’ – the news review of the Action Programme to combat discrimination – is now available. The Spring 2006 edition features an interview with the new head of the European Commission’s anti-discrimination unit on the European Year of Equal Opportunities 2007.
It also includes a profile of the high-level group set up to advise the European Commisson on the social inclusion of ethnic minorities, and a round-up of news from the ‘For Diversity. Against Discrimination’ information campaign.
This issue’s special focus is on workplace diversity, highlighting some examples of good practices by employers. The guest editorial is provided by Philippe DE BUCK, Secretary General of UNICE – the European employers’ federation.
The newsletter can be downloaded in English , French and German on http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/fundamental_rights/index_en.htm |
Source: Helpdesk Non-discrimination
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Development cooperation - New Initiative to kick-start Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Development Cooperation across the EU 25! |
On 8th March 2006, a new and unique European initiative was launched to break the cycle of poverty and disability in developing countries. This action brings together, for the first time, 12 major organisations of disabled people and NGOs to develop instruments for EU Member State Governments and non-state actors to include the disability dimension in their development cooperation instruments. The partners will act to coordinate and pool relevant data on the issue for use by decision makers across the EU.
Disability cannot continue to be ignored in developing countries when it is estimated that one in four families living in poverty have a disabled person as a family member and where 70- 80% of disabled people live in the South.
The Initiative is fully backed by the European Commission, through DG Employment, and comes with unanimous calls from the European Parliament for action. The European Parliament adopted a Resolution on Disability and Development (19 January 2006), urging the Commission and Member States to include disability in all future EU geographical and thematic initiatives for development cooperation.
Furthermore, this action comes at a time when the UN are deciding on how to include a specific Article on International Co-operation in a new UN Convention on Disability Rights.
Only 3-4 % out of the 500 million persons with disabilities in developing countries are included in development cooperation initiatives. The vast majority remain trapped in the vicious circle of poverty and disability.
Johannes TRIMMEL project leader and Chair of the International Disability and Development Consortium declares: “For far too long persons with disabilities have been neglected in development co-operation policies. It is time for change. Achieving inclusion in development co-operation policies and practice will impact hugely on the situation of people with disabilities”
“Without inclusion, the Millennium Development Goals will not be achieved.”
For further information please contact : Isabelle Wahedova: Light for the World tel:+322 275 0085 email: isabelle.wahedova@light-for-the-world.net (or) wahedova@centrum.cz |
Source: EDF Weekly Mailing 07/2006
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Conference on eAccessibility |
A conference on eAccessibility took place in London on 21st October 2005. The aim of the event was to provide a key opportunity for stakeholders from across the European Union to discuss the forthcoming Communication from the European Commission on e-accessibility.
Jacques BRUCH from VGSL in Luxembourg attended the conference and below are some points of information specifically of interest to Update readers.
All citizens have the right to benefit from new opportunities that the Information Society offers. People with disabilities and older persons sometimes experience difficulties in accessing these new technologies and services, as some barriers can be inadvertently created by the Information Society itself. Accessibility problems can also be created by specific environment or social conditions.
On the other hand, Information Technologies and Services can greatly help overcome other environmental or social barriers, encountered by people with disabilities and older persons.
Accessibility problems concern specific groups of users eg. persons with disabilities, elderly persons, etc, which are not homogeneous groups, or very specific environmental or social situations, so the solutions to overcome these problems of accessibility are very wide.
The conference was addressed by Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Vladimir SPIDLA, Richard HOWITT MEP, President of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on Disability, Bert MASSIE, Chairman of the UK Disability Rights Commission, Dr. Wilfredo FERRE, Director of Accessibility at IBM and Prof. Rodolfo CATTANI of EDF where an overview was given of the current European situation.
Jacques BRUCH attended the workshop on Telecommunications at which Guido GYBELS of RNID emphasised that disability is most disfranchised in the telecommunication domain. He outlined the problems of equivalent access to emergency services, the lack of harmonised solution for non-mainstreaming technologies, the lack of essential services and the design of incompatible products with problems of electromagnetic interference and lower manual dexterity. When in Europe there are no voluntary actions and no deliveries by free market, a regulatory framework should force the free market to respond to special needs.
Standards are an excellent way to ensure that improvements occur. For the internal market, EU-wide standardisation is important to include the interests of all stakeholders.
The third session of the conference focussed on measures supporting e-accessibility within Europe. The Ministry of Innovation and Technology in Italy informed the audience of an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) accessibility law that obliges all public authorities to provide accessible information systems.
The fourth and final session looked to the future “eAccessibility, the way forward”. A questionnaire on eAccessibility of Public Sector services in the EU was issued nationally and the results compiled. The report is available on http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/publicwebsite/public_euacc.pdf
The proceedings from the conference are available if you register your interest by sending an email to eaccessevent@rnib.org.uk |
Source: Jacques BRUCH, VGSL Luxembourg
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Deaf News around Europe and the World |
Knud SØNDERGAARD nominated for Who’s Who? |
Former EUD President, Mr Knud SØNDERGAARD, has been nominated as a candidate for inclusion in the 2006-2007 edition of “Who’s Who of Professionals”. “Who’s who?” has over 20.000 members in 154 countries and is the definite work on the world’s leaders in commerce, economics, policy and trade. |
Source: Danish Deaf Association
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Integration of Hearing – Impaired People into the labour market |
The Lithuanian Association of the Deaf is an active partner in the Equal Project “Integration of Hearing-Impaired Persons into the Open Labour Market”. This Development Partnership aims to improve the level of deaf employment. Deaf people are a s ocially vulnerable group, which has even more difficulties in finding a job than persons with other kinds of disabilities.
The main target of the Development Partnership is to implement an innovative and effective employment system, which will improve the possibilities of job seeking for hearing-impaired persons. This will also help to change the negative attitude of employers and of society towards people with disabilities competing in the labour market.
Among the objectives are the following:
- To establish Vocational Consultation and Employment Service to provide active job seeking for hearing-impaired persons
- To organise training seminars to train professional job seekers
- To create an employers’ database and an audiovisual database of hearing-impaired persons enabling professional job seekers to indirectly introduce the applicants to the employer.
- To adopt positive international experience in the sphere of employment of disabled individuals.
- To investigate the situation of deaf employment and the attitudes of the employers at the beginning of the project and upon practical implementation of the employment model.
- To disseminate positive results during project implementation and to promote the model of deaf employment in the whole country
The target group of the project will be deaf and hard of hearing persons of Vilnius city.
In a second phase pilot research on the attitudes of the employers will be conducted.
Dissemination of project results will be provided throughout its implementation in seminars and in a conference with participation of international partners. In the end of the project proposals for the improvement of the system of the disabled will be provided on national level.
For more information on this project, please visit the website: http://www.deaf.lt/about_project.html |
Source: EU Equal project „Integration of hearing - impaired people into the Labour market“
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Deaf pages at website University of Strasbourg |
The Marc Bloch University Strasbourg has created Deaf pages at the universities’ website. The aim is to make the academic world more sensitive for Sign Language and Deaf Culture.
On the website you can find documents concerning LSF (Langue de Signes Française) and interesting links.
You can visit the website on http://umb-foad.u-strasbg.fr/dokeos/DEAF/index.php |
Source: Email from Anne BAMBERG
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Other News |
New website www.networkofschools.org |
Mercator-Education's Network of Schools project has launched its own website at www.networkofschools.org. This attractive and well-structured website is the digital meeting place for schools in the European Union who use a minority language in their education system. It contains all kinds of useful information, varying from minority language teaching material to suggestions for partnership projects and funding programmes. Feel free to browse through this fun and education site! |
Source: Mercator – Education (www.mercator-education.org)
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Hands on Travel: new website |
Hands on Italia recently changed its name in Hands on Travel (HOT). The company offers tours in Italy, but also in other countries. All persons who join a HOT tour have in common that they are deaf, or a child of deaf adults, or parents of deaf children, or interpreters, or somebody who enjoys the beauty of sign language.
The new HOT site offers much more for the visitor - such as a movie page, in which some key aspects of HOT are explained directly in ASL, an open tours page in which you can browse through our tour offerings to see what interests you, a latest news page containing updated announcements, and much more. www.handsontvl.com.
You can also continue to access the new site by typing in www.handsonitalia.com. |
Source: Hands on Travel Newsletter March 2006
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Forthcoming Events/Agenda |
Spring Carnival of the Deaf in Bulgaria |
The Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria is happy to inform you that the Regional Organization of the Deaf in the city of Plovdiv, organizes on 1 st April 2006 its traditional Spring Carnival of the Deaf.
The programme will include a number of activities: performances of Deaf artists and contests (Miss Bulgaria – Silence 2006, Miss Plovdiv - Silence 2006, Best dancing couple).
If you want to join this event, please contact the organisers in advance by fax: + 359 32 697 137 or e-mail: SGB.RO.PLOVDIV@ABV.BG |
Source: Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria, Foreign Relations Department
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Editorial note
EUD Update is published by EUD in English with support from the European Community – the European Union against discrimination.
The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European Commission, nor the official policy of EUD. The publication is for information only. Readers are invited to reproduce the information provided the source is quoted.
If you wish to receive EUD Update, please send us an email at: info@eudnet.org.
Should you wish to make any contribution or notify any e-mail address modification, please do not hesitate to contact the EUD secretariat, Fax: +32 9 225 08 34, E-mail: info@eudnet.org.
Editors: Mairead O'LEARY and Karin VAN PUYENBROECK. |
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