Although the European Union has made great strides in recent years in establishing common passenger rights for those travelling by air or rail, not every European is yet aware of what he or she is entitled to. This campaign sets out to make all air and rail passengers aware of what rights they enjoy under European legislation and how to make use of them. In the summer holiday season, millions of Europeans will be travelling by plane and train in search of some well-deserved rest and relaxation. Being aware of their rights will prevent many problems for air and rail passengers. The campaign is being conducted in all of the EU's official 23 languages so that people will be able to be informed about their rights in their mother tongue. Posters and leaflets will be available progressively from the end of June at airports and train stations in all 27 Member States. In addition there is a website with more information at Watch this 6-minute video about the rights of air and rail passengers with a disability or reduced mobility. (English text and subtitles).
This summer the European Commission has launched a new campaign to raise awareness of passengers' rights.
ENAT is an Official Partner of the EU Passengers' Rights Campaign Why now?
How will it work?
http://ec.europa.eu/passenger-rights.Watch the video
To view the video in any other EU languages, follow this link
Recently in Leadership Category
The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) applauds the U.S. Senate for passage of the "Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act" (S. 3304) by unanimous consent on August 5, 2010. COAT especially thanks Senator Pryor (D-AR), who introduced S. 3304, as well as co-sponsors Senators Kerry (D-MA), Dorgan (D-ND), and Conrad (D-ND). Passage of S. 3304 was also supported by Senators Hutchison (R-TX), Ensign (R-NV), and Schumer (D-NY). S. 3304 requires captioned television programs to be captioned when delivered over the Internet, requires video description on television for people with vision loss, allocates $10 million per year for communications equipment used by people who are deaf-blind, ensures emergency information is accessible to individuals who are blind or have low vision, and provides for accessibility of advanced communications such as text messaging, email and web browsing on mobile devices, among several other provisions. "The U.S. Senate takes us a huge step forward for accessible technology," said Jenifer Simpson of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), a COAT founding member. "They have given Americans with disabilities access to smart phones, other advanced communications technology, and video programming," she added. "We are delighted that S.3304 ensures the availability of captioning for television programs on the Internet," said Rosaline Crawford of the National Association of the Deaf, another COAT leading organization. "Our community was left behind as television moved to the Internet, and S. 3304 takes a big step in the right direction," she added. "Video description for television programs - the narration of visual elements during pauses in dialogue - is essential in this day and age," said Eric Bridges of the American Council of the Blind, another COAT leader. "More importantly, I thank the U.S. Senate for ensuring that we will now have access to the same emergency information everyone else has been seeing on television for years. Unbelievably, up until now, all the FCC has required is an audible tone on television to alert people who are blind or visually impaired that they should go seek out emergency information somewhere else. Having equal access to emergency information increases the safety of our community and will save lives!" Among the other provisions in S. 3304 are requirements for accessible user controls for televisions and set-top boxes, and easy access to closed captioning and video description. S. 3304 will now go to the House of Representatives. ### About COAT: The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology, or COAT,founded in March 2007, is a coalition of over 310 organizations that advocates for legislative and regulatory safeguards that will ensure full access by people with disabilities to evolving high speed broadband, wireless and other Internet protocol (IP) technologies. More information is available at http://www.coataccess.org or by e-mail to info@coataccess.org.
Os próximos pontos da Centra lde Libras serão instalados nas Escolas Municipais de Educação Especial (EMEE's) de jovens e
crianças surdas ou com deficiência auditiva
A Secretaria Municipal da Pessoa com Deficiência e Mobilidade
Reduzida - SMPED, cumpriu mais uma etapa do Projeto Piloto da
Central de Libras, Intérpretes e Guias Intérpretes - CELIG. No
último dia 22 de junho foi concluída a instalação da Central em
todas as 31 praças de atendimento das subprefeituras da Capital.
Desde o dia 26 de abril a SMPED tem percorrido todas as regiões da
cidade instalando webcans nos terminais de computador das praças de
atendimento das subprefeituras, configurando o sistema e transmitindo as
orientações para os funcionários responsáveis pelo atendimento
no local.
A Central conta com intérprete de libras que facilita o contato entre
o munícipe surdo ou com deficiência auditiva presente no local e o
atendente do órgão público, e também pode transmitir as
informações disponíveis pelo serviço 156. O atendimento é
oferecido de segunda a sexta-feira, das 8h às 17h.
O objetivo da SMPED é otimizar o atendimento público à pessoa
surda ou com deficiência auditiva, cumprindo assim o objetivo
estabelecido na Agenda 2012 da Prefeitura de São Paulo, que é
instalar a CELIG em 56 pontos até o final deste ano.
Além das subprefeituras, o serviço também está disponível
no Conselho Municipal da Pessoa com Deficiência - CMPD, na Rua
Líbero Badaró, 119 - 3º andar / Centro. Os próximos
pontos da CELIG que entrarão em funcionamento são as Escolas
Municipais de Educação Especial (EMEE) que atendem jovens e
crianças surdas ou com deficiência auditiva. São elas:
- EMEE Anne Sullivan. Rua Rodrigues Paes, 512 / Chácara Santo
Antonio;
- EMEE Mario Pereira Bicudo. Avenida Félix Alves Pereira, s/n -
Jardim Centenário;
- EMEE Madre Lucie Bray. Rua São Geraldo, 236 / Vila Constança;
- EMEE Vera Lucia Aparecida Ribeiro. Rua Benedito Pereira, 206 / Jardim
Líbano;
- EMEE Helen Keller. Endereço: Rua Pedra Azul, 314 / Aclimação.
Ainda deverão ser realizados ajustes técnicos em algumas
subprefeituras, devido ao congestionamento de rede disponível nesses
locais. A conexão da Central de Libras é feita via intranet. Ou
seja, por uma rede interna na Prefeitura que faz a conexão (link) com
os pontos de atendimento. No futuro, será possível agendar um
guia-intérprete para acompanhar surdocegos em órgãos
públicos municipais. Nessa fase ainda não é possível acessar
o serviço via internet.
Sugestões e reclamações:
celig@prefeitura.
Secretaria Municipal da Pessoa com Deficiência e Mobilidade Reduzida
(SMPED)
Assessoria de Comunicação e Imprensa
Tel.: (011) 3113-8741 // 8778 // 8767 // 8793 // 8794 // 8741
Cel.: 9951-4983 // 8875-9732
lclopes@prefeitura.
Sandra Rhodda at Access Tourism NZ has picked up on this story about Sonja Gregory of the Hytte reading the signs of the times - right to the bank - and picking up some professional recognition for seeing the future of Inclusive Tourism:
Usually self-catering occupancy runs around 55% - The Hytte achieved 87% in the first year and 97% in the second, a success Gregory puts down to positive word of mouth. The Hytte has received regional and national awards in recognition of their commitment to access for all, including a gold Enjoy England Award in 2009.
The team at Global Dialysis has launched a renewal effort because they are convinced that the need for dialysis should not keep people from traveling. From their web site:
Global Dialysis is the premier resource for people looking for information about haemo and peritoneal dialysis around the world. This is invaluable for people planning trips for travel, holidays and business.
Created in January 2000 and born out of our frustrations at being unable to find dialysis centres for travels, our database of dialysis information and centres has grown to almost 15,000 in over 300 countries. We are now the premier resource for the dialysis community with over 1/2 million unique visitors each year.
New developments We are undergoing an exciting redevelopment of our site at the moment and are planning regional profiles from areas of the world where people like to go for their trips away. If you want us to feature a particular part of the world or you are a group of dialysis centres in a region and want to raise your profile just drop us a line!
Discover more at:
Dear Rolling Rains Readers,
I am working for the Belgian Center for Equal Opportunities and we defend individual cases here for persons with a disability.
Recently we have received a complaint of a person who is deaf and would like to travel in group with an organization to the Middle East. The trip is guided but there are also some moments where the participants might spend some hours alone in a city for example. The travel organization refused his participation because they say that it will be impossible for him to talk to the people of the region -and therefore declare it unsafe. They suggest he takes an assistant with him for the whole trip on his own expenses. The plaintiff refuses to do so because he wants to be independent and go by himself just like everyone else.
My question toward you is the following:
Would you have any good examples/real stories of persons who travelled in group with an organization and that were deaf or hard of hearing?
We really need to overcome and counter the stereotypes and prejudices that the organization has in our country and a good example would be the perfect way to do it.
Thank you very much for reading this email and for your answer.
Kind regards,
An-Sofie Leenknecht
An-Sofie.Leenknecht@cntr.be
Dienst Discriminatie - Dienst 2L
Centrum voor gelijkheid van kansen en voor racismebestrijding
Koningsstraat 138
1000 BRUSSEL
Tel: 02 212 31 49
Fax: 02 212 30 30
www.diversiteit.beFrom Australia Aging Agenda:
Older Australians are set to gain from the release of new voluntary standards for universal housing design.
Leaders from the housing industry and the disability sector worked together to develop the standards through the federal government's National Dialogue on Universal Design.
Master Builders Australia and the Housing Industry Association have also agreed to a target to make all new homes compliant with universal design principles by 2020.
The livable housing guideline establishes three levels of standards - silver, gold and platinum.
To meet the baseline silver standard, houses must have a stepless entry, wide doors and corridors, a ground-floor toilet and a bathroom with a hobless shower and reinforced walls.
The Older Persons Affordable Housing Alliance - made up of Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) and Council on the Ageing (COTA) - said the decision was a milestone for older Australians.
COTA has been campaigning for a broad application of universal design principles for over a decade and COTA was directly involved in the development of the guidelines.
CEO, Ian Yates said the guidelines followed common sense and would prove useful for older Australians.
"One of the big issues that always gets raised is that it costs money to do this but in fact, the industry tell us that the cost is only two or three thousand dollars extra for each house and the more it is adopted, the less that cost will be," he said.
"At the moment, a lot of these things are non-standard items but if they are used more, they will become standard items and the cost will decrease.
"The amenity gained from these design characteristics far outweighs the cost and I would predict that in a few years, people will ask why on earth we didn't do this earlier because it will bring about enormous savings on retro-fitting."
The Older Persons Affordable Housing Alliance is now focusing on ways to upgrade existing homes to make them accessible.
ACSA CEO, Greg Mundy said the federal government should consider consolidating the various programs for renovating and restoring current building stock.
"There are lots of government programs that support home modification for older people but they are a little bit piecemeal and a little bit underdone," he said.
"It would be a good area for strategic investment because these modifications just require a one-off cost and they have the potential to be quite cost effective."
The federal government will contribute $1 million towards the establishment of an organisation that will promote the new livable housing guidelines.
María Jesús Ruiz, vicepresidenta primera y consejera de Medio Ambiente de Castilla y León y el consejero de Familia e Igualdad de Oportunidades, César Antón, han presentado en el Monumento Natural La Fuentona (Soria) el Programa 'Castilla y León, accesible por naturaleza' en un acto que contó con la presencia del responsable de Instituciones de Castilla y León de la Caixa, Gerardo Revilla; el alcalde de Muriel de la Fuente, Alfredo Lafuente, así como representantes de la junta rectora del espacio natural.
The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor is pleased to announce the appointment of Judith Heumann as the Special Advisor for International Disability Rights. Special Advisor Heumann will lead the Administration's efforts to develop a comprehensive strategy to promote the rights of persons with disabilities internationally; coordinate an interagency process for the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; ensure that foreign assistance incorporates persons with disabilities; lead on disability human rights issues; ensure that the needs of persons with disabilities are addressed in international situations; and conduct public diplomacy, including with civil society, on disability issues.
During the July 24, 2009 announcement of U.S. signature to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Secretary Clinton noted that "expanding opportunity and supporting human rights are among the most important guideposts of our foreign policy." The Secretary further noted that "discrimination against people with disabilities isn't only an injustice, it is a strain on economic development, a limit to democracy, a burden on families, and a cause of social erosion." For these reasons, the Secretary expressed her commitment "to make support for people with disabilities a central element in the State Department's strategy worldwide."
Prior to her appointment, Ms. Heumann was the Director for the Department on Disability Services for the District of Columbia. From June 2002-2007, she served as the World Bank's first Adviser on Disability and Development, and Lead Consultant to the Global Partnership for Disability and Development. Ms. Heumann served as the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services in the U.S. Department of Education from 1993-2001. Ms. Heumann is an internationally recognized leader in the disability community and a lifelong civil rights advocate for disadvantaged persons.
Special Advisor Heumann may be reached at 202-647-4298. The Executive Assistant to the Special Advisor for International Disability Rights, Katherine Guernsey, may be reached at 202-647-1677.
Solona is a suite of Internet-based tools that empower visually impaired people to independently negotiate inaccessible objects. We enable people to overcome obstacles that are encountered on a regular basis due to inaccessible images and web page design. Each tool within Solona is Human-Powered. In other words, everytime a user submits an image to be solved, a sighted human operator is on the other side to translate the image.
RAIVE by Solona is an entirely new approach to accessibility. It is a service that empowers people to independently gain information that would otherwise be impossible to ascertain. Although software can do many things, there are some things that are simply beyond the scope of OCR or image processing. There are many other visual objects that are inherently inaccessible and may contain important information.
Multimedia is woven into the fabric of our communications. Emails contain images more than ever before. Dynamic Flash-based web pages are becoming more and more common. Web forms may be image-based and not properly labeled. Product packaging is inherently inaccessible. Advertisers, service providers, and companies alike use rich image-based delivery that can be completely inaccessible for a visually impaired person. There is no limit to inaccessibility in our digital age.
RAIVE, which stands for "Remotely Analyzing (and) Interpreting Visual Elements", enables people to independently extract information from inaccessible visual elements. Users can submit a 'Package' which contains any visual element (picture, file, screen capture, PDF) along with a question. If it can be captured, scanned, or saved, it can be submitted in a Package. A Solona Operator will promptly examine the image and the question and return the answer to the user. This ensures that the user will receive highly accurate information in order to make a decision. Users normally receive a response within 30 minutes. Responses are automatically processed and sent to the user's registered email address.
Find out more:
The four finalists of the European competition will be invited to attend the award ceremony that will take place in Brussels on 2 and 3 December 2010 at the European Day of People with Disabilities conference. The winner of the European competition will receive the 'European Award for Accessible Cities 2011' and will feature prominently in activities to promote accessibility at European level during 2011. In addition, a special 'European Champion for Accessible Cities' award will be made to recognise the work of a network of cities or initiatives. Accessibility is a broad concept that addresses the removal and prevention of barriers that cause problems for persons with disabilities in using products, services and infrastructures on equal terms as those without disabilities. Accessibility to the built infrastructure, transport, services and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is essential for people with disabilities to be able to exercise their rights and participate fully in society. This includes the right to education, to engage in work, citizens rights related to voting, access to documents, and freedom of movement as well as access to leisure and cultural facilities (libraries, museums, theatres, cultural centres, concert halls, hotels, restaurants, etc.) Accessibility is also a fundamental part of the social sustainability of the urban environment. More information about the awards will be made available shortly on theEuropean Commission's website. You can already indicate your interest in the award and register to receive further information as it becomes available by sending your contact details to the EU Accessible Cities Award management team.
A new European Award for Accessible Cities has been launched by the European Commission, aiming to promote accessibility for people with disabilities in four areas:
October 4 2010 has been set as the date for the
first conference in New Zealand on Access Tourism.
The
conference will look at various aspects of Access Tourism, including
some of the following:
- The current situation NZ and worldwide
- Website
access and information best practice
- Government strategy, policy, and
obligations
- Best practice in transport
- Accommodation, and attractions
access
- Training for access in the tourism and
hospitality sector
- Legal aspects
- Quality rating for Access Tourism
products in New Zealand
It will also include
brainstorming sessions on strategies for advancing the development of
Access Tourism in New Zealand and developing collaboration as a tool to
advance that development. These topics are based
on those most popularly picked from a list of possible topics in an
online survey.
The conference is being run by
the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute at Auckland University of
Technology, and will be a no frills sustainable event. For
more information, contact sandrarhodda@hotmail.com.
Brazil's Ministry of Culture will be awarding R $ 1 million for production,
diffusion and distribution projects involving books in accessible formats
The Culture Ministry reported in the Official Gazette (Section 3, pages 9,
10:11), the Invitation for Promotion of Production, Dissemination and
Distribution of Books in Accessible Format soliciting private and non-profit sector partnerships.
R $ 1 million will be invested in projects that promote
adaptation, which provide description or narration of
possible graphical representations present in the work, in
Daisy format, Braille, talking book (or synthesized human voice
all people, primarily those with
visual impairment. Textbooks are excepted
According to the IBGE (Census 2000), Brazil has
2.5 million people who are blind severely visually impaired.
Recent research from the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV)
commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, revealed that
only 9% of municipal public libraries have a
Braille section. During the past year, the
Directory of Intellectual Rights of the Secretariat of
Cultural Policy (SPC / MinC), together with the
Board Book, Reading and Literature, the Department
Institutional Articulation (SAI / MinC), held a
series of meetings with associations representing
production of accessible books and found a lack of
literary works available in formats accessible to
blind or have low vision.
"The democratization of access to the book also includes the
need for the provision of accessible formats. Therefore
the edicts of the Ministry of Culture, in the area of book
and reading, have contemplated the need for these books
formats, "said the director of the Book, Reading and
Literature SAI / MinC, Fabiano dos Santos Piúba. The
Director of Intellectual Rights of SPC / MinC, Mark
Alves de Souza, adding that "it is possible to increase
without demand to invest also in structures
production and distribution of books, ensuring
decentralized network and considering the peculiarities
regional. "
Categories of Notice
In Class I - Infrastructure for the production of books
accessible format will be selected at least three
proposals up to $ 160 000 each. Resources
can be used to create a center
production of books in accessible format or its expansion.
The books will be distributed exclusively to
visually impaired people or entities that they
meet (associations, libraries, etc.).
The second category, focused on the production and distribution
these books, will address adaptation projects and
reproduction of books that should be distributed
free to the public served by the institution.
Will be selected at least two proposals, the value
maximum of $ 200 000 each.
The third category of the announcement is aimed at training
and dissemination, being selected at least two
initiatives and a maximum of $ 60,000 each. The
projects may be training (through courses,
trainings and other activities aimed at transcription,
adaptation operation of programs and equipment
involving the production and reproduction of books in format
accessible) and diffusion (of information about books
accessible, producing entities, existing collections or
successful practices in this sphere).
Entries must be made by email and
all documentation must be sent by post.
The selection of projects will be undertaken by a committee. After
disseminating the results of each stage of selection,
tenderer shall within five working days to lodge
appeal. The result will be published in the Official Gazette
Union and the site www.cultura.gov.br, and total
responsibility of the bidder to follow update
information on both.
Other initiatives to support accessibility
Until the 15th of June, the Ministry of Culture
Bidding is to Culture More to Support Libraries
open. In this announcement, only the request at all
categories from a minimum percentage of the book accessible
there is a specific category for the segment, facing
supporting libraries accessible. Will be invested R $ 85
thousand for each project, totaling 30. The value may
be applied to purchase and collection of equipment and
furniture for people with disabilities;
employee training designed to improve the
management and the care and services offered to users
with disabilities; expansion or renovation of physical space,
adapting it to people with special needs, and
creation of socio-cultural programming.
Along with the National Association for the Blind of Rio Grande do
South (Acergs), MinC has developed the pilot project the
National Network for Affordable Production of Books
People with Visual Impairments. The project includes the
structuring of a production center for books in formats
accessible and qualification of human resources for
working on this production. Along with the Association
Brazilian Assistance Visually Impaired (Lamarão)
Project develops the inclusion in the world of culture through
access to writing and reading Braille, which provides for
purchase and adaptation of Braille typewriters and
production of explanatory material to enable 15,000
students to have access to the blind world of reading
through Braille.
Moreover, accessibility is also addressed by requiring that all
work published in Portugal should be available by publishers for sale to consumers in an accessible or digital format.

Formatos Acessíveis
MinC lança edital de fomento a obras para pessoas com deficiência visual


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