APCD Mission Reports
Follow-up Mission to Bangladesh
2-5 October 2005
The mission team conducted an APCD Networking and
Follow-up Seminar for Former APCD Trainees in Bangladesh on
3 October 2005 at the Ministry of Social Welfare, presided
over by H.E. Mr. Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed, Minister of
Social Welfare, along with high-ranking officials and ex-APCD
trainees as well as representatives of Associate Organizations.
The mission team visited some of the Self-help Organizations and Self-help Groups, which have developed in Bangladesh.
The Action on Disability and Development (ADD) has developed 750 SHGs, that are collaborating with 62 disabled people's organizations in 27 districts. Also, this Organization promotes awareness campaigns by using a track team in the village community, where dissemination of information especially to those who had no opportunity for education seemed to be most effective.
The Bangladesh Protibandhi Kaliyan Somity (BPKS) has been developing their SHG programs in most of the regions in Bangladesh. They organized the National Alliance of People with Disabilities Organizations with about 50 disabled people's organizations based on the caste disability groups, especially with a large number of people with visual and hearing impairments.
The Center for Services and Information on Disability (CSID) has been doing research and developing disability and information services funded by Handicap International (HI) Bangladesh.
APCD also visited the Centre for Disability in Development (CDD), which has been doing research and development in the technical field, e.g., software for Braille translation into the national language and vice versa. They have also been developing sign language with the computer and published two textbooks.
The mission team also visited the Society for Education and Care of Hearing Impaired Children of Bangladesh (HICARE) training schools for hearing impaired children. APCD will continue to promote community-based rehabilitation and empowerment of people with disabilities to sustain and empower persons with disabilities and promote a barrier-free society.
Mission to Malaysia and Disability Equality Training (DET) Training for Trainers
19-24 November 2005
DET was held at the Hotel Grand Continental, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia. Dato' Shamsiah binti Abdul Rahman,
Director General, Department of Social Welfare Malaysia,
extended a welcome and introduced resource persons, Mr.
Kevin and Mrs. Lucia McLaughlin.
There were 22 participants from Malaysia both government and non-government officers. APCD dispatched 2 staffs for collaboration of the seminar. The purpose was to enable disabled and non-disabled people to develop an understanding of disability based on the Social Model of Disability and to identify areas within their organization/venue that could be changed to promote participation of disabled persons. The contents of the training were comprised of:
- Famous People Exercise
- Disability Awareness and Disability Equality
- Attitudes and Awareness Exercise
- Word Power Exercise
- Rights
- Medical and Social Models
- Action for Change
- Day Plan and Session Plan
The goal of the training was:
- To identify language offensive to disabled persons and use more acceptable terms
- To begin to question and challenge attitudes and levels of awareness regarding disability
- To critically examine the medical model of disability
- To introduce the social model of disability, identify areas for change, and then develop an action plan to implement change.
The course enables participants to identify and address discriminatory forms of practice towards disabled people. Through training, participants find ways to challenge the organizational behavior which reinforces negative myths and values and which prevents disabled people from gaining equality and achieving full participation in society.
Furthermore, the method of the training encouraged participants to share their experiences and ideas on social discrimination through a participatory approach as well as group discussion during each session.
Mission to the Philippines
Workshop on Accessible ICT for PWDs
18-22 October 2005
The Workshop on Accessible ICT for PWDs -
"Empowering PWDs through ICT" in Cebu city, was organized
by the Department of Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD), National Council for the Welfare of Disabled
Persons (NCWDP) and other related NGOs in Philippines
in collaboration with the APCD Project. This was the 3rd
workshop on accessible ICT for PWDs held in the
Philippines by NCWDP in the last 3 years.
The overall goal of the workshop was to give PWDs full access to programs and services of Government agencies and NGOs through accessible ICT. Objectives of the workshop were 1) to train webmasters and their equivalents from concerned Governmental organizations (GOs), NGOs and Public organizations (POs) by creating a website accessible to PWDs, 2) to create and sustain a high-impact network of "accessible ICT advocates" in Visayas and Mindanao, and 3) to boost economic opportunities of and for PWDs through E-Commerce.
Twenty-four webmasters/representatives from GOs,
NGOs and POs based in Mindanao and Visayas
participated in the workshop. The primary resource person
for the workshop was Mr. Leopoldo N.Valdes, from Vision
Office, who has been developing and delivering hundreds of
technical training sessions in South East Asia, Europe,
Canada, and the Americas since 1983.
APCD gave a presentation on "Accessible ICT Challenges in the Asia Pacific Region" and shared APCD activities to promote ICT accessibility for PWDs.
Ms. Nelia R. De Jesus, Chief of the Technical Cooperation Center, NCWDP, and former participant of WBN 2004 facilitated the workshop. She emphasized the importance of information accessibility, which is not only for PWDs but for everyone. NCWDP is planning to organize the National Workshop on Accessible ICT for PWDs in 2006 as an outcome of the past three workshops.
The mission also visited key organizations in terms of accessible ICT, such as Resource for the Blind and NOVA Foundation.
NOVA Foundation has been promoting ICT for employment of persons with hearing and visual impairments. They provide ICT vocational and social training for PWDs, and expect all trainees to be able to work as full members of society. They have just started operating a new ICT training center with more than 60 computers.
APCD looks forward to more active participation and promotion of information accessibility for PWDs.
Disaster Recovery & Disability Workshop, Pakistan
10-17 December 2005
The main purpose of the mission was to develop the capacity of former APCD Pakistani participants and their network for empowering persons with disabilities (PWDs) and promote a barrier-free society in the earthquake affected areas.
APCD held an "Accessible Environment Seminar: Towards a Barrier-free Society for All in the Post-Earthquake Areas in Pakistan" in Islamabad, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education and the JICA Pakistan Office. Participants were primarily from Government sectors, representatives of DPOs, as well as international donor organizations, including the World Bank, USAID, JICA and Handicap International.
H.E. Ms. Zobaida Jalal, Minister of Social Welfare and Special Education, opened the Seminar. H.E. Mr. Hashmat Khan, Minister of Social Welfare of North-Western Frontier Province shared that the plans to organize a seminar on accessibility in the spring of 2006 and seek legislation on accessiblity for public facilities.
Key speakers were: 1) Mr. Topong Kulkhanchit, Regional Development Officer, DPI Asia-Pacific Regional Office, 2) Ms. Yumiko Tanaka, Senior Regional Advisor (Gender & Monitoring/Evaluation), JICA Regional Support Office for Asia (Thailand), and 3) Dr. Asiah Abdul Rahim, Islamic University of Malaysia
Rural Study in India
13-24 December 2005
An APCD mission team consisting of a JICA expert on
ICT, 
the Human Resource Development Chief and three staff
from the HRD Section and Information Support Section were
sent to Bangalore, India. The main objective of this mission
was to collaborate with Movement for Rural Emancipation
(MORE) in order to gather information on rural community
development and participate in a Training for deepening
understanding of poverty, disability and development in the
rural context of India in order to apply using it in APCD
activities.
Mission members had the opportunity to learn by participating in an "Inclusive Education Workshop" implemented by MORE, share their experiences with spokespersons, CBR workers, social workers and also visiting persons with disabilities in 3 areas (Kurabalkota, Vayalpada and Madanapalle) as well as visiting some concerned disability organizations.
From this trip, mission members could gain more knowledge about "Community-based Rehabilitation" in India. They can now better understand the linkage between poverty and disability and, also realize that the "self sufficiency idea" and "community awareness" are important tools to help persons with disabilities live happily in their community.
