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Part 2
of 3
4. Pubic awareness
(a) Strengthening of
national capacity for improving public awareness of the
goals of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons
through measures such as:
- Training of
information service and media personnel and
representatives of organizations of people with
disabilities on communications about people with
disabilities and the Asian and Pacific Decade of
Disabled Persons;
- Encouragement of the
use of United Nations guidelines on improving
communications about people with disabilities;
- Requests to regional
broadcasting and media organizations and agencies
to support the building of national capacity in
this regard;
- Promotion of
monitoring of the quality of media coverage of
issues related to the Asian and Pacific Decade of
Disabled Persons and feed back to media agencies
on their observance of the United Nations
guidelines;
- Enlistment of
development communications organizations, street
theatre and folk media groups, and popular media
personalities to assist in the communication of
information to counter deep-rooted superstitions
about disability and persons with disabilities;
(b) Development of
sustained national campaigns to promote the competence of
and shape positive attitudes towards people with
disabilities, directed at:
- The general public;
- Groups in a position
to effect change (e.g., community leaders, people
with disabilities and their families, children,
students, policy makers, administrative
authorities, professionals);
- Removal of stigma
attached to deformities;
- Promotion of respect
for the right of persons with disabilities to
parenthood and family life;
- Enhancement of the
dignity of persons with disabilities in, and
elimination of discriminatory terminology from,
advertising campaigns and other mass media
activities;
(c) Promotion of
endeavours that focus public attention on people with
disabilities as equal citizens, such as:
- Cultural events and
competitions involving people with disabilities,
including in integrated activities;
- Direct involvement of
people with disabilities in media activities,
including mainstream ones that are unrelated to
disability;
(d) Encouragement of the
use of terminology to describe individuals with
disabilities that focuses on the person and not the
disability, such as "people/persons with
disabilities" and not "the disabled" or
"the handicapped".
(a) Review of the planned
and existing built environment and practices employed in
its extension and maintenance, with a view to the
development of measures for improving its accessibility;
(b) Development of
barrier-free design codes to cover new construction as
well as renovation and expansion (including office and
residential buildings, public facilities, areas around
buildings, roads and transport infrastructure);
(c) Amendment of existing
codes to include accessibility features at the same level
of importance as fire safety features;
(d) Introduction of
accessibility concerns, with the assistance of people
with disabilities, into programmes for the training of
professionals and technicians engaged in the construction
and maintenance of the built environment, including
transport infrastructure;
(e) Development and
implementation of guidelines for electronic accessibility
to:
- Increase the
availability of electronic equipment that people
with disabilities may use either with or without
special peripherals (i.e., special aids that
provide access to electronic equipment, e.g.,
large print and Braille displays, spoken input
and output mechanisms, and keyboard enhancement
and replacement products);
- Encourage public and
private sector agencies and organizations to
consider electronic access for persons with
disabilities in their procurement and renting of
equipment;
(f) Encouragement of
citizens'/corporate initiatives to develop approaches to
the introduction of accessibility to all areas of
society, including key areas such as education,
information, housing and commerce;
(g) Selection, by national
bodies, of appropriate approaches to the improvement of
accessibility for replication on a wider scale;
(h) Training of personnel
whose work involves contact with the public, to improve
their communication with people with visual impairment
and people with cognitive limitations;
(i) Support for sign
language development aimed at:
- Improving the
availability of sign language interpretation
services;
- Facilitating
communication between people with hearing
impairment and hearing people, including those in
public service (e.g., in community centres, legal
aid agencies, banks, employment exchanges, police
departments, hospitals);
(j) Expansion of
telecommunications services, such as telecommunications
relay services and closed captioning, for individuals
with hearing and speech impairments;
(k) Support for enhanced
availability of information to vision-impaired people,
through such means as:
- Expansion of
Braille/audio cassette/computer and voice
synthesizer information services;
- Provision of reading
services;
- Training in the use
of Braille and computer equipment;
- Encouragement of the
production of information in floppy diskette, as
well as in large print and high contrast format,
and with tactile markings;
- Increase of the
availability of low-cost low vision aid devices;
(l) Encouragement of the
production of simplified information (e.g., in pictorial
modes) to aid users with cognitive disabilities.
(a) Specific inclusion of
children and adults with disabilities in national formal
and non-formal programmes to meet the goal of education
for all;
(b) Specification of
targets for girls and women with disabilities as
beneficiaries of national literacy and education
programmes and projects;
(c) Designation of a
proportion of national and state/provincial budgets for
programmes to support the education of persons with
disabilities;
(d) Support for the
participation of children and adults with different types
of disabilities in the mainstream of the educational
system through measures such as:
- Development of home-
and community-based early intervention services
for children with disabilities;
- Education of parents
and families of children with disabilities;
- Conduct of positive
attitude formation programmes aimed at
non-disabled persons in the educational system
(e.g., school authorities, teachers and students)
to break stereotyping of persons with
disabilities;
- Organization of
logistical support (e.g., transport and
accommodation) to facilitate the participation of
persons with disabilities in education
programmes;
- Introduction of
parent-teacher consultative groups to assist
schools in responding to the changing individual
educational needs of children with disabilities,
so as to ensure successful integration in
individual cases;
- Gradual integration
of special education into mainstream education;
- Modification of
training/refresher programmes for school teachers
to improve their capabilities for developing the
full potential of students with disabilities;
- Dissemination of
teacher resource materials for use with children
with special learning needs;
- Organization of
additional support for regular classroom
teachers;
- Revision of
procedures for the administration of examinations
to enable children and adults with disabilities
to obtain academic qualifications, including
higher education qualifications;
- Use of technology and
organization of services to improve access to
textbook and reference material in appropriate
formats.
(a) Use of relevant
international labour standards on the vocational
rehabilitation and employment of persons with
disabilities as a guide and reference for the development
and implementation of training and employment programmes;
(b) Special attention to
the participation of girls and women with disabilities in
training and employment opportunities;
(c) Development of
pre-vocational training, including at middle and
secondary school level, to give girls and boys with
disabilities the necessary preparation, if they so
choose, for subsequent vocational training and placement;
(d) Ensuring the:
- Quality of vocational
training programmes in terms of their relevance
and sufficiency in preparing persons with
disabilities for gainful employment in the labour
market;
- Overall functioning
of job placement services for people with
disabilities in order to place persons with
disabilities in suitable jobs in the open labour
market;
(e) Conduct of workshops
and seminars involving workers, employers,
representatives of cooperatives and non-governmental
organizations, including organizations of people with
disabilities, as well as other community leaders to:
- Identify new training
and employment opportunities for people with
disabilities;
- Encourage job
adaptation and work-site adjustment;
- Develop training and
employment schemes for persons with disabilities;
(f) Strengthening of
vocational rehabilitation services through measures that,
inter alia, emphasize:
- Training of
vocational rehabilitation staff;
- Giving of due
attention, through appropriate vocational
assessment measures, to the interests and needs
of people with disabilities in the planning of
vocational rehabilitation services;
- Upgrading of the
skills of job placement officers in ministries of
labour and social affairs and rehabilitation
centres for job identification, selection,
recruitment, placement and follow-up concerning
people with disabilities;
(g) Training of people
with disabilities:
- To develop their
self-confidence, mobility, as well as skills in
business management, and use of advisory
services;
- For gainful
employment;
- On ways and means of
searching for employment in their communities,
including preparation for interviews with
prospective employers;
- In mainstream human
resource development facilities, whenever
possible and appropriate;
(h) Support for businesses
of people with disabilities through measures such as the:
- Identification of
opportunities for the production of goods and
services that are in high demand, taking into
consideration the compatibility of these with the
skills and interests of the persons concerned;
- Conduct of
feasibility surveys to ensure the viability of
such businesses;
- Provision of business
advice, facilitation of access to loans and other
resources from poverty alleviation schemes, as
well as follow-up, with special emphasis on
meeting the needs of rural-based people with
disabilities;
(i) Support for the
establishment and development of cooperatives that
facilitate the equal participation of people with
disabilities in their activities.
Next:
Part 3
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