Applications of information technologies for working by disabled persons

1. Applications of information technologies for workingby disabled persons Vesselin Spiridonov

2. Distant and flexible working • Information and communication technologies (ICT) allow new ways of working by people who process information, but not materials. • There are more than 200 professions where the fixed working place is not required for most of the working time: Accountants, consultants, auditors, brokers, wholesale traders, marketing specialists, researchers, system analysts, journalists, translators, programmers, etc. can work from distance. They can do teleworking.

3. Distant and flexible working • Teleworking is not just home working, because in addition it requires permanent contact with the company by the means of ICT. • Working from distance (teleworking) is supported by the European Union. A Framework Agreement on Teleworking was signed on 16.07.2002 between the social partners- the 4 main European syndicates and the European Commission. • The teleworking and all forms of flexible working benefit all – companies, workers and the society.

4. Distant and flexible working • The people working from distance (teleworkers) need: computer, good communications, Internet, software for information retrieval (from company databases and other sources), office tools. • If a company allows (in addition to teleworking) flexible working time and flexible relations with the workers, it applies flexible working. • The management of flexible working is based on goals, not on the fixed working time in the office. • Teleworking is a very appropriate way for working by disabled persons.

5. The Bulgarian Telework Association • Founded in 1999 by persons from Sofia Univer-sity, Bulgarian Academy of sciences, some ministries, companies and organizations. • Studies, Supports & Disseminates the telework and all forms of flexible working in Bulgaria and abroad in an independent way. • Informs the companies & organizations and promotes teleworking, showing the benefits it gives to the companies, workers and the society.

6. 3 main European Projects: • FP5: IST-1999-20852: “Best practice pilot for the promotion and implementation of teleworking tools at European SMEs of the services sector” – PROTELEUSES • FP5: IST-2001-33526 “Demonstrating and promoting the adoption of new ways of flexible working among outlying regions and SMEs” – FLEXWORK • Leonardo da Vinci UK/03/B/F/PP-162_039: “European Enhancement of Early Years Management Skills” – EEEYMS

7. The new European project “IST re-qualification of disabled persons” • Belongs to Leonardo da Vinci Programme. • Period: 1 October 2004 – 30 September 2007. • Target group: disabled people who already have some qualification and need to be re-qualified for using ICT. • Aims: To develop training materials for teaching information technologies and to perform training to disabled people.

8. The new European project “IST re-qualification of disabled persons” • Consortium: Universities and NGOs from Czech Rep., Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Italy, Bulgaria. • Duties of the Bulgarian Telework Association: - Generation of study texts in English and translation of texts to Bulgarian; - Dissemination of all project outcomes; - Negotiations with government institutions and companies for disabled people employment.

9. Thank you for your attention! Vesselin Spiridonov Phone: (+359 2) 981 4762 Fax: (+359 2) 981 5541 e-mail: vspirid@virtech-bg.com BgTA e-mail: bgta@virtech-bg.com Web site: http://www.bg-telework.org