Critical Factors for an Effective Transition to School and Work for Persons with Disabilities

1. Critical Factors for an Effective Transition to School and Work for Persons with Disabilities Fernando H. F. Botelho Project Manager Mais Diferenças São Paulo, Brazil

2. The Education and Employment Challenge • 90% of children who are blind or visually impaired in developing countries have no access to education. • 99% of women with disabilities in developing countries are illiterate. • Sources: • ILO: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/ability/.../wwd.pdf • UN: http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=18 • International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI); "Strategic Goals 2002-2005"; 2002.

3. Avoid Exclusive Focus on Any Single Factor • Barriers to education and employment are a consequence of factors such as: • Cultural misunderstandings and outdated customs; • Poverty-induced health problems and disabilities; • Physical obstacles such as lack of accessible transportation and schools;

4. Avoid Exclusive Focus on Any Single Factor • Barriers to education and employment are a consequence of factors such as: • Human resource constraints such as teachers without disability-specific training; • Lack of assistive technologies such as screen readers or special keyboards; • Potential employers without experience with or knowledge about persons with disabilities.

5. Cross-Sectoral Strategies • Cultural misunderstandings and outdated customs: • TV and radio programs that highlight the achievements of persons with disabilities in Africa. • Poverty-induced health problems and disabilities: • Labor laws and tax incentives for the hiring of persons with disabilities. • Community-based health care initiatives.

6. Cross-Sectoral Strategies • Physical obstacles such as lack of accessible transportation and schools: • Urban planning and school construction based on universal design principles. • Human resource constraints such as teachers without disability-specific training: • Rely on local experts, demand freely shareable training materials, and use local best practices when possible.

7. Cross-Sectoral Strategies • Lack of assistive technologies such as screen readers or special keyboards: • Rely on technology that is low-cost or free, use the experience of other developing countries with free and open source software and Creative Commons materials.

8. Cross-Sectoral Strategies • Potential employers without experience with or knowledge about persons with disabilities: • Encourage internship opportunities, support organizations that facilitate interaction between business community and persons with disabilities.

9. A Costly Strategy • Low and no-cost Assistive Technologies are created by individuals and organizations that usually have no marketing budget. • Many organizations and government agencies seek funding and donations to acquire costly Assistive Technologies used in wealthy countries which are more widely known.

10. A Costly Strategy • Children are then trained and become dependent on technologies that their families, local schools, and potential employers cannot afford. • Transitions from local NGO to school, to a local library, to an internship opportunity, and to employment become practically impossible.

11. Control is More Important than Price • The wrong technology donated for free can be costly in the medium and long term. • Key factor is control of the technology. • Technology that can be copied, modified, improved, and shared is available for Linux and Windows systems.

12. Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Assistive Technologies • FOSS Assistive Technologies are free or low cost because no single entity controls it. Overpricing attracts developers that charge less.

13. Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Assistive Technologies • Examples of FOSS Assistive Technologies include: • Dasher, a virtual keyboard application for Linux and Windows. • http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/ • NVDA, a screen reader for Windows. • http://www.nvda-project.org/ • Orca, a screen reader and magnifier for Linux. • http://live.gnome.org/Orca • Virtual Magnifying Glass, a screen magnifier for Linux and Windows. • http://magnifier.sourceforge.net/

14. Benefit from Zero Marginal Cost • Whenever possible demand that contractors, consultants, and other entities provide training and other materials under a Creative Commons license: • http://CreativeCommons.org/

15. Many Critical Factors but a Few Good Strategies • Focus on the development of human resources and on technology that facilitates that. • Make sure you understand who controls the technology you choose to depend on. • Give preference for solutions that maximize how much control remains local.

16. Thank you! Fernando H. F. Botelho Fernando.Botelho@F123.org Botelho & Paula Consultoria Solutions that scale. http://www.F123.org/ This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.