Dr. Adina Ionescu “Octav Onicescu” High School Dr. Rodica Ana Catuneanu

1. The specific needs of the target group and the educational assistance by electronic means in Romania - IECUVADVLA Dr. Adina Ionescu “Octav Onicescu” High School Dr. Rodica Ana Catuneanu Romanian Foundation for Quality Promotion

2. IECUVADVLA The target group: • Senior unemployed; • Unemployed with visual and hearing impairments.

3. Statistical Data • Romania’s population: 22.329.977 people (July, 2005) • Number of unemployed: 562.600 (to the end of June, 2005) • Number of disabled adults (June 30, 2003): 19.248 - in institutions of special protection 339.243 – in families

4. Statistical Data • Number of disabled people registered as totally blind or partially sighted : 81.000 (in 2004); • Number of disabled people registered as deaf : 300.000 (in 2004); • Number of employees (March 31st, 2003): 4.411.400 of which 416.286 are disabled.

5. Statistical Data • Unemployment rate in Romania: 6% (end of September, 2004) • Regions with highest unemployment rate: North-East (7,4%) and Center (7,3%) • Regions with lowest unemployment rate: North-West (4%) and Bucharest (2,7%).

6. Vocational training • Vocational training for disabled people is incompatible with the demand on the labour market and with the abilities of the disabled people. • There are no centers of vocational retraining for people who became disabled at an adult age. • Although 23 protected units have been authorized in 11 counties and in Bucharest, these cannot respond to the employment needs of disabled people in Romania.

7. Access of the disabled to culture and information • Sign language is used only in special schools and this communication code is absent in public institutions. • Only on the second channel of the national television some news bulletins are translated into sign language. • Hearing and optical devices are acquired by the disabled people with their own financial means, since there is no act or norm regulating the reimbursement of this type of expenses.

8. Access of the disabled to culture and information • Some libraries from Bucharest and from Cluj, Tulcea and Satu Mare counties offer audio books to visually impaired persons. • Since 1992, the Romanian Broadcasting Society initiated an information program on life and concerns of visually impaired people, fulfilling the role of a spoken newspaper. • There are no Internet connection facilities for disabled users.

9. Educational assistance for the disabled people • Special schools are only partially equipped with magnifying glasses and there are few CCTV systems. • There are no electronic voice programmes in Romanian language made in Romania; • Large print books are edited on the schools’ PCs. • Braille editors for PC’s are extremely expensive and they are made only in Western countries. • Schools for visually impaired have been equipped with electronic Braille embossers.

10. Educational assistance for the disabled people • There is a double-sided Braille embossing unit based on an electromechanical system and an electric single-sided embosser at the Central Council of the Association of the Blind. • In some secondary schools and universities, disabled people may use adequate information technologies, like the facilities offered by Windows or Linux operating system.

11. Conclusions Learning needs of people with visual/hearing impairments require: • transposition of information into specific communication codes such as sign language, Braille, tactile representation, audio-magnetic and audio-electronic format; • equipping schools and libraries with CCTV systems, which allow enlarging image sizes and adjusting colour contrast;

12. Conclusions • equipping PCs with electronic voice programmes and Braille displays; • introducing a system of audio description during the appropriate time intervals in video materials; • allowing web sites access using an electronic voice system;

13. Conclusions • equipping institutions for visual impaired people with reading machines and with electronic Braille embossing units, capable of transcribing any written material in a short interval of time, using a limited amount of consumables; • providing free access of the disabled people to the sites containing scientific, educational or cultural information.

14. References • Country Report on Disability in Romania, Initiative Group for the establishment of a National Disability Council in Romania (GIC – CNDR), 2004. • www.deafdirectory.com/blinddeaf • www.ebuindigo.org Footnote: This report was realized with the financial support of the U.E, in the framework of the Programme Socrates-Grundtvig 2. Socrates National Agency is not responsible for information included in this paper.