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Factual information on Coronavirus (COVD-19) for the deaf community of Kenya. (English subtitles)

On February 6th 2020, the European Disability Forum (EDF) organised a webinar about the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). The AVMSD is a directive which sets out the rules for audiovisual media services and adapts them to the new media consumption realities and affects all market players (TV broadcasters, video on-demand platforms and video sharing platforms) in the European Union. The AVMSD entered into force on 19th December 2018 and its transposition period will end on 19th September 2020.

This webinar was conducted by Marie Denninghaus, EDF Policy Coordinator and was supported by Raquel Riaza, Events and Administration Officer and by other colleagues from EDF‘s office. The webinar was accessible for persons with disabilities providing live captioning and sign language interpretation. It was recorded and it will be available on EDF’s website.

The first speaker was Lara Orlandi, from the European Commission, who is Policy Officer in DG CONNECT. She gave a broad overview about the main AVMSD objectives and provisions as she was part of the team which prepared and negotiated this legislation. The second speaker was Alejandro Moledo. He is Policy Coordinator at EDF. He spoke about the provisions of the AVMSD with reference to accessibility for persons with disabilities and how to make use of this legislation to advance on media accessibility.

Presentations and discussion from the Disability-Inclusive Social Protection meeting, 8 April 2019

As a follow up to the joint statement “Towards inclusive social protection systems supporting full and effective participation and inclusion of persons with disabilities”, the new UNPRDP funded initiative co-implemented by ILO and UNICEF in close cooperation with IDA seeks to develop practical guidance for countries, development agencies and DPOs for the reform of different critical aspects of social protection systems.

The video reports that most children with disabilities in Kazakhstan are not getting a quality, inclusive education and that although the Kazakh government has taken some important steps to better protect the rights of children with disabilities, much more needs to be done to ensure equal access to education for all children.

Cases of children with Downs Syndrome, autism and arthritis are highlighted.

Achieving education for all in Ethiopia will remain a distant aspiration if most of the 5 million children with special educational needs in the country cannot go to school. Since 2014, Handicap International have been supporting 49 schools to become places where everyone has a role to play in making schools more inclusive.

This report documents how thousands of children in Armenia live in orphanages, residential special schools for children with disabilities, and other institutions. The report is based on Human Rights Watch visits to five state-run orphanages and ten state-run schools, including six special schools and four mainstream schools, and interviews with 173 people, in eight cities in Armenia. They interviewed 47 children and young adults, and 63 families of children living in orphanages, attending special schools or attending mainstream schools. They also interviewed directors of orphanages, special schools, and mainstream schools, as well as social workers, doctors, teachers, psychologists, caregivers, and other staff in institutions

Topics include: overview of residential institutions in Armenia; institutionalization of children and young adults and discrimination in the deinstitutionalization process; problems for children and young adults in residential institutions; lives transformed; national and international legal obligations; failure to guarantee quality education to children with disabilities; other forms of education for children with disabilities; government and donors’ response; recommendations

Three adaptive apps for mobile phones are briefly introduced. RogerVoice helps the hard of hearing to make phone calls by automatically transcribing speech. The dyslexia key can make the font easier to read and also can enable a sequential keyboard. Be My Eyes enables users to request help from volunteer readers by phone using videolinks

Amir, a nepalese boy aged 16, is an example and a great source of inspiration for all people. Born without the use of his arms and legs he creates beautiful art envolving poetry, songs and paintings.

A video highlighting the critical importance of collecting data on child functioning, its feasibility and its powerful results. It addresses a new series of questions put together by UNICEF/Washington Group on Disability Statistics that go beyond labels and diagnoses to explore children’s actual experiences and the difficulties that they encounter in performing daily activities.

And every child is entitled to equal opportunity to realize their full potential. So say the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

But the hard truth is that millions of children with disabilities are deprived of opportunity.