LLinE Lifelong Learning in Europe

Orientation - LEARNING AND SPECIAL NEEDS

WIDENING PARTICIPATION SPECIAL ISSUE ON LEARNING AND SPECIAL NEEDS

In discussing the topic, LLinE collected a few personal stories of how people with disabilities have coped in life. The LLinE interview of Kalle Könkkölä, a politician, former MP, President of an international organisation of the disabled, is an example of how in spite of a severe disability a person can have an impact at national and global level.

The European Year of People with Disabilities has given rise to many organisations to publicly take a stand on the issue of inclusion. LLinE published excerpts of a few. One of the important common statements is that people should always be heard in their own cause.
European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education has published a Thematic Publication Special Needs Education in Europe which is the source for two excerpts in this issue.

LLinE Interview
UNVANQUISHED AND ACTIVE. Interview with Kalle Könkkölä

The LLinE interview with Kalle Könkkölä, a politician, former MP, President of an international organisation of the disabled, is an example of how in spite of a severe disability a person can have an impact at national and global level.

EDUCATION AND THE DISABLED

Jozsef Katus
NETWORKS AS SOURCES OF SOCIAL CAPITAL: The SOFT case

While addressing the question of the sources of social capital, the article focuses on the post-totalitarian countries Hungary and Romania. The main sources of social capital lie in civil society. In this context, the SOFT (Save Our Future Talents that refers to multiple handicapped children) case is presented. SOFT refers to Hungarian and Dutch NGOs' co-operation to improve the medical care of children and youngsters with special needs, and at strengthening civil society in Hungary. SOFT is also the name of the international federation of Dutch, Hungarian, Romanian and Ukrainian NGOs to jointly further the cause of disabled children and youngsters.

Hawking’s Own Brief History

EDUCATION CAN CONTRIBUTE TO AN INCLUSIVE SOCIETY.
EU Statement on Disabilities

In discussing the topic, LLinE collected a few personal stories of how people with disabilities have coped in life.
The European Year of People with Disabilities has given rise to many organisations to publicly take a stand on the issue of inclusion. LLinE published excerpts of a few. One of the important common statements is that people should always be heard in their own cause.

NON-DISCRIMINATION PLUS POSITIVE ACTION RESULTS IN SOCIAL INCLUSION.
The Madrid Declaration

European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education has published a Thematic Publication Special Needs Education in Europe which is the source for two excerpts in this issue.

Kenneth Eklindh
EDUCATION FOR ALL MEANS ALL

In several conferences, UNESCO has made a statement for inclusive education in stressing the right to education for all. This special year brings a Flagship program The Right to Education for Persons with Disabilities: Towards Inclusion. The Flagship Program involves an alliance of diverse organisations, including global disability organisations, international development agencies, intergovernmental agencies, and experts in the fields of special and inclusive education from developed and developing nations. The challenge points at developed as well as developing countries.

SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION IN EUROPE

Paolo Graziani and Laura Burzagli
ICT AND EDUCATION: OPPORTUNITIES AND BARRIERS FOR DISABLED PEOPLE
Information and Communication Technology in Special Needs Education

Amanda Watkins
NETWORK FOR SHARING AND INCLUSION. SEN-IST-NET Project

People with special educational needs have individual learning requirements. SEN-IST-NET is a project to establish a communication platform that will help foster exchanges and networking to develop further appropriate technological solutions to meet these special needs. SEN-IST-NET, Special Needs Education and Information Society Technologies, is co-ordinated by the European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education.

Just like anybody else – with hearing aid. Bertram Li Mow Ching

Gudrun Doll-Tepper
ADAPTED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND SPORT

Physical activity and sport used to be part of the rehabilitation process for persons with a disability. The Paralympic Games in 1988, and the new International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in 1989, began a new era. Adapted physical education was not only part of the programme of special schools, but also of inclusive education in classes and schools. The “Sport for All”-Movement in many parts of the world emphasises in its initiatives the full involvement of persons with a disability.
Many experts and professionals around the world see adapted physical activity also as an integral part of lifelong education, of sport participation with a variety of choices for the individual and as part of a complex research agenda.


How to win when everything has gone wrong. Marino Kacic

THE OUTCOMES OF THE EUROPEAN YEAR OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES.
European Disability Forum

SOCIAL PARTNERS' JOINT DECLARATION ON EUROPEAN YEAR OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Ray Fletcher
TIME TO REMOVE THE LEARNING BARRIER FOR DISABLED PEOPLE

The lack of education and lifelong learning opportunities stems from the earliest stages of the education system, and social attitudes. Poverty, lack of work and ineffective social infrastructures lock disabled people in less affluent environments into recurring disadvantage.
In working life, the difference between an individual with a disability in a sheltered workshop and a non-disabled person fitting wheels to cars in an automotive plant might be that the individual who fits wheels to cars can decide to stop doing that at any time and apply for a job somewhere else with a reasonable chance of achieving it. The article presents an interesting example of how an enterprise can employ people with disabilities, and answer to their wishes for education.

Black female in a wheelchair hardly the City image. Linda Okeke

WIDENING PARTICIPATION

Loek F.M. Nieuwenhuis
PREPARED? NEW DEMANDS FOR VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL COLLEGES

To provide lifelong learning VET-colleges should be tightly connected to local networks of innovative firms, and deliver up-to-date courses and support for technology adaptation. Colleges are aware of the urgency of developing new tasks in the regional economy, yet they have not developed operational strategies. Some good practices are found as benchmarks. The design of VET for the knowledge-based economy involves not only the reorganisation of the course supply, but also a redesign of processes and culture. This requires a coherent vision at the level of college management and a targeted HRD strategy at the level of teachers.