Regional News
(October-December 2005)
- 1) Seminar on Independent Living and Women with Disabilities
APCD, Bangkok, Thailand
16 October 2005 -
The Disabled Peoples' International Asia-Pacific Regional Development Office in collaboration with the World Bank-Thailand and APCD organized a Seminar on Independent Living and Women with Disabilities. Ms. Judith Heumann, World Bank Advisor on Disability and Development was the keynote speaker to share her experiences on the related issues with persons with disabilities in Thailand and participants from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Viet Nam. From this, Ms. Heumann shared her childhood/youth/current life experiences along with the situation of women with disabilities in the United States of America. In addition, she shared her experiences working with a diversity of women with disabilities from different countries mainly on public awareness issues.
- 2) Conference on Disability: A Global Perspective on Rights to Education and Livelihood
UNESCAP, Bangkok
17 - 18 October 2005 -
The international conference on Disability: A Global Perspective on Rights to Education and Livelihood marks the first of global annual meetings on disability which brought together academics and practitioners from around the World. This conference provided a global forum to examine the root causes of problems that persons with disabilities face and produced recommendations on practical solutions for policy-makers, implementers, persons with disabilities and other stakeholders. The conference focused on two themes: education for all and the economic empowerment of persons with disabilities.
The conference was co-organised by the Leonard Cheshire International (LCI) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP).
Recommendations in the final statement were drafted at the conclusion of the conference.
- 3) Regional Workshop on Comprehensive National
Plan of Action on Disability - Towards the Mid-point
Review of the Biwako Millennium Framework for
Action towards an Inclusive, Barrier-free and Rightsbased
Society for Persons with Disabilities in Asia
and the Pacific (BMF)
Bangkok, Thailand
19-21 October 2005 -
The Workshop on action planning on disability and development was organized by UN ESCAP to provide a forum for an intensive exchange of knowledge and experience on (1) progress as well as obstacles in implementing the goals and commitments of the BMF and (2) concepts and issues related to action planning, implementation management and participatory monitoring and evaluation from the disability perspective. The Workshop identified a practical checklist on strategic approaches to planning, implementation management, monitoring and evaluation of disabilityinclusive policies and plans.
(For further information please visit: http://www.worldenable.net/bmf2005/)
- 4) Hanoi Transport Management Building Project
Hanoi, Viet Nam
20 October 2005 -
Representatives from the Disability Forum and Hanoi Transport Department joined a field trip at a traffic light with lanes constructed for PWDs as part of the Hanoi Transport Management Building Project under the sponsorship of the World Bank. This provided the participants useful information such as PWDs can be good traffic-users when a specialized signal system is available; other users became aware of traffic rules, red light crossing, wrong parking, and that ramps need to be provided on the pavement to avoid obstacles. The purpose of this project was to exercise the equal rights of PWDs and the right to use public transportation.
(Source: Disability Forum, Viet Nam)
- 5) UNESCAP Workshop on Tsunami and Vulnerable Groups
Bangkok, Thailand
27 October 2005 -
UNESCAP organized the National Workshop on the Impact of the Tsunami on Vulnerable Groups in Thailand with representatives from UN Agencies, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (Thailand), Ministry of Education, Ministry of Interior, Foundation for Women, National Human Rights Commission, Foundation for Children, Empower Foundation, Migrant Action Programme, Federation of Southern Fisherfolk, and Disabled Peoples' International Asia-Pacific met to share about the tsunami recovery project including gaps and challenges for comprehensive planning.
- 6) Viet Nam Innovation Wins Disabled Project Contest
Sao Mai, Viet Nam
December 2005 -
A Vietnamese digitized audio book library with a screen display reading program for the visually impaired took first prize this week at a regional contest sponsored by Samsung Electronics on projects for persons with disabilities. Dang Hoai Phuc, Lecturer at the Information Center Sao Mai in Ho Chi Minh City, led his group to create this project, one among eleven awarded at the Samsung Digital Hope contest 2005. The contest drew hundreds of projects from six Southeast Asian countries and Australia with only eleven qualifying for $500,000 in total funding. This is the third annual Samsung DigitAll Hope 2005 contest in the region. Other winning projects included a 'Cyber Coach' - a mobile multimedia unit for tsunami disaster victims; an education technology centre for the blind; an e-skills development training program for disadvantaged youth and e-street maps for vans.
- 7) Software Translates Braille to Normal Text Documents
Chiangmai, Thailand
December 2005 -
In order to bridge the communication gap between blind and sighted people in reading paper-based documents, a group of students at Maejo University in Chiang Mai developed software to translate Braille documents into normal documents. It is called the Braille Document Translator and has been developed using the C programming language. Wanpaya Thanpanit, 24, the team leader, said that he and two friends spent two months last year developing the software when they were fourth-year computer science students at Maejo's science faculty, with the hope of giving the blind and severely visually impaired a broader view of the world, as well as to help sighted people. The software requires only an entry-level scanner with at least 200-dots-per-inch capacity to scan Braille documents into digital form. The program then makes calculations and analyzes the Braille alphabet to turn the characters into regular alphabet characters. It won second prize at the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre's 7th National Software Contest earlier this year. It also received a special prize from the Ratchasuda Foundation. It recently received second prize at the Thailand ICT Awards 2005, organised by the Association of Thailand Computer Industry and the Software Industry Promotion Agency.
(For more information, please check www.nationmultimedia.com/2005/12/02/byteline/index.php?
news=byteline_19314207.html) - 8) VDO Conference Between Hearing Impaired People of Uzbekistan and Japan JICA Uzbekistan Office & JICA Tokyo International Center
9 December 2005 -
Ten participants (5 from each country) participated to discuss various aspects of life, work, leisure, and other related activities. In Uzbekistan more than 40 members of the Deaf Association attended as observers. A quiz was given to all participants starting with objects given for the participants to guess the gesture, demonstrated by the other nationality. The final session was a discussion on issues concerning life, labor, creative works, and sport activities as well as about laws confirming the rights of hearing impaired persons. This was a unique challenge and successful attempt to organize a cross-cultural meeting between hearing impaired people by utilizing modern telecommunication technologies thus eliminating the distance and borders between two countries.
(Source: Mikhail V. Kushnir, Senior Systems Administrator & Computer Courses Coordinator, Uzbekistan-Japan Center)
- 9) International Human Rights Day
World Health Organization
10 December 2005 -
The World Health Organization (WHO) dedicated the International Human Rights Day, 10 December to people with mental disorders and the all-too-prevalent violations of their basic human rights. People with mental disorders face an alarming range of human rights abuses in countries throughout the world, yet there are proven ways to dramatically improve the situation. To mark the International Human Rights Day, WHO drew attention to the problems and solutions in a new online photo essay: "Denied Citizens: Mental Health and Human Rights", which highlights some of these human rights violations, and gives examples of how they can and must be stopped.
(Source: www.who.in)
- 10) Bangkok Human Rights Protection Network
Bangkok, Thailand
29 December 2005 -
The Bangkok Metropolitan Authority Consumer Protection
Committee and the Council of Disabled People of Thailand
discussed about building a non-handicapping environment
for persons with disabilities. It would be a street model built
to provide a safe and accessible environment for persons with
disabilities. This would promote equal human rights of
persons with disabilities.(Source: www.tddf.or.th)
Regional News: Upcoming Events
January-March 2006
- 1) 3rd International Conference on Special Education
Bangkok, Thailand
8 - 11 January 2006 - (For more information, please check www.specialeducation2006.com)
- 2) 7th of the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive
and Integral International Convention on Protection
and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons
with Disabilities
United Nations Headquarters, New York, United States of America
16 January - 3 February 2006 - (For more information, please check www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahc7.htm)
- 3) International Training Working on Inclusion of
Disability Issues into Development "The Implementation
of Community Approaches to Handicap in Development
in Bangladesh" Centre for Disability in Development
(CDD)
Dhaka, Bangladesh 11 - 17 February 2006 - 4) 8th International Training Course on Community
Based Rehabilitation (CBR) for Programme Managers
Bangalore, India
14 - 23 February 2006 - (For more information, please check www.actionaidindia.org/Sabla-Training.htm)
- 5) National Information Resource Guide on Disability Services in Viet Nam
Spanish Red Cross, Viet Nam
February, 2006 - (For more information please contact cruzroja1@fpt.vn)
(Source: Disability Forum, Viet Nam) - 6) First Kuwait International Conference on the Role
of People with Special Needs in Building the Information Society
Afghanistan
11 - 13 March 2006 - (For more information, please check www.kisr.edu.kw/conference_details.asp?ID=32)
