EATT
Equal Access to Technology Training
A project aimed at increasing computer literacy among people with vision impairments.
EATT is part funded under the
EU Leonardo da Vinci Programme
This report is available in English language only.
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The overall aim of the EATT project is to increase computer literacy among people with vision impairments aged over 35 years. This project recognises that people with vision impairments of this age group tend to be inhibited in their participation in social, cultural and economic life due to limited access to IT training and lack of computer literacy. Many older people with vision impairments are unaware of the benefits and opportunities created by assistive technology. Assistive technology enables someone with a disability to use a piece of technology which might otherwise be inaccessible to them, for example a screen reader. People with vision impairments are also disadvantaged by the fact that they need assistive software to use a computer and current mainstream training opportunities do not cater well for this group. Acquiring IT skills is likely to lead to increased social inclusion, job security, employability and better prospects for advancement in the workplace.
This research was conducted under the remit of the European project called "Equal Access to Technology Training" (EATT) (Leonardo Da Vinci Programme). The authors of this research consist of five organisations, which provide a service to people with vision impairments in Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom (see authors). These five partner organisations undertook a literature review and a questionnaire-based study of older people with vision impairments and IT trainers.
This research found that access to computers in the workplace and the family setting were the two most important factors that raised awareness of the benefits of computer literacy and provided an opportunity of acquiring computer literacy skills for older people with vision impairments.
There needs to be better availability of assistive technology and more specialist trainers not only within the higher education sector but also within community education. Training providers were found to need an increased level of awareness of the opportunities posed by assistive technology, appropriate equipment and support before and during training. Some of the more successful initiatives examined, which encourage people with vision impairments over 35 into IT training, are those that are delivered at community level and are designed to meet the needs of older and vision impaired learners. The successful attributes of these courses can be applied to other mainstream training courses.
The ability to use a computer is rapidly becoming the basic source of job security, employability, access to mainstream training, and social inclusion. It is only in the last decade that information technology has been taught as part of the mainstream curriculum at primary, secondary and, third level education. People with vision impairments, who left the education system prior to computers being taught on the mainstream curriculum, or who have a lower level of education, tend to be less familiar with IT. This group is also disadvantaged by the fact that they need additional assistive software to use a computer. Assistive software enables someone with a disability to use a piece of technology which might otherwise be inaccessible to them. Many older people with vision impairments are unaware of the benefits and opportunities created by assistive software. This effectively prevents people with vision impairments from access to inexpensive and widespread information and communication tools such as e-mail and the Internet.
This research was conducted under the remit of the European project called "Equal Access to Technology Training" (EATT) (Leonardo Da Vinci Programme). All EATT project partners have noted that people with vision impairments aged over 35 years may be limited in their participation in social, cultural and economic life due to lack of access to IT training and lack of computer literacy. Current training opportunities do not cater well for this group. This may be due to lack of awareness of their particular needs, lack of awareness of the benefits to them, and practical barriers to inclusion in mainstream training opportunities. Acquiring IT skills is likely to lead to increased social inclusion, more access to training, better employment opportunities and better prospects for advancement in the workplace.
The overall aim of the EATT project is to increase computer literacy among people with vision impairments aged over 35 years. The research report of the EATT project assessed the degree of awareness of IT benefits and opportunities among people with vision impairments aged 35 and over and it identified the needs of this group in relation to accessing IT and achieving computer literacy. The EATT partners each presented an analysis of current thinking at Government level and local initiatives at a practical level, which have been designed to encourage older people with vision impairments into IT training. The research report examined the extent to which lack of computer literacy for this group leads to social exclusion due to lack of access to information, communication or consumer goods. It also attempted to reveal whether increased computer literacy skills among people with vision impairments would enhance access to mainstream training and employment and improve their chances of promotion. The report examined the needs and difficulties of this group in relation to obtaining computer literacy in mainstream courses and also identified the features that have made specialised IT courses successful. This study not only identified the needs of people with vision impairments in relation to IT Training, it also explored the level of awareness of the needs of people with vision impairments among IT training providers. The needs of IT training providers were also assessed in order to support them in encouraging and facilitating older people with vision impairments to participate in mainstream IT training courses.
The EATT partnership involves five organisations that work in the field of vision impairment. These partners are Synscentralen of Aarhus AMT in Denmark (AMT), SIADV in France, I.Ri.Fo.R in Italy, NCBI - National Council for the Blind of Ireland (Project Managers) and RNIB, the Royal National Institute of the Blind, United Kingdom. The EATT partners undertook a literature review and a questionnaire-based study of people with vision impairments over 35 years and IT trainers.
Computer literacy is today almost as essential as ordinary literacy and numeracy skills. The population of Europe is getting older. By 2015, the 50-64 years age group will increase by 16.5 million, more than a 25 per cent increase on today's population (Eurostat, 1995). There is no doubt that older people are being left behind by the Information Society. A joint research report entitled 'The Current Barriers for Older People in Accessing the Information Society' published by European Institute for the Media, Düsseldorf and the Netherlands Platform for Older People in Europe, Utrecht warns that we must "ensure that the older community is not isolated through the development of the Information Society" (Campbell et al, 1999; 42).
One of the necessary prerequisites for access to mainstream training and employment is the ability to use a computer. It is only in the last fifteen years that Information Technology (IT) has been included on the curriculum of the mainstream educational system. Therefore, those people who left the educational system prior to its introduction will be less likely to have been introduced to IT.
"The potential of the Information Society is to create a much more inclusive society and indeed disabled people stand to gain disproportionately from effective participation. But without basic accessibility rules there is a danger that the information revolution will result in a new and more disabling barrier to full integration and contribution to society" (European Disability Forum's Response to the European Commission's e-Europe Initiative) (European Disability Forum, 2000).
There is a scarcity of people with vision impairments aged over 35 using IT, as the majority of this group do not have access to it. People with vision impairments are also disadvantaged by the fact that they need additional assistive software to use a computer and moreover, many older people with vision impairments are not aware of benefits and opportunities presented by assistive software.
This lack of access to IT and an absence of computer literacy skills limits participation in social, cultural and economic life as almost every occupation today expect applicants to have at least rudimentary computer skills and because email and the Internet have become a common and inexpensive means of communication and means of accessing otherwise inaccessible information (RNIB, 2001).
The Joint report produced by the European Institute for the Media, Düsseldorf and the Netherlands Platform for Older People and Europe, Utrecht, mentioned above, also highlights that with the current barriers for older people in accessing the Information Society, "it is obvious that older people and ICT is an area that needs to be further researched in the future" (Campbell et al., 1999; 41).
This report is the result of research, which was conducted within the framework of the European project called "Equal Access to Technology Training" (EATT) supported by the Leonardo Da Vinci Programme. The authors of this report represent five organisations that are partners in the project. Synscentralen of Aarhus AMT in Denmark (AMT), SIADV in France, I.Ri.Fo.R in Italy, NCBI - National Council for the Blind of Ireland (Project Managers) and RNIB, the Royal National Institute of the Blind, United Kingdom. All of these organisations work closely with people with vision impairments on a daily basis and recognise that the target group must be encouraged to engage in training to become computer literate. This partnership was formed through collaboration on a highly successful EMPLOYMENT HORIZON project, Employment Support Practices for Visually Impaired People (ESP).
The ESP transnational project conducted research on the employment support practices in existence in the five partner countries and produced a report, which included recommendations for suggested good practice that would optimise the inclusion of people with vision impairments at all levels in the labour force.
The report, published in November 1999, "Innovative European Employment Practices: Employment Support Practices for Visually Impaired People", found that limited access to training and lack of computer literacy were major contributing factors to high unemployment rates among people with vision impairments. The ESP report concluded that in order to stimulate job creation and improve job retention among people with vision impairments certain measures were required to overcome this lack of access to IT by this group. The findings of ESP project intended to influence practitioners, funding providers, and health service strategists in their policy development with regards to people with vision impairments and employment or training.
The overall aim of the EATT project is to increase computer literacy among people with vision impairments aged over 35 years. The project partnership informally identified the barriers encountered by people with vision impairments of this age group in relation to accessing and using a computer. These barriers include:
Campbell et al. (1999) also found similar barriers which prevented older people generally from accessing the Information Society. The common recognition of these barriers within the EATT partnership led to the decision to undertake a research study on the subject, to formally identify the barriers which prevent people with vision impairments aged over 35 from obtaining computer literacy skills.
This research report of the EATT project will assess the level of awareness of the benefits and opportunities created by computers among people with vision impairments aged over 35 and examine the needs of this group in relation to accessing IT and obtaining computer literacy in mainstream training centres. It will also identify the successful features of specialised IT training courses. For each EATT partner country, the research study will describe current thinking at government level and local initiatives at a practical level that have features designed to encourage older people with vision impairments into IT training.
In addition, this research study will examine the extent to which lack of computer literacy among older people with vision impairments leads to social exclusion due to lack of access to information, means of communication and consumer goods. Research also will be undertaken to analyse whether increased computer literacy skills among people with vision impairments will enhance their level of access to mainstream training and employment, and improve their chances of job promotion.
This study identified? the needs of people with vision impairments in relation to IT. It assessed the level of awareness among IT training providers of the needs of older people with vision impairments. The related needs of IT training providers were also explored in order to support them in encouraging and facilitating people with vision impairments to participate in mainstream IT training courses. This was done by identifying the existing initiatives that promote the professional development of trainers and best practices for training providers.
This report presents the findings of the research. Part one presents a review of literature undertaken by the partners from the five participating countries in the EATT project. The literature will describe and analyse the current thinking at government level and local initiatives at a practical level that have features designed to encourage people with vision impairments aged 35 and over into IT training as well as examining existing initiatives that promote the professional development of trainers and best practices for training providers. It will also identify some of the more successful features of specialised IT training courses.
Part two sets out the methodology developed in order to implement a questionnaire-based analysis of older people with vision impairments and IT trainers.
Parts three and four offer an analysis of the results from the questionnaire-based studies of the vision impaired participants and mainstream IT training providers. In the final chapter, conclusions are generated from the findings that have emerged from the research.
All partners to the EATT project in their respective countries, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom, conducted a review of literature. The review is divided into five sections reflecting the findings of the partners in the five member states. In all countries, there was a notable absence of literature on this subject, therefore the literature will concentrate on policies and initiatives aimed at meeting the IT training needs of older people of all abilities. This study includes an investigation into Information Society policies and initiatives aimed at creating an IT society for everybody.. The review on policies aims to provide an insight into the current thinking at government level on making IT accessible to older people and people with disabilities. The section on Encouraging older people of all abilities into IT training (including a subsection on older people with disabilities/vision impairment) outlines some of the courses, innovative ideas and strategies adopted to facilitate older people and people with disabilities into IT training. The literature included in this study has been restricted as much as possible to people within the 35 plus age group. Initiatives aimed at encouraging people over the age of 35 years back into education and training are also included.
This report contains selected excerpts from the detailed individual literature and policy reviews conducted in each of the partner countries to the EATT project. The full text of each review can be found in Appendices 1 - 5 to this report.
The spread of Information Technology is quite advanced in Denmark. During the last five to six years, National Danish IT policies tend to focus on making Denmark one of the leading IT nations and creating an IT community for everybody. In the year 2000, close to 90% of Danes under the age of 55 years had access to a personal computer at home, at work or through the educational system (Denmark's Statistics, 2000). However, a considerable imbalance still exists in terms of age. Only one in four Danes over 60 years had access to the Internet (Ministry of Research, 2000).
There is no central registration of the number of people with vision impairments in Denmark. According to the Visual Impairment Knowledge Centre (Videnscenter for Synshandicap), it is estimated that well over 25,000 people who are blind (visual acuity of less than or equal 6/60) and between 25,000 and 50,000 partially sighted persons (visual acuity of between 6/60 and 6/18) reside in Denmark. The large majority of people with vision impairments in Denmark are over the age of 60 years which seems to be a common trend within each of the EATT partner countries. As older Danish people generally run the risk of being excluded due to a lack of computer literacy, older people with vision impairments are also more likely to be late adopters of IT.
The issue of disability and IT has played a central part in the Danish political IT strategy ever since its first IT action plan. In 1993, the Danish government decided to establish the Equal Opportunities Centre for Disabled Persons under the Danish Disability Council and in 1996, a Multi-disciplinary Committee of Ministers (Regeringens tværgående ministerudvalg for handicap-området) was given the responsibility of making the Information Society accessible to people with a disability. Consequently, a plan of action was produced in the report "Freedom to Choose - Action Plan for Disabled Persons' Utilisation of IT" (Ministry of Research and Information Technology, 1996; 36). This report outlines the Danish government's plan of action for increasing IT access and usage among people with a disability. As recommended within this report, research and development centres in the field of industrial design were established, an artificial speech development project was launched, guidelines were produced to make government and voluntary sector websites accessible and in addition, financial support was granted to a number of projects, which promoted the development of IT skills among older people outside of the workforce and offered more flexible withdrawal from the workforce (Ministry of Social Affairs, 2000; 32). Some of these projects fell under the heading of "Utilisation of IT Among Older People" some of which are outlined below.
"Digital Denmark - Conversion to the Network Society" (1999) is also a contribution to the general Danish government's future e-policy strategy. Digital Denmark does not single out people with a disability for special treatment but aims to include lifelong learning for everyone though increasing the affordability of IT, the provision of IT Lighthouses and a mainstream Internet awareness campaign all of which can relate to older people with vision impairments (Ministry of Research, 1999).
The Danish "National Action Plan for Employment" (2001) emphasised that further education across all age groups, all socio-economic backgrounds and all trades is a crucial condition for economic growth and employment (National Action Plan, 2001; 6). Legislative provisions were put into place in 2001 to reform the provision of further training and education. Under the VEU reforms, action programmes were developed and initiatives launched in order to improve participation by people with a disability in mainstream labour market training courses provided by AMU, the National Labour Market Education Authority. These action programmes have taken the form of implementing the AMU technical aids service and developing good teaching material and pilot projects for groups of people with disabilities (National Action Plan, 2001; 9). The Danish Institute for Technical Aids (HMI) (Hjælpemiddelinstituttet) handles the AMU Technical Aids Service. The HMI assists AMU centres to make individual technical aids assessments, to supply and install equipment and to offer an after sales support service. Moreover, it is the HMI's responsibility to provide support upon completion of a course. A pool of technical aids is being built up, so that equipment and expenses are exploited as efficiently and rationally as possible. For further information refer to http://www.ams.dk/handicap/amu/.
The AMU pilot project for groups of people with disabilities mentioned above was carried out from 1998 to 2002. This project enabled people with a disability to participate in the mainstream AMU training courses. The findings from this pilot project by the County Resource Centre for the Vision Impaired in Aarhus concluded that, in addition to the provision of appropriate equipment, support was necessary for people with vision impairments' ability to take part in AMU labour market education courses and also in mainstream educational training.
Similar reforms have also occurred in Ireland under the National Disability Authority Act, 1999. The participation for people with a disability including people with vision impairments within mainstream labour market training courses have been overlooked in Ireland until recently. Since the year 2000, FÁS, the Irish National Training and Employment Authority, has had responsibility for the training and employment of people with disabilities. As a consequence, it has had to make its courses accessible to people with disabilities, and trainers and other employees are undergoing disability awareness training. While FÁS do not provide IT training courses specifically designed for adult learners with disabilities, they offer a range of IT courses (including online IT courses at www.fas-netcollege.com adopting the principle of lifelong learning), which can be adapted to meet individual needs in an integrated setting. Other provisions offered in Denmark and Ireland promote personal assistance at work, grants for the adaptations to the workplace and subsidies to employers for employment of people with disabilities. In Denmark, these provisions are reinforced through legislation. The Compensation for Disabled Persons in Employment Act (Lov om Kompensation til Handicappede i Erhverv), states that provisions should be in place to provide personal assistance at work and a technical aids grant for equipment in the workplace and in accordance with the Social Services Act (Lov om Social Service), a technical aids grant is available to assist a person with a disability to retain their occupation.
Legislation in most of the EATT partner countries tends to broadly require that "reasonable adjustments" be made to cater for the needs of people with a disability within educational institutions and often require changes to higher education policy and practice. Again, more specific legislative requirements have been put in place in Denmark and are set out in the Special Education for Adults Act (Lov om Specialundervisning for Voksne), 2000, where every Danish County Council must ensure that specialised provisions are made to facilitate people with a disability to attend mainstream courses and in accordance with the Open Education Act (Lov om Åben Uddannelse) adjustments must be made for people with disabilities who participate in further and vocational educational training.
Unlike some the other EATT partner countries, the Danish Government from 1999 to 2002 allocated 33 million Danish Crowns (€4,442,491) in order to develop initiatives which promote the development of IT skills among older people outside of the workforce and which promote more flexible withdrawal from the labour market (Danish Research Agency, 2001). The Danish Research Agency's programme "Utilisation of IT among Older People - Halfway Evaluation" (Ældres brug af informationsteknologi - Midtvejsevaluering) consists of 11 projects, which can be studied in detail at www.dst.dk/forskpro/aeldre-it/projekt or www.aktive-seniorer.dk.
Six of the projects are local initiatives, which attempt to encourage older people to use IT by teaching it in a way that makes it relevant to their everyday lives. For example, the project "Support and Strength - IT as a Background for the Social Life of Older People", set up by the Institute for Future Research, seeks to inquire how IT can preserve older people's identity at work, as active political players, as consumers and as private citizens (Danish Research Agency, 2001; 17). Randers Reb established a similar project called "Utilisation of Multi-media Technology among Senior Employees" which aims to connect senior employees' home workstations to their workplace at the time of their gradual withdrawal from the workforce in order to consequently provide a consultancy role.
There have been a number of initiatives specifically aimed at encouraging people age 55 plus to access computers in the community. For example, in 1988, the Danish Association of Senior Citizens (Ældremobiliseringen), a community and voluntary organisation for older people, received a grant of 1.64 million Danish Crowns (€220,778) from the Ministry of Social Affairs for the project 'Older People and Technology - Bringing the Senior Generation into the 21st Century' (Ældre og teknologi-at bringe ældregenerationen ind i det 21 Århundrede). Under this project more than 45 cyber cafés were established across Denmark. Educational and informative material were produced. A number of services were provided including training and guidance for older people. The project is described in the report "Computer cafés", as a very successful training project (Danish Association of Senior Citizens, 2001). In Ireland, St. Ann's Senior Cyber Café was set up. This initiative was partly funded by the government. It is a free, sociable and user-friendly cyber café solely for over-55's and opens on a daily basis. With the support of a tutor, users can surf the Internet or use email (Jones, No Date). Similarly, throughout the UK, there are now many local community and college initiatives, all designed to introduce older people to computers and the Internet. These initiatives have become known as Silver Surfer Groups. As well as colleges, training venues can include libraries, community centres and residential homes. An example was featured in the Times Educational Supplement (9 November 2001) which refers to the "MaturITy" initiative created by the Rotherham Council in England. The "MaturITy" initiative was aimed at older people in residential homes and day care centres, where they were encouraged to learn computer literacy skills.
As part of the Danish Research Agency's programme "Utilisation of IT among Older People - Halfway Evaluation" (Ældres brug af informationsteknologi - Midtvejsevaluering), the Danish Institute for Technical Aids (Hjælpemiddelinstituttet) set up a project called "IT Skills in Older Disabled People" which attempted to develop a comprehensive educational programme which would generate IT competence among older people with a disability. The project aimed to do this by researching relevant equipment, methods of installation, programs, educational principles, teaching instructions, and ultimately compiling it in a manual for IT trainers (Danish Research Agency, 2001; 20).
The different counties in Denmark offer various IT training courses for people with vision impairments, for example, in the county of Aarhus, the Educational Association for the Blind (Blindes OplysningsForbund, BOF) provides specialised IT training in assistive technology. The County Resource Centre for the Vision Impaired (Synscentralen), also in the County of Aarhus, offers IT installation and training to people in their own homes whenever IT equipment for home use is granted under the Social Services Act. When applying for IT equipment as a working tool in accordance with the Active Social Policy Act, 1997, the municipality has to pay for a few hours of consultancy service for installation and instruction, if needed.
The private sector such as sales outlets that sell specific technical aids for people with vision impairments also provide IT training in the use of their products at a charge. In cooperation with the County Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired, a private firm, the PC Group, ensured that their IT courses were accessible to people with vision impairments by providing training in small groups, using appropriate IT equipment and providing teacher support
It became clear in 1997 that France had fallen behind other European countries in terms of acquisition of computer equipment, Internet access, and mastery of basic IT skills (IDC France, 2001). However, since then, France has made significant strides (Etude Kosmos, 2001).
It can be estimated that the French blind population consists of about 300,000 people or 0.5% of the population (visual acuity less than 3/60 in the better eye) and the partially sighted population is estimated to consist of 2.8 million people or 4.7% of the population (visual acuity less than or equal 6/60 in both eyes or NIL in one eye and less than or equal 6/30 in the other eye) (INSEE, 2000). In France, the large majority (76%) of people with vision impairments are over the age of 60. Bearing in mind that older people generally in France have categorised as 'late adopters' of IT, older people with vision impairments will also fall into this category.
Similar to findings noted by other EATT project partners, there seems to be a correlation between level of educational achievement, degree attainment, involvement in the labour market and access to computer technology (Cézard, 2000; 22). Nearly half of the French vision impaired population are unemployed which will reduce their exposure and familiarity with IT (INSEE, 2000).
It was not really until 1997 that the French government announced that France lags behind other countries and therefore an ambitious overall policy was developed in order to make IT accessible to everyone (Pierret, 1997; 1 - 4) (refer to Appendix 2). The French government's strategy was outlined in its "Program of Government Action for the Information Society" (Site du Programme d'action Gouvernementale pour la Société de l'Information) (PAGSI), 2001. To help design and implement PAGSI, the government commissioned several expert studies one of which is a report that examines the accessibility of IT for people with vision impairments in France (Descargues, 2000).
Descargues issued a report on the accessibility of new technology for people with vision impairments (Descargues, 2000), which is unique to France in comparison to other EATT partner government policies. In this report, Descargues points out that people with vision impairments will only be fully able to take advantage of the Information Society if they have access to assistive technology and an accessible interface, as well as effective professional guidance to assist them.
Descargues criticises assistive technology providers for their after sales policy and their training programs, which the report claims are not of a general nature, but specific to the product purchased.
'In view of the evident weaknesses of the 'hot line' system and technical services, the user had better be able to rely on family and friends to adapt these tools to the information technology environment; and it is absolutely necessary to acquire a fair amount of technical knowledge to face the inevitable problems posed by systems which remain much more complicated to use than consumer-oriented products. It is also difficult to find people who are satisfied with training in the use of these assistive technologies and of the office software programs that can be used with them. The training is rather often seen as poorly adapted to the learners, poorly taught, too short, and generally of mediocre quality' (Descargues, 2000; 17).
The Descargues Report (2000; 45 - 47) also includes a list of recommendations designed to facilitate access to IT training by people with vision impairments. One of the proposals suggests that a framework of accessibility in IT training should be created to ensure that more professional services are provided. This can be created by a technical guide to assistive technology, guidance and support services and by establishing specialised training in assistive technology.
The recommendations and policies outlined in the Descargues report have yet to be evaluated in terms of implementation. However, it is quite evident that although, the Descargues report has developed policies, no national framework has been developed. Local initiatives have emerged on an ad-hoc basis leading to obvious gaps between different geographic areas in terms of the spread and quality of IT training. On a practical level there seems to be a long way to go as yet.
Lifelong learning policy
In the year 2000, the French Ministry of Education for Research and Development developed a "Program of Government Action for the Information Society 2" (PAGSI 2, 2000), which aims to improve IT training in the education sector. This would involve ensuring that all schools, vocational and professional training courses and universities provide IT training. A recommendation of this report was to develop new applications of IT for people with a disability in the educational system and to promote open and distance learning and self-teaching software. PAGSI 2 also recommended increased acquisition of computer equipment by reducing the cost of Internet connections. This recommendation might make IT more affordable to more people including late adopters of IT.
In an attempt to increase economic participation, Government efforts on providing IT training appear to have mainly concentrated on the national training centres such as AFPA, the French National Association for Professional Training for Adults, which operates under the remit of the Ministry for Labour and Solidarity and GRETA, which provides mainstream adult education courses under the Department of Education. AFTA has the responsibility of providing training to people with a disability that are of working age. Agefiph provides funding to AFTA if it offers training to a person with a disability. In Bretagne, in the year 2000, AFTA provided training to 4,500 people of which 385 people had a disability. In Pas de Calais for 2001, 15,360 people received training from AFTA. Of this number, 651 people had a disability.
GRETA the association of public educational institutions offers further training courses at a local level by using college resources and equipment. Training provided by GRETA accounts to 6 per cent of all further professional training provided in France. It offers training to all members of the public within the age group 20 to 60 years, including people who have a disability. SIADV, a community and voluntary organisation, has often offered support and guidance to GRETA, when a vision impaired person requests training, by sourcing local assistive technology resources and by offering guidance on the appropriate adjustments that should be made to a course. It is important to point out that in order to access AFPA or GRETA courses, applicants must pass interviews and placement tests in which previous formal schooling plays a major role. This could present a barrier to some people with vision impairments who may have a lower level of educational attainment.
Training opportunities are also offered locally by voluntary and community organisations. A number of computer clubs have been created at a local level offering beginners' and advanced courses in IT. Older people often obtain personalised, local, and affordable IT training from these kinds of sources, rather than from courses offered in cooperation with the French government, such as AFTA or GRETA. However, the quality of computer club training can vary enormously from place to place.
The Descargues Report (2000; 20) recommends setting up:
'training in assistive technologies and in the software applications that can be used with them. This training should come from occupational therapy institutions or from recognized resource centres. It should not be aimed solely at the computer and office occupational sectors, but should represent a way to help the person genuinely compensate for visual impairment. It must be continuous; that is, refresher courses must be offered on a regular basis to integrate changes in information and communication technologies'.
A number of community and voluntary organisations that provide a service to people with vision impairments have set up initiatives which provide introductory training in assistive technology as part of the rehabilitative process. The Association of Blind and Visually Impaired Intellectuals (GIAA) in Toulon and FIDEV in Lyon offer introductory training in assistive technology for people with vision impairments who would like to obtain basic computer literacy skills and increase their chances of progress onto further mainstream training. Both of these training courses are successful because they are short, customised, and are offered individually or in small groups. Trainers are familiar with assistive technology options available. FIDEV also offers support to participants who follow-up this basic training with mainstream training. An evaluation of the FIDEV course found that 12 per cent of the participants were satisfied and 85 per cent expressed Total satisfaction with the course.
In France, distance learning seems to be the way forward (Dehais, 2000; 44). The Interregional Support Service for Visually Impaired People (SIADV) have noted that it is often difficult to set up training courses using assistive technology for the vision impaired population because the population is so scattered, participants may have limited mobility and there is also a dearth of specialised IT trainers. SIADV suggests that e-learning may help to solve some of these difficulties. For the last number of years, SIADV have been working in partnership with the National College of Telecommunications in Brest to set up a distance learning course for vision impaired adults in Braille and assistive technologies. SIADV are attempting to adapt a video-conferencing system by developing one-to-one teaching using a 'teacher site' and a 'pupil site'. SIADV suggests that the advantage of this method of teaching is that people can learn from their own homes, it can be quickly moved from place to place, it is relatively inexpensive and it will enable people with vision impairments to participate in mainstream training courses.
PROJET ETAPE is a new national project directed by the Braille Net association (Braille Net, 2001). Teachers and vision impaired students exchange computerised documents, such as classroom notes, homework and corrections via the Internet. The aim of this project is to allow pupils to get hands-on experience of new technology and to make it easier for them to access the information they need (Refer to appendix 2). Although, this project is currently aimed at the younger population, it could be adapted to further training of vision impaired adults generally.
In general, there has been a rapid growth in IT usage in Ireland (White Paper on Adult Education, 2000), although a considerable imbalance still exists in terms of age. According to a survey conducted by the Work Research Centre (2000), 64% of Internet users are aged less than 35, yet under thirty-fives make up only 44% of the adult population.
In Ireland, the number of people on the blind person's register amounts to approximately 7,000 (visual acuity less than or equal 6/60 in the better eye or where a field of vision is limited, the widest diameter of vision subtending an angle of 20 degrees or less). Of this number, 6.5% fall within the 0 - 18 years, 40.7% fall within the 18 to 65 years age group and over half (52.8%) of the vision impaired population in Ireland are over the age of 65 years. Overall, there is a lack of data on the level of usage of computers among the older vision impaired population. However, it may be safe to assume that older people generally, as well as older people with vision impairments are 'late adopters' of the Information Society.
There also seems to be a divide between those who are in education and employment and those who are not. Results of the ISC survey (2000a) show that only 30% of unemployed people are familiar with a personal computer, whereas 87% of students and 64% of the Total workforce are computer literate. The Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities (1996) found that 'participation by people with disabilities in education at all levels is significantly below that of the population in general' and the unemployment rate among people with disabilities is approximately 70 per cent. Therefore, older people who have retired from the workforce and people with disabilities, who have generally been found to have a higher level of unemployment and a lower level of education, will tend to have more limited exposure to computers.
When Information Society policy was beginning to develop in Ireland, government policy was criticised in the 'Report of the Information Society Steering Committee' for its strong focus on the economy and much less on how digital information and services could meet the needs of marginalised groups (NESC, 1999; 101). In 1997, the Information Society Commission was established and it consequently published a number of reports which set out a strategic framework for the development of the Information Society in Ireland, some of which attempt to equalize access to technology by all members of society. Initiatives can be developed through these equal access polices, which will relate to older people and people with vision impairments. Recommendations in the Commissions reports include a need for investment in lifelong learning, provision of IT training for older people and increased access to technology by people with disabilities (Information Society Commission, 2000c). The ISC also clearly recognises the role of community and voluntary sector in developing Information Society policy and it has created an advisory group, Connected Communities that includes representatives of people with disabilities and older people. However, in comparison to some of the other EATT partner countries none of the ISC reports focuses specifically on the specific needs of older people or people with disabilities in the Information Society.
An Irish Government Green Paper on Adult Education (Department of Education and Science, 1998) highlighted that failure to provide access for adults to education and training in Information Technology "...can reinforce exclusion from economic participation and impact directly on competitiveness" (p.23). While over 25% of all third level places in the OECD are available to mature students (aged 26 plus), in Ireland, this figure is less than 5%. The Green Paper lists the strategies needed for increased third level mature student access as the development of outreach strategies, access programmes, counselling and mentoring systems, flexible accreditation and provision in community settings. Albeit indirectly, such initiatives encourage adults with a disability to undertake IT training courses or take up further education courses, which generally incorporate acquisition of computer literacy skills as part of the curriculum.
This Green Paper was followed with an Irish Government White Paper on Adult Education (2000), which set out the blueprint for the future development and expansion of adult education. The White Paper outlined some of the compelling reasons as to why computer literacy should be integrated into education and training systems for adult learners. The first reason is for vocational and educational reasons as "knowledge and familiarity with new technologies will be an important dimension of employability in the information society" (p.99) and secondly for social reasons because "it is important that all people, regardless of social or economic background, should have equal access to new technologies" (p.100).
The White Paper recognised the rapid growth of the Internet in Ireland. Such growth inevitably means that increasing numbers of adults will seek access to education and training opportunities through IT. The White Paper recognised the many advantages of using IT as a medium for learning for adults in Ireland. IT provides an opportunity for adult learners to overcome distance; to access information and learning environments from one's home or workplace; for pursuing accredited learning programmes as more and more institutions adapt their programmes for electronic delivery and for interaction with other learners in a virtual classroom environment (p.99). In addition, the Information Society Commission recognised that new technology can be used as a way of overcoming obstacles, such as physical access by people with disabilities, enabling a higher degree of equity (Refer to Third Report of the Information Society Commission, 2000c; 119).
Although the White Paper acknowledged the benefits of distance learning programmes, it was also concerned with the limitations of IT in educational applications and concedes that it is better to look at the virtual learning environment as supplementing rather than replacing the actual one. It nonetheless stated that the application of IT in adult education practice is still in its infancy and a vast potential remains to be realised. 'If this potential is to be tapped, and indeed if Ireland as a society is to maintain its position vis-à-vis other countries in the information revolution, it is imperative that the learning blocks in accessing IT are removed' (p.99).
In recognition of the growing importance of computer literacy for adults generally, the Irish Government has planned a National Adult Basic IT Skills Programme as part of its Back to Education Initiative. This was the first national campaign in IT training for Irish adults, which provided training up to NCVA Level 2 standard. Technical support was provided for adult education providers to enable them to maintain, upgrade and network their IT facilities and provide curriculum support arrangements. The French Inter-ministerial Committee for the Information Society (CISI) has offered a comparable initiative (refer to appendix 2).
The ISC has organised a number of awareness-raising activities to target late adopters of new technology including establishing an 'Internet Venues Directory' accessible through a lo-call number, showing the nearest point of public Internet access; an IT road show which comprised of a mobile computer training unit providing basic email and Internet training to groups at local community level; awareness evenings, distribution of information packs and attendance at exhibitions such as the National Ploughing Championships, and a television and radio series to persuade people of the benefits that computers can bring. Denmark produced a similar project entitled "Senior IT", where a number of television programs were produced in an attempt to illustrate the positive experiences of older computer users (Danish Research Agency, 2001; 22) (refer to Appendix 1).
In its report entitled 'IT Access for All' (2000b), the ISC identified a number of potential public sector strategies to encourage access to IT by socially marginalised groups. Amongst its suggestions is that libraries (including mobile libraries) should become key access points to the Internet for the general public and should offer self-learning computer and cyber skills programmes (ISC, 2000b). Under the EU funded Testlab project, in conjunction with the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, six libraries were selected by the Department of the Environment and Local Government to pilot accessible Internet access and library catalogues for people with vision impairments (The United Kingdom and Italy also participated in the Testlab project and set up a similar pilot project). This project was very successful in Ireland and it reported that there has been 'significant levels of demand for services of this nature' (Department of the Environment and Local Government, 1999; 54). The 'Branching Out' report recommends financial investment by the government for the provision of optical scanners and for the development of accessible facilities in more public libraries.
The ISC also proposes that Government offices should host access points and that new Government offices should be built in such a way that allows twenty-four hour access for citizens to use the Internet. One particularly forward-looking suggestion is that the community and voluntary sector should themselves become Internet access points, which will allow their own community to access the Internet through them. However, the ISC also recognises the barriers encountered by people with vision impairments when accessing the Internet as a number of websites remain inaccessible (ISC, 2000b; 36). The idea of providing an email address for every single citizen has also been considered in Ireland. Again, the ISC recognised that some 'web-based e-mail services currently available have proved difficult to use especially those with visual impairments who need to make use of screen readers' (2000b; 74). Under the French Program of Government Action for the Information Society (PAGSI 2) (2000)digital public spaces were set up, including Internet access in public libraries, Post Offices and since 2000, the Post Office in France offered a free, permanent email address to all citizens (Refer to appendix 2). The ISC also suggests that school facilities should be open to their communities after hours, at weekends and out of term enabling local people to access their IT facilities.
With the development of bodies such as OSCAIL, the national distance education centre, there has been an increasing usage of distance and flexible models for educational delivery in Ireland. In particular, the Adult Education Centre in University College Dublin is experimenting successfully with online delivery of courses including courses on computing, using the Internet. DeLLTTi (Lifelong Learning Online) at www.ucd.ie/~delltti/intro.htm is a virtual teaching environment. Among other things, students are given the opportunity to participate in class discussions, e-mail their tutors or other class members, self-test, or take part in group work. The course attempts to reduce a sense of social isolation by students by providing an interactive element to the course.
While the IT training needs of people with vision impairments over the age of 35 years have been overlooked in Ireland until recently, there have been several developments which go some of the way in addressing this void. Some initiatives for encouraging people over the age of 30 years into IT training have focused on long-term unemployed people who are in search of employment. Such initiatives also encourage unemployed people with a disability within this age group to take up mainstream IT courses. Fast Track to Information Technology (FIT) was one such initiative, established in 1999 to provide computer training for long-term unemployed people including people in receipt of a disability payment from the State. This course offered an IT training programme which focused on preparing participants for return into the workforce. It sought to provide 3,500 people with training and full-time employment within the IT industry in the Dublin area by 2002 (Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, 2000). It was highly successful, with many participants obtaining well-paid employment. Its success was attributed to the high quality of the computer training and its provision of a supportive environment, sensitive to the personal and financial demands placed on its trainees. In addition, FIT was offered in local employment services which are scattered throughout the Dublin area which ensured that no participant had to travel very far in search of information and assistance.
The National Training and Development Institute (NTDI), part of the REHAB group, provides training and development of services to people with disabilities in Ireland. Its courses are designed to prepare participants for the workplace and include various IT courses, such as 'Computer Skills for the Vision Impaired' (Level 2) and 'Information Technology by Distance Learning' (Level 2).
The National Accreditation Committee (NAC) was set up in 1996 to manage the development and implementation of accreditation for centres providing training to people with disabilities. This Committee provides a means to ensure that training, including IT training, provided to people with disabilities complies with certain standards.
The National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) has an NAC approved training centre which offers a rehabilitative course and work-skills programme for people with vision impairments between the ages of 16 and 65 years. The aim of this course is to facilitate trainees to make a successful transition to independent living and occupational integration. Participants can sample training courses in a wide range of subjects including mobility, daily living skills, Braille, literacy and numeracy as well as basic IT and word processing skills. This course has been very successful often leading to further training and employment.
NCBI also operates a technology service, providing equipment, assistive technology and a regionalised technical support service to people with vision impairments on a national basis. In 2002, under the CAIT programme, funded by the Department of Public Enterprise, the NCBI has put into place a national infrastructure of trained volunteers who are available to visit the homes of people with vision impairment, providing whatever technical support is needed. NCBI is also recognised as a clearing agent for the Technical Aids Grant, which is funded and operated, by the Department of Health and Children through some of the local area health boards. By means of this grant, assistive devices and software can be provided to people with vision impairments for their personal use at home. However, some health boards stipulate that recipients of the grant must be under the age of 65 years.
In addition, a European funded course entitled 'IT for People with a Visual Impairment' has adopted a lifelong learning approach and has been operating successfully for the past number of years in a rural area of County Kerry. Tailored to meet the individual needs of the participants, it is designed to provide practical skills in computer literacy often leading to further training, education or employment. The successfulness of this course can be attributed to the way in which the training is provided. The course offers the opportunity for social interaction and attempts to provide training in a relaxed environment. The transport arrangements of the participants are considered and course hours are made flexible. One of the course modules focuses on personal development where an initial assessment of the person's needs and expectations from the course are examined. The level of education of the participants' is also assessed in order to ascertain their level of literacy and numeracy. The course caters for all age groups. A life-long learning approach is offered for those over the age of 60 years whereas for others training has the specific goal of obtaining employment. The course offers an opportunity for participants to attain NCVA level 1 Certification and European Computer Driving Licence Certification (ECDL) (National Council for the Blind of Ireland, 2001). This initiative is very successful, with a number of graduates obtaining full-time employment.
In the past number of years, an IT training course was set up for people with vision impairments of all age groups in the Open Learning Centre at Colaiste Ide Senior College in Dublin (Ryan, 1998). The Centre has become a recognised ECDL test centre. The IT course being offered has proven to be extremely popular (Visually Impaired Computer Society, 2002) and has illustrated that community education in an open learning environment is an effective way of offering computer literacy skills to those who are outside of the formal education system. In 2001-2002, 7 students participated in the course of which, 4 completed all of the seven ECDL modules successfully. Currently, 9 students are undertaking the course.
In 1999, according to the former Minister of Education, Tulio De Mauro, half of the adult Italian population, found themselves at a de facto level of illiteracy, not capable of taking an active part in the Information Society. The spread of digital technology places Italy in next to last place, somewhat on the same level as France, but still distant from the United Kingdom and the Nordic countries (Bocconi University, 2001). In general, the number of Internet users has increased in Italy. At the same time, however, the gaps between Italy's different geographic areas are widening, with northeast Italy showing continuous growth in IT usage, while southern Italy remains at extremely low levels (Roncati & Cicchetti, 2001; 8). The Total number of people with vision impairments amounts to 370,000 the majority of whom reside in northern Italy. The definition of blindness in Italy requires a person to have a visual acuity less than or equal 3/60 in both eyes after correction. Although, Italy does not have a legal definition of partial sight, it is generally accepted that partially sighted people are those with a visual acuity of between 6/60 and 3/60 after correction. Limited field of vision is not taken into account in the Italian definition of vision impairment. Statistics show that 92 per cent of the vision impaired population are over 35 years of age, of this number, 65 per cent are over the age of 65 (I.Ri.Fo.R., 1995). In Italy, most policies and initiatives in relation to the provision of IT training opportunities seem to focus almost exclusively on those under the age of 35 years. There is an undeniable need to develop lifelong learning initiatives for the 92% of people with vision impairments who are older than 35 years of age.
Among the numerous projects intending to promote the development of the Information Society, which were launched by various ministries from 1996 onwards, it was noted that the co-ordination and construction of a general, unitary and systematic policy was greatly needed. To achieve this aim, the Prime Minister's Office instituted the following structures in 1999: the Committee of Ministers, the Inter-departmental Study and Working Group, the Information Society Forum and Office for Technological Innovation (refer to appendix 4). The Italian government consequently drew up a Plan of Action for the Information Society. The purpose of the plan was to facilitate and accelerate the process of IT assimilation through policies of training and inclusion. The Information Society Forum (2000) issued a report entitled "e-Italy - A Project for Italy and Europe: a Contribution to the International Community", which provides a framework for the policy actions that needed to be taken. In the plan, the numerous references to young people and to areas in southern Italy stand out as points of particular interest. Less evident are references to adults, older people and people with disabilities.
Despite the fact that a legislative framework in relation to the right to lifelong learning and to training by people with vision impairments has been put into place in Italy, people with vision impairments in the 35 to 65 year-old age group generally still tend to have a lower level of education in comparison to the sighted population. A large number of people over the age of the 65 years did not have adequate educational opportunities available to them in the post-war period, which has reduced the level of literacy and numeracy generally among this age group. On average, the percentage of people with vision impairments with a poor educational attainment is higher in southern Italy (with peaks reaching 90%) and on the islands (Sicily and Sardinia) and consists of more women than men (Dryden, Garner & Tillsley, 2000; 43). It is evident therefore that It is not only necessary to adapt the contents and training methods of computer literacy training, the level of numeracy and literacy of the vision impaired population is also an important consideration. Personal development skills as well as technical skills are consequently of equal importance (Meister, 2001).
In Italy, significant attention is given to the use of IT in schools. This focus only targets a small portion of the vision impaired population (8%). For the remaining 92% of people with vision impairments, as age increases, the percentage of people who use a computer declines (CE, 2001; 15).
All of the EATT project partner countries offer access to the ECDL qualification where some adjustments are provided for vision impaired participants. However, in Italy, the Italian Association of Informatics and Automated Calculation (Associazione Italiana per l'Informatica ed il Calcolo Automatico - AICA), which is a member of the Information Society Forum and the Council of European Professional Informatics Societies, manages and issues the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) qualification to people with a disability.
Since 2001, on behalf of the AICA, ASHPI (Association to Develop Information Technology Projects for Handicapped People - Associazione per lo Sviluppo di Progetti Informatici per gli Handicappati) has become the only organisation, on a national level, that provides information to every IT training centre and to individuals with all forms of disability on adjustment that can be made to the ECDL.
I.Ri.Fo.R (Istituto per la Ricerca la Formazione e la Riabilitazione) was created by the Italian Union of the Blind, the main organisation of people with vision impairments in Italy. I.Ri.Fo.R. and ASHPI have been set up as recognised ECDL test centres where a person with a disability can take their examinations. In addition to I.Ri.Fo.R., Professions of Milan in Support of Solidarity (Le Professioni Milanesi per la Solidarietà) offers specific courses to prepare people with vision impairments for the ECDL (http://www.corsi-zotti.it/indice-i-Inglese.html). At present, no information is available on the profiles of individuals who have undertaken an ECDL course.
From 1994 to 2000, I.Ri.Fo.R. held 194 specific IT training courses for approximately 1850 individuals with vision impairment. Many of these courses were introductory, while others were more advanced or specialised. Between 1998 and 2000, Le Professioni Milanesi per la Solidarietà, in collaboration with Retinitis Pigmentosa Italia, held courses in IT for approximately 340 people with vision impairments. These special courses were either free of charge, or required a small fee. A number of sales outlets that sell specific technical aids for people with vision impairments also offer courses at different levels at a charge. Unfortunately, there are no data available on the age of the participants in the courses.
There has been a radical increase in Internet usage over the past number of years in the United Kingdom. However, a recent report (National UK Statistics, 2001) reveals that access to the Internet tends to decrease considerably with age with only 11 per cent of the 65 plus age group with access to the Internet in comparison to 69 per cent of 25 to 44 year olds.
In 1997, 193,956 people were registered as blind and 160,197 as partially sighted. The definition of blindness in the UK has a visual acuity of less than 3/60, or visual acuity between 3/60 and 6/60 and a considerable contraction of the field of vision or visual acuity > 6/60 and the field contraction covering majority of the field. For partially sighted people, their visual acuity is between 3/60 and 6/60 and a full field of vision, or visual acuity between 6/60 and 6/24 and a moderate contraction of field of vision or visual acuity up to 6/18, or even better, with a gross field defect (RNIB, 2001). Eighty per cent of people with sight problems in the UK are 65 or over. Overall, there is a lack of data on the level of usage of computers among the older vision impaired population. It may be safe to assume that older people generally, as well as older people with vision impairments have more limited expose to IT and computer literacy skills.
UK government level policy on making IT accessible to older people is the responsibility of the e-government part of the Cabinet Office. Some of the more general policy statements are found within the policy documents "UK Online" (2000) and "UK Online Strategy" (2001). These documents merely spell out an overall e-policy framework. They never mention specific groups, however, inclusive access issues which relate to older people and people with a disability can be developed through these policies. Community and voluntary organisations have also been to the forefront in influencing inclusive Information Society policy at Government level and lobbying towards its development and implementation.
Of the UK government policy documents produced, ensuring that older learners are confident with IT skills and training falls best within the overarching theme, "Confident People". One of the "Confident People" UK government goals is to "embed information and communication technology skills in the education system and throughout lifelong learning". The UK Government acknowledged that "the elderly" and disadvantaged have often developed resistance to learning IT skills, sometimes because of unsuccessful attempts to learn in the past and sometimes because of a basic lack of confidence and opportunity. However, research by the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) (2000a) showed that if they want to and chose to learn, older people aged over 50 years are more likely to pursue IT skills acquisition than any other learning activity.
The Department for Education and Employment Working Group has recognised some of the problems encountered by people with disabilities in their report 'Freedom to Learn: Basic Skills for Learners with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities'. After a wide ranging investigation of the basic skill needs of adults with disabilities, the DfEE (2000b) reported that more funding should be made available for people with disabilities to improve materials and provide computer equipment for teaching and learning. The Working Group also pointed out that people with a disability could participate in mainstream courses as long as support was in place. It is worthwhile quoting directly from the Report:
Freedom to Learn: Basic Skills for Learners with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities (DfEE, 2000b; 6): "If they are to participate in classes, many disabled learners require specialist or individual support Most would benefit from access to information technology where the software is appropriate. Many teachers are unfamiliar with the range of software available" (emphasis added).
Freedom to Learn(DfEE, 2000b) also highlights the learning and assistive technology needs of two groups who are often neglected: adults who experience sight loss later in life and people with vision impairments who have additional learning difficulties and/or hearing impairment. Poor access to technology is reported as one of the greatest barriers to learning by these two groups because some courses fail to provide for their needs and because the whole field of community education does not adequately provide accessible technology. It therefore advocates better availability of assistive technology to "meet individual needs", and more specialist support staff familiar with the assistive software options available. One of the recommendations in the report specific to vision impaired learners is that:
'Information Technology training for the teachers and technical staff involved in continuing education should include information about, and instruction in the use of, the main types of specialist hardware and software that learners require for access' (DfEE, 2000; 16).
Relevant UK legislation, the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Act (SENDA) 2001, requires changes to college and university policy and practice. These have clear implications for meeting the needs of students with vision impairment who require equal access to the curriculum through assistive technology. Under this act, all students with a disability have a right to reasonable adjustments, access to services and should not be treated 'less favourably' because of their disability. Some of the specific requirements which make IT accessible to students are summarised in Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) (2001) policies which advocate for the provision of text enlargement software, large screens and screen-reading software for vision impaired learners and accessible faculty intranets and websites.
The British Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education set out a Code of Practice on Students with Disabilities (1999) that explicitly outlines accessibility standards which colleges and universities are obliged to meet. Some of the standards are particularly relevant to vision impaired learners. Supports include access to appropriate computer facilities, training for staff to provide accessible electronic course material, support for students' use of assistive equipment and personal support for students with a disability (including those that are not in receipt of disabled student's allowance). The provision of supports will be based on an assessment of individual need. Most EATT partner countries have already noted similar guidelines which would enhance lifelong learning in the higher education sector however, a code of practice has not been outlined in as much detail as in the UK.
The main entry point in the UK to online learning is through learndirect - www.learndirect.co.uk but most learning centres are, generally speaking, not accessible to people with vision impairments. Currently, the community and voluntary organisation, the Royal National Institute for the Blind, have been attempting to influence inclusive Information Society policy at Government level by lobbying for the development and implementation of accessible distance and open learning environments.
The UK online Computer Training initiative ran throughout England from 2000 until 2001 and offered free, basic IT training to approximately 50,000 people. The initiative's aim was to offer people on state benefits, including those in receipt of disability benefit and UK State pension, the chance to develop confidence and skills in IT by providing a taster session in computers and gauging potential suitability for more in depth training. All participants with a disability "had to be actively seeking work and have little or no IT experience". People on the UK State pension were also seen to have a need for IT skills because many were remaining in paid and unpaid employment beyond the official retirement age. Participants could also receive a skills assessment to establish any specific or additional learning needs and could be enrolled on courses, which could lead to qualifications, such as the European Computer Driving License. The UK government contracted out the training to a variety of training providers such as commercial training companies, voluntary organizations, further education colleges, and in remote rural locations. Some providers delivered IT courses in community settings by means of laptop computers. Over 70% of the learners were aged 35 plus while over 10% were classed as retired. An initial evaluation revealed that 'over 85 per cent of participants rated their training as good or excellent, many later found work using IT, and most reported an increase in confidence, both with IT and in general' (Leatherbarrow, 2001). Vision impaired learners were supported through this initiative but precise figures are not available. However, not all of the training centres had access to assistive technology particularly in rural training centres.
The Technology for Disabilities Information Service (TechDis) initiative was formed by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) in 2001 (see Phipps, 2001). This initiative acts as a means of awareness raising on ways to increase access for learners with a disability in the further and higher education sector. Information is distributed on the main types of assistive technology options that can be used by vision impaired learners and illustrates them briefly with case studies from students with vision impairment. This initiative is located on the Internet at http://www.techdis.ac.uk/ where training providers easily access an inexpensive source of information.
The National Organisation for Adult Learning (NIACE) is one of the key organisations in the UK which campaigns on and influences public policy in the area of adult learning. It is predominantly concerned with learners' aged 35 plus (see http://www.niace.org.uk/). It provided briefing sheets, which related public policy in practical ways to older learners with disabilities. For example, it recently produced a briefing on the government's "Joint Investment Plans (JIPs)" for older people (NIACE, 2001). NIACE has also produced a briefing sheet entitled 'Visually Impaired Older Learners' (NIACE, 2000) which emphasises the point that the needs of older vision impaired learners often go unrecognised. The briefing sheet also contains useful contact details for the main UK organisations that will provide support. NIACE attempts to encourage colleges and community education services to ensure that they are involved in the drawing up of JIPs and in providing lifelong learning opportunities.
In recognition of the lack of any formal standard set on the provision of training to people with vision impairments in computer literacy skills using assistive technology, the British Computer Association for the Blind (BCAB) Trainer Certificate Scheme was set up in 2001. The community and voluntary organisation, the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB), resourced this scheme. Consultation was made with the suppliers of assistive technology and those who provided training in their use. National standards were set which would measure a trainer's professional competence. Arrangements were made with the Institute of IT Training (IITT) to adopt an accessible version of their refresher course for training providers.
People with vision impairments, product suppliers and government bodies and so on can use this standard as an assurance that they will be able to source a suitably qualified trainer in their area. In addition, the DfEE will be able to ensure that training provided for students or training provided under the Access to Work Scheme has the BCAB certification. This scheme has been found to be effective and workable and is recognised and supported by independent bodies and Central Government. The BCAB schemes distinctiveness lies in the very wide range of products in which trainer's competence is assessed and certified.
The spread of Information Technology has increased substantially over the past years although each country involved in this project has made different amounts of progress towards an Information Society. Nordic countries such as Denmark have focused on making Denmark one of the leading IT nations and creating an IT community for everybody. The level of advancement made by the United Kingdom and Ireland is slightly lower than Denmark but the spread of digital technology in Italy and France is still quite distant from what has been achieved by the other partner countries. Despite these differences, a common trend has emerged among all of the EATT project partners. A considerable imbalance still exists in terms of age and social economic status. Although, the definition of legal blindness varies from country to country, a common trend found within each of the partner countries is that a large proportion of the vision impaired population are within an older age category. Older people with vision impairments run the risk of being excluded due to a lack of computer literacy. People with disabilities, generally, tend to have a higher level of unemployment and lower level of education, which tends to influence their opportunities of accessing computer technology. Italy has additional problem of having half their adult population finding themselves at a de facto level of illiteracy. Many older Italian people must first overcome illiteracy difficulties before computer literacy can be achieved. There are also gaps between different geographic regions in terms of the spread IT usage and access to IT training.
A persistent finding by all of the partner countries is that most of the Information Society policies attempt to offer IT access to all generally. Initiatives can be developed through these equal access polices, which directly relate to older people with vision impairments. Overall, the differentiated needs of specific groups such as older people or people with disabilities do not appear to have been given adequate consideration in all countries, although, some governments have given more consideration to the needs of people with vision impairments in the Information Society. In Denmark, the issue of disability has played an important role in Information Society policy since its first action plan. The Danish government set up a multidisciplinary committee of Ministers who had responsibility of coordinating government policies on disability, to consider the barriers to integration of people with a disability and to propose priorities for initiatives. The French government commissioned a number of reports in order to make the Information Society accessible to all, one of which specially examines the needs of people with vision impairments. The report points out that people with vision impairments will only be able to fully take advantage of the Information Society if they have access to assistive technology as well as having effective professional guidance to assist them. It recommends the professional development of trainers through, for example, creating a technical guide to assistive technology, the provision of guidance and support services and the availability of specialised training in assistive technology.
British Information Society policy acknowledges that the needs of adults who experience sight loss in later life and those who have additional disabilities are not catered for within community education. It recommends better availability of assistive technology and more specialist trainers in community education.
Most government policies attempt to ensure that all age groups and socio-economic backgrounds have access to IT training at work and within the educational system in an attempt to increase economic growth, human capital and employment and also to increase social inclusion by full participation in society.
The number of innovative ways Government strategies have attempted to encourage adults into lifelong learning policies has been most encouraging. Ireland's Green Paper on Adult Education suggested strategies needed for increased mature student access to the higher education sector as the development of more flexible accreditation, access programmes and increased community education. In the United Kingdom, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education set out a code of practice which explicitly outlines accessibility standards which the higher education sector are obliged to meet. Some of the standards are particularly relevant to people with vision impairments such as access to appropriate computer facilities and support to students in the use of assistive equipment. Most EATT partner countries have developed policies to enhance lifelong learning in the higher education sector however a code of practice has not been outlined in as much detail as in the United Kingdom.
Legislation in most of the EATT countries tends to broadly require that 'reasonable adjustments' be made to cater for the needs of people with a disability within educational institutions. Legislation in the United Kingdom requires changes to college and university policy and practice in an attempt to ensure a right to education by people with disabilities under the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Act (SENDA), 2001. 'Reasonable adjustments' made to the higher education sector are informed by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education code of practice and the TechDis initiative formed by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) which acts as a means of awareness raising within the further and higher education sector on ways to increase access for learners with a disability. In Denmark, the legislative provisions set out to ensure that specialised provisions are made to facilitate people with a disability to attend education and further training courses are quite specific under the Open Education Act and the Special Education for Adults Act (2000).
Overall, the whole area of community education does not appear to adequately provide for the lifelong learning needs of many older people with vision impairments. Poor provision of assistive technology seems to be the greatest barrier. There needs to be better availability of assistive technology and more specialist trainers who are familiar with the assistive technology options available at community level.
In most countries, a great deal of government effort on providing IT training has concentrated on the National Training Centres for labour market education, such as AMU, the Danish National Labour Market Education Authority; FÁS, the Irish National Training and Employment Authority and AFPA, the French National Association for Professional Training for Adults.
In Denmark and Ireland, these policies have been supported by legislative provisions to improve participation of people with a disability in these mainstream labour market training courses by ensuring that the appropriate equipment and support is provided. In Denmark, in accordance with the Active Social Policy Act, 1997, when applying for assistive equipment as a working tool, the municipality has to pay for a few hours consultancy service for installation and instruction. Other grants offered in both Denmark and Ireland offer personal assistance at work, grants for the adaptation of the workplace and subsidies to employers for employment of people with disabilities.
In recognition of the growing importance of computer literacy for adults generally, national campaigns have attempted to raise the level of awareness among adults and to provide IT training to adults generally, so that they can see the practical benefits of IT to their daily lives. A particularly successful initiative, UK Online Computer Training initiative ran throughout England offering free, basic IT training. The initiative's aim was offer people on state benefits, including those in receipt of disability benefit or the UK State pension, an awareness of the opportunities presented by IT. Older learners were targeted. Learners could also receive a skills assessment to establish specific learning needs and could be enrolled on a computer course. This initiative has shown that many learners later found work using IT. Many retired and vision impaired learners also benefited greatly although not all of the training centres had access to assistive technology.
Some of the more successful initiatives encouraging older people with vision impairments into IT training appear to be those that are delivered by the community and voluntary sector at a local level. These courses are successful because they adopt a holistic approach, tailoring courses to meet the individual needs of trainees and incorporating personal development skills as well as technical skills. Consideration is given to producing a supportive environment, sensitive to the personal and financial demands placed on trainees. The training courses are affordable, the transport arrangements as well as level of literacy and numeracy of the participants are taken into account. Trainers are familiar with the needs of people with vision impairments and of the assistive software options available. Teaching is either individual or in small groups. A lifelong learning approach is often offered for those over the age of 60 years and for people below this age, training can increase employment opportunities.
Due to financial limitations of the community and voluntary sector, the number of training courses on offer is far below the ever-increasing level of demand for them. The Danish government, in particular, did financially invest in a number of successful projects in order to promote IT skills among older people who are outside of the labour market. Training was provided locally in a way that made it relevant their daily lives. One of the projects funded, 'IT skills in Older Disabled People' delivered by a community and voluntary organisation is particularly relevant to the EATT report. This project hoped to develop a comprehensive training course, which would offer computer literacy skills to older people with a disability. It did this by selecting the relevant equipment, methods of installation, assistive software, adjustments to teaching instructions and ultimately compiled it in a manual for IT trainers (Danish Research Agency, 2001; 20). In 2002, under the Irish CAIT programme, funded by the Department of Public Enterprise, National Council for the Blind of Ireland, a community and voluntary organisation, was also given the financial opportunity to put into place a national infrastructure of trained volunteers who were available to visit the homes of people with vision impairments, providing whatever technical support was needed.
In some countries, the community and voluntary sector is believed to be the key to providing IT training as it would enable this sector to assist their target group with becoming more computer literate. The French Descargues report reinforces this by recommending that IT training to people with vision impairments should be delivered by organizations that provide a service to this group as part of the rehabilitative process in order to cater for individual needs. A number of rehabilitative courses are offered primarily by the community and voluntary sector, which facilitate trainees in making the successful transition to both independent living and occupational integration, provide computer training as part of the rehabilitative process.
Voluntary and community organisations have also set up a number of IT training opportunities through local computer clubs and cyber cafés. The Danish Ministry of Social Affairs provided funding for a project that successfully established forty-five cyber cafés across Denmark where older people could receive training in computer skills. Many older people with vision impairments (over 65 years) very often obtain personalised, local and affordable IT training from these kinds of sources.
In some of the EATT partner countries, for those wishing to have access to computers for daily living they very often have to acquire equipment out of their own money. In Denmark, legislative provisions have been put into place to ensure that a technical aids grant is available to all people with vision impairments to facilitate everyday life in the home. In Ireland, people with vision impairments can apply to obtain a government grant for IT equipment for their disposal at home although, some local area health boards stipulate that recipients of the technical aids grant must be under the age of 65 years.
As previously noted the professional development of trainers is central to providing appropriate IT training to older people with vision impairments. As previously mentioned, under the "IT Skills in Older Disabled People" project, the Danish Institute for Technical Aids (Hjælpemiddelinstituttet) compiled a comprehensive guidance manual for IT trainer which will facilitate the acquisition of computer literacy skills among older people with a disability.
In the United Kingdom, under the TechDis initiative developed by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) in 2001 information was made available to the further and higher education sector in an attempt to assist access by learners with a disability. A website was developed as a way of accessing and disseminating information on best practices.
New national standards in training skills were also established to ensure the professional development of trainers. The British Computer Association for the Blind (BCAB) Trainer Certificate Scheme was set up in 2001 and resourced by the community and voluntary organisation, the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB). It sets out standards for trainers of people with vision impairments in the use of assistive technology. The BCAB schemes uniqueness lies in the very wide range of products in which trainer's competence is assessed and certified. This scheme has been found to be effective and workable. People with vision impairments of any age, product suppliers and government bodies will be able to source a suitably qualified trainer in a particular area. The Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) will use this standard to ensure that training provided under the Access to Work Scheme will have BCAB certification.
In most of the EATT partner countries, people with disabilities have access to mainstream ECDL courses, where adjustments can be made to both training and examinations. However, since 2001, the Italian organisation ASHPI disseminates information on adaptations to the ECDL for people with a disability to every IT training centre. This initiative attempts to ensure that ECDL trainers are aware of the different types of assistive software and supports available.
I.Ri.Fo.R, a community and voluntary organisation that provide a service to people with vision impairments in Italy, and Colaiste Ide Open Learning Centre in Ireland have both become recognised as an ECDL test centres for people with vision impairments. The trainers are familiar with assistive technology and can make the appropriate adjustments to teaching material and equipment. Individual needs and teacher-student ratio are taken into consideration. The courses were open to all age groups. The features which make these training courses accessible to people with vision impairments could be applied to mainstream IT training courses in the future.
It is often difficult to set up training courses using assistive technology for the vision impaired population because the population is so scattered and there is a dearth of specialised professionals. Distance learning can overcome some of these obstacles as it is relatively inexpensive and it can enable people with vision impairments to participate in mainstream training courses. Teachers and vision impaired students can exchange computerised notes, and students can easily access information. Despite the benefits of distance learning, there are major issues around e-learning environments being inaccessible and remaining so. The United Kingdom has a nationwide IT-based learning service "learn direct", which is simply not accessible. In addition, many older vision impaired learners may consider the personal development element of learning to be as important as the development of technical skills and hence, distance learning can be viewed as supplementing rather than replacing traditional methods.
In some countries, the private sector, such as sales outlets that sell specific technical aids for people with vision impairments, charge a fee for training. Affordability can be an obstacle to access. The French Descargues report highlights the importance of family and friends in offering support and training in computer skills and in the use of assistive software equipment as the report claims that after sales technical support and training courses offered by the private sector are very specific to the product purchased and requires a fair amount of technical knowledge. Nevertheless, the private sector can be a useful source of IT training when the courses offered make the necessary adjustments for people with vision impairments. In Denmark, the private company, PC Group offered tailor-made IT training courses for people with vision impairments with the cooperation of the Danish County Resource Centre for the Vision Impaired (Synscentralen) who provided trainer support and advice on assistive technology.
The suppliers of assistive technology can also often offer training courses to IT trainers in the use of their products, as noted by the British Computer Association for the Blind (BCAB) Trainer Certificate Scheme in the United Kingdom.
There are only a few training courses targeted at people with vision impairments, and in particular the older members of this group have not yet been targeted. Information Society policies have recognised the difficulties encountered by older people with vision impairments in accessing IT training and recognise that professional development of trainers in assistive technology is essential. Putting such policies into practice requires financial investment and political commitment, and therefore it remains to be seen how successfully they will be implemented.
Some of the more successful initiatives encouraging older people and people with disabilities into IT training are those that are delivered by the community and voluntary sector. However, due to financial limitations of this sector, the number of training courses on offer is far below the ever-increasing level of demand for them.
Local initiatives have emerged on an ad-hoc basis leading to obvious gaps between different geographic areas in terms of the spread of IT usage and access to IT training. The successful attributes of specialised IT training initiatives that have emerged locally by the community and voluntary sector can be applied to mainstream IT training courses in the future.
This chapter provides an outline of the research design employed for this study and of the various issues involved in the selection of respondents. There will be a description of the approaches used in analysing the hypotheses posed and a discussion of some of the limitations on data collection.
This research study was an empirical effort to assess the level of awareness among people with vision impairments aged over 35 years of the benefits and opportunities that IT can bring and to identify the particular needs of this group in relation to accessing computers and acquiring computer literacy. The study examined the extent to which lack of computer literacy for older people with vision impairments leads to social exclusion as a result of more limited access to information, communication and consumer goods. It also revealed whether increased computer literacy among people with vision impairments would improve employability, chances of job promotion and access to mainstream training opportunities. This study identified the successful features of specialised IT courses so that these features could be applied to mainstream training opportunities. In addition, this study explored the level of awareness among IT training providers' of the needs of people with vision impairments aged over 35 years and assessed the related needs of IT trainers in order to support them in facilitating older people with vision impairments participation in mainstream IT training courses.
The nature of this research study was quantitative. Two questionnaires were designed whose purpose was to prove or disprove a number of working hypotheses. The different participating countries put these hypotheses forward, all of which have worked closely with vision impaired adults and who were aware of the needs of their target group.
The three principle hypotheses, which were considered in this research study, are outlined below.
In order to understand the remit of this study, it is important to define the terms used. The term 'Information Technology' includes assistive technology, personal computers and the Internet. The term 'older people with vision impairments' is defined as people with vision impairments within the 35 plus age group.
Two samples were used in this study, one of which represented people with vision impairments and the other represented IT training providers. The vision impaired population sample size was set at a minimum of twenty and a maximum of fifty respondents per country. The sample was all over the age of 35 years. Half of the sample was male and the other half was female. An attempt was made to ensure that the sample consisted of twenty per cent of people who are blind and eighty per cent of people who were partially sighted as this representation would reflect the number of people registered as legally blind and partially sighted in the EATT project countries. Every effort was made to achieve a national geographical representation in the sample from both urban and rural areas, and representation of people from different socio-economic areas and backgrounds. Half of the sample represented people who had experience of using a computer whether for personal or professional use and the other half of the sample had no experience of using a computer. Half of sample was employed or in a training course while the other half of sample was unemployed and who had not participated in a training course.
The IT training providers sample size comprised of twenty respondents from each country. For the purpose of analysis, two sub-samples were formed. One sample consisted of non-specialised IT training providers who had experience of teaching people with vision impairments. The other sample had no experience in working with people with vision impairments. Both of these samples had a maximum of ten respondents. Quota sampling was used at the first stage to identify a 'starting' sample. Consequently, non-probability snowball sampling was used to identify and obtain the cooperation of the other IT training providers in this study. 'A few persons having the requisite characteristics are identified and interviewed. These persons are used as informants to identify others who would qualify for inclusion in the sample' (Bailey, 1982; 100).
There were two questionnaires designed for use this study. The first questionnaire attempted to measure the attitudes of the vision impaired sample. The purpose of the second questionnaire was to measure IT trainer's attitudes towards the provision of IT training to people with vision impairments. Closed questions (yes, no, multiple choice, value choice) and semi-opened questions were employed in the IT training providers questionnaire. The questionnaire was conducted over the telephone.
In order to obtain a representative sample of the population that included people with vision impairments over the age of 35 years in their various capacities as well-educated and poorly-educated, older citizens and employees, the questionnaire included questions that acquired data in relation to the social and personal background of respondents.
The frame of reference of the respondents should always be considered in questionnaire design (Bailey, 1982). Hence, vocabulary had to be suitable for the group, particular bias within the group had to be taken into account and consideration of how informed the group were, was all relevant in the design of a workable instrument. The two questionnaires used in our study, one for people with vision impairments, and the other for training providers, can be found in Appendices 6 and 7.
Data processing software called Sphinx (Sphinx: http://www.lesphinx-developpement.fr/) was used to assess the correlation between the different qualitative variables of the hypotheses.
Semi-opened questions were employed in the IT training providers questionnaire, in particular question 30 - "According to you, how could people with vision impairments benefit from participating in an IT training course?" This question gathered qualitative data on the set of perceptions and experiences, common to most IT training providers. In analysing this question, the method of content analysis was employed using Sphinx software, which involved analysing the frequency of terms used by respondents. The position of terms in sentences, synonyms, and the overall meaning were investigated. This method identified the reasons for access to IT training by people with vision impairments which were perceived by IT trainers.
A scale to evaluate respondents' level of computer literacy was developed to determine whether the initial hypotheses are proved or disproved.
The six working hypotheses of this study all make reference to "levels" of computer literacy. Therefore, it was necessary to define exactly what was