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IATP News - February 2007

Disabled Ukrainians Benefit from Information Technology Use

Hearing impaired children learn Internet basics at the
IATP access site in Chernivtsi






Hearing impaired people learn computer and Internet
use in Ivano-Frankovsk

In February, 23 IATP centers throughout Ukraine held a series of events to support initiatives designed to close the technology gaps that face disabled persons in Ukraine. The ability to communicate and research online provides them access to the greater world, and allows them to operate on a level field in the information age. IATP also organizes online discussions to address the most urgent problems for disabled people in Ukraine, and offers a free Web hosting platform to spread their ideas among a wider online audience and to establish connections with their Ukrainian and foreign partners. Since its inception, IATP has worked to integrate the disabled residents of the communities it serves.

• IATP’s Sense Online project is helping blind Ukrainians to gain access to the technological revolution. Special technology and training has allowed a group of blind instructors to pass along computer skills to their peers throughout the country. Read more in this issue of IATP News.

• A letter of gratitude from a disabled beneficiary of the IATP center in Zhytomyr, Maryna Annenkova, describing her accomplishments that were made possible by the program, arrived at the center on February 1st. Maryna first came to the IATP access site in 2003 together with other students of Ukraina University. Maryna remarked that like other students she needed information, but had few resources for getting the information. Free Internet access helped her to address this problem. Later, Maryna started participating in IATP online conferences and forums on social issues, as she intended to become a social worker. On April 3, 2006, she took part in an online conference entitled, “Life through the Eyes of Disabled Person.” In November 2006 Maryna created her website, which contains her poetry, pictures, and information about the social projects and grant writing tips. Maryna wrote, “I have dreamed for a long time about creating a personal website to communicate more and implement my projects, to collect so important social capital. And last year it happened, I have my own online home at IATP hosting platform. I hope that this website will not be the end, but the next step towards success, which I wish to all friends and partners of this wonderful program!”

Maryna Annenkova (in the middle) takes part in the
online discussion from the IATP access site in Zhytomyr

• Eight deaf children of Chernivtsi, six in Ivano-Frankovsk,  learned to use the Internet for research and to communicate online with peers throughout Ukraine and abroad. This was the latest in a series of trainings which began in 2005 for children with hearing impairments studying at a local specialized school. IATP and the Ukrainian Distance Learning System (UDL) sponsored the series, which aimed to integrate of children with hearing impairments into society and augment their education through online distance courses. Known as the Virtual Campus project, uniting schools for the hearing impaired children throughout Ukraine, which was implemented under support of Small Grants Program Matra CAP of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands and Deaf Workforce Education Consortium (DWE). The partnership resulted in the creation of a web resource, which has been utilized by dozens more students of the region to enrich their education.

• An NGO working with the disabled of Ternopil began writing a grant application as a result of an IATP seminar on February 16. Yulia Pukhalska (FLEX 01) and Peace Corps volunteer Paul Muccaroni conducted the seminar for four employees of the Foundation for Support of Disabled People Movement at the IATP center in Ternopil, Ukraine. The participants learned to define and describe project’s aim and tasks, compile budget, and illustrate the results. By using skills mastered at the seminar, the attendees plan to apply for funding through the Democracy Grants Program of the US Embassy in Ukraine.

MOVA’s members communicate online at the IATP
access site in Vinnytsia

• Throughout the year, the IATP center in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, has hosted the weekly meetings of the Molodizhna Organizatsiya Vinnytskykh Aktyvistiv (Vinnytsia Organization of Young Activists - MOVA) which unites local hearing impaired youth. One year ago MOVA’s website was posted to the IATP server as a result of IATP trainings. Impressed by the potential of information technology (IT) to help them develop as individuals, they organized the MOVA Internet club, based at IATP center in Vinnytsia, to explore this potential for themselves and their peers. The club members meet on Mondays to work with Internet resources, and communicate with their friends and colleagues from other regions of Ukraine and abroad. On February 19, Mykola Horodetsky, MOVA’s member, had the opportunity to contact with his friend Oleksiy Novikov online, hearing impaired youth now living in Finland. Horodetsky stressed that Internet is the sole method for them to communicate with foreign colleagues.

Sense Online project is working to equip visually
impaired people with technology skills

IATP Project Helps Visually Impaired Ukrainians to the Bridge the Digital Divide

IATP in Ukraine has begun a unique project to help blind citizens of Ukraine integrate gain access to the technological revolution. Young adults have received IT training in five Ukrainian cities, and IATP is instilling sustainability in the project by conducting these services by training blind volunteers to conduct the sessions. Sense Online is an IREX project designed to equip Ukrainian people with visual impairments with technology skills to help them secure a brighter future.

At the first stage of the project, which started in November 2006, five trainers with visual impairments were chosen to lead trainings within the framework of the project. Since the beginning of November, 18 young adults with visual impairments have completed IT trainings at the IATP center in Cherkasy. IATP centers in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Lutsk, and Zhytomyr began conducting their series in February.

According to the latest Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Ukraine still faces the problem of societal discrimination against persons with disabilities, in spite of the law prohibiting discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, or other state services. After mastering basic computer and Internet skills the training participants are to take part in nine online forums with government officials, educators, and counterparts from other regions of Ukraine and abroad. ABBYY Software House Ukraine provided over 50% discount for copies of ABBYY FineReader, which allows using computer for visually impaired people.

Pavlo Chepur, a blind volunteer trainer for the Sense Online project, taught the groups in Cherkasy computer basics, productivity software, and online communication forums. Participant Andriy Medianyk remarked, “Computer skills decreased my estrangement from sighted people. I am interested in different information and now I have access to it. I am very grateful to everybody, who gave us an opportunity to learn this!”

Sense Online project, sponsored by IATP, is working to encourage visually impaired people to take advantage of modern informational technology to develop themselves professionally and help protect their rights as citizens.

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