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European Regional Initative on E-accessibility in Central and Eastern Europe (Internet and digital television) for blind people and people with visual impairment problems

OVERVIEW

This project is an integral part of the European regional initiatives adopted by the ITU Resolution 17 (WTDC-10, Hyderabad), with “E-accessibility in Central and Eastern Europe (Internet and digital television) for blind people and people with visual impairment problems”, being one of them.

It aims at assisting Member States in order to offer e-accessibility (including Internet, information access and digital television) to blind people and people with visual impairment problems. To achieve this objective, ITU shall jointly with countries in Central and Eastern Europe promote the e-accessibility initiative and help them to achieve this goal through the creation of national and regional specialized libraries/databases in order to provide large-scale access via Internet for blind people and people with impairment problems; the establishment of relevant facilities (hardware and software) and implementation of training for users and instructors; the promotion and the fostering widespread adoption of access services via digital television.

IMPORTANT MEETINGS AND ACTIVITIES

In December 2013, ITU EUR in collaboration with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) held a meeting in Croatia, upon the kind invitation of HRT Academy ITU - EBU Meeting for Central and Eastern Europe on e-Accessibility in Television Broadcasting, 3-4 December, Zagreb, Croatia

Virtual Presentation of Proposal of the Project Document, 22 June 2012, Geneva, Switzerland

OBJECTIVES OF THE REGIONAL INITIATIVE

The objectives of this European Regional Initiative are:

Creation of national and regional specialized libraries/databases in order to provide large-scale access via Internet for blind people and people with visual impairment problems
Establishment of relevant facilities (hardware and software) and implementation of training for users and instructors
Promoting and fostering widespread adoption of access services via digital television

Human capacity building and digital inclusion

The ITU Assistance to Bulgaria and FYR Macedonia in providing specialized equipment to Bulgarian schools for the disabled and for developing speech synthesis system in Macedonian language:

Two Bulgarian schools, in Sofia (school for children with impaired vision, "Louis Braille") and in Varna (school for children with impaired vision, "Prof. Ivan Shishmanov "), 10 workstations are equipped with the necessary equipment, hardware, software and other facilities.
“Speech Synthesis in Macedonian”, speech synthesizer which converts electronic Macedonian text into audio speech enhances accessibility of blind and visually impaired people to the benefits of using ICTs.

Administration of Bulgaria, Local Municipality, Home for Elderly People with Disabilities in the town of Dobrich, Bulgaira, teamed up with the ITU in order to empower inhabitants of the residence through the ICTs, creating a modern ICT center for elderly people addressing all types of dissabilities (ICT Center established and serving as best practice in the region)