Associations and union for the blind participated in the conference (e.g. the Pan-Hellenic Association for the Blind, the Lighthouse for the Blind of Greece, the National Confederation of Disabled People, the Center of Education and Rehabilitation for the Blind, the “ELIOS” Foundation for the Protection of Blind of Northern Greece, etc.) as well as education agencies and recognized certification bodies.

The Secretary Special, Mr. V. Asimakopoulos when addressing the participants underlined: “we place particular emphasis on the planning and implementation of training programmes, especially for disabled people, because we believe in their abilities and invest in them. The new communication and information technologies must form the tools to deal with difficulties and problems not relating to disabled people. They relate to the incapability of the society to offer the necessary opportunities”.

Within the framework of the intervention, 750 persons with vision problems from all 13 regions of the country will be trained in information technology skills. The intervention’s total budget amounts to € 3 million and is co-financed by 75% by the European Social Fund (ESF) and by 25% by the State.

Due to the particularities in the implementation of training for the person with vision problems, the programme will be implemented in small groups of 8 people with the participation of 2 instructors per group. In this way, the individual needs of each trainee will be approached and the particular learning difficulties will be taken into account as well as the different levels of perception due to factors such as the different percentage of vision (blind people, people with low vision or other vision disorders), age, former familiarization with the object and with other basic needs, i.e., Braille reading and writing, keyboard knowledge, etc.

Moreover, the trainees will have the opportunity of certifying their knowledge via their participation in exams of recognized accreditation agencies.

It is worth noting that within the framework of the intervention the instructors’ training is also financed so as they are fully familiar with the special technologies to be used during the lessons and with the appropriate methods of audio representation etc. to people having vision problems with regard to the computer’s use.

Mr. Asimakopoulos stressed out: “whilst during the commencement of implementation, emphasis will be placed on the large urban centers due to the higher concentration of persons having vision problems, we expect that all cities will express interest so that the training will be implemented throughout the country. However, actions like this one form a good example as to how new technologies can from a tool of independence by offering new opportunities and freeing the capacity and skills of all citizens without exceptions”.