Inclusion for People with Disabilities in Colombia

It is a great pleasure for us to keep our donors, partners and friends posted on our latest achievements. Thanks to the donations of all our supporters through the online fundraising platform –Globalgiving- we have been able to impact another group of people with disabilities to learn the use and adoption of ICT.

The starring group is a bit different this time. We trained 20 senior nuns in the basic use of ICT. It turns out that they asked for our help because their Community –Franciscan Community- needed to learn how to use a special platform developed to promote communication among them and to provide training.

The nuns we trained had difficulties to see and to move. They take care of other seniors in a house for the elderly called Casa Madre Bernarda. They learned how to use the e-mail. How to browse on the internet and how to read the online magazines that their community sends.

We are very glad to contribute with the improvement of these women’s lives. With this training they were not only advancing as persons but also as a non-for-profit organization. We strongly believe that ICT is a great way to generate inclusion within society. Please share this report with your family and friends so they get to know the amazing things that can be achieved with the support of people like you. 

Thanks to the donations you have made it is possible for 104 people with disabilities to say that they have learned new skills by using ICT and that their possibilities are a lot more now that they received training. We have trained almost 25 trainers, some of whom have impairments as well so they can communicate better with the students and better understand their needs. Nearly 10 institutions and libraries have received our materials and guidance in the training and support of people with disabilities.

Besides from offering training in the use and adoption of ICT for people with different disabilities, we have also gone further by designing two multimedias. The purpose of these multimedias is that they are used at libraries or telecenters by anybody who wants to learn how to use the computer. Both of the multimedias are spoken in sign language and include practicle exercises for users. The first multimedia can be run by clicking here.The second multimedia is under construction.

In the pictures attached to this report you can see some of the work we do with the people hearing impaired.

We strongly believe that ICT is a great way to generate inclusion within society. Please share this report with your family and friends so they get to know the amazing things that can be achieved with the support of people like you.

Once again thank you!

Links:

• http://makaia.org

It is a great satisfaction for Makaia to be able to work in the inclusion of people with disabilities in Colombia. We have a strong belief in the big impact that ICT can have in a lot of aspects in our lives. For a person with disabilities, the advance of technology has the potential to have an even more important effect.

Thanks to the donations you have made it is possible for almost 89 people with disabilities to say that they have learned new skills by using ICT and that their possibilities are a lot more now that they received training. We have trained almost 25 trainers, some of whom have impairments as well so they can communicate better with the students and better understand their needs. Nearly 10 institutions and libraries have received our materials and guidance in the training and support of people with disabilities.

With the funds we have raised, we built one multimedia that can be used anywhere from people with hearing impairment and trains them in the basic use of computers. This multimedia is free to use, Makaia has encouraged a lot of Colombian libraries to use it whenever a deaf person approaches for help. You can run the multimedia by clicking here.

Another great advance we have done thanks to your donations is the participation for the construction of a second multimedia that is not yet finished. This multimedia is possible thanks to the alliances we have done with other institutions that work in the ICT adoption field.  

This year, we are planning to continue giving people with disabilities the possibility to be included through the use of ICT. We encourage you to donate and to spread the word of the great work Makaia has been doing.

We strongly believe that ICT is a great way to generate inclusion within society. Please share this report with your family and friends so they get to know the amazing things that can be achieved with the support of people like you.

Once again thank you!

During the first trimester of 2012 we decided to join the virtual fundraising platform Globalgiving. Our goal was to work with people with disabilities through ICT trainings that develop their skills and competences in order for them to be able to take advantage of personal, familiar, social and economic development opportunities.

We gathered all the documents necessary for the Due Dilligence, accomplished the Challenge and started working to achieve our goal. During 2012 we trained more than 90 people with different disabilities, some of them are hearing impaired, some are blind, and the others have cognitive and physical disabilities.

But that´s not all, in alliance with our partners, we made a 30 hours course in a multimedia specially designed for hearing and visually impaired people. The multimedia teaches them basic concepts of the use of computers such as the use of the mouse, the different parts of the computer, the use of the keyboard, etc. This multimedia aims to be a resource in libraries and telecentres open to the public.

One of the characteristics that make our trainings special is that we´ve trained nearly 20 teachers and librarians specializing them in teaching people with disabilities. Three of our teachers have the same disabilities as theirs students, this makes the connection among them stronger and helps the understanding of the students’ needs.

The resources mobilized through Globalgiving have also served to the creation of new content such as booklets in braille and in sign language that facilitate the learning for deaf and blind students.

All this amazing work couldn’t have been possible without the support of all of our donors. We want to thank you all for sharing for the inclusion of people with disabilities in Colombia. We appreciate your help by sharing the message.

Thank you once again and ¡Happy Holidays!

Links:

• www.makaia.org

The project of inclusion of people with disabilities through the use and appropriation of ICT started early this year aiming to provide the benefits of technology to people with physical, cognitive, auditory and visual disabilities.

Last week we successfully completed the course of use and appropriation of ICT in the Fernando Gómez Martínez Library. There were 18 graduates with physical, cognitive and visual disabilities. The students were divided in small groups depending on their needs and their type if disability.

Luis David Elorza, one of Makaia’s teachers for digital literacy, made special emphasis during the course in the support of the academic processes that the students were going through. 

In Makaia we are very happy for being able to contribute with the development of our country through the social inclusion and the promotion of free access to knowledge and information. This is further evidence that there are no limitations for learning and that if we share with others we build a better society.