Type of Project: Funded project
Strengthening Participatory Competence I - Conference

Overall objective and content of the measure: The German Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired in Study and Job (DVBS) is increasingly confronted with participation requirements of third parties, legislative bodies, political parties and other organizations. On the other hand, there are the participation interests and demands of its members, e.g. regarding the barrier-free design of the professional and living environment. In addition, the quality of participation activities must increasingly meet professional requirements. In order to face these challenges better than before, the DVBS as a self-help organization of blind and visually impaired people intends to train a larger group of its members than before for activities in connection with political participation processes in the field of disability policy or participation law. This applies in particular with view of the company of the federal legislation, of party and Bundestag election programs as well as for position developments of central organizations of the social partners and the social federations. The group of the activists of the DVBS in the participation range shrinks age-conditionally and is to be extended therefore by younger members. People who are basically willing to take on these challenges are available. The new key topic "digitalization" affects almost all areas of life and raises accordingly many questions about barrier-free access for blind and visually impaired people. In this respect, the competence group will be enlarged by the qualification of further participation actors and the spectrum of the represented specialties will be expanded and updated. Blind and visually impaired people who are qualified in different areas of expertise should acquire the necessary competencies. They are to be capable e.g. - for the analysis of law drafts - for the development of founded statements - for the interdisciplinary co-operation under specialists concerned even by handicap - for the convincing public occurrence and - in particular for the efficient technical familiarization with new or only partly known subjects. The qualification is to take place realistically at current topics, which contain foreseeable participation potential. The EU Directive RL (EU) 2016/2102 of October 26, 2016 on accessible websites represents such a current issue. It obliges all public bodies in the member states to take the necessary measures in the foreseeable future to make their websites and mobile applications more accessible by making them perceptible, usable, understandable and robust (Art. 4 of the Directive). To this end, these bodies must establish reporting obligations (Art. 7 of the RL) as well as monitoring and feedback/complaint mechanisms (Arts. 8 and 9 of the RL). In order for these mechanisms to be implemented appropriately at the federal level, it is necessary for organizations of people with disabilities, including DVBS, to be able to accompany and effectively participate in this process. Accordingly, the qualifications outlined can be very well conveyed and acquired using the above-mentioned EU directive as an example: In this respect, it is a matter of complex interdependencies of legal norms, technical standards, political framework conditions and procedures of implementation in concrete administrative action. For this reason, the competencies of those involved must be related to legal, technical, political, party, association and administrative organizational areas and the knowledge base must be created for this purpose. In order to be able to successfully and professionally face up to the opportunities for participation at the federal level, the DVBS is expanding its still small pool of suitable people. In its work focus digitization and participation, it is installing a network of mainly blind and visually impaired digitization ambassadors. After appropriate training, they should be able to represent the interests of blind and visually impaired people both to the public authorities of the federal government, in leading associations and organizations, and to the interested public. The requested measure serves the acquisition of the necessary competences on the concrete example of the EU Directive RL (EU) 2016/2102 and contributes to the further development of a competence pool for political participation. A further goal of the measure is, after its completion, to come to an improvement of the accessibility of the public websites as well as electronic files in the dialogue with the representatives of the federal authorities. This can also be used as a model to initiate or influence further activities on comparable topics and in other fields.