Dace Rodzina's Page

My organization

The Organisation of People with Disabilities and their Friends APEIRONS

Website

http://www.apeirons.lv

Address

Valdemara 38, Riga, Latvia, LV-1010

What we do as an organization (100-word description)

The purpose of APEIRONS is to further the independence and integration of people with disabilities into society. It is dedicated to creating a more positive image of persons with disabilities, developing a more accepting attitude towards them and facilitating equal opportunities for disabled members of society.

APEIRONS was officially registered as a NGO in 1997, though it has been in operation since 1994. Since its founding APEIRONS has been committed to the principle that all people are equally important and none should be relegated to a position of powerlessness on the basis of disability. Therefore, all the activities of APEIRONS focus on achieving equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities.

Other services and activities:

Areas of activity include:
 increasing awareness and understanding of disability issues, the needs and abilities of persons with disability;
 supporting wheelchair accessible community technology learning centers;
 provision of disability related information, e.g. e-accessibility, accessible environment, available social services, assistive technology, employment and education opportunities for the disabled, etc;
 consulting on necessary accommodations and ways to adapt or adjust computers for disabled users;
 training for disabled people (basic and advanced computer skills, job search skills development, CV development, language courses etc.);
 free access to the Internet and computers;
 maintaining the electronic database of handicapped job searchers www.varcentrs.lv;
 maintaining a portal for mentally retarded persons www.viegls.lv;
 filmmaking;
 training for social workers, taxi drivers, airport staff that handles disabled passengers and other stakeholders;
 advocating the interests of disabled persons;
 human rights monitoring and protection;
 monitoring of environmental accessibility;
 promoting cooperation between state, local government institutions, non-governmental organizations and entrepreneurs to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities;
 organizing leisure activities for the disabled persons (summer camps, trips, wheelchair dance studio and other fully integrated social events);
 providing support to people with disabilities and their family members who want to start their businesses;
 motivating disabled people to become active job searchers;
 attracting volunteers.

Target groups

People with disabilities and their family members

Other partners:

Disability NGOs in Latvia
Municipalities
Microsoft
Oracle
Computer Department of the University of Latvia Physics and Mathematics Faculty
Lattelecom BPO
Hansabanka
the Mortgage and Land bank of Latvia, etc

Other ways of contributing to the network (please describe):

We are ready to share our experience in
 establishing and running disability friendly and wheelchair accessble community technology learning centers where people with and without disabilities learn side by side,
 delivering basic computer skills training, Microsoft UP courses, and professional training for Oracle data base administrators,
 ways to adapt or adjust computers to disabled users,
 teaching computer skills to mentally retarded persons.

My personal areas of interest or expertise

Areas of expertise include:
project managment
ICT accessibility
e-inclusion

Skype

rodzina 6918