FIMITIC

Federation of Disabled Workers of Slovenia – Programme of events in  EYPD 2003

Within the framework of the celebration of the European Year of People with Disabilities 2003, the Federation of Disabled Workers of Slovenia will carry out the following activities:

1.      Symposium entitled the right to equal opportunities and equal treatment; training and employment of disabled people in the European Union and Slovenia will be organised by the Federation in cooperation with the Institute for Rehabilitation of the Republic of Slovenia on 26 September 2003 in Ljubljana. The papers delivered at the above symposium will be issued in the form of a book.

2.      Exhibition of products created by disabled people. - In cooperation with local associations of disabled people, the Federation will organize exhibitions of various handmade products created by the disabled persons at home, in workshops of associations of disabled people or in workshops organised by the Federation already five years in a row in the towns of Radenci and Izola. The exhibition will include crocheted products, various objects made of wood, macramés, knitwear, fancywork, wicker baskets, business cards produced of clay, silk articles, glass products, literature, paper flowers, dried flowers, Gobelin tapestry, bobbin products, knitted bottles, leather goods, fine arts, etc. In this way we will present the creative spirit of our people with disabilities. The exhibitions will be organized in the cities of Lenart, Zagorje ob Savi, Dravograd, Trbovlje and Dornberk and will be open one week each.

3.      Pamphlet of the Federation of Disabled Workers of Slovenia upon the International Year of People with Disabilities. - The Federation of Disabled Workers of Slovenia will produce a pamphlet issued in 5000 copies and covering the topic of EMPLOYMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES. It is our goal to reach as high number of disabled workers as possible, their employers and professional services, everybody involved in the problem of disabled workers as well as the broader public interested in this topic.

4.      Show of singing choirs of associations of disabled peoples integrated into the Federation of Disabled Workers of Slovenia. - On 2 June 2003, the Federation will organize the fifth singing choirs' show of the associations of disabled people integrated into the Federation of Disabled Workers of Slovenia. This jubilee event will take place in the town of Gorišnica near the city of Ptuj and will be organised in conjunction with the Cross-Municipal Association of People with Disabilities of Ptuj. In this way the creativity of disabled workers and the preservation of the culture of singing will be presented to the broader audience.

5.      The action of civilized parking. - In the first half of 2003 the Federation will:

• send a request to all police directions in Slovenia for a consistent monitoring of irregular parking on the premises intended for the vehicles of persons with disabilities, and
• apply to the Ministry of Interior to be entitled to distribute leaflets which our volunteers will stick behind the windscreen-wipers of the vehicles irregularly parked on the premises intended for disabled persons, in order to assist rooting out the irregular parking.

6.      Production of directions for the activities of trade unions related to employed people with disabilities.  Together with the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs, in the first half of 2003 the Federation will produce the directions regarding the behaviour at working place which will regulate the elementary human relations between the employees and will in particular define the relations between disabled workers and trade unions in working environments.

7.      The project of entering the agreement with mayors on a  municiaplity friendly to disabled people. - With the municipalities of Ajdovšèina, Vipava, Ormož and Èrnomelj, where our associations of disabled people are also active, the Federation will try to make an agreement on the introduction of friendlier conditions which will be less discriminatory and more in the spirit of Standard rules for assuring equal opportunities of disabled people to everybody who cannot be equally included into the life and work of the community (all kinds of accessibility) due to disability or old age. The Federation proposed the establishment of a fund for co-financing the elimination of constructed obstacles at the national level. The municipality of Ajdovšèina shall become an example at the state level of a city which is friendly to older inhabitants and to those whose mobility is heavily impeded or who are immobile.

8.      The project of civil society school. - The civil society school is a project involving a two-year training of volunteers who will, after the training is completed, work in our associations of disabled people and tackle the social and labour conditions in the local community. This is a training intended for a timely and effective reaction to permanent changes in the society.

1.      Round tables on  ACCESSIBILITY. - Rountables in Radlje ob Dravi, Celje, Èrnomelj, Ajdovšèina, Ormož and Kamnik will be organised to inform general public and competent bodies in the places where these roundtables will be held about the complex problem of accessibility in the process of providing equal opportunities for people of any kind of disability. Disabled people should take part in the establishment of standards and norms of accessibility as well as be involved at the local level from the early stages of planning and designing projects, thus ensuring a maximum level of accessibility.

2.       Educational action. - The Coordination Committee of Associations of Disabled People of the Koroška Region, made up of disability associations of Dravograd, Drava – Radlje ob Dravi, the Mežica valley, Muta and Slovenj Gradec, will invite managements of all schools of the Koroška region to take part in the educational action for the fourteenth year in a row. Students of primary and secondary schools of the Koroška region will be invited to write a paper on a selected topic, dealing with disability issues. The idea behind this educational action is to make the public aware, in particular young people at whom the action is targeted, of people with disabilities and of disabilities as such, thus enhancing the quality of life of  disabled people, which is to present a positive aspect of disabilitiy to young generation.