БългарскиAAC2023 – 24 November 2023
Conference Opening
prof. Maurice Grinberg, ASSIST – Assistive Technologies, Bulgaria
Christina de Bruin, Representative of UNICEF in Bulgaria
Carole Vignaud, Deputy representative of UNICEF in Bulgaria
Denitsa Sacheva, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Labour, Social and Demographic Policy, Bulgaria
Elena Cherneva-Markova, Deputy Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria
Teodora Ivanova, Chairperson of the State Agency for Child Protection, Bulgaria
Greta Gancheva, Director of the Directorate of Inclusive Education, Ministry of Education and Science, Bulgaria
Yonit Hagoel-Karniely, President-elect of ISAAC – International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication
Prof. Stephen von Tetzchner, Professor Emeritus at the University of Oslo, Norway
Special Session
Assessment and Policies in AAC in Central and Eastern Europe
Prof. Maurice Grinberg
Introduction
Nora Shabani
UNICEF focus on AT and AAC for children
Evert-Jan Hoogerwerf
A framework for AT and AAC Capacity for Children
Following up on the ratification of the UNCRPD, many countries have adopted legislation that fosters a more rights-based approach to disability. This involves also a shift towards increasingly inclusive education and the acknowledgement that access to AT and AAC are human rights. However, governments struggle with the challenge to build AT and AAC provision and service delivery systems and to find entry points for reform. In his contribution Hoogerwerf will present the AT and AAC capacity building framework which was produced by David Banes and himself for UNICEF’s European and Central Asia Office. He will also briefly report on the application of the framework for an assessment of the situation of access to AT and AAC in Ukraine.
Video is available only to conference participants for a limited time.
Lorenzo Desideri, PhD
Implementing the WHO “Rapid assessment of Assistive Technology” (rATA) survey in Italy: focus on communication difficulties
The rapid Assistive Technology Assessment (rATA) is a survey tool developed by the World Health Organization to estimate access to assistive technology in the population. The present contribution will report on the implementation of the rATA in Italy with a view to highlight its usefulness in informing assistive technology systems about the population met and unmet assistive technology needs.
Video is available only to conference participants.
Discussion
Assessment and Policies in AAC in Central and Eastern Europe
Plenary Talk
Prof. Stephen von Tetzchner
AAC systems, AAC interventions and practices, AAC use, and AAC environments
AAC systems are a set of language modalities that may replace or supplement typical communication and language use. AAC interventions may focus on verbal or nonverbal communication, and the use of manual signs or graphic symbols represents atypical development of communication and language. Unlike typical language development, language development with AAC is a planned course. The development of AAC depends on education and adaptation, an accessible AAC environment, access to relevant language experience, and opportunities for various communicative and linguistic practices in everyday life. Much is known about AAC systems and educational practices but less is known about AAC development, long-term change, and use in everyday life.
Video is available only to conference participants for a limited time.
Special Session
Role of AAC in the Prevention of Violence
Prof. Maurice Grinberg, Evgeniya Hristova, PhD
AAC and Prevention of Violence – Introduction into the Session
Video with English translation
Video in Bulgarian
Prof. Juan Bornman
The ABC’s of AAC training for police officers and legal practitioners: From science to solutions
Video is available only to conference participants.
Prof. Diane Bryen
(Still) Ending the Silence of Victims of Crime who have communication access needs: 20 Years Later
In 2003, one of the first papers about the experiences of persons who use AAC and who have been victims of crime or abuse was published in the AAC Journal. The purpose of that early study was to address the extent to which adults in the united states who use AAC were victims of crime or abuse and their experiences as survivors. Major findings of that early study of 40 adults concluded that 45% of those individuals who responded experienced some form of abuse or crimes. Furthermore, ninety-seven percent of those who experienced abuse or crime knew the perpetrator, 71% were victimized multiple times and 66% experienced multiple types of victimization. Only 28% reported their experience to the police.
Long-term effects included significant physical and emotional harm, as well as loss of property or money. Changes in policy and practice needed to “End The Silence” were suggested.
This presentation will focus on positive changes in policy and practice 20 years later. It will also share what is still needed in the United states to end the silence of victims of crime who have communication access needs and who use a variety of AAC approaches and technologies.
Netta Ben Zeev
AAC kit for investigations in the criminal procedure in Israel: usage and thoughts for the future
Kameliya Nikolova
Guaranteeing the right to protection against various forms of violence for children with disabilities and/or children with complex communication needs
In the presentation, I will share the results of the analysis of the problems of preventing violence against children with disabilities and with complex communication needs, the difficulties and challenges we face, the actions taken and the planned measures in this direction.
Video is available only to conference participants.
Maria Stancheva, Rosica Savova
The need for support for people with severe communication disorders when participating in legal proceedings
Communication is a lifelong challenge for people with communication difficulties. It is necessary and especially important to support the possibility of each person to express himself, to make choices freely and in different situations. From this also arises the need to find means for specific support for people with communication difficulties throughout life, which will support and improve understanding and expression through the person of judges and lawyers already names the need for support in court hearings of people with various difficulties. specific techniques and procedures, including DAC. It is essential that people have the opportunity to make choices both in their daily lives and in other specific situations involving legal consequences. The judicial system in Bulgaria, in the form of judges and lawyers, already mentions the need for support in court hearings for people with various difficulties.
Video is available only to conference participants.
Dimiter Kozarev
Identifying cases of violence against children and students with missing or impaired functional speech
The main focus of the presentation is a point of view that reflects different scenarios of violence committed against representatives of the vulnerable group and the difficulties that arise in establishing it in the context of the existing barriers to communication between an adult (specialist/parent) and a child (victim). The lecturer examines the situation of an urgent need for the implementation of a methodology based on AAC for establishing cases of violence against children and students with missing or impaired functional speech. It presents the currently existing methodologies combined with a factual analysis of the advantages and disadvantages in order to determine the indicators that would favor the increase of their effectiveness for the specific target group.
Video is available only to conference participants.