In order to improve the situation for blind and severely visually impaired persons, the number of O&M trainers needs to be raised drastically to shorten waiting times and provide the users with the required amount of training to fully be self-sufficient in their mobility. However this can only be a second step, as first there needs to be a training option for the orientation and mobility trainers (OMT) themselves. Currently the only available courses are hosted in single institutes that provide only a small amount of education slots. These trainings are also very expensive either for the trainers themselves or the organizations that plan to employ them in the future. Also the coordination between the different educational institutes in different European countries is quite weak which leads to OMT being educated in one country often not being able to transfer to another country as the techniques are used differently and the education is often not seen as comparable.Then there is the matter of the digital readiness in this specific situation. the projects want to analyse the different way to support the needs for frontal lessons during the OM path.The goal of this project is to set up a common training curriculum for all European countries that can be implemented by tertiary educational facilities (Universities and Universities of applied sciences) and that will encompass all skills and techniques, also ICT skils, required to provide OMT to blind and severely visually impaired persons. Over the duration of the project we will develop training materials, educational guidelines and courses that in their sum constitute a fully educational program. These materials will be based on existing training materials for OMT and will be adapted to gather for the needs of different countries and thus allow graduates to offer their services anywhere in Europe.Producing a curriculum is the first step towards a successful implementation of a train-the-trainer program in a defined curriculum. , we will also include the educational facilities that are supposed to host the newly developed program as well as public authorities who are later responsible for accepting the qualification of the OMT and subsequently are paying for their services. In order to involve these stakeholder groups we will conduct workshops and expert meetings in different countries represented in the consortium.Eventually the developed course materials will be provided as open educational ressources (OERs) that should allow different educational facilities to take up the provided content and develop their own graduate courses upon them and also to enable representatives of other persons with disabilities to add their needs and training requirements to these materials so that the range of services for the graduates can continuously be increased.

"Europe is currently facing a significant aging of its population, and in the various countries this situation will be a real challenge by 2040. This demographic position poses real challenges to the population in general and more specifically to providers of support solutions for the older people, of which we are a part. The current ""weight"" represented by the challenges linked to aging must be converted into opportunities for improvement in social, medical / care, technological and economic terms. We must adapt our various support offers, either it is accommodation and care or either home care support, with also alternative solutions. The tendency to support more and more at home (even for very dependent older people) has started in many European countries and will accelerate in the coming years, with the challenge of responding to the challenge of supporting carers. Our organizations in Europe are working more and more to find the best possible balance, from the accommodation solution with care to home support according to the needs and expectations of the older people. Despite this tendency towards home support, we now know that this solution, although favored, cannot be the only solution, and that society will have to offer a range of services corresponding to the needs and expectations of the older population and their families.This is why we wish to set up exchanges of professional practices to allow our professionals to open up to new, innovative practices and methods, which can be a source of inspiration to improve or strengthen support models existing in our countries.The objectives of this project are therefore to support professionals in the evolution of their professional practices by exchanging practices, to promote the evolution of our organizations for the production of innovative solutions, and to structure transnational interactions and initiate cooperation with other European countries.This project brings together 5 organizations from 5 European countries (France, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Italy, Slovenia), and 15 professionals brought to exchange their practices during training events planned in France in February 2021 and in Italy in October 2021.This project is therefore structured around 2 training events, which will be the key moments of the project, including the presentation of support systems in the different partner countries, innovative or specific actions or methods developed more particularly in France and Italy , the 2 host countries for training events. The other partners will also have to present the specific projects or methods, current or in development in their country. Visits of organisations will also be planned.To carry out these training events, the referents (who will be present at transnational meetings) will have online meetings with the coordinator every month in order to define the programme of training events and monitor project actions.The results of the project are mainly the exchange of practices during training events, which will be formalized by a guide of professional practices in Europe concerning support for the older people.This project will be the subject of an important communication within the local networks but also more widely on a European scale, in particular thanks to the EAN network which is partner of the project. This project is a great opportunity to take the necessary time to discuss our professional practices, and initiate the development of new support offers based on European best practices."

Context/background:The complexity of visual impairment with multiple additional disabilities is the reason for often having to choose for a very individualistic approach. A pilot study (Hidden Treasures [Verborgen Schatten], Boessen et al., 2016) showed that there is hardly any literature available on how to work with this target-group. Especially literature about the combination of mental health (psychological and psychiatric) problems combined with visual impairment (VI) is lacking. Within the total population of VI people, this group is relatively small. Therefore it is necessary and unavoidable to cooperate with partners abroad to develop more expertise in supporting the target group in their societal participation, mainly by collecting good practices. Objectives:During six Joint Staff Training Events (JSTE’s) professionals and members of the target group share their knowledge and experience. On completion of the project all collected good practices from the six JSTE’s are brought together in a digital 'Good Practices Book' that will be used for further training of professionals (educators and trainers) in the field of VI adults, aiming to increase societal participation and social inclusion of the target group.Number and profile of participants:Participants will be (on average) three professionals of each project partner (5x3), at least two experience experts (of the target group) connected with the organising project partner and the theme of that specific JSTE, probably added by local, regional and/or national experts and always an external evaluator. The absolute minimum number of participants will therefore be 21 (5x3 + 2 + 1) but more likely there will be about 30 participants per JSTE.Description of activities:Each of the partners will organise a JSTE (the main applicant will organise two: the kick-off conference and the closing conference) on one of the themes that will be selected before the project starts. With input from the preparatory meeting the following themes have already been pre-selected: (1) depression and anxiety; (2) personality disorders and psychoses; (3) autism spectrum disorders; (4) addiction and eating disorders; (5) post traumatic stress disorders; (6) behavioural disorders and aggression. The partners will make use of a guideline for organising the JSTE's that will be developed by the main applicant (with support of the project partners). Results and impact:On an individual level the experience experts (participants of the target group of visually impaired people with mental health problems) will be able to fully participate in the JSTE’s by sharing and co-creating new knowledge en skills to be applied by professionals. The participating professionals will be invited to share their knowledge and experiences and be inspired to apply new information into their daily practice in working with the target group.It is also expected that the problems of the complex target group will become more visible and more recognised by organisations for (i.e. the service providers) and of (i.e. the interest organisations) the target group. So there is definitely an awareness raising goal in this project aimed at increasing social inclusion of the target group.Potential longer term benefits:Though difficult to control and to monitor it is wished that this project will lead to an increased level of social; inclusion and societal participation by people of the target group through an increased level of expertise of the professionals involved. It is also desired, through dissemination activities, to reach awareness in organisations and society that only tailored interventions can be applied for this complex target group (with a lot of diversity), for whom standardised protocols and interventions usually do not work.

<< Objectives >>The aim of the project is to investigate areas of application of virtual reality systems (VR) in the context of vocational training for visually impaired people and to implement this technology in the partner organisations. The first step is to introduce the trainers and the technical staff to this technology so that they can identify new areas of application for the target group from a technical point of view. This approach is innovative, as VR has not yet been considered for this target group.<< Implementation >>Four activities will be carried out in this project. In the first phase, fields of VR applications in vocational training and research will be identified. This also includes finding possible applications for the vocational training of visually impaired people. Three hybrid conferences with the participation of external experts, specialists and researchers will be held as further activities. These will address their own experiences and potential uses of VR in vocational training and other fields<< Results >>As a result, the project publishes comprehensive information about existing and potential areas of VR applications in the vocational training for visually impaired people, ophthalmological diagnostics, simulation, and vision training. This publication is available digitally under Creative Commons Licence and includes multimedia examples of VR applications for the target group of visually impaired people. Innovative areas of application for VR systems in this field are also presented.

In our society, when we talk about handicap, we often think about motor disability or intellectual disability - Even if this population is the most important part among disabled people, we do not have to forget other kind of disabilities, which make the autonomy and social inclusion and participation very complicated and sometimes not realistic. This project is talking about children with visual impairment, and especially very young children for whom our organisations try to give social inclusion and social participation for a better quality of life and to make them citizens in its own right. Our organisations are working on early intervention, from the early age of these children. This is very important for a better assimilation of what will give social inclusion and social participation. We support these very young children from birth, and also their families and relatives, in all the aspects of their life. This support is provided to each child as a whole : body skills development, autonomy in daily life, in the movings, in school pathway, and psychological support, and by a multidisciplinary team composed of social workers, professionals on rehabilitation, orthoptists, occupational therapists, psychologists.This support at very young age (often before 3 years old) is crucial for the future of the child. After long experiences of support, we know that a lack a this age is providing teenagers without autonomy, and without social inclusion and participation. The objective of our project is to favor the exchange of practices between different organisations in Europe to put in advance the methodologies, tools, and support provided, either to consider them as a good practice for blind or partially sighted children, either to admit that some practices are not the best for these children. Such exchanges in Europe will enable the professionals to improve their knowledge in the support of these children, for their benefit in the aim to improve the autonomy, the social inclusion and social participation of blind and partially sighted people, as citizen in its own right. Participants involved in this project are professionals including social workers, professionals on rehabilitation (mobility instructors, daily living instructors), psychologists, occupational therapists, orthoptists. Activities will include 2 mobilities. The first mobility in Angers (France) will enable participants to improve their knowledge about the different practices in Europe, but will also enable workshops and visits, especially on animal mediation. The second mobility in Vienna (Austria) will introduce different clinical cases for a good comprehension of best practices on early intervention, but also workshops dedicated to Echolocation, activity for the auntonomy of children with visual impairment. Out of these 2 mobilities, a steering committee will organise the different activities - we will use online system (skype, zoom) to keep contact with all the partners, and to provide all the information required to prepare the mobilities. As results, the partnership will discover and exchange good practices by sharing everyone's experiences in order to communicate them to professionals and partners (parents, schools, crèches, etc.) but also we will think about and identify strategies for supporting very young children: what are the areas to be tackled? at what stages of life? how to transmit them, what pedagogy to use? what tools at our disposal? What tools should be invented? All these results will be provided in formal presentations, as much for the presentation of practices, as for clinical cases, which will provide a guide on the practicies concerning early intervention in Europe.The impact of this project is to improve the social inclusion and participation, as well as the professional inclusion, of young children with visual impairment - this is an investment from the early age for a big impact at adulthood.