January has been ELMA’s biggest month yet. Thanks to the efforts of the ELMA team here in Vuokatti, much has been accomplished. This month has seen the First steps into the future Ridderrennet International circuit, Research cooperation between the Snowpolis research units and Paralympic sport, and more importantly the future of Sport and leisure for the disabled to be cradled here in Vuokatti.
This spring, Certu (the Centre for Studies on Urban planning, Transport and Public facilities, France) will publish a study about practices improving access for all in 11 European cities. This analysis is part of a comprehensive review led by Certu to identify interesting examples of accessibility practices in Europe.
London 20 January 2011. The most comprehensive business case for accessible tourism in England launches today. The booklet, entitled ‘At Your Service’, has been created through a joint partnership between the Government’s Accessible Tourism Stakeholder Forum and VisitEngland with the aim of inspiring tourism businesses to improve accessibility for customers in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympic Games & Paralympic Games.
Brussels, 2 December 2010. Avila, whose motto is "A City for Everyone" is a Spanish city known widely for its medieval walls. Today it won the first-ever European award for improving access for people with disabilities, the Access●City Award 2011. The annual honour aims to award efforts to improve accessibility in the urban environment and to foster equal participation of people with disabilities.
In a first for New Zealand, The New Zealand Tourism Research Institute at Auckland University of Technology has created a Research Programme Area in Access Tourism, headed by Sandra Rhodda.
Scott Rains has been highly commended in the Best Personal Contribution category at this year’s Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards organised by responsibletravel.com.
The Vice Minister for Trade and Tourism, Pilar Zorrilla, presided over the first seal award event, held in Vitoria-Gasteiz. The Accessible Seal is the result of the Accessibility Programme developed by the Department of Industry, Innovation, Trade and Tourism of the Basque Government which prepares businesses to orient their services to all visitors.
This book of readings by Italian and international authors was prepared in 2010 by the Italian Institute of Tourism for All in order to provide an overview of historical developments, current trends and perspectives on the future of accessible tourism. The text is in Italian and English.
BS 8878 Web accessibility. Code of Practice is the first British Standard to address the growing challenge of digital inclusion. It applies to all web products, including websites, web-services and web-based workplace applications (e.g. web-based email interface) that are delivered to users via Internet Protocol, through a web browser.
A slide presentation with the main results of a Study on EU accessible tourism standards, by Ivor Ambrose, Pilar Soret and Carolina Vicens given at the Fundación ONCE International Congress on Tourism for All, Valladolid, Spain, 26 November 2010.
The European network of cities, EUROCITIES, has established a Working Group on Barrier-Free Cities for All. The Group is chaired by Ms. Barbara Berninger, City of Berlin.
The eAccess+ network aims to bridge the widening gap between the potential of ICT/AT and eAccessibility for people with disabilities and the ageing population on the one hand and the actual implementation of eAccesibility on the other hand. eAccess+ is driven by 25 core members, coming from all over Europe. It is their task to involve all stakeholder groups at national level and to expand the network by developing a group of so called “Associated Partners”.
