We would like to introduce our project partners! There are five partners (2 from Turkey; 3 from the UK) that contribute to the development of the Inclusice SIDe Platform, as well as the SIDe Project, as follows:
SIX DOTS FOUNDATION FOR THE BLINDS: The Foundation was established in 1972 in order to work for the purpose of educating the blind, rehabilitating them, placing them in workplaces and enabling their participation in business life, preventing blindness and creating public opinion and awareness in line with problems faced by blind people.
The founders of the Foundation include Istanbul Governor's Office, Municipality of Istanbul, Milliyet Newspaper, certain Lions Clubs, important businesspeople, and the members of foreign missions in Turkey. Six Dots Foundation for the Blind has built the Six Dots Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind on the land allocated by the Istanbul Municipality to the Six Dots Association for the Blinds with the contribution of the donation obtained from the campaign launched by Milliyet newspaper. Thus, by means of a protocol signed with the Ministry of Health, Turkey's first rehabilitation centre has been opened for the adult individuals with visual impairment.
The rehabilitation centre continues to provide basic and vocational rehabilitation training within the framework of a cooperation protocol between the Six Dots Foundation for the Blind and the Ministry of Labour, Social Services and Family. The foundation carries out studies on the development of the physical environment and education in the centre and its arrangement according to the current requirements.
Perihan Esen Minkari Digital Library, which is within the structure of the Foundation, contributes to audio recording of culture and textbooks by volunteer readers on the one hand, and sends these audio books to the visually impaired individuals for free of charge.
Underlining the vital importance of independent mobility skills for the visually impaired individual on every platform, provides white canes free of charge to those who request it, which is one of the most important needs of individuals with visual impairment and the main tool for them to act independently.
In addition to these efforts, the foundation has completed many projects in success with the funds provided from the EU, Sabancı Foundation, İSTKA since 2007, as well as its own resources. These projects cover a new and contemporary approach aiming at meeting the European standards in the approach of the society in blindness and blind issues, and focus on a diverse area such as vocational education, education of children and youth and raising social awareness. The Foundation concentrates on the more intensive use of the sense of touch of children and young people with visual impairments with the last two projects as "I Learn by Touch" and "Tactile Material Workshop / Library". With an intention to contribute to make education more accessible for them, the Foundation has also increased the presence of tactile material that will enrich the tactile data, thereby enhancing the presence of tactility in different areas. http://www.altinokta.org.tr/
THE SPINAL CORD PARALYTICS ASSOCIATION OF TURKEY: : The Association was founded in 1998 in order to contribute the solutions of medical, vocational, financial and social problems of the people who has spinal cord paralysis and prevent occurrence of new spinal cord paralysis.
Since 1998, Turkey Spinal Cord Paralytics Association (TOFD) has been working on the solutions of medical, vocational, financial and social problems of people with spinal cord paralysis particularly. However, TOFD serves not only Spinal Cord Paralysis but also all people with orthopaedic disabilities in national and international areas. Due to The Spinal Cord Paralytics Association successful and widespread works, by the council of ministers’ decision dated 03.05.2004 and numbered 2004/7252 has been contributed as a” Non-profit Institution”. Our institution has initiated and applied many projects for precise and effective participation of disabled people in the social life. One of the primary objectives of our institution is preventing occurrence of permanent disabilities and to give information about this topic to the society. It is presumed that there are more than 150.000 people with spinal cord paralysis in Turkey, and 90% of them have to live with wheelchairs and dependent to another person.
Mainly traffic accidents, falling down height, diving headfirst into shallow water, firearm injuries, occupational accidents, disease ( spinal tumours, spinal infections, soft tissue disease) ruptured interverbal disk cause to paralysis. Both lack of rehabilitation and environmental conditions (architectural barriers, transportation problems) confine to the people with wheelchairs, prevent them active contribution to social and economic life.
Our Institution deals with these problems’ solutions, while creating solutions in the public space. As an individual basis, TOFD provides transportation service to the people with spinal cord paralysis from their home in order to benefit from the services in our centre. Our Institution has more than 2100 members and more than 1350 members with spinal paralysis in various degree.
CAMBRIDGE ENGINEERING DESIGN CENTRE (EDC): The Centre has a track record of inclusive design research for over 20 years. Its inclusive design toolkit has been widely used in different contexts for education, training, and evaluation purposes.
FIXED: FixEd is a Think Tank and a Company LBG; it is dedicated to inspiring and facilitating young learners in schools and universities to solve problems and make changes creatively. Its FixEd website provides a channel for sharing inspirational co-design project videos internationally.
THE DESIGN RESEARCH SOCIETY (DRS): The DRS is a learned society committed to promoting and developing design research. It is the longest established, multi-disciplinary worldwide society for the design research community. Its purpose is to promote the study of and research into the process of designing in all its many fields.