Center for Accessible Learning preparing to launch next week
The center will provide courses and training for people with disabilities in subjects such as photography, video, physical education teacher assistant, language skills, communication and technology.
By HAYAH GOLDLIST-EICHLERDisabled teen (photo credit: INGIMAGE / ASAP)
The Kibbutzim College of Education is set to open a center promoting education, training and employment for people with disabilities. The Center for Accessible Learning, which is to operate under the department of teacher training, is expected to launch next Wednesday.“We believe that a disability does not define the person, rather abilities and desires [do],” said Miriam Dilian, head of the Center for Accessible Learning. “Accordingly, we are working to advance people with disabilities, both in terms of acquiring a profession and also in terms of improving their skills... we offer them a range of tailored and accessible courses and training programs.”Dilian further related that only half of those with disabilities are integrated into the work force and the center is committed to improving that statistic.According to the report by the Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the Justice Ministry, some 1.6 million people with disabilities live in Israel today, representing 21 percent of the population. Approximately half of those people with disabilities are of working age, between the ages of 18 and 64, and they represent 19% of the working-age population in the country.Of those, only 48% of working- aged people with disabilities are part of the workforce.According to an agreement signed this year, any business with over 100 employees is to be obligated to employ a 3% minimum of workers with disabilities.This new agreement is expected to raise the number of people with disabilities in the workforce.Among the courses and skills training to be offered at the center are photography and video editing, physical education teacher’s assistant, language skills, communication and technology, as well as a variety of enrichment classes in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, history and more.The launch event includes an education fair and an opportunity to meet the department heads and teachers of the center.
