Independent Living Institute

Newsletter 3/99

Newsletter Index and Info

Seven Tools for Going Global
--------------------------------------

After research, business and government, the new information technology has now reached the field of Human Rights. Never before has the disability community had such tools for communication and joint action on the national and international level. Never before have we had such means of rapid dissemination of facts and figures, arguments and examples of good practice. Never before have we had such fast and inexpensive ways of consulting with each other, pooling our resources and winning allies for our cause across the globe.

Are you and your organization prepared for globalization? The Independent Living Institute can assist you with its wide international exposure. Presently our website receives over 90,000 hits or 12,000 user sessions a month, with each user staying in our site on an average of 15 min.

We offer you the following seven tools:

Tool 1
**************************************************
Global Networking (formerly Disability Organizations Network)
http://www.independentliving.org/donet/index.html
**************************************************
Global Networking is an on-line database designed to give your organization world-wide exposure. Presently, some 150 organizations from all over the world are registered with information about mission, philosophy, activities, fields of specialization, resources in terms of experts and published materials, capacity for accommodating study visits, internships and traineeships, interest in participating in joint projects with groups or organizations in other parts of the world.

Tool 2
**************************************************
Independent Living Virtual Library
http://www.independentliving.org/library.html
**************************************************
We publish texts about your organization, its mission and activities, achievements, needs and plans in our full-text virtual Library. To have something published on our site, free of charge, contact
http://www.independentliving.org/Publishframe.html

Throughout the Library, you will find directories to other disability organizations, and resource kits for networking with them. We also have a growing section called, Organizations & Networking at:
http://www.independentliving.org/Library/Library_Contents14.html

Particularly interesting for networking and coalition building are the following resources:

Centers for Independent Living and National Associations of Independent Living
Possibly the most current and comprehensive listing on the Internet today of CILs/ILCs from around the world. Where available, the list includes e-mail, web and postal addresses.
http://www.independentliving.org/docs3/cils.html

DAA Resource Kit: Organisation Building
Disability Awareness in Action's (DAA) Organisation Building Resource Kit assists organisations of disabled people to improve their structures and the way they work.
http://www.independentliving.org/docs2/daakit41.html

DAA Resource Kit: Media Information
Disability Awareness in Action's (DAA) Media Information Resource Kit offers concrete methods to change the structures of society and attitudes, and to support your cause through traditional media.
http://www.independentliving.org/docs2/daakit1.html

Inter-American Institute on Disability
The Inter-American Institute on Disability (IID) is a private, non-profit entity whose purpose is to interface between public and private organizations and associations of and for people with all types of disabilities.
http://www.independentliving.org/docs5/iid.html

Tool 3
**************************************************
Have your e-mail address posted for colleagues to contact you and your organization. Review our current list at:
http://www.independentliving.org/docs5/mailaddress.html
**************************************************

Tool 4
**************************************************
Expose your articles, reports, training manuals or other resources to disabled people, researchers, service providers, government officials and policymakers all over the world by contacting:
http://www.independentliving.org/Publishframe.html
**************************************************

Tool 5
**************************************************
Discussion Forums
http://www.independentliving.org/cgi/forum/bbs_entrance.cgi
**************************************************
Have a question about housing?
Want to comment on disability legislation?
Need to advertise a service or product?
Looking for somebody with experience in direct payments?

Regardless of what you have on your mind, you'll find an appropriate discussion forum that allows you direct contact with the thousands of visitors to our site each month. Among the variety of themes such as human rights; personal assistance; relationships, sexuality & family, there is also one for Networking/Joint Projects.

Tool 6
**************************************************
New "Events" section
http://www.independentliving.org/newsframe.html
**************************************************
Send us information about your meeting, conference, protest action or whatever. We'll keep it posted until the date of the event, and, if appropriate, follow it up with a text in our Library. Contact Adolf Ratzka at admin@independentliving.org.

Tool 7
**************************************************
Books on networking from a disability perspective
http://barnesandnoble.bfast.com/booklink/click?sourceid=256763&is_search=Y&keyword=disability+networking&match=exact&options=and
**************************************************
The Institute's Bookstore offers a selection of books directly related to networking and disability.

If you've recently read a book you think is relevant to the Institute and would like to offer a short review, please contact admin@independentliving.org.

**************************************************
The previous newsletter
-----------------------------
Our previous newsletter on Human Rights was well received as evidenced by the resulting surge in our visitor statistics. We have an extensive library with legal texts of national and international documents easily searchable by topic, country and author at:
http://www.independentliving.org/Library/Library_Contents27.html

Most popular were the United Nations Standard Rules and the national reports about their compliance. The Independent Living Institute is the only website where you can read the official country report about a country's compliance with the Standards and compare it to the reports written by NGO's about the same country's compliance or lack of it with the Standards. Fascinating reading at:
http://www.independentliving.org/standardrules/index.html

Coming issues of the newsletter
--------------------------------------
In upcoming newsletters we take up themes such as Universal Design, Personal Assistance and Assistive Technology. These issues determine to a large degree the quality of our every day life. In order to improve our situation, individually and as a group, nationally and internationally, we need better information about legislation, financing, design solutions and user support. Send your articles, references to useful source of information, reviews, etc. to admin@independentliving.org

**************************************************
Don't forget to visit our other on-line services
**************************************************

Accessible Vacation Home Exchange
http://www.independentliving.org/vacaswap.html
Swap your home during your next vacation with somebody in such destinations as France, Egypt the UK or Canada. We've got close to 100 attractive offers waiting for you! Our base of participants list the accessible features of their homes and dates they wish to travel.

Assistant Referral
http://www.independentliving.org/assex/index.html
People with extensive disabilities can find personal assistants in their hometown or other parts of the world which they plan to visit. And personal assistants can advertise their need for work.

Personal Assistance Network
http://www.independentliving.org/panetwork/index.html
Provides discussion forums and full-text library with information, examples of good practice, advice and support for personal assistance users.

==================================================

---