BID Services celebrated Deaf Awareness Week with a variety of events at the Deaf Cultural Centre, including an open morning and an afternoon with the Deputy Lord and Lady Mayoress and Birmingham City Council’s “BSL champions”.

During these events, information on the RECALL project was disseminated to professionals from a variety of backgrounds, including local specialist schools, and guests were encouraged to ask questions and have a go using the Routemate application. Contact details were taken of those wanting to be informed on project progress.

During the period 1 May 2012 – 30 September 2012 the RECALL piloting phase will be elaborated. Each partner will demonstrate the latest version of the RECALL Route Mate application with at least 10 end users (service users; students; carers; teachers; counsellors; therapists; parents etc.). All partners will collect and record the feedback about functionality, usability and accessibility of the application and will report back to the developers from Notingham Trent University.
If you want to join the piloting phase please contact your local partner in your country or contact the Coordinator – NTU.
For more information please frequently visit our website.

Between 29th March and 1st April 2012 Plovdiv is hosting the First European Fair of Social Enterprises. The four-day event is co-organized by Bulgarian Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, The National Agency for People with Disabilities, the European Commission, and National Union of Sheltered Cooperatives.
Over 30 social enterprises and cooperatives employing people with disabilities are exhibiting their products, services, and goods.
Each enterprise is presented with a special stand where the visitors could see the production of the enterprise and take informational materials. The face-to-face contacts are the very important part of the activities within the fair. The representatives of participating enterprises share their practices and challenges which they encounter during the working process and discuss other topics of common interest.
Representatives of Marie Curie Association also participated in the fair disseminating the RECALL project. We distributed the leaflets and gave oral presentations emphasizing the forthcoming testing of the Route Mate. The manager of a social enterprise told that this application could be really useful for disabled workers for example for mapping of the route from home to the workplace.
Another manager representing enterprise where people with mental health problems are working wanted to see the application once it is ready. He was very satisfied with the fact that software developers are meeting the needs of people with mental health problems.
As a result of one-day dissemination MCA team made useful contacts with more than 80 stakeholders who wanted to be kept informed about the RECALL project progress.

On 9th March 2012, The Deaf Cultural Centre hosted a conference for all staff within the organisation. A small stall was set up in the ‘Marketplace’ displaying RECALL leaflets and two android phones with Routemate downloaded on them. Two members of staff were on hand to discuss RECALL and to demonstrate the Routemate application. Staff were encouraged to have a go, give feedback and also discuss any clients they believed would benefit from this application and to get in touch if they wish to be involved.

In the framework of the Recall project, in Romania testing was implement in two schools (The Schools of Arts and Crafts no 2 and no 3, Bucharest), on pupils from the IXth and Xth grade. The survey pool comprised young people between 16 and 19 years old, with learning deficiencies and an average IQ between 40-80.The researches took place during March 2012.

The project team noted a high interest on behalf of the beneficiaries in using the Recall application. They considered the application to be user-friendly and they highly appreciated its accessibility. The young have mentioned the benefits the application shows, by making them know the city better, by gaining the ability of safely travelling on longer distances, and by discovering new urban areas. Moreover, the application was considered fun and entertaining, both in its usage and in its purpose.
Testing results will be used to improve the application and during next month’s new versions of Route Mate will be developed and tested.

29 September 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria
A presentation of the RECALL project, distribution of leaflets and posters was held during the Q4S International Conference entitled “Improvement of the Accessibility and Quality of Education and Training for Disabled Students”. The event was co-organized by MCA and Plovdiv University “Paisii Hilendarski”.

08 September 2011, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
A presentation of the RECALL project, distribution of leaflets and posters during the BIFOCAL Conference dedicated to vocational education, lifelong learning and training as a bridge to desired inclusion of disabled people into the society was held. The conference was organized by MCA.

24 July 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Posters and leaflets of RECALL was exhibited during the XII ICT Expo in National Palace of Culture – Sofia.

18 June 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria
A round table about “Inclusion of disabled people” was organised by the candidate for president-election and former EU Commissioner Mrs. Miglena Kuneva. The team of MCA made an oral presentation of RECALL as well as distributed leaflets and posters.

15 May 2011, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
A presentation of the RouteMate concept and distribution of posters and leaflets during the Annual International Disability Conference held in International Plovdiv Fair was held.