|
"Equality
Around
the Globe"
by Carl
Raskin, GLADNET Exec. Director
he Global Applied Disability Research and Information
Network on Employment and Training, also known as GLADNET, was
launched in Geneva during a 1995 meeting organized by the International
Labour Office (ILO). With members across the globe, GLADNET brings
together leading research institutes and universities, enterprises,
government agencies, trade unions, as well as organizations representing
disabled persons, with the goal of advancing employment and training
for disabled persons. In this regard, we count among our affiliates
some of the world's leading institutions.
Although initiated by the ILO's Vocational Rehabilitation
Branch, GLADNET has now been constituted as an independent international
not for profit organization. The GLADNET Chair is Dr. Aldred Neufeldt,
of the University of Calgary, Canada. He is an internationally
known expert on entrepreneurship initiatives for persons with
disabilities. GLADNET has a nine member international Board of
Directors.
Through the exchange of information and data,
and social policy research via the Internet, GLADNET's goal is
to identify and disseminate practical and cost-effective solutions
to the problems faced by governments, employers and workers' organizations
concerning ways to effectively integrate persons with disabilities
into the mainstream of working life.
GLADNET's uniqueness is that it groups together
resource links relating to disabilities and employment, together
with an expanding online database of technical materials in the
context of a "virtual organization", whose expertise
members may draw upon. GLADNET's projects page highlights applied
research initiatives undertaken individually via our members,
and collectively under the GLADNET aegis. The GLADNET web site
may be visited at http://www.gladnet.org for details.
Membership in GLADNET has specific benefits. These
include:
· Access to GLADMAIL, an e-mail based exchange
service, which provides GLADNET members with timely information
concerning workplace human rights issues, conferences, job vacancies,
and international consulting opportunities;
· An opportunity to showcase your activities;
· To network and promote your organization,
on a global scale, with representatives from leading centres concerned
with disability and workplace issues;
· To be aware of applied international
research;
· Access to the GLADNET Infobase, a unique
online database concerning disability issues relating to employment
and training being developed as a collaborative effort by the
ILO and GLADNET members.
However above all, membership in GLADNET furnishes
an opportunity to be a member of an international association
of professionals engaged in advancing mainstream employment and
training, and in close association with the International Labour
Office.
Since its inception, GLADNET has held annual general
meetings around the world. Last year, our meeting was in Kyoto,
Japan, hosted by the Japanese Society for the Rehabilitation of
Persons with Disabilities; in 2002 we shall be in Europe. In 2000,
GLADNET was pleased to be in Washington, where our keynote speaker,
Jonathan Young, was the White House Liaison to the disability
community.
The annual GLADNET membership fee is $200.00 (U.S.).
Additional information about GLADNET and an online application
for Association membership may be found at the GLADNET web site
at www.gladnet.org.
tel: 613 825 6193
E-mail : info@gladnet.org
|
