The commitment of governments” “

United Kingdom. “Developing, boosting, directing and evaluating a strategy for the successful outcome of the activities being planned”: that’s the goal set by the British government, on the occasion of the European Year of People with Disabilities. To this end it has created a special Disability Unit and a steering group formed by the Department for Employment, by civil servants of local government in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and by various associations involved in the field of disability. The United Kingdom has also allocated a million pounds (roughly 1.6 million Euros) to fund various projects that have arrived in such large numbers on the desk of the Minister for the Disabled that the minister in question, Maria Eagle, was forced to confess: “The number of candidates has exceeded our expectations and selecting projects from over 1100 was extremely difficult”. Indeed, Mrs. Eagle added, “the calibre of the ideas and projects was so high that we have planned a further allocation of one million pounds to fund additional projects”. So far some 171 projects have been approved. A multimedia conference is planned to be held in Liverpool at the end of May (28-30) to “explore and improve the opportunities for the disabled in the performing arts. Essentially aimed at deaf and disabled artists, the conference organized by the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts is also open to educators, employers and politicians. It forms part of a two-year project that envisages the holding of a second conference in 2004. The event in May this year will also consist of workshops, written presentations and artistic performances. The issues to be discussed include: “participation”, “models of good example”, “learning progress”, and “legislation on invalidity: how it influences artists, their educators and employers”. From 19 to 21 September this year, the town council of Cheltenham, as part of the “Above and Beyond” project for the promotion and development of the arts and culture among invalids, will host a conference and a festival that will involve disabled artists, activists and speakers from all over the world; the event will comprise discussions, performances and exhibitions. France. Following the appeal of the French government, numerous movements and associations have been mobilized to contribute to the European Year of People with Disabilities, in France too. Some 700 projects have landed on the desk of Jean Luc Simon, coordinator of events for the disabled, but of these only a hundred or so will be able to share between them a funding of 400,000 euros made by the European Parliament. These projects also include that of the Christian Office for the Disabled (OCH) which now boasts of 40 years of activity, a network of 30,000 donors and subscribers to its magazine “Lights and Shadows”, and 1464 “Faith and Light” communities scattered through 76 countries. To mark the European Year, declares OCH representative in Paris, Philippe de Lachapelle, “we are organizing a caravan that will visit the main cities in the country, Strasbourg, Nantes, Bordeaux, Marseilles, Lyons and Paris, with the objective of changing people’s attitude to the disabled. We make no secret of the fact that it’s a rather demanding project. What matters is to discover that there does exist a life to be lived beyond disablement if a person is supported by a friend”. On 1st February, a commemorative plaque in honour of Louis Braille, inventor of the Braille alphabet, will be unveiled at the National Institute for Blind Children in Paris, the first institute of its kind in the world, founded in 1784. The commemoration will inaugurate the activities planned for the European Year of People with Disabilities. They include a Colloquium to be held from 17 to 19 March on “visual deficiency and correlated handicaps”. Other meetings are scheduled in Rennes, in Brittany, in Picardy, in Provence, in Burgundy and in Alsace.