IT Volunteer Awards 2007
Best Accessibility Project - winner
Audrey Tonge and Leon Gilbert, Volunteer, from The Accessible Friends Network receive their awards from Jonathan Soar
The Accessible Friends Network and volunteer Leon Gilbert
Project Summary
The Accessible Friends Network is a small UK charity which works to improve the quality of life of blind and visually impaired people. The organisation provides these people with accessible home voice conferencing and the internet, as well as arranging social events and entertainment. The winning volunteer, Leon Gilbert has worked to provide live online training workshops for members having registered the charity as a training centre for EDCC (E-digital Competence Certificate). The judges thought the project was a worthy winner as it is the only scheme of its kind run by, as well as for, blind people and receives almost no funding, raising all of its money through its members. Finally it is the only project which makes registered training available to blind people in their own homes via VoIP technology.
Judges' comment
"The Accessible Friends Network is a well defined and designed project which is run by the visually impaired community (as well as for the community) with emphasis and encouragement, through upskilling, for improving teamwork"
