Post on 06-Jan-2018
description
titleKarten Centres and their contribution to
ISCs
Session objectives
• Understanding of the Karten CTEC Centres’
model
• Understanding of the background to the
Network
• Share how we can all benefit from the
Network
• Develop a plan for future actions
What are Karten Centres?
• IT Centres for disabled people in host organisations
• 113 in UK and Israel• Capital costs funded through the Ian Karten
Charitable Trust• No model of what a centre ought to be• Easy application process• No focus on a specific disability or sector
Where are the centres?
• In General FE colleges• In ISCs• In Day Services• In training provision• In residential provision• In homes for older people• In hospitals
What do the Centres do?
• Traditionally, a bank of PCs with assistive technology, both hardware and software
• Now – limited only by the imagination of the hosts
• Office skills• Social enterprises• Multi-media centres• Enablers of self employment
Background to the Karten Network
• Ian needed a scholarship to complete his degree and vowed to give back what he could – 3000 times over
• Saw a young man using chin switches and an on-screen keyboard to write a letter independently
• Fired his imagination as to the enabling impact of technology
The transformational effect of capital investment
• A source of funding that fills a big gap,
enabling projects to get underway and prove
themselves
• Fills the shortfall in government funding
Impact of working across sectors
• Different sectors have different strengths and
different challenges
• We tend to work within our own sectors
• The Karten Network gives the opportunity to
share best practice across sector boundaries
Benefits for those without a CTEC Centre
• Annual conference: Tuesday 23rd October,
QAC
• Electronic newsletter
• Potential for further funding in the future
• Information resource
How to take this forward
• Research potential
• Work placements
• Transition
Thank you!
Ceri HibbertNetwork Development Manager
ceri@karten-network.org.uk
07530 702134