Exhibitors

• Inpris Ltd.
• Step-Hear Ltd.
• Blindenzorg Licht en Liefde
• Greek House Project (GHP)
• enLogic
• Center for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind (KEAT)
• Panhellenic Association of the Blind
• Lighthouse for the Blind of Greece - Tactual Museum
• Magnites Tifloi
• Greek Guide Dogs
• Dialogue in the Dark Athens - Badminton Theater
• Panhellenic Association of Parents and Friends of People with Visual Impairment and Additional Handicaps "AMIMONI"
• Panhellenic Parents and Guardians' Union of Children with severe sight problems "HERA"
• Hellenic Retina Society (H.R.S)

Inpris Ltd.

Company Profile

Imagine never having to look down at your touchscreen again to make a call, send a text, or open an application. Imagine having your own sightless digital language, customized by you, just the way you’d like it. Imagine taking control of all of your touchscreen devices with the use of just your individual fingertips. Imagine how much easier, efficient, and productive your world would suddenly become.

Introducing, Ergonomic Motion Detection, by Inpris. It is a revolutionary, intuitive, and ergonomic gesture based technology that enables you to use your touchscreen devices swiftly and efficiently. It is a user friendly, multi-finger, eyes-free operating engine for any multi-touch screen device.

The way EMD works is by identifying each individual finger, enabling you to create up to 16,000 gestures and commands, with just the use of your fingertips. By creating different commands using different fingers, each individually recognized by EMD technology, you can now create your own digital language and take control of any of your touchscreen devices customized to just the way you like it.

Featured Product

There are 285 million visually impaired people worldwide who are struggling to adapt to touchscreen technology. Devices such as tablets, smart phones and touchscreen computers have become the norm and are now rampant in day-to-day life, forcing those who are visually impaired to learn to adapt by any means possible.

This is where Inpris has stepped up to meet that challenge. Inpris has created technology that enables Braille typists to use their smart devices in the most conventional means possible. Now, a typical Braille typist can seamlessly type Braille by the simple method of touch. This is accomplished through Inpris’s Super Braille Keyboard application available for Android devices.

The Super Braille Keyboard is the most advanced technology of its kind. What allows it to be so exceptional is its implementation of Inpris’s Ergonomic Motion Detection© technology which provides invisible, cutting-edge motion detection as well as an easy to use interface. In order to type, the user simply uses their fingertips, typing Braille as they normally would. By selecting the text input field they wish to use, red circles called "Hot Zones" will appear under each individual fingertip of the user. These "Hot Zones" are continuously calibrating the keyboard to the users’ fingertips according to the users on screen movements. Now a Braille typist never has to worry about finding their place or losing their finger placements.

What else makes the Super Braille Keyboard a pioneer application is the software’s potential as an educational tool. According to a 2007 Annual Report from the American Printing House for the Blind, only 10% of school aged children use Braille as their primary reading medium, with school budget constraints and technology advancement cited as the top causes for this. By accessing help mode this enables a user to instantly get help back on how to type a certain letter or symbol without having to move his hand from the location. Therefore, the user can simultaneously type and get help.

The Voice Help feature instructs users the correct finger combinations in order to type their desired letter by voicing back the correct way to execute it. With the help of the Super Braille Keyboard as an educational vehicle, schools can now affordably implement Braille education into their curriculum for children who would otherwise have little to no access to proper educational resources.

Inpris has now opened doors for those who would otherwise have little to no accessibility to touchscreen technology. As a Braille typist using the Super Braille Keyboard, you’ll now be able to use your tablet, computer or smart phone device easily. Inpris believes that this innovative technology can change the day-to-day life of millions of Braille typists around the world.

Step-Hear Ltd.

Company Profile

Step-Hear Ltd. was founded in 2008 after recognizing the need in the market for practical and affordable accessibility solutions. Working side by side with disabled people, we strive to create an independent and accessible living environment, for people with special needs. Step-Hear developed affordable solutions that create an independent living environment for people with special needs and provides accessibility for everyone.

Featured Product

Step-Hear is a simple to use orientation, information and audio messaging system for the blind and visually impaired people using wireless technology or cell phone.

When a blind or visually impaired person is walking in range of the Step-Hear base unit, the activator / cell phone he is carrying will start to vibrate and beep. By pressing the button on the activator/ cell phone, the Step-Hear base unit will be triggered and an audio message will start to play, guiding the blind or visually impaired person accurately to the entrance of the premises and offering additional way-finding information to the different services available on the premises.

Blindenzorg Licht en Liefde

Overview of Organization

Blindenzorg Licht en Liefde is a Belgian organization for blind and partially sighted people. We offer respectful support and take action to enable people to fully participate in an inclusive society. In our expertise network visually impaired field experts play a central part. Cooperation within and beyond the regional boundaries is essential to our strategy.

Featured Product

SNIZZLY SNOUTS is an award winning inclusive children’s book with audio CD – a picture and poetry book to read with your ears, see with your fingers and feel with your eyes! The book utilizes clear letters, contrasting and tactile pictures, audio and Braille, so that it will appeal to everyone including visually impaired and dyslexic readers. The CD contains a verbal description of the whole book and also serves as a GPS for the fingers, cleverly showing them how to feel the pictures. In this way, children with and without a reading impairment learn playfully to broaden their experience of life.

Greek House Project (GHP)

Organization Profile

The treatment of the needs of disabled people in Greece is lacking in comparison with the rest of the European Union; it is enough to pinpoint the fact that there are building specifications only for people who have moving difficulties and these specifications have not been embodied in the Greek legislation. There is no official or even unofficial document referring to visually impaired people (VIP) and, of course, there are no engineers or contractors who specialize in adapting a construction to the needs of each case.

At GHP, we decided to invest in this sector, as we consider this gap to be unacceptable. Visually impaired people constitute a group which has every right to a comfortable and safe living. We dedicated much time studying the possible ways of adapting a building to the needs of VIP people and managed to produce a "checklist" of all necessary adjustments which render a settlement safe and functional. We are proud to be the first and only engineering and construction company in Greece to provide VIP accessibility in a residential environment.

enLogic

Center for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind (KEAT)

Organization Profile

The purpose of our center is to help train and educate the blind children and adults.

Featured Services

The purpose of KEAT is:

• the education and training of the blind children in all areas of development
• their integration from the preschool age in society by means of specific programs with a view to completion of the personality and social action and the acquisition of their independence.

For the achievement of these goals, our center provides:

• School units of primary education
• Boardinghouse
• Nursery
• Elementary School Tutoring & Supplementary Services
• High School & Lyceum Tutorial and Supplementary Services
• Athletics and Sport Activities
• Library and Printing Facility
• Orientation - Mobility (O&) and Daily Living Skills (DLS) Department
• Training Programs
• Braille Learning

Panhellenic Association of the Blind

Organization Profile

The Panhellenic Association of the Blind was established in 1932 and it is the first organization of the blind for the blind and for all the other handicapped in Greece. Its 60-year-old course completes an interesting history of social and syndicalistic actions, which started in the '30s. From the very first moment, the organized blind questioned the uninvited intervention of charity and all its negative consequences. They claimed bravely and effectively the right to work, education and equal participation in life.

The P.A.B. is administered by a 9-member board and it is the exclusive representative of the Greek blind in the N.C.D.P. (National Confederation of Disabled People) and in all the official international organizations of the blind. Furthermore, it is a Member of the European Blind Union and the World Blind Union.

Featured Services

Panhellenic Association of the Blind has several services such as:

Α lending tape-library, which is at the disposal of all the blind in Greece and in Cyprus. It was established in 1965 and it is the first talking library for blind people in Greece. Its goals are: a) to cover a huge lack of material for pupils and students and b) to cover wider needs of access to literature and generally to knowledge.

Τhe Orientation-Mobility and Daily Living Skills department started on the 1st of January 1994 in the P.A.B. This service aims at the training of visually impaired people (both adults and children) in the very important fields of mobility-orientation and daily living skills, which are a necessary prerequisite for their independence and their normal integration into society. Such training might be considered as unnecessary for sighted people. However, it must be understandable that people with sight problems need to be trained in special techniques and in the development of their other senses in order to compensate for the total or partial lack of vision. The training in the above-mentioned fields is of vital importance and it is free for all members of P.A.B. and generally for all the visually impaired people.

A Department of International and European Projects functions in the Panhellenic Association of the Blind. The social workers department of P.A.B. was established in the middle of 1992. The Employment and Career Advising Service of the Panhellenic Association of the Blind began its activities within the HORIZON initiative.

Lighthouse for the Blind of Greece - Tactual Museum

Organization Profile

Since 1946, the Lighthouse for the Blind of Greece is a specifically recognized as charitable and non-profit organization, overseen by the Ministry of Labour and sponsored by the State through the Region of Attica, Greece.

The organization was founded in 1946, in support of blind people in order to reduce the effects of loss of vision and increase public awareness for the problems blind people face. The production plants of the Lighthouse for the Blind are nowadays one of the few if not the only way to rehabilitate people with visual impairment.

All social activities are offered for free (social services, computer classes, pottery lessons, Italian lessons, audio "talking" books, braille library, Braille courses for the blind, gym etc.).

All the above and many more offer education, leisure and socialization (knitting, macramé, theater group, traditional dances group, etc.)

Magnites Tifloi

Organization Profile

The association of visually impaired people of Perfecture of Magnisia «Magnites Tifloi» was founded on February 6, 2007. The primary purpose of the association beyond the aims described in its constitution is to address the needs of visually impaired people who live in rural areas in Greece. The association is administrated by five board members and is controlled by a three member audit committee. Also additional activities are coordinated by specific committees that have been established for this reason.

Featured Services

The actions of our association are:

1. Syndicalistic, legal and secretarial support of our members who are visually impaired.
2. Education Training.
3. Printing Center for the purpose of producing books in Braille and large print for the visually impaired.
4. Lending library with books in Braille, accessible types of reading for visually impaired people and books for sighted people who might be dyslexic.
5. Various Gym and Sport activities offered in a specialized place which is accessible to visually impaired people. The Activities include: special classes for tango, Latin, Pilates, kinisiotherapy- kinisiology, classes of self-defense, traditional dances etc. We are also involved with a variety of Sports activities like chess, cycling, men and woman team of Goalball.
6. Guest hospitality of our members in order to serve both our members from remote areas of the municipality of Volos and people with visual impairment from all over Greece.
7. Our association is a member of KOISPE and PRAXIS with the ultimate goal of selling hand-crafted products made from blind colleagues in 28 outlets in different cities around the country.
8. To create a fully accessible website for people with visual impairment www.maty.gr.
9. Creating an e-forum discussion mailing list.
10. Culture:
    Organization of recreational and educational trips
    Organization of Events and regular gatherings for members of the Association for the purpose of networking, as well as, growing and developing social relations.
11. To continuously keep all members updated via our radio program, email etc.

Greek Guide Dogs

Organization Profile

In July 2008, the Greek Training and Development Center for Guide Dogs for the Blind and Assistant Dogs for Handicapped merged, giving rise to the center "GREEK GUIDE DOGS." It is a Non Profit Organization which was founded from all the official associations for the visually impaired people in Greece, such as : Education and Rehabilitation Center for the Blind (K.E.A.T.), the National Confederation of people with disabilities ESAMEA), the National Federation of the Blind (N.F.B.), the Panhellenic Association of the blind (P.A.B.), the Lighthouse for the blind of Greece (F.T.E.), the Hellenic Retina Society (H.R.S.) and two other members: E.K.E.S. –Hellenic Dog Training Center and "Right for the Life – Society for the protection of animals and the environment in the Attica Prefecture.

All Organizations have vast experience in the problems concerning visually impaired people and their aim is to establish in Greece a Center for Greek Guide Dogs, a Greek Training and Development Center for Guide Dogs Instructors and Guide Dogs for the Blind and Assistant Dogs for Handicapped.

All together they strive for the establishment of this service in the Greek Society, together with our Sponsor PETLINE S.A. (Earthborn Holistic-Pro Pac and Rogz, dogs’ accessories)!!

Featured Services

The Aim of the Center is to provide a well trained Guide Dog to a blind or visually impaired person. By having the possibility to have a Guide Dog, Blind people and visually impaired people improve their independence, become more secure and improve the quality of their life.

Their everyday program is without stress, they gain autonomy, the prevention of accidents is very important and their social life grows. They feel much stronger and they can achieve a lot more things when they work together with a Guide dog in the difficult environment of Athens.

Dialogue in the Dark Athens - Badminton Theater

Organization Profile

Dialogue in the dark is an interactive exhibition experience which has enhanced the lives of more than 7.000.000 people all over the world. For over 25 years, Dialogue in the Dark has been installed in more than 30 countries and 130 cities. Visitors in groups of up to eight people are accompanied by a blind or partially sighted guide in a walk through Athens in complete darkness. The installation consists of specially constructed rooms simulating various places of our city. During the tour people will not be able to see but will have the opportunity to use our other senses of hearing-touch-smell providing an enlightened awareness to the world around us. A reversal of roles is created: people who can see are taken out of their familiar environment and the dependency on vision. Blind people provide them with security and a sense of orientation by transmitting them to a world without pictures. The tour itself lasts for approximately 70 minutes - the effects of the experience last a lifetime.

Featured Exhibition

Leave the world of sight for an experience of a lifetime. Badminton Theater has the honor to be the 165th venue worldwide to install the project that opens your eyes to your other senses without allowing you to see. In celebration of the 25th anniversary of this incredible exhibition, come to experience new ways of understanding and appreciation for yourself and all that is around you. Experiment with new ways of communicating and discover your capacity to comprehend your environment through your ability to listen, speak, smell and touch without dependence on your sense of sight.

Dialogue in the Dark is a guided tour through your familiar surroundings in the city of Athens without leaving the sense of security of the theater installation. By eliminating the use of sight, everyday situations become completely new experiences. As the visit proceeds, personal involvement and interaction between the members of a group and their guide develop into a close bond of friendship and understanding culminating in a light discussion of the experience in a social setting. A visually impaired guide serves as an ambassador to introduce visitors to a world of perceiving through other senses and discovery of each individual's hidden potential by leading you through the most amazing tour of the senses we tend to forget we possess in our visual world.

Tours are available in English, French, Italian and German upon request when making your reservation.

Panhellenic Association of Parents and Friends of People with Visual Impairment and Additional Handicaps "AMIMONI"

Panhellenic Parents and Guardians' Union of Children with severe sight problems "HERA"

Hellenic Retina Society (H.R.S)