Using a civil rights perspective, the project addresses these issues and related developments in Japan, India, Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Brazil, Nicaragua, South Africa, Uganda, and New Zealand. WID is collaborating with disability organizations, international NGOs, and US governmental agencies to identify specific barriers to employment for high-risk women with disabilities and to develop strategies to address these barriers through a series of domestic and international training seminars. This project is a direct result of the needs identified at both the International Leadership Forum for Women with Disabilities conducted by WID's International Division in 1997 and the United Nations Fourth World Congress on Women which took place in Beijing in 1995. The project utilizes a successful training approach for women with disabilities of all types, including innovative training materials and a resource directory specifically designed for disabled women. This model emphasizes participatory learning and skills-based instruction within nonacademic training exercises, which enables more interaction by those with lower levels of literacy or lack of prior experience in formal professional seminars.
Information is provided primarily through peer experts and personal success stories.
The concept of mentoring is introduced and used and the formation of personal and professional mentoring networks are encouraged and created. Practical workshops provide training in advocacy skills and utilize specialized assignments that require immediate application of those skills. The use of the Internet is demonstrated as an effective research and networking tool and incorporated throughout the training environment.