ACCESS-IT@Home This award will recognise an ICT based project, product or service that advances independent living for people with disabilities or elderly. 1. Relevance - Please describe your activity (product, project or service) and why it is relevantfor the selected award. Try to be concise.(500 words) (required) The Accessible Friends Network (TAFN) provides private accessible VoIP conferencing run by and for blind & partially sighted people in their homes via their own home computer. Our software programme "VIP Communicator 2" was written by a blind programmer and we are the only organisation in Europe to be implementing it. For end users the client programme is completely free and very easy and accessible to setup and use. All that is needed is a broadband connected PC with either Windows XP or Vista, and a microphone or headset. A free 30 day trial of the system is available to anyone who is registered blind or partially sighted, and full subscribed membership of the charity costs just £12 per year. Membership includes 24 hour, 7 day per week private VoIP server access, as well as a range of other benefits including a mailbox and webspace if required, voting rights within the organisation's democratic decision making, and a range of practical assistance including remote technical support, and small grant assistance. The private VoIP conferencing is particularly special for those people who are blind or partially sighted and at home. Once somebody has access to it, a wide range of online events are at their disposal that they can attend online without needing to travel. The range of the events available by VoIP includes (but is not limited to):- * Realtime Word Games, including quizzes, crosswords and a special team game called Chain Reaction. * Informational events where cuttings from newspapers, recipes, short stories and poems are read out loud by humans. * Fun games such as monthly prize bingo, and bonus ball which are used to help raise funds for the group. * Music events including a Talent Night during which people perform live via computer, regular DJ nights where people do their own "radio show" on the server from home, and "theme nights" where people share and play their own music with others from home, on a particular theme. * Drama-related events including plays and a regular meeting for fans of BBC Radio show "The Archers" 90% of TAFN members are registered blind people and practically all TAFN events are run by it's members from home on a voluntary basis as well. Therefore, not only does our VoIp conferencing provide the opportunity to participate in events, it also gives those same people the chance to skill-share and volunteer online for the benefit of others as well. We currently have over 30 volunteers running events and in many cases it is not long after somebody joins us that they sign up to become a volunteer as well. This is true "social networking" in action for blind & partially sighted people from their own home. We currently have over 200 members, aged from 18 to over 90! and are growing both steadily and rapidly. 2. Impact - In order to assess the impact of your activity (project, product or service) for the disability or elderly community, please tell us what difference has it made in their life. Also, please explain briefly how do you know it has made a difference? (300 words) (required) A number of TAFN members have stated what a difference The Accessible Friends Network (TAFN) has made to them, in a number of ways. The main ones include:- FRIENDSHIP - TAFN is a friendly community wherein support between members is first class & taken very seriously. Many of our members have formed lasting and worthwhile friendships with others who live many miles away, this directly tackles the social isolation that many blind people feel. They can talk to their peers and it is easy both to join large group events, and to meet new people as well. TRAINING - Many members of TAFN have said they had difficulties finding accessible training courses in their local area. However through TAFN they have been able to learn about the PC in the comfort of their own home, often directly from other blind people. People at all levels of learning, from beginners through to advanced, are given the opportunity to improve their computer skills & gain recognised EDCC certificates through online classes in which they can talk to the tutor in realtime. Also, apart from computer skills training, Creative Writing and Gardening are currently available,and we hope to expand this range in the near future. TECHNICAL SUPPORT - Wherever access technology is used, technical support is especially needed. Not all programs (or even websites) are accessible to blind people, and many of the internet's risks including viruses & spam, are all are the more difficult to deal with. To help address this we have a dedicated tech support team who provide technical help where possible, as well as a Remote Support solution to try and help us all keep our computers up and running smoothly. We know all these things have made a major difference through the feedback that our members have given. 3. Openness and Affordability - The successful activity (project, product or service) will be measured upon the ease by which others can replicate or learn from the experience. This may include affordability for use by the disability or elderly community. Please give details on its usage cost and how you would encourage replication and learning from your experience including extension to different target groups or different countries etc (300 words) (required) AFFORDABILITY TO END USERS One of the most important aspects of TAFN is it's affordability. With annual membership to end users costing just 12 pounds per year - equal to £1 per month - we feel certain based on the extent of support and range of facililties on offer - that this represents good value. It is very important to us that membership of our organisation is not too expensive, especially considering the high unemployment rates in the blind community. In light of this and also in light of the fact that so much of the NEEDED specialist technology for blind people is so expensive, we would encourage all providers of services and facilities to blind people to try and keep the costs down wherever possible, to better promote inclusion. AFFORDABILITY TO OUR CHARITY The Accessible Friends Network (TAFN) is a registered charity (No. 1108043), and we have received no grant assistance, in 5 year history. As a rough ball park figure the cost to run all of our activities including server rental and software leasing costs is currently in the region of £2000 per year. We have found that through the concerted efforts of our volunteers and members to raise funds, we have been able to meet our own subsistence and running costs. 4. Resource Sources - Please provide us any online reference sources (online videos, online demos, etc) that we can consult in order find out more about your activity (project/product or service). (required) Firstly here is a link to our most recent Annual Report (Word Format) http://www.tafn.org.uk/members/docs/TAFN_annual_report_2008.doc Secondly here is a link to a page with links to a number of Audio Features about TAFN, on our website. http://www.tafn.org.uk/intro/#Audio (ENDS)