"This project aims to create innovative applications for visually impaired and disabled people. Our main idea is to make Astronomy accessible to visually impaired and disabled people. Visually impaired people cannot view astronomical images and have difficulty in perceiving them. We are proposing an application that can aurally interpret an astronomical image as sounds. The selected astronomical images will be scanned producing a specific series of sounds. When the software detects an astronomical object e.g. a planet, a star, or a galaxy then the sound tone, volume and frequency change following the respective form of the object and its dimensions. Furthermore, we wish to make our application compatible with mobile devices, so visually impaired people can detect interactively on the touch screen the respective astronomical objects. Following the same technique with sound changes after finger-touching searching someone can discover the form and size of an astronomical object. Additionally, we propose the creation of a database of astronomical objects. Towards this direction we developed an unofficial collaboration with Astronomical Society ""ORION"" and also included a partner that can provide astronomical data from an Observatory. Towards the same direction, the Experimental High School of the University of Patras will establish a collaboration with Observatories sited at Greece. The enrichment of the database will be the main responsibility of partners from Spain, France and the aforementioned Greek school. Straight after the enrichment of the database, we will construct a website specially prepared for disabled people. This website will provide access for disabled people to astronomical data from their homes. Phone instructions, phone orders and distant requests for astronomical data and objects will be some of the basics of this website. The construction of the website will be the main responsibility of the University of Patras as well as the development of the applications. Of course, the University of Patras will supervise all stages of the project providing all necessary directives. Following the first stage of preparing and constructing digital tools, we need to apply, test and evaluate our tools. Thus we carefully selected partners that are experts in special education for visually impaired people, or disabled people. Three out of seven partners are schools for students with special needs. In the second half of our project, we will visit one by one these schools applying our digital tools, evaluating the applicability, functionality and effectiveness. Then we will further proceed to changes and upgrade our prior versions. We finally wish to provide publicly some really useful scientific tools for people with special needs. We strongly believe that a disabled person must have free access without any obstacles to scientific resources, but even more, we believe that technology must serve the special needs of humans in any way, even ""visualizing"" astronomical images for visually impaired people."

"The Project follows on from a Grundtvig Project completed in 2013 (Specific Learning Disabilities [Sp.L.D.] Roadmap for teacher and adult learner training) which established that Sp.L.D. consists of 7 learning disabilities, co-existing to varying degrees which, due to the same underlying information processing deficiencies, will require similar pedagogical approaches. In the majority of EU nations, co-existence of such disabilities is neither accepted nor diagnosed. Therefore, there is little or no training for adults, teachers nor support for children/students. Unidentified, Sp.L.D. results in low self esteem, high stress, atypical behaviour, mental health problems, low achievement and early school leaving. This can also lead to violence in school and later anti-social behaviour within communities. In the worst case it can lead to criminal acts and imprisonment. The reverse is also true where children and young persons, having had on-going support for their Sp.L.D., go on to higher education and become valuable citizens. Using Eurostat population data, in 2010 there were between 17 to 46 Million persons, between the ages of 3 to 25, in the EU-27 with Sp.L.D. For such numbers to remain unidentified and, as a consequence unsupported, is a massive lost generation that the EU cannot afford to lose in today’s global market. For the first time, and as one of the first Erasmus Plus Projects, Europe can take the next critical and essential steps to produce an EU Sp.L.D. Policy and Roadmap and create an effective and consistent European Sp.L.D. Adult Learner & Teacher e-Training Programme which would finally address the major problems with unidentified and, as a consequence, unsupported Sp.L.D. There are 9 EU Partners from the Estonia (Tallin University); Germany (Institut fuer systemisch-integrative Lerntherapie, Leipzig); Greece (Hellenic Dyslexia Association); Italy (Istituto d'Istruzione Superiore ""F.S. Nitti""); Poland (Stowarzyszenie Przyjaciół i Wychowanków Zespołu Szkół); Romania (Tibiscus University from Timisoara, Faculty of Psychology); Slovenia (University of Ljubljana) ; Turkey (Egitim Uretim ve Sanat Dernegi) and United Kingdom (Lancashire Centre for Specific Learning Difficulties)In the area of Sp.L.D., the 3 year project will:- Determine National Policies, understanding and defnitions and their co-existence at Academic Institute and Schools levels- Develop dissemination Information documents/e-documents- Determine potential 'socio/political' barriers to their acceptance and co-existence, including National inclusive education and legal frameworks- Determine National pedagogical and teacher/adult learner training approaches including both academic/theoretical and practical training- Produce an EU Sp.L.D. Policy, Definitions and Teacher/Adult Learner Training Policy Document- Disseminate a recommended EU Sp.L.D. Policy and Roadmap to the ET2020 Committee- Develop & Evaluate Sp.L.D. Teacher & Adult Learner Training Courses- Develop Sp.L.D. e-training platform- Implement Sp.L.D. e-training Courses- Two Conferences: 1. Dissemninate EU Sp.L.D. Policy, Definitions and Teacher/Adult Learner Training Policy Document; 2. Disseminate EU Sp.L.D. Policy and Sp.L.D. Interactive e-Training Courses.In particular, whereas Specific Learning Disabilities (Sp.L.D.) have been, in the main, undiagnosed and therefore unsupported throughout Europe, the Project will facilitate a quantuum leap in knowledge of how Sp.L.D. has detrimentally affected the past, current and future generations of students and adults throughout Europe. Moreover, the detailed and different levels of Sp.L.D. Teacher Training created will enable all participants, participating organisations, target groups and relevent stakeholders to both identify Sp.L.D. and support students and adults with Sp.L.D. in both schools, tertiary education and related NGOs.It is clearly recognised that although the EU cannot force its member nations to implement its recommended Sp.L.D. policy changes, the socio-political impact awareness that this project will generate at regional, national and European levels will be such that they will not be able to retain the status-quo of permitting unidentified and unsupported Sp.L.D. Moroever, even if only a minority of member nations accept and implement the project recommendations, countless numbers of EU citizens will have their lives changed for the positive - transformed from their perspective of feeling rejected and useless to having their true potential as valuable citizens realised. This reaches into to the very heart of vision of ET2020.It is very important to note that the valorisation impact such a development of e-training could have using Open edX - it is highly likely that this will be one of the first developments in the EU and, as such, its impact across the whole of the EU for e-Training cannot be overestimated."