Faik YILDIRIM, Deputy General Manager of Disability and Elderly Services on behalf of the General Directorate of Disability and Elderly Services, a natural member of the board, attended the Meeting on The Situation of Students with Disabilities and Unhindered University Awards in Distance Education, which was organized on November 6, 2020 under the chairmanship of YÖK Disabled Student Working Group Executive Group Executive Group And YÖK Executive Committee Member Prof. Dr. Zeliha KOÇAK TUFAN.

Faik YILDIRIM, Deputy General Manager of Disability and Elderly Services, who spoke during the discussion of the Unhindered University Awards from the meeting agenda items of the YÖK Disabled Student Working Board, gave information about the services carried out by the General Directorate of Disability and Elderly Services for disabled people throughout Turkey and gave a presentation on "2020 Accessibility Year and Accessibility Awards" within the scope of the "2020 Year of Accessibility" announced by our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN. 

YILDIRIM, who began his presentation with the promise of "accessibility is for everyone", said, "Accessibility is our main priority area to ensure the full and effective participation of people with disabilities in social life. The problem of accessibility affects the whole life of people with disabilities, from education to employment, from health to social life.  We attach great importance to the work on ensuring accessibility, which we see as a universal human right.

We care deeply about raising social awareness and awareness. It has been declared as the "Year of Accessibility 2020" by Our President Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN in order to carry out accessibility studies in a planned and standards-compliance way, to accelerate accessibility practices, to ensure physical, digital, mental transformation in this field and to create an accessibility culture. Our efforts to increase the level of knowledge and awareness of technical personnel such as engineers and architects working in public institutions and organizations for the implementation of accessibility legislation and standards are continuing at full speed.

In this context, since 2011, we have given accessibility training to approximately 12,300 technical personnel, including computer and software engineers working in public institutions and organizations. We have published the Accessibility Guide, which is also a source for academicians, where architects and engineers can apply from the first stage to the final stage of design, supporting explanatory texts as well as architectural drawings with three-dimensional visuals. We have prepared accessibility animation that visually describes what needs to be done step by step. We have prepared the Accessibility Assessment Module (ERDEM) to ensure that what needs to be done to make buildings accessible is provided as a report.  We've set accessibility standards. We created audit policies for accessibility audits that first began in 2013.

On September 1, 2020, we revised the Accessibility Monitoring and Inspection Forms. As a result of the audits, we issued 1031 Accessibility Certificates. In the 2020 Year of Accessibility, working in the field of accessibility that contributes to the participation of people with disabilities in social and economic life; real persons, public institutions and organizations, public and private legal entities will be awarded Accessibility Awards for their scientific research, successful projects, practices and services."  said.

The deadline for receiving applications was set for Friday, November 20, 2020, starting with the publication of the announcement on accessibility awards on Monday, October 12, 2020. A ceremony will be held on Thursday, December 3, 2020 for awards in Accessible Designs and Products, Accessible Digital Applications, Accessible Public and Corporate Organizations, Accessible Universities, Accessible Local Government Services, Accessible Workplaces, Accessibility Social Responsibility Projects, Scientific Studies and Projects in the Field of Accessibility, Accessible Media Content Categories.