One billion people, or 15 per cent of the world’s population, experience some form of disability, and disability prevalence is higher for developing countries.
Barriers to full social and economic inclusion of persons with disabilities include inaccessible physical environments and transportation, the unavailability of assistive devices and technologies, non-adapted means of communication, gaps in service delivery, and discriminatory prejudice and stigma in society.
As part of its cultural programme, the Goethe-Institut will give a central place to the issue of inclusion of people with physical and mental disabilities. Inclusion can also be defined more broadly to include issues of social inclusion. However, the current focus is on the concrete participation of people with disabilities. The aim is to strengthen the visibility and participation of this group, not only as an audience but also as experts and artists in German-Vietnamese cultural and educational work.
The Goethe-Institut’s grant programme “Translations of German Books into Other Languages” supports non-German publishers in publishing German-language literature.
