Yoav Kraim – Chairman, National Council for the Rehabilitation of the Mentally Ill in the Community, Ministry of Health, Israel Co-Director, Unit for Social Change, Beit Issie Shapiro Lecturer, the Department of Occupational Therapy, Ono Academic College, Israel
The lecture describes the process of self-advocacy groups of people with intellectual disabilities, the way they went through and their participation in the Knesset committee, in which they expressed their will to decision-makers in Israel.

Jean Judes – Executive Director, Beit Issie Shapiro
Avital Yanovsky – Expert on occupational diversity, Israel
Jean Judes, Executive Director of Beit Issie Shapiro, gave a lecture at the Zero Project Conference on Employment and Occupational Training for People with Disabilities.
The lecture dealt with the way in which Beit Issie Shapiro leverages programs into change and impact at a national, and even international level.
Also participating was Avital Yanovsky, an expert on occupational diversity, and Beit Issie Shapiro’s partner in the Business Informatics course.

Chairperson: Ms. Jean Judes – Executive Director, Beit Issie Shapiro
Today’s technological entrepreneurs have an array of support systems – ecosystems – which provide them with the comprehensive network needed to turn a good idea into a marketable product. Such an ecosystem has yet to be developed focusing on developing accessible technologies for people with disabilities.  This side event will focus on the importance of and challenges in developing a disabilities-focused network of support that will provide entrepreneurs with access to knowledge, guidance, resources and community – through a multi-facetted discussion featuring experts from different sectors.

The lecture describes a study centering on the level of importance given by therapists treating people with intellectual disabilities, to activity geared towards social inclusion.

Chairman: Prof Patrick Corrigan
Prof Jeremy Turk: Labelling and Classifications in Developmental Disabilities: Curse or Blessing
Prof Lisa Woolfson: The influence of societal stereotypes on attitudes and behaviour of parents and teachers towards children with intellectual disabilities
Dr Katrina Scior: Do they do what they say? Questioning the link between self-reported attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities and actual behaviour
Dr Shirli Werner: “Equal in Uniform”: Its impact on attitudes of soldiers without disabilities towards soldiers with intellectual disabilities

Mrs. Smogorovska presents the evaluation results of a program to develop social skills that allocates time to social play/time. The program was implemented in kindergartens in Poland.

In her lecture, Ms. Sabrina Donina describes a study which examines a method intended to define ways to improve the quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities who live away from home, with the collaboration of the residents, their families and their therapists.

Mr.  Encarnação describe a study of a technology intended to support the participation of children with neuro-motor disabilities in learning activities in the classroom.

Luigi Croce describes a study focusing on the profile of children with intellectual disabilities conducted in Milan. A more profound understanding of the quality of life profile of people with disabilities who use services, may yield a better definition of users thus improving the services provided.

In his lecture, which was delivered at the opening session of the sixth international conference on disabilities held at Beit Issie Shapiro, Prof. Corrigan speaks about ways of reducing stigmatization of people with mental disabilities.