Initiatives

The earliest initiative of the Foundation was to launch an awareness campaign about the role of guide and assistance dogs for people who don't see, hear or walk as well as the rest of us, and to start a petition to gather public support for legislation that would allow these guide and assistance dogs into all the public places non-disabled people go.

The awareness campaign gained new momentum with a grant from the Samenwerkende Fondsen of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba which enabled the design and placement of two billboard - one in the local dialect Papiamentu and the other in English. Promotional cards and TV spots were also produced, and the scale of the Foundations websites was expanded as resources for raising awareness and providing information resources for persons with disabilities.

ABLED Initiative

Even before Stevie Wonder and visually-impaired tech pioneer Mike May spoke out at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas about how developers of devices with touch-screens are leaving blind and visually impaired consumers behind, The Laura And Wagner Foundation (LWF) has been partnered in an initiative that will bring easier Internet and digital accessibility for children, teens and adults who are blind or low-vision, or who have limited range of motion physical abilities, or who struggle with dyslexia, color blindness, learning disabilities or illiteracy.

The ABLED Initiative will create a digital 'ecosystem' of software and devices that will open new gateways for education, by making materials more accessible and better suited to the special needs of disabled and disadvantaged students who've been left behind by the so-called 'digital divide'.

As part of our 'Master Plan' for Curaçao, the software and digital devices will also create new training and employment opportunities for local people of all ages whether they are disabled, economically disadvantaged or a school dropout.

Persons with disabilities face much higher unemployment prospects, and our plan is to build a system in which they can be employed to help other local and visiting persons who are living with a disability.

This system includes new options for paratransit mobility, and the medical, tourism and technology sectors.The LWF is embarking on an ambitious fundraising campaign as it seeks to underwrite the development costs of this innovative system and because we are a NGO (Non Governmental Organization) we rely on your financial support, whether at the personal or corporate levels.

Please call us at +5999 660 4411 or email info@LauraAndWagner.com and we'll be happy to provide you with more information on how you can help us to make Curaçao more ABLED.

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