• Newspaper interview with the NWZ about my stay in Iraq from 30.09. to 08.10.2011
  
• Lecture by Ilyias Yanc, on the board of the Yezidi Forum (Oldenburg) on dealing with dying, death and mourning, as well as burial rituals of the Kurdish Yezidis, 9 June 2012.
  
• Lecture by the Imam, Mr Cosar of the Oldenburg mosque "Haci Bayram" on dealing with dying, death and mourning, 09.06.2012.
  
  

Monika Ortmann

From 3 September 2012 to 5 September 2012, 34 international specialists in the support needs of people with physical and motor impairments developed guidelines for inclusion, in particular for pupils with physical disabilities in mainstream schools. Prof Dr Monika Ortmann and junior professor Dr Britta Gebhard were the organisers of the conference, which took place at the University of Oldenburg. During the three-day conference, to which educators from school practice were also invited, it became clear that important framework conditions must be met for the inclusion of pupils with physical and motor impairments: both academics and practitioners agree that, in addition to the architectural requirements to be adapted, the qualifications of teachers and other specialists must be adapted to the new tasks. Furthermore, pedagogical guidelines must be revised, parental work and co-operation with medicine, therapists and other specialist services must be expanded and improved in quality. It was clearly emphasised that trained special needs teachers specialising in physical and motor impairments are indispensable in the inclusion process, but regular school teachers should also deal with disability-specific content. The keynote speech by Prof. Dr Andreas Zieger from the Neurological Rehabilitation Department of the Evangelical Hospital, who discussed the potential of cooperation between teachers and doctors in a forward-looking way, set a special focus.

Inspired by several presentations by other conference participants, the professional dialogue covered a wide range of current topics.

Two female scientists with physical disabilities also took part, who were able to make valuable contributions as people affected.

The next conference of teachers of physical disability education will take place in 2013 in Berlin at Humboldt University.