Published by the EBU Office
With the financial support of
DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
of the European Commission
Table of contents :
EU Update
National news
Announcement
Publication
FEATURE
This Newsletter is published and translated with the financial support of DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of the European Commission.[ The opinions expressed in this Newsletter are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the EBU. ]
Editor’s Note
Welcome to issue 68 of the EBU Newsletter.
EBU is 25 years' old this year ! We have chosen to celebrate this important milestone in the life of our organisation by paying a vibrant tribute to Louis Braille and his writing and reading system, 2009 also coinciding with the bicentenary of his birth. Our homage comes in the form of a multimedia book on the many ways braille still empowers the blind almost two centuries after it was invented (read more on page 3).
This year again, the European Commission is lending its financial support to EBU, making it possible for us to carry out the work programme described on page 6.
Congratulations to our WBU and EBU colleagues who fought a particularly difficult battle over the copyright issue and who won ! As you will read on page 4, WBU's proposal for a Copyright Treaty that would harmonise copyright law at international level is now on WIPO's work programme, an indispensable step forward towards a possible adoption of the treaty.
Our Feature is devoted to blind and partially sighted women's employment in Slovenia. Barbara Krejci Piry reports on a conference held and shares with us testimonials providing a most interesting overview of problems they encounter both at work and when accessing the labour market.
Enjoy your reading !Mokrane Boussaid, EBU Office Director.
Please feel free to send your comments on this Newsletter’s layout and contents to ebu@euroblind.org
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EU UPDATE
Launch of the EBU Essay Book : Braille - the world at my fingertips
By Birgitta Blokland, EBU Secretary General2009 is a year of festivities: there is of course the Louis Braille bicentenary, and the World Blind Union and EBU are celebrating their 25th birthdays.
As a contribution to the many initiatives for these occasions, EBU issued a book with 25 real-life stories honouring Braille. The 25 texts were selected from the 2007 - 2008 braille essay contests that EBU ran for Onkyo, a Japanese company which promotes braille internationally.
The selected essays were submitted by blind persons from all over Europe ranging in age from 9 to over 70. All inspiring, moving, impressive, empowering, sweet stories that EBU thought worth sharing with as many people as possible. And what better occasion than EBU´s anniversary and the Louis Braille bicentenary year to officially present the book!
To give you a flavour of the great diversity in style and content, the book holds poems, letters to Louis Braille, a nine year old explaining why she could not live a single day without braille, a young woman sharing the secret of Braille as the way to a man´s heart, as well as more philosophical and technical descriptions to illustrate the importance of braille, it is all there.
Some quotes to give you a real taste and to inspire you:
“When I started learning braille, I felt as though I was walking through the wide open doors of the world” WRITES Milan Duric from Serbia, winner of the 2007 competition who was blinded as a young teen by an explosion accident.
“Louis Braille has eased my breathing, taught me to walk, to feel for and step over the stones... praise him!” says Antonio Martín Figueroa from Spain, winner in the 2008 competition.
“I paint from the dark with a brush dipped into thoughts, words and memories” a beautiful description by Bozidar Dendra from Montenegro.
And last, but not least, Henn Kungla from Estonia advocates:
“I´d warmly recommend that all blind people learn braille; it allows a blind person to ´see´ again and life can shine beautifully once more”
All gems, and I could quote many more, but you would better read it for yourself!
This book would not have been possible without the generous support of RNIB (book production for EBU), ONCE (Spanish translation) and Onkyo. I would also like to mention Katherin Ekstrom and Cathy Davies who so professionally helped EBU realise this project.
The EBU book comes with a CD-Rom in English, French and Spanish in alternative formats: Daisy audio, printable PDF, braille and text files.
It can be ordered by emailing RNIB at exports@rnib.org.uk All member organisations will receive a limited number of free copies from EBU.
We do hope you will enjoy reading these beautiful stories as much as we did when making this book for you. Warmly recommended!
Further information from the EBU Office, ebu@euroblind.org
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Copyright Treaty Update
By Dan Pescod, Europe, International and Accessibility Campaigns Manager, Royal National Institute of the BlindAs mentioned in the EBU Newsletter n°67, countries from around the world met at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva in May to discuss copyright issues. Key among these was the treaty proposal brought forward by the World Blind Union (WBU).
The proposed treaty would harmonise copyright law at international level so that organisations making alternate format books could share their collections across borders.
It would also speed up the slow process of getting national exceptions for print disabled people in every country, and improve the situation regarding digital rights management barriers blocking access to digital works.
WBU's two main meeting objectives were:
1. To ensure that at least one government formally tabled the WBU treaty proposal.
2. To ensure that the conclusions of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meeting accepted that the proposal should go forward to the November SCCR for a more detailed discussion.
The WBU team had many meetings with groups of countries (Latin American group, EU, "Group B" which represents industrialised countries, and so on) and also formal and less formal meetings with a range of countries.
Objective 1: Getting the treaty tabled
Happily, three countries proposed our treaty formally: Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay. They had almost unanimous backing from Latin American countries. The great news is that in the SCCR India, China, Pakistan and various others spoke in favour of it too. No country overtly opposed it. However, both in discussions with WBU and in the meeting itself the EU and "Group B" countries conspicuously avoided supporting this treaty proposal.
Objective 2: Conclusions allowing this work to advance
The Copyright Committee meeting conclusions do indeed allow this. It is such a controversial proposal though, because it centres on copyright exceptions, that there were late arguments and discussions before these conclusions were agreed.
What now?
There is a long way to go for the treaty to become agreed and adopted at WIPO. Indeed some countries told us it would not be worth pursuing because it would take so long, and "soft law" and work in the "WIPO Stakeholder Platform" with rights holders would be a better alternative. However, to make a real impact on the "book famine" blind and partially sighted people face, we need to work BOTH on the stakeholder platform with rights holders AND to have the treaty.
We should also bear in mind with regard to the argument about the length of time the treaty might take, that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was negotiated in about 5 years, and the WIPO proposal is a lesser piece of work than that. This demonstrates that where there is a will there is a way!
In short, in order to succeed with the treaty we will need to increase our efforts to persuade EU countries in particular of its importance. Many countries said that they would now have consultations on the matter with blind organisations domestically, and we must respond clearly to these in favour of the treaty.
Further information from Dan Pescod, dan.pescod@rnib.org.uk
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The European Commission supports EBU’s work in 2009
This year, EBU is conducting a work programme, with the financial support of the European Commission’s Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity (PROGRESS). The work programme focuses on five key areas:
1. Employment
Three fact-finding studies are being conducted - in the continuity of the work carried out by Fred Reid and Philippa Simkiss in 2008, see the Hidden Majority report on page 13 - to take stock of the situation of visually impaired people’s employment in Italy, the Netherlands and Romania.
Youth employment will also be investigated and discussed at the youth capacity building seminar (see below).
2. Access to Technology
Access to New ICTs and its impact on blind and partially sighted youth employment (obstacles and recommendations) will be researched and results will serve as a stepping stone for the youth capacity building seminar.
3. Education and Copyright
EBU will look into existing legislation on blind and partially sighted people’s education and on copyright. Information will be collected by means of questionnaires and feed into the legislative database initiated in 2008 (http://www.euroblind.org/convention/index.htm) to promote an effective implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
4. Youth Capacity Building Seminar
A two-day seminar entitled “Harnessing New ICTs as a means to ease the job inclusion of visually impaired youth” will be held in Slovakia on 7-8 November 2009. Invitation letters and forms have already been circulated, make sure you register in due course.
5. Communication
EBU will go on implementing its external communication strategy. The EBU newsletter will be released every 2 months in 4 languages while the EBU corporate video will be translated into 6 new languages and spread through EBU’s communication channels.
Further information from the EBU Office, ebu@euroblind.org
National News
Iceland
It is with great sadness that we inform you that Mr. Halldor Rafnar passed away on 1 May, at the age of 86. Halldor was the chairmen of Blindrafelagid, the Icelandic organisation of the blind and partially sighted, from 1978 to 1986 as well as its general manager from 1985 to 1994. He was one of the most important and influential leader of the blind and partially sighted people in Iceland.
Halldor was involved in a great number of progressive campaigns. His outstanding international contributions, particularly within the Nordic corporation committee, shall remain an inspiration to the blind and partially sighted people whose interests he so greatly promoted.
The funeral took place in Reykjavík on 7 May.
Further information from Blindrafélagid, the Icelandic Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted, blind@blind.is
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Italy
The Italian Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted has been allocated 56,000 Euro by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Education, University and Research to fund the «Braille Project 2009: activities in all kind and level of schools for the bicentenary of Louis Braille’s birth».
The project proposal was prepared in the framework of National Braille Day, a legally established day which is celebrated every year on 21 February in Italy.
The project aims to promote and widely disseminate the Braille reading and writing system across Italy. In particular, the bicentenary of Louis Braille’s birth was identified as the right opportunity to improve access to information and culture for blind and partially sighted people, as well as to strengthen all relevant actions in the field.
The project includes the production of a video and a multimedia CD-ROM to be distributed to all schools and to private TV stations. This material will also be used for ongoing awareness-raising activities targeting both students and teachers on future National Braille Days. Appropriate media coverage has also been planned for through press conferences held in each regional capital.
Further information from the Italian Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted, inter@uiciechi.it
Finland
The Finnish visually impaired movement has long demanded audio announcements in buses and trams in Helsinki. Audio messages are already available in the local train network and metro however the Helsinki City Transport (HCT) blamed technical problems for the lack of stop announcements in buses and trams.
HCT also stated that audio messages would disturb passengers. To investigate this argument, the Finnish Federation of the Visually Impaired commissioned the market research company TNS Gallup to conduct a survey to learn more about passenger’s opinions.
A representative sample of a thousand Finns between 15 and 79 years of age was interviewed about audio announcements in public transport. 91 % felt that audio announcements would be a good thing, whilst 97 % understood the importance of the announcements for the visually impaired. Almost three out of four (72 %) felt that audio messages would not disturb them at all. One out four (23 %) felt that they might be slightly disturbed while a mere 4% felt they would be significantly disturbed.
Stop announcements have been used for years with success in many European cities and the Finnish Federation of the Visually Impaired will continue to promote their full implementation in Helsinki.
Further information from Timo Kuoppala, timo.kuoppala@nkl.fi
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ANNOUNCEMENT
Arne Husveg Award
The 2009 Arne Husveg Medal was awarded to Poul Lüneborg of the Danish Association of the Blind (DAB) at the Visually Impaired 2009 Congress held on 18-20 June in Coupvray, France.
The Arne Husveg Award is bestowed upon persons who have served EBU with particular commitment and distinction. The Award takes the form of a gold medal bearing the words "Arne Husveg Award", with Arne's dates and the legend "He showed the path to full social inclusion".
Poul Lüneborg is a legal consultant and an outstanding member of the blind movement. Upon receiving his Award, Poul reminded the audience of Arne Husveg’s ideal to maintain solidarity as the core guideline in our work. This inspiring motto is well demonstrated by his numerous achievements.
Poul Lüneborg is a former President of DAB and Chairman of the Nordic Cooperation Committee. He has taken part in the general assemblies of EBU and the World Blind Union, as DAB delegate and in other capacities.
He chaired the EBU Commission for Liaising with the European Union and he represented EBU in different committees leading to the founding of the European Disability Forum. His work was instrumental in the adoption and implementation the non-discrimination clause in the European Treaty of Amsterdam.
Poul Lüneborg is now an active member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), an influential consultative body of European interest groups.
His remarkable commitment and contributions are well recognised both within and beyond the disability movement and he is no doubt a worthy recipient of this prestigious award. Congratulations !
The Art of Braille
As a tribute to Louis Braille, two visually impaired European artists developed the Art of Braille project.
The artists, who work under the name Arts&Co, present the Art of Braille project as “A timeless concept combining art with the form of the dots used in the Braille alphabet. The project consists of a series of paintings on round canvasses, each representing a braille-dot. With the paintings words can be formed, using the structure of the braille-code. Art with a message”.
A combination of 17 round paintings created the word Braille on the wall in the exhibition venue at the Visual Impairment 2009 Congress which was held in June in Coupvray, France.
It is an original, decorative and interactive concept, as one can ‘play’ with the paintings, designing new braille letters and creating new works of art by combining and arranging them in different ways on the wall. These can of course be other ways than in the braille format. ¨They also look really nice on a row¨ a visitor to the Coupvray exhibit commented.
The paintings showcase a variety of themes, styles and techniques. The size of the paintings ranges from 20 to 70 centimetres in diameter.
Art of Braille can be viewed on the project website www.artofbraille.punt.nl
Should you wish to offer space for the exhibition in your country, or wish to commission your organisation’s name in braille-paintings, please contact Birgitta Blokland, bjb202@hotmail.com
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Techshare Conference 2009 – Making the Most of Technology
The 2009 International Techshare Conference will be hosted by the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) on 16 - 18 September 2009 in London.
Techshare highlights the importance of digital technology in the lives of people with disabilities and promotes the exchange of good practices on an international scale.
Leading organisations and technology companies will come together to share information about their research, products and services. The topics will include :
E-books and E-publishing
An exhibition of leading digital products and services for people with disabilities will also be staged alongside the Conference. This exhibition is free and open to the general public.
Online booking is now open on www.rnib.org.uk/techshare
Further information from techshare@rnib.org.uk
PUBLICATION
EBU Pharmaceutical Braille TableBy John Heilbrunn, Danish Association of the Blind and Chairman of the EBU Pharmaceutical Labelling Working Group
The final EBU Pharmaceutical Braille labelling guidelines have now been approved by the EBU Board and published on www.euroblind.org/fichiersGB/positions.html
These official, state of the art guidelines may be used provided national members do not indicate otherwise.
Most pharmaceutical companies distribute their products in more than one country. The industry would benefit from being able to use one harmonised braille code across the European Union as this would be more cost-effective and reduce the margin of error in braille labelling. This is why EBU has endeavoured to put together a single braille code to be used for pharmaceutical labelling wherever possible.
There are of course many differences in national braille codes and EBU has made sure these are respected. A single braille labelling code may well encourage other industries to use braille on their products.
A website is being developed to promote the EBU guidelines, to indicate which EU countries endorse them and to display national braille codes. It will also provide answers to frequently asked questions such as how braille labelling should be implemented in terms of spacing, abbreviations, capitalisation and fitting braille on the drug packages.
Further information from John Heilbrunn, jh@dkblind.dk.
The Hidden Majority, EBU Employment Report revised and expanded
EBU is publishing a new revised and expanded version of The Hidden Majority, a report on economic inactivity among blind and partially sighted people in Sweden, Germany and Romania conducted by Fred Reid and Philippa Simkiss.
This study was commissioned as part of EBU’s 2008 activity programme : "Partnership for the social inclusion of people with a visual impairment" under the PROGRESS programme of the European Commission.
The Hidden Majority report is based on fact finding study visits conducted to survey the situation of visually impaired people and their access to both the open labour market and supported employment sector.
The revised version offers a new preface, a new chapter on Romania and an executive summary. A study of sheltered workshops in France has also been included as an appendix.
The revised Hidden Majority report can be accessed at http://www.euroblind.org/fichiersGB/hidden-majority.htm
Further information from the EBU Office, ebu@euroblind.org
FEATURE :
Blind and Partially Sighted Women at Work
By Barbara Krejci Piry, Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted of Slovenia and EBU Women Steering Group.
IntroductionThe fourth edition of the “Blind And Partially Sighted Women At Work” Conference was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 25 March 2009. The Conference commemorated both International Women’s Day (8 March) and Mother’s Day (25 March). This year's theme was work, employment and professional development.
Employment has grown into a burning issue as the multiple effects of global recession are increasingly felt in Slovenia. The consequences are even more significant where the employment of disabled people is concerned. The Conference brought the perspective of blind and partially sighted women forward.
Active visually impaired women from across Slovenia, stemming from different professions, ages and walks of life, came to the Conference to share their personal career experiences, to present examples of good practice as well as issues which still need to be addressed in the employment field.
PresentationsI presented the introductory paper at the conference to offer an outline of the main problems and needs that must to be taken on board for a visually impaired woman to find a job and be successful in her career. These key aspects are bi-dimensional in that they include appropriate education or training and motivation to work on the part of visually impaired women, and the willingness to hire and work with women with sight loss on the part of employers. The right to work is one of the fundamental human rights but finding a position often remains a real challenge. Moreover, it may prove equally difficult to retain one’s position or to be promoted in one’s work.
Suzana Gacnik, a blind switchboard operator, was the first speaker at the Conference. She explained how very pleased she is about being employed and feeling that she is useful. She enjoys her job greatly but finds it demanding due to technological changes. Furthermore, she feels that a six-hour working day would help her balance the energy she needs for both her job and family. She concluded that schemes and subsidies to support shorter working shifts would be beneficial for many disabled employees with families.
Julija Kutin, a young woman with severe visual impairment who holds an MA in Information Technology, was the next presenter. Based at the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, she works on metadata system development and runs workshops and training courses in this field. She also spent six months working at Eurostat in Luxemburg. She recently participated in the OECD Conference on Business Statistic Processes and Metadata Studies and was praised by the organisers for delivering a very successful workshop. Julija was faced with initial barriers when searching for a position and her efforts and success are admirable. She received many refusals from employers once they found out about her sight problem. She was then forced to resign, two weeks after eventually landing a public sector position, because her medical assessment stated she could only work for 4 hours per day on the computer. She was fortunate to find work at the Statistical Office where she was well received and benefited from further education and training opportunities. She is also a keen sportswoman having participated in several marathons and climbed 4000 metres high mountains in South America.
The next presentation was delivered by Monika Balon and Helena Jehart who discussed the advantages and shortcomings of vocational rehabilitation. Both women are partially sighted Economy graduates. They ultimately seek full time employment but for the time being they are both doing on-the-job training as part of their vocational rehabilitation. They described the frustration experienced by trainees because training can go on for as much as two years, on a minimal wage basis with six or eight-hour daily shifts. They also pointed out that the jobs can change during the course of training. Furthermore, on-the-job traineeship is not considered as a form of real employment and therefore does not count towards retirement schemes.
The last presenter was Nina Zavašnik who offered her insight on student employment. She is preparing her BA dissertation in German and Southern Slavic languages at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana. She is now on a student exchange programme in Zagreb, Croatia and works for a translation agency on a part-time basis. She receives text material in electronic form and she then translates these documents. Her translation work is reviewed and edited which gives her the opportunity to improve the quality of her work. She feels that written translation is a great profession for visually impaired people who are good at languages and she is also interested in oral interpretation opportunities. She explained that translation requires on-going professional development which led her to participate in several international language courses, in addition to her university studies. She hopes to get full time employment when she graduates.
Discussion TableConference host Sonja Pungertnik, a blind special education teacher, invited three speakers to join her at the discussion table : Mojca Božič, a partially sighted economist, Metka Pavšič, a blind social worker and Alenka Bera, a partially sighted teacher.
Mojca Božič outlined the key conditions to the success of a visually impaired woman in the workplace. She is a partially sighted economist working in a paper factory and she has been in the same company for almost 25 years now. Mojca is highly respected by her colleagues and her manager wrote a testimonial praising her job performances.
Metka Pavšič is a blind social worker working in a retirement home. She explained that she waited for nearly 10 years to obtain full time employment in the institution where she had worked on a volunteering basis. She wonders how and why it was that her volunteer work was important, needed and respected and yet there was significant reluctance when it came down to turning it into a working contract.
Alenka Bera is a partially sighted English teacher at the Slovenian Association of Disabled Students, an organisation which offers various support programs for disabled students and graduates. She sees many young people losing their social benefits after gaining part time employment or once their contract expire; they are then left without little or no income to survive. This situation is discouraging for young people who can often only obtain temporary employment contracts. As a result, many end up declining temporary or part time employment opportunities in fear of losing their social benefits.
All speakers at the discussion table agreed that visually impaired female employees put a lot of effort in their work in order to feel equal with their sighted colleagues but they also highlighted that a job well done provided them with a great sense of satisfaction. The discussion table ended on this agreement : “because we are afraid of making mistakes, we are even more careful and meticulous in our work“.
Raising AwarenessWe are very happy that this Conference, which focused on quite a demanding topic, was a success and that it contributed to raising public awareness about the employment of visually impaired women.
There was also something special about this year’s Conference because it was held under the patronage of Ms. Barbara Miklič Türk, the Slovenian first lady, which was a great honour. We hope she will help spread awareness and promote the conclusions of the conference so they can be adequately implemented.
The event received good media coverage. All the sessions were recorded by Radio Ognjisce which broadcasted it nationally. The sessions were also recorded and broadcasted by a Web TV channel owned by the deaf organisation. Delo, the main Slovenian daily newspaper, issued a feature on the Conference which included three personal stories from three conference presenters. In addition, Radio Val 202 reported from the Conference and an article about the event has been scheduled by Nasa Zena, a women's monthly magazine.
ConclusionsEmployment of people with disabilities has been the topic of several debates by employers, the State and disabled people themselves. There is no doubt that the position of blind and partially sighted people in the labour market is far from good, and they are less likely to get a job since their unemployment rate is higher than that of the general population. Moreover, their unemployment period is also longer than that of their fully sighted peers. Jobs which were traditionally assigned to blind people, such as switchboard operation and reception, are slowly disappearing due to technological changes and modernisation processes. Assistive devices and accessible technological tools are very expensive and as a result very few employers can afford to offer adequate working conditions to visually impaired people. Last but not least, trainings and professional development courses are mostly suitable for those with good sight.
Gender is still an issue in the labour market, and it further decreases the employment chances of blind or partially-sighted women. Even those who did find employment are still faced with barriers which often prevent them from using and showing all their abilities and potential in the jobs and positions which they are qualified to do. The work carried out at the Conference resulted in practical recommendations to promote greater employment equality; these can be read in full in the following section of this Newsletter.
I also would like to stress the great importance of knowing our own talents and interests. Let us not forget that visually impaired people should be pro active in their career development and in seeking employment. As the inspiring experiences shared by the presenters at the Conference demonstrate, confidence and self esteem are critical in order to have the courage to ask for a reasonable position and a fair salary for the job that visually impaired employees are doing and are qualified for.
Further information from Barbara Krejci Piry, barbara.krejci-piry@guest.arnes.si
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Towards Equal Employment Opportunities for Visually Impaired Women
By Barbara Krejci Piry, Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted of Slovenia and EBU Women Steering Group.The visually impaired women gathered at the 2009 edition of the “Blind And Partially Sighted Women At Work” Conference highlighted that certain forms of support and greater understanding in society would considerably help them towards equal opportunities and being able to lead a life similar to women without sight loss.
The following recommendations were made :
1. Procedures for securing the rights under the Act on Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of People with Disabilities need to be simplified, to operate in a faster manner (especially in cases where people with disabilities did find a job by themselves), and to secure positive discrimination in employing people with more severe disabilities;
2. The status of visually impaired people in vocational rehabilitation should be reviewed so that reasonable wages are provided for on-the-job training. Trainee working contracts should count towards retirement schemes and the providers of work placements should seek ways to offer full time employment once placements are completed;
3. Assistance should be provided for coming to and from work as well as during working shifts, depending on the needs of the individual. Possibilities for this are opening up with the new proposal of the Personal Assistance Act;
4. Work can sometimes be very demanding for visually impaired working parents, so more flexible working times would seem adequate. A scheme including a reduced workload (such as a six hour daily shift) on a full time salary basis should be considered;
5. Social benefit schemes should address transition periods to ensure that changing statuses (such as unfit to work, finding a temporary employment and then becoming unemployed again) do not result in a loss of benefits. This would support greater employment since it was noted that many decline temporary employment so as not to lose their social benefits;
6. Visually impaired people and employers should be regularly informed about the possibilities for employment supports offered by legislation;
7. The Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted should create an award to employers showing good practice in employing visually impaired people to encourage greater employment;
8. More visually impaired people should work in the organisations of and for the visually impaired;
9. Lions Clubs should also be encouraged to contribute in finding employment opportunities for visually impaired people;
10. Successful visually impaired professionals should share their career experience at events such as human resource management seminars or organisational trainings to encourage the development of good practice in society at large.
Further information from Barbara Krejci Piry, barbara.krejci-piry@guest.arnes.si
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Coming Events
EBU Commissions and Steering Groups
Commission on Rehabilitation, Vocational Training and Employment
Contact: Stig Eriksson, stig.eriksson@srf.nu
Deafblind Steering Group
Contact: Sergey Sirotkin, sukhov@vos.org.ru
Other organisations
ICEVI 7th EUROPEAN CONFERENCE
This Conference is organised by ICEVI, the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment. Under the conference theme of 'Living in a Changing Europe', topic areas such as children, rehabilitation of adults, multi disabled, deaf blind, children and youth with Batten's Disease are included.
http://www.icevidublin2009.org
INTERNATIONAL ESPERANTO CONGRESS OF THE BLIND
The Congress is organised by the Ligo Internacia de Blindaj Esperantistoj (LIBE) which is also hosting its General Assembly on the occasion. Further information from Arvo Karvinen, esperantisto@o2.pl
ARTIFICIAL VISION 2009
2nd International Symposium on Artificial Vision is organised by the German Retina Implant Foundation. Following the success of the first Symposium on Artificial Vision in 2006, this year’s scientific meeting aims to create a forum to share and discuss ideas, issues and possible solutions for developing visual prostheses for the blind. The programme covers the whole spectrum of artificial vision from basic science to clinical trials, with the participation of scientists from Australia, China, Germany, Japan, the US and other countries.
The Programme is available on www.stiftung-retina-implant.de
INTERNATIONAL TECHSHARE CONFERENCE
Techshare highlights the importance of digital technology in the lives of people with disabilities through expert-led workshops, presentations on innovative digital access technology, high profile key speakers, and an exhibition of leading digital products and services for people with disabilities. This year’s conference will cover a wide range of topics including e-books and e-publishing, e-inclusion policy, affordable technology and technology for aging related disability
Online booking and more information on www.rnib.org.uk/techshare
DAISY 2009 – Conference
DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) is the new standard for Digital Talking Books : it is a groundbreaking information technology for all people with reading difficulties, including the visually impaired and people with dyslexia and other handicaps. The Conference brings together users, developers and experts of DAISY and offers a technical strand, a public user forum and several workshops.
The programme is available in German and English on http://www.daisy2009.de/