This year, the Croatian Blind Union marks its 70th anniversary. On June 16 1946, a group of blind intellectuals, dreaming of a better world where the dignity and rights of every person are respected, founded the organisation of the blind in Zagreb. Today, CBU is the leading civil society organization for articulating the specific needs of blind persons in Croatia, gathering more than 6000 persons with visual impairments and 250 volunteers through its 27 regional and municipal organizations. As a relevant partner to government sector in developing solutions that positively affect the quality of life for persons with visual impairments, it is a firmly positioned and recognized non-governmental organization and has successful and outspread cooperation with other national and international civil society organizations and relevant stakeholders.
Some of the main activities in the CBU domain are providing social services; support in education and employment; work on legislation and policies; development, adaptation and distribution of typhlo-technical aids; promotion of Braille and the development of ICT, through which it strives to provide new job-opportunities. A significant part of the work is focused on raising awareness amongst the general public and relevant professionals about the needs and potential of the blind, through education, round tables, seminars and conferences. Great attention is given to programs focused on youth, women, and elderly persons with visual impairments. The core behind the project implementation is a multidisciplinary team, consisting of three special education teachers, two social workers, psychologist, lawyer, two economists, project assistant specialized in ICT and two financial officers.
In the last 15 years, CBU has implemented more than 90 projects for visually impaired persons of all age groups, as well as for sighted individuals and professionals who work with blind persons on a day-to-day basis. In 2015 alone 8 projects were implemented, with various groups of beneficiaries – from visually impaired children in elementary schools and their parents, blind activists and employees in local member associations, to adult users of personal assistance and rehabilitation services, and young unemployed visually impaired persons.
Some of the projects funded by the European Commission i.e. the European Social Fund in 2015 and 2016 are:
- Project “For Better Tomorrow”, aims to strengthen the capacities of 27 local member associations to provide effective and high quality social services for blind persons. A 7-day training session was organized in the Educational Rehabilitation Camp for the Blind Premantura, followed by weekend education sessions and individual consultations with 40 representatives of CBU member associations. Participants gained knowledge and new skills for applying and implementing EU funded projects, and shared experiences and good practice examples to develop tools for monitoring and evaluating the quality of social services provided. A joint platform for providing standardized social services was signed by 27 member associations, followed by public panels in 10 Croatian counties, which gathered relevant stakeholders in the field of provision of social services.
- Project “VIP Assistance – Visually Impaired Persons' Assistance”. Within this project, personal assistants were employed in 5 target counties, providing assistance for 158 members in rural areas and receiving excellent feedback from the users of the personal assistance service. External rehabilitation experts also provided rehabilitation services in the local everyday surroundings of a visually impaired person, from orientation and mobility in the local community, to everyday living skills such as maintaining a household, paying the bills, visiting a doctor.
Within this project, a Handbook for Personal Assistants of Persons with Visual Impairments was produced, the first of its kind in Croatian expert literature and providing a wide range of theoretical and practical information for all present and future personal assistants.
- Project “Don't be afraid, the first step is made” is financed within the IPA-IV component. Its main focus is to achieve better social inclusion of visually impaired persons, as a prerequisite for increasing employment opportunities. Project beneficiaries are visually impaired persons from 7 Croatian counties. One of the significant barriers to successful inclusion and employment of project beneficiaries identified is a low level of psycho-social competences, independence and specific daily living skills. Therefore educational and rehabilitation workshops are designed to develop crucial social competences in active job searches and use of assistive technologies and typhlotechnical means to raise the employability level. Another objective is creating networks of social and professional contacts and voluntary based work programmes in order to create better and equal employment opportunities. As the most important reason for not hiring VIPs, employers state their personal conviction about the disadvantages of their employment because of expected low productivity. This has not proved to be correct and is a classic example of prejudice, which arises from lack of direct experience and contact with VIPs, poor knowledge of their potential and other stereotypical opinions which are a consequence of misinformation and misunderstanding. Therefore, another objective of the project is to raise awareness among employers and the general public on the rights and possibilities in employing VIPs.
Educational Rehabilitation Camp for the Blind Premantura
Many of the activities such as education, training and seminars are held in the Educational Rehabilitation Camp for the Blind in Premantura, at the north end of the Croatian Adriatic coast, near the historic city of Pula. The Croatian Blind Union owns the facility, which was officially registered in 2014 as a hostel, under the name Hostel ERKS Premantura.
Given that the hostel and its surroundings are fully accessible for persons with visual impairments and other persons with disabilities, the Croatian Blind Union aims to use the hostel to provide educational and rehabilitation services at the highest level and with best possible results to its members and other interested visitors.
In the month of May, CBU will host the VISAL training sessions for future facilitators in Premantura, as part of the follow up activities related to the international project Visually Impaired Seniors Active Learning (VISAL). The project was recently selected as a “success story” by a panel of experts of the DG Education and Culture of the European Commission and since 2013 VISAL courses have been held in Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia and the UK.
We are proud to be part of this success story and look forward to welcoming future VISAL facilitators this May in Premantura.
For more information about Croatian Blind Union and its hostel in Premantura visit: