Europe is full of communities of blind and partially sighted people who share the same daily challenges. As one way to highlight those common obstacles, EBU has collaborated in the production of the #ViewsOfLife videocast throughout 2023. An original idea from Julius Kratky, a journalist from Austrian broadcaster ORF-Connect, the series’ main goal is to get to know the reality of our national members through in-depth interviews.
Overall, the episodes that have been produced so far have already highlighted how hard it is for visually impaired persons to get access to the labour market on equal terms with others. For instance, their employment rates in countries like Finland or Ireland are of 40% and 24% respectively, figures which already reflect the need to ensure equality of opportunities across the continent. While analyzing this Europe-wide problem in their segments, people like Dorota Krać (from the Polish Association of the Blind) or Madeleine McNamara (from the National Council for the Blind of Ireland) underlined the importance of fighting against prejudice in this area, thus adjusting the workplace for persons with visual impairment (a requirement enshrined in article 27 of the UNCRPD).
Other challenges for blind and partially sighted people in Europe are in areas like the built environment, education or personal mobility. In order to improve things, our national members advocate to improve the way disability policy-making works in their respective countries. For instance, during his interview, the President of the Danish Association for the Blind, Ask Løvbjerg Abildgaard, pinpointed that “rehabilitation of persons with sight loss is a task which should be handled by administrative entities higher than municipalities”. In the same way, Reiner Delgado, Officer of Social Affairs at the German Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted, explained the difficulties to target educational obstacles at a national level due to education in Germany being managed by federal states.
Moreover, due to the latest economic and political developments across Europe, persons with visual impairment must also deal with problems like inflation or poverty. However, as was highlighted in several episodes, national associations find EBU a reliable partner to influence the EU’s legislation and politics to help resolve these issues. In line with this, Cristina Barreto, Director of European Affairs at ONCE, found the Spanish Presidency for the Second Half of 2023 “an excellent opportunity to promote the rights of blind and partially sighted persons.”
In conclusion, our organization expects the videocast to be continued for the remainder of the year. Thanks to the collaboration from our members, we have spread the word about the reality of the visually impaired community across Europe to organizations of Persons with Disabilities, journalists and other stakeholders at a European level. New interviews with new faces will be published soon with the hope to give you all a better #ViewsOfLife.
Nacho Lopez
EBU External Communication Officer