October 2019

EBU now has a new telephone number: for the main office number please call +33(1) 88 61 06 60.

Welcome to the 15th episode of the EBU Access Cast. This month we commented the iOS 13 accessibility improvements and new bugs that came with the new iOS. We are disappointed that the official release brought so many accessibility issues and we hope that Apple will fix them soon.

On October 8, 2019, EBU Spanish member, ONCE, announced in the headquarters of Cervantes Institute in Madrid the availability of its digital library, the largest in the world of excellent quality texts in accessible formats in Spanish, thanks to the Marrakesh Treaty.

A new report entitled "Monitoring of the Rights of Blind and Partially-Sighted People in Europe: An Analysis of the European Blind Union CRPD Database Article 33: National Implementation and Monitoring" (pdf file) is now available.

The Austrian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted celebrated this year’s White Cane Day with a number of activities and a very successful cooperation.

The Austrian Disability Council held its first conference on gender equality in September this year. The title of the conference was "Women with disabilities – Do we really need to talk about it?" and took place in Vienna, with over 100 participants from disability and women’s rights organisations as well as from the political arena.

2019 marks the 60th anniversary of the monthly magazine Musu zodis (Our Word) published by the Lithuanian Association of the Blind (LASS). Only a very few Lithuanian magazines can boast such continuous activity and no doubts, it is the only one produced in four formats: large print, braille, digital download and audio.

From the RNIB Website

The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced an important step towards the end of silent vehicles on UK roads. But what are the risks when vehicles are silent, what does the DfT announcement mean in practice, and does it go far enough?

19-24 June 2020

Marriott Hotel, Madrid, Spain

NOTE: Please read this announcement carefully as it contains important information and deadlines regarding registration, national delegations, delegates support, WBU awards and Travel visas for Spain. Please mark these dates and deadlines in your calendars.