a complex European and National Event dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the European Deafblind Union and on the jubilee anniversaries of the NADbBg (40 years of the deafblind movement in Bulgaria; 20 years of the magazine "Sound and Light" - printed organ of NADbBg), which will be held in Bulgaria, in the city of Varna, within the week September 25th - 29th, 2023.
Venue: Bulgaria, city of Varna
"St. St. Constantine and Helena" Black Sea resort
Frédéric Joliot-Curie International House of Scientists Hotel Complex
Preliminary tentative program of the event:
September 25th, Monday: arrival of participants from Bulgaria and abroad. In the afternoon: NADbBg Annual General Assembly (only the representatives of the Territorial organizations of the NADbBg take part in it, and for the foreign participants - free time).
September 26th, Tuesday: International Conference on Deafblindness.
Motto of the International Conference:
"We are here, we want our place under the sun"
1. Opening lectures / presentations dedicated to:
20 years of the European Deafblind Union (Mr. Francisco Trigueros, EDbU President; Ms. Sanja Tarczay PhD, WFDB President, EDbU past president and EDbU present Board member)
40 years of the deafblind movement in Bulgaria and 20 years of "Sound and Light" magazine - a printed organ of the NADbBg (Velichka Draganova, president of the NADbBg).
Lectures / Presentations of:
2. Sanja Tarczay PhD, Croatia, on Deafblindness as a unique disability and its impact on the personality of a person with Deafblindness; the rights and social inclusion of people with deafblindness.
This lecture will aim to familiarize participants with limited awareness of the specifics and main characteristics of deafblindness (there will be invited participants from centers for the rehabilitation of the blind and of people with other disabilities, schools for children with impaired vision and schools for children with impaired hearing, NGOs of and for people with different types of disabilities), state national and local institutions).
3. Christopher Woodfill, USA, on the WFDB Second Global Report on Deafblindness,
2023;
4. thematic lecture on Haptic communication:
4.1. General information, concept of haptic communication, usefulness for the deafblind and their deafblind interpreters and why the haptic is used - with a practical demonstration - Francisco Trigueros, Peter Vanhoutte and Sanja Tarczay (Bulgarian audience is little familiar with haptic communication)
4.2. Information about the realized HAPTIC project 2020 - 2022 of FASOCIDE and EDbU - Francisco Trigueros, Sanja Tarczay , Peter Vanhoutte (EDbU Treasurer).
4.3. New information from the September 2023 Venice Haptics Conference - Peter Vanhoutte and Sanja Tarczay.
5. Forums of Youth, Women and Elderly from the EDbU (topics to be determined):
5.1. The Youth with Deafblindness (Clarisse Merlet, Lea Pouliquen (EDbU Youth)
5.2. Women with deafblindness (Sanja Tarczay, Velichka Draganova, Vera Babinszki)
5.3. Elderly people with deafblindness (Geir Jensen, WFDB Immediate Past President, EDbU former Secretary General and Treasurer, president of the Norwegian Deafblind Association)
September 27th, Wednesday: Morning and afternoon. Visiting sights in the city of Varna.
Anniversary evening of EDbU and NADbBg: Awarding ceremonies for prominent figures of the European and Bulgarian Deafblind movement.
Gala evening with music and dancing, incl. musical greetings from deafblind persons with residual hearing; as well as "Synchronized singing with gesture and mime" (simultaneous artistic sign language interpretation of audio song playback with sign language, gesture and mime) by our colleagues from the Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria and the National Association of Sign Language Interpreters in Bulgaria.
September 28th, Thursday: Departure of Bulgarian participants and some of the foreign participants, depending on the flight schedule. Velichka Draganova, together with her deafblind interpreters, stays with those foreign participants who have later flights to hold additional international meetings of the EDbU and WFDB.
September 29th, Friday: departure of the remaining foreign participants.
The easiest way to reach the city of Varna:
The easiest way to reach the city of Varna from abroad is by air transport.
You can search for possible flights to the city of Varna, for example, through online search engines such as https://www.farecompare.com/ or similar. Varna International Airport (VAR) has connections to numerous European airports, as well as a daily domestic connection of three flights a day with Sofia International Airport. Other options for accessing Varna from closer distances are bus and rail transport.
NADbBg in partnership with the Municipality of Varna will provide you with a free transfer between Varna Airport, Varna Bus Station and Varna Railway Station, and Hotel Complex International House of Scientists "Frédéric Joliot-Curie" on the way there and back.
With gratitude for your understanding that it is not possible for NADbBg to organize and finance an individual transfer from other cities of Bulgaria to the hotel in Varna. Once again there is clarification that the easiest way to reach Varna is to book your flights with Varna airport as the final destination.
If you still choose to travel to Varna or to the hotel, using your own organized transport (eg flights to Sofia Airport (SOF) (450 km) or Burgas Airport (BOJ) (130 km) and using a rental car, or other ways), you are free to do so.
Organization and financing of the event:
According to the decision of the EDbU General Assembly on June 25th, 2022, a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the EDbU was decided to take place in Spain on 22nd of October 2023.
Unfortunately, because of objective and subjective reasons, it was impossible to hold the anniversary event in Spain.
Since the beginning of 2023, the NADbBg started organizational activities for a 2023 national jubilee event for the national anniversaries of 40 years Bulgarian deafblind movement and 20 years NADbBg printed organ - the "Sound and Light" Magazine. The event was initially conceived since the end of 2021, as an only national event to be held in 2023 with limited international participation with individual invitations to be addressed to particular official representatives from the WFDB and EDbU, long-standing friends and partners of the NADbBg.
In March 2023, at a meeting of the EDbU board, a proposal was made to NADbBg and Bulgaria to host the 20th anniversary of EDbU. From March 8th, 2023, NADbBg accepted the task and began to implement it. Varna Municipality was the first to respond as a partner and local host of the event, which provides partial financial assistance in the form of financing a short-term small project earned by NADbBg, as well as certain organizational and logistical assistance.
However, all this took time from the month of March 2023 until now, for which NADbBg and EDbU extend their most sincere apologies, assuring you that every effort has been made to inform you without any delay, immediately after preparing all the necessary conditions for you to organize successfully.
NADbBg directs its entire annual budget from the state subsidy intended for international activities, seminars and significant events, to finance only this single complex European and national event. Due to insufficient time, it was not possible to apply to European programs (Erasmus+, etc.) from which it could be borne the costs of transport from your country to Varna airport, and of your deafblind interpreters and assistants. However, some of the officially invited participants, speakers and presenters of the International conference (Geir Jensen, Sanja Tarczay, Chris Woodfill, Peter Vanhoutte, Tamas Gangl and Vera Babinszki) confirmed the possibility to finance their international transport costs through funding from their national organizations, from international organizations or from their own sources and to be able to travel independently to the city of Varna. Some of the official participants (Francisco Trigueros) shared difficulties about this and asked for certain financial assistance from NADbBg for their transport from their countries to the city of Varna. Through its annual budget, NADbBg provides for the official participants (speakers and presenters in the conference) free of charge for them and their deafblind interpreters and assistants : 4 nights' accommodation (lodging) and full board (daily meals (breakfasts, lunches, dinners) in the Hotel complex International House of Scientists "Frédéric Joliot-Curie", Varna, from September 25th to September 28th inclusive (departure September 29th). NADbBg has also requested those of the official participants who have the resources to finance their transport to Varna, and are willing to help other official participants who are unable to do so, to pay the cost of lodging plus full board per person, in advance and directly to the hotel, thus freeing up funds for NADbBg to assist those official participants who cannot afford their own transport to Varna.
This First Announcement of participation is also sent to EDbU member organizations, individual EDbU members and deafblind persons / persons empathizing to the deafblind; from Europe / other regions, and from NADbBg we are also sending invitations to partner European organizations of and for people with disabilities. With gratitude to participants from abroad, who will pay for their stay at the hotel, thus raising the necessary amount to support official participants for their trip to Varna.
Frédéric Joliot-Curie International House of Scientists hotel complex, Varna,
prices for 1 night plus full board (breakfast, lunch, dinner), in the complex event:
- when staying in a double room: BGN 56 (about 28 euros) per person
- for accommodation in a single room: BGN 76 (about 38 euros) per person
Drinks are not included during lunch and dinner.
All rooms have 2 separated beds (and a double bed in some of the rooms), a bathroom with a shower and a toiler and a balcony with a panoramic view to the sea or the park. The rooms are equipped with a minibar (empty), cable TV and a telephone.
Hotel website link: https://ihsvarna.com/en/rooms/
Registration form
of a Representative of a Partner Organization of the European Deafblind Union
and theirs supporting persons
in the Complex European and National Event - September 25th - 29th, 2023, Varna, Bulgaria,
to fill out and send back to NADbBg by email to: info@nasgb.org
Name of the Partner Organization of the European Deafblind Union:
(name)
Representative of the Organization, Partner of the European Deafblind Union:
(please state the full name on an ID / identification document / ID card / ID passport:
and after that, the position in the organization of the Representative of the organization):
1. Full name: / Position in the organization:
Supporting persons (persons supporting participation in the event):
(please state the full name on an ID / identification document / ID card / ID passport:
and after that, the function of the supporting person):
Sign Language Interpreter / Interpreter / Assistant / Secretary / Volunteer / other (please specify)
2. Full name: / Function of the supporting person
3. Full name: / Function of the supporting person
(please add more supporting person if needed)
Note: please note that the official language of the event is English (spoken and written). All participants, if necessary, must provide their own interpretation from and into English by their own interpreters/assistants, to and from the language they use.
I would like to make a reservation for me and my supporting persons, for nights lodging plus full board (breakfast, lunch, dinner) at the Frédéric Joliot-Curie International House of Scientists Hotel Complex, Varna:
counted from:
Arrival / Check-in date: (date)
to:
Departure / Check-out date: (date)
Number of nights lodging plus full boards:
Note: According to the program of the event,
date of Arrival and Check-in - is September 25th (Monday),
date of Departure and Check-out - is Thursday, September 28th, or Friday, September 29th.
I wish that I and my supporting persons will be accommodated as follows in double / single rooms:
1. Room type: double room with 2 separate beds / single room.
Name:
Name:
2. Room type: double room with 2 separate beds / single room.
Name:
Name:
Additional requirements: for example: I want the rooms to be adjacent / other.
Note: please keep in mind that the use of double rooms, when is convenient and possible for you, is also a way of saving the cost of NADbBg, which can be used to support participants in need; it also saves on the resource of available rooms in the hotel.
If you specifically want a double room with a double (shared) bed, please mention it so we can check availability (they are a small number).
Frédéric Joliot-Curie International House of Scientists hotel complex, Varna, https://ihsvarna.com/en/
exact prices for one night accommodation (lodging) plus full board (daily meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner), in the Complex European and National Event - September 25th - 29th, 2023, Varna, Bulgaria:
- in a double room: BGN 56 (about 28 euros) per person
- in a single room: BGN 76 (about 38 euros) per person
Drinks are not included during lunch and dinner.
All rooms have 2 single beds (and a double bed in some of the rooms), a bathroom with a shower and a toilet and a balcony with a panoramic view to the sea or the park. In the rooms there is a minibar (empty), cable TV and a telephone.
Hotel website link: https://ihsvarna.com/en/rooms/
Preferred Food Diet (please indicate for each participant):
on common food (omnivorous) / vegetarian / other (please specify):
1. Name / preferred Food Diet
2. Name / preferred Food Diet
3. Name / preferred Food Diet
Organization of a transfer from the transport hubs of Varna to the hotel and back,
for me and my supporting persons:
(fill in the necessary and remove the unnecessary)
Arrival:
We arrive at / Varna Airport / Varna Bus station / Varna Railway station /
on Arrival Date:
Hour of Arrival:
/flight number (number) of airline (name) coming from (airport) /
/bus line (carrier name) coming from (destination - route) /
/train (train number or name) coming from (destination - route) /
We depart from / Varna Airport / Varna Bus station / Varna Railway station/
on Departure Date:
Departure Time:
/flight number (number) of airline (name) departing for (airport) /
/bus line (name of carrier) departing for (destination - route) /
/train (train number or name) departing for (destination - route) /
Dear friends and colleagues,
Please fill in the above information and email it to info@nasgb.org as soon as you purchase your flight tickets / other tickets so that we can receive the information in time.
After sending your data from the NADbBg to the Frédéric Joliot-Curie International House of Scientists hotel complex and making the reservation with them, you will receive a response from the NADbBg by email confirming your registration for the event, incl. your arrival and departure transfers, as well as your hotel reservation and its value, and will be provided to you as well the hotel's bank account for prepayment by you. The final registration for the event and reservation of nights lodging and full board meals is possible only after confirmation of the received payment by the hotel.
Velichka Draganova
Regional representative of Europe to the World Federation of the Deafblind
Member of the Executive Committee of the European Deafblind Union
President and Jurisconsult of the National Association of the Deafblind in Bulgaria (NADbBg )
e-mail: info@nasgb.org
www.nasgb.org
https://www.facebook.com/nadbbg/