As we move into the 80’s ICEVI begins to focus more of its attention on the situation of blind and low vision children in the developing world, where only a small percent have access to services. Integration, Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR), and other program models appropriate for developing countries begin to receive more attention. The regional structure of ICEVI is becoming more active as decisionmaking begins to emerge. During this period a number of brief training courses are held and consultancies are undertaken by regional chairpersons in Eastern Europe, India, Latin America, the Philippines and the South Pacific.
At the end of 1984 Wolfgang Stein resigned his position at CBM and in January 1985 he accepted a new position as an adviser on education of the visually impaired for the RCSB. Now he was able to devote much more time to the affairs of ICEVI, especially to planning the next international conference in Germany. The year 1985 was a very busy one for ICEVI with projects carried out in many areas. Of special significance was involvement in the planning, organization and implementation of courses for teachers of the blind in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, and several Latin American countries. Together with the organization Stichting Liliane Fonds in the Netherlands, ICEVI provided 200 educational kits for blind children in Ethiopia. During the same year Wolfgang made visits to Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Pakistan.
By the end of 1985 Wolfgang had finalized plans for the next international conference to be held at the Maritim Hotel & Conference Centre in Würzburg, Germany. He had been delighted to tell readers of The Educator in December 1985 that ICEVI had a national and local sponsor for the conference: Deutscher Blindenverband (German Association of the Blind), which had officially invited ICEVI to hold the conference in Germany and had also offered to assist with finances. The Blindeninstitutsstiftung in Würzburg, a center for blind and multi-handicapped children, had offered to be the local host. In particular, the center would provide inexpensive accommodation for participants who had problems finding hard currency.
Plans for the conference were designed in great detail. Wolfgang Stein, Jeanne Kenmore and Natalie Barraga roughed out their plans for the format and discussion topics. The overall theme was to be "Learning to Live," with subtopics such as "Learning to Live with Oneself," "Learning to Live in the Family," and "Learning to Live in the Community."
In December 1983 Wolfgang announced that due to rising production costs and declining interest among subscribers, Perkins was no longer able to produce The Educator. Perkins had tried to cover the costs in January 1982 by raising the 5-year subscription rate from $3 to $15. But for a provisional period, until another sponsor had been found, it was decided that the International President’s office would produce the journal. So Wolfgang took up the responsibility, and The Educator, which had last been issued June 1982, was again back in circulation. Subscriptions from developing countries were now being subsidized by funds from CBM and the Middle East Committee for the Welfare of the Blind. The Deaf-Blind News section was no longer part of the journal, as this group now had their own organization and accompanying journal.
In 1987, due to the efforts of ICEVI president William Brohier, The Educator was revived and again published and distributed by Perkins. Kevin Lessard, Perkins director, would be the editor, with the assistance of Associate Editors Anthony Best, Susan Spungin, Hwa Mei Chen and the regional chairpersons. In 1990 the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation made it possible for Perkins to continue to publish the journal, that is, until late in 2000 when they published their last issue. So ended the journal’s association with Perkins that had gone on nearly uninterrupted since 1964. In 2001 a new generation of the journal was issued with Ken Stuckey in Stockholm, Sweden as the new editor.
"May I say how worthwhile I thought the Würzburg Conference was – perhaps the healthiest in content that I can remember." (un-named person from Scotland)
"The whole programme was meaningful – very well distributed participants from all over the world with good representation from developing countries, good theme discussions and excellent leadership evidence in paper presentations and panel discussions." (un-named person from India)
Wolfgang Stein set the tone of the conference by welcoming 510 people from 72 countries. On the first day Wolfgang arbitrarily decided to end the division between the Delegates and the socalled Observers. Up until that time, the Observers were welcomed to participate in most sessions but were not allowed to vote or attend any special social events arranged for the Delegates. The Delegates still retained their voting privileges as found in Article XVII of the ICEVI constitution.
The theme, as William Brohier said, "was a sheer stroke of genius: Learning to Live." At its heart it had Wolfgang Stein’s definition of education: ‘To take a child by the hand and lead him through life." With this aim in mind as many presenters and responders as possible were selected for the plenary sessions.
During the conference there were, as Susan Spungin stated in her acceptance speech as the newly elected vice president, "great advances towards new initiatives in program planning that have permitted greater participation for all of us, especially in the areas of low vision, early intervention, and the multi-handicapped. We have seen the potential for the establishment of new committees as made possible by the new organizational structure provided for in the new constitution which, I believe, will provide for greater flexibility in special areas of interest, as well as for greater input for all the participants in an organized and systematic way."
A new addition to the conference agenda was the introduction of a large area set aside for exhibitors of aids and appliances for the blind, including very sophisticated equipment for Braille production.
At the conclusion of the conference, Wolfgang Stein said his farewell as president after ten years, 1977-1987. During this period ICEVI had seen the most significant growth and development in its history. It was true that, as Wolfgang said of those days, "a new spirit of community and solidarity was born." Al-Ghanim stated, "If ICEVH were not a ‘paper tiger’ in the past ten years, but took an active part in measures for the promotion of the education of blind children, particularly in developing countries, this is due mainly to Christoffel Blindenmission in Bensheim."
There was still one major issue that had not been fully addressed: the fact that the largest population of blind persons was in developing countries and ICEVI had not yet held a conference outside Europe or North America. Although a conference had been started in Nairobi, Kenya August 1982 it lasted for only a few short days. The conference never fully took place. The election in 1987 of William Brohier as the next president of ICEVI did much to right this situation.
In his Keynote Address to the conferees, Kevin Carey had stated that over 90% of school-aged visually handicapped children in developing countries received no education. William Brohier went one step further in his acceptance speech by pointing out that "the vast majority of these millions of children do not receive even the barest of services. How do they ‘learn to live?’ Over half of the world’s population is to be found in Asia. An even more striking fact is that it is within Asia that one finds over two-thirds of the estimated 42 million visually handicapped people!" In accepting the presidency, William Brohier recognized that the major task ahead of him was taking steps to "bring services to the hitherto unreached visually handicapped children around the world through philosophically sound, culturally acceptable, situationally, and financially feasible programs." To do this ICEVI had to keep its aims and objectives in the forefront, increasing communication about the organization’s activities to all concerned. Working for both CBM and RCSB from his home in Penang, the new president determined that this could best be accomplished by strengthening the regional work. The key was the regional chairpersons, for without their strong leadership this goal could never be accomplished.
During the next five years, 1987-1992, there was constant need to reassess the goals and objectives of ICEVI. The Executive Committee convened a special working group that was charged with the task of identifying and formulating a set of objectives for ICEVI. The group quickly set about to survey ICEVI members on key questions and concerns, and the feedback they received was varied: some members expressed the wish to expand ICEVI’s role with blind adults in education and rehabilitation, while others saw the need to stress the original goal, that of education of blind and visually impaired children. To incorporate these new goals would, in the future, mean another name change for the organization.
At the World Conference on Education for All in 1990, William Brohier played a key role by lobbying for and achieving the addition of a second statement to the original text of Article 3.5 of the World Declaration on Education for All: "Steps need to be taken to provide equal access to education to every category of disabled persons as an integral part of the education system."
Very much in the forefront of the president and vice-president were ideas about the planning of the Ninth Quinquennial International Conference in 1992. They decided that Thailand had much to offer (Brohier 2001). ICEVI had an assurance of full support from the Foundation for the Blind in Thailand, which had an influential list of board members, as well as from other related nongovernmental organizations. The willingness of CBM and Hilton/Perkins Regional Offices in Bangkok to provide additional support services was also reassuring, as was the presence of the Bangkok School for the Blind (that had been founded in 1939 by former Perkins and Overbrook student Miss Genevieve Caulfield) and the Thai Foundation for the Blind. These were all within a relatively short distance from the Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University campus where the conference would be held and where most of those attending would be accommodated. The university was ideal, for it afforded both the required facilities to stage presentations, workshops, meetings and social gatherings, and inexpensive accommodation as well. The Program Committee worked diligently over the five years between conferences to provide interesting and diverse topics that would attract educators of the blind from around the world.
"I am quite confident that this Conference will provide some solution so that visually handicapped children will have equal opportunities in education as others." – Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn
"Whatever may be the history of special education, and however valid are professional stereotypes, it must be in the main stream of a country’s education that equality is most likely to be achieved. We must use every strategy, every option: residential schools, annexes, integration, specialist teachers, itinerant teachers, multi-purpose teachers." – Sir John Wilson
When William Brohier, in accordance with Royal Thai court protocol, took the platform at the opening of the conference, he saw before him the most diverse group of participants in the history of ICEVI conferences: representatives from 78 countries – 11 of which had not been represented at an ICEVI conference for at least 25 years.
Under the theme "Working Together in the Decade of the 90s", the general conference was organized around three broad topics: Issues on Access, Full Range of Services Delivery Options, and Transition. During the course of just a few days, 46 sessions took place and over 85 papers and presentations were given. By now the international conferences had grown so that it was no longer possible for any one person to attend all presentations; they had to make a sometimes difficult choice among many interesting presentations. This is why it was never more important to receive the conference proceedings.
A special working group focused on ICEVH’s future was presented with a clear mission statement: "ICEVH promotes and coordinates the education of visually handicapped children and young people throughout the world." Future objectives were stated as follows:
Advocacy at the United Nations and its Agencies as well as other international bodies, e.g. UNESCO:
ICEVH shall by advocacy promote the Education of the visually handicapped through the UN and its Agencies, in particular UNESCO, as well as other international bodies.
Encouraging the development of national policies:
ICEVH shall encourage the development of National Education plans to ensure the equalization of opportunities for the visually impaired.
Co-ordination of INGO activities:
and rehabilitation for the visually handicapped and of the prevention of blindness.ICEVH shall encourage co-ordination between the INGOs active in the fields of education
Provision of Professional and Technical Advice:
ICEVH shall provide professional and technical advice on the education of visuall handicapped children and young people through its network of officers, regional chairpersons, committees and specialist groups, such as those for early childhood intervention, low vision, multi-handicapped, etc.
Information Exchange/Distribution:
official ICEVH publications, a quinquennial conference, regional seminars and training programs.ICEVH shall facilitate the exchange of professional knowledge and information through
The working group paper also set out five Proposed Targets for the 1992-97 Quinquennial:
- Endorsement of education policy adopted by the Partnership Committee.
- Constitutional Review to meet requirements of the Mission Statement, objectives and targets.
- Development of global action.
- For each region the adoption of its own five targets.
- Production of a list and timetable of publications.
Conference attendees put close to the top of their list the many visits they took to institutions serving blind people. The participants could also have a traditional Thai massage by professional blind masseurs.
The conference ended with the re-election of William Brohier as president for the next five years, and the election of Lawrence Campbell as the new vice president. Larry came to the position with a wealth of experience. He had been in the field for a number of years and at that time was head of the Hilton/Perkins International Program. His aim was "under the continued able leadership of President Bill Brohier, together we can turn dreams into reality." Nearly half of those who had attended the general conference stayed on for the second conference.
This was the first and only time that ICEVI held two conferences and it showed just how much the organization was concerned with early intervention of blind and visually impaired children in developing countries. It emphasized the need for early identification, program material development and evaluation, and training needs. There were 33 sessions covering research, application, and innovative practices for possible replication. The participants returned home with many fond memories and a great deal of practical information. They learned how to adapt programs to limited resources and different ways of life. As Tom Miller said in his response to Dr. Baine’s Keynote Address, "we serve, live, and work. Programs for successful change need to be reality-based. Most of us in developing or developed countries can no longer afford jet planes [fastest and "best" programs or services] nor can the children and families we serve wait for us to complete our debates…we need to take a ‘walk’ through the neighborhoods in which the children and families live."