Attention during this decade sharply increases attention to strengthening the regional units of ICEVI and making ICEVI much more active at the regional level…not just an organization that carries out quinquennial conferences. Standing committees are abolished due to increased emphasis on regional work.
No longer restricted to the heads of organizations and schools for the blind, ICEVI openly welcomed teachers and all workers within the field of the education and rehabilitation of the blind: parents of blind children, schools, associations, institutions, and societies. The role of regional groups continued to expand, and regional conferences in India, Africa and Europe demonstrated just how important they had become. These conferences often drew as many or more participants than the early international conferences; for example, the European Conference in Cracow, Poland, in 2000 was attended by nearly 500 people from 38 countries. More importantly, these conferences brought together and offered a forum for teachers, workers and parents who might never be able to attend international conferences in far away countries. Now ICEVI was moving forward to achieve its mission to "promote educational opportunities for children and adults with visual impairment" both by its regional activities and by drawing together once every five years.
This was also a period of strengthening ties to the World Blind Union, resulting in three important events:
The printing and supply of a complete set of reading books in Braille for Bolivia, which was undertaken as a joint project with ULAC/WBU, ONCE, and others.
The appointment of ICEVI’s former Vice President, Dr. Susan Spungin, and Regional Chairperson for Latin America Lucia Piccione to the Joint Committee on Minimum Standards of Competency for Teachers.
WBU’s appointment of Enrique Elissalde, Susan Spungin, and Grace Chan as their liaison persons for the international agencies. The Educator was redesigned both editorially and graphically to meet the needs of the expanded ICEVI’s role and mission.
Links with United Nations agencies UNESCO, UNICEF and WHO continued to be strengthened. ICEVI was granted recognition by the United Nations Economic and Social Council of Consultative Status (Category II) and by UNICEF and UNESCO. Through participation in the Preparatory Committee meetings and the WBU, ICEVI provided input for the World Summit for Social Development and submitted a document entitled "Joint Statement on Disability Issues." A further achievement after the Bangkok Conference of 1992 was the completion of a Low Vision Kit – the joint WHO/Program for the Prevention of Blindness and the University of Melbourne, Department of Ophthalmology project which grew out of an initiative in 1990 and which was supported by ICEVI colleagues in various parts of the world during the field testing and with valuable feedback to the project head, Jill Keeffe.
One outcome of the Bangkok conference was the first-ever WHO Consultation, which was hosted by ICEVI and which resulted in the WHO publication "Management of Low Vision in Children". True to the aims of ICEVI, President William Brohier took part in United Nations activities. He played a role through the UN-ESCAP’s Task Force on Disability-related Concerns in the Commission’s launching of the "Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002" in Beijing in December 1992. He also participated in drafting the "Decade’s Agenda for Action" and the subsequent "Targets for Education". In 1994 President Brohier attended the UNESCO World Conference on Special Needs Education: Access and Quality, in Salamanca, Spain, where he presented a paper entitled "Role of Voluntary Organizations."
It was decided in 1995 that the 10th World Conference would be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A major reason for the selection was the support of the Brazilian industrialist Victor Siaulys. In 1991 Siaulys and his wife, who have a daughter with blindness, had founded Laramara, the National Association for Assistance to Visually Impaired Children in Brazil, which provides direct services to children in Sao Paulo and serves as a resource center for the entire country. Brazil was also a country in a continent on which ICEVI had not previously met.
The Constitution had been published in 1992 in The Educator, together with a request for sending
proposals for changes. These had been incorporated by Colin Low and approved in the Exco meeting in April 1994 in London. At the Exco meeting in Zeist, the Netherlands, April 1995, it was decided to transform the Association into a Foundation. This was realized in the version of the Constitution officially registered November 15, 1995. The name of the foundation was registered as Stichting International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI) and a footnote in some further document would explain to members that the word "Council" would mean "Foundation."After the 1997 conference in Sao Paulo it was decided to again change the constitution, now based on the principles of the "Policy Document" as accepted in Sao Paulo. This policy paper stressed the need for a bottom up organization with emphasis on regions. Instead of changing the present constitution to incorporate the dimensions accepted in 1997, it would be practical to frame a new constitution. During the next few years a number of discussions considering membership, the Board, and advisory committees took place. One point the officers felt strongly about was that having undergone four name changes, any further change would not be advisable; the name ICEVI should be retained.
" ‘Stepping forward together into the next millennium’ is a good summary of where ICEVI stands at present, especially now that age has caught up with us. Today as we look back to where we stood yesterday (1992 Bangkok) and where we expect to be tomorrow (2002 the Netherlands), we see that much has happened to our organization in terms of growth." – William Brohier
The conference in São Paulo made ICEVI history as the first conference to be held in South America. Although Brazil was a quickly developing country, it was of such interest that it drew the largest number of participants to date – over 657. In many ways we were back to the con ference format of Madrid 1972 and Paris 1977, with workshops (some 150 of them) and a great many papers. Also most of those attending stayed in local hotels and took special buses to the large Anhembi Conference Centre situated in the heart of the city district. Apart from the opening ceremony that was held at the State Government Palace, the conference was held at the Anhembi. There were additions to this format, with one whole day being set aside as a Focus Day on 10 topics, Braille Literacy, Early Intervention, Integration and Full Inclusion, Low Vision, Multiple Disabilities, Organization and Management of Services, Parent Family Involvement, Personnel Preparation Technology and Transition to Work.
The only formal professional visit was an evening visit to the new Laramara Center. This center for the blind is the most up-to-date and with the most modern equipment and trained staff in Brazil. It was one that many attending wished they could have in their own countries. Of special interest was the new building dedicated as the Natalie Barraga Center for Studies and Research in Low Vision.
William Brohier would now look back with pride at the achievements of ICEVI during his presidency. As the current President of ICEVI, Larry Campbell, said during his address at the ICEVIDBI Joint Asian Conference, Ahmebadad, India, in February 2000, "It was really during the late 80’s and early 90’s under the direction of William Brohier, our immediate past president, that ICEVI began a series of efforts to restructure and truly become a representative organization. Advocacy is one of the major roles that ICEVI is involved in, and I think we can point out with some degree of pride that a lot of accomplishment must go to William Brohier who has worked tirelessly for the last 15 years to make many of the dreams come true."
So ended the largest ICEVI conference and plans were underway to hold the next conference in 2002, in the Netherlands, back where it had started 50 years before.
Coen de Jong had been active in ICEVI since he was asked to compose and chair a workinggroup on the ICEVI policy regarding persons with multiple disabilities. At the 9th ICEVI Quinquennial & Early Childhood Conference in 1992 he was appointed chairman of the ICEVI Standing Committee on Multiple Disabilities, a committee which took as its task the development of functional curricula for multi-disabled children who have little or no access to formal education.
Coen de Jong, along with the support of Vice President Larry Campbell, would continue the work of ICEVI as laid out in the Policy Paper, drawn-up by the Development Committee and which Herman Gresnigt chaired. Coen de Jong’s view was that ICEVI "should be an active agent in the further development of good theory, methods and instruments to improve permanently the education and rehabilitation of persons with visual impairments." And the "final goal is for all to have equal opportunity to participate fully in the economic, social and cultural life of their communities."
Due to poor health and other work pressures associated with his position as the CEO of Bartimeus, Coen de Jong resigned as president in February 2000. Fortunately Vice President, Larry Campbell was able to take up the position. He became ICEVI’s 9th International President in late February 2000. His taking on the presidency, just less than halfway through the five years between international conferences, was vital in continuing the expanding role of ICEVI without interruption. He felt that it was important that ICEVI set some near and medium term priorities that were in the spirit of the 1997 policy document endorsed at the conference in Sao Paulo. They were:
Improving communication at all levels within ICEVI and with the network of external organizations with which we work closely.
Developing a plan to address short and medium term financial needs with specific attention to securing support to promote developments at a regional level.
The Policy Document adopted in 1997 at São Paulo advocated the appointment of a full timeSecretary General with a Secretariat to improve the communication and accessibility of ICEVI.The Meeting of the ICEVI ExCo held in May 2001, in Mexico, decided that due to the huge financial responsibility involved in setting up of the Secretariat so late in the quinquennium, it would be better to strengthen the office of the ICEVI Secretary, Nandini Rawal, who is based in India.
In the area of communication one of the first positive results of this move was the first online presence of the organization in July 2000: an ICEVI Newsline (newsletter). Nandini Rawal was responsible for this achievement. The newsletter, issued twice a year, was developed to encourage better communication among ICEVI officers, INGOs and the traditional donors of ICEVI. Also plans were put into motion to develop a new ICEVI website (www.icevi.org). The website was later developed by Victor Tsaran, who serves as the webmaster. This is not the only ICEVI website; the European Region, for example, has its own site (www.icevi-europe.com).
The same year that Larry Campbell became President, Harry Svensson took up the position as Vice President. Harry had for many years been working at the Tomteboda Resource Centre in Stockholm, Sweden as its Director of Research and Development. Both he and his wife Johanna Enqvist (chairperson of the ICEVI Standing Committee on Early Intervention 1992-1997) had been active in ICEVI for many years.
Among Harry’s early responsibilities as head of publications were the redesign, organization, and distribution of The Educator, as well as working with the new editor, Ken Stuckey. The newlook of The Educator has a thematic nature with each issue having a topic of current interest. The first issue had as its topic "Literacy." The new layout owes much to the Design Department of ONCE. All production, printing, and mailing is done in India, under the direction of ICEVI Secretary Nandini Rawal.
The work of the Host Committee for the 50th Anniversary World Conference in 2002, headed by
Hans Welling, continued, and by 2000 plans were well underway for the celebration.It has been said that "the only constant is change," and this is what I have tried to show in this brief history: that over the past fifty years there has been constant, if not consistent, change in ICEVI’s role and activities. Today it is clearly a very different organization from the one started in 1952. But one fact remains constant, whether we consider the group of 200 who met in Bussum in 1952 or the 657 who met in Sao Paulo in 1997: the basic objective of ICEVI was and remains the same – by coming together, learning from each other, and working together as colleagues we will, as former President E.H. Getliff said in 1952, "have a growing effect on future developments in the fields of education of the blind…There is no longer any need for the teacher of the blind to feel isolated in effort or ideal. The contributions of theory, of practice and of experience are collected and made available to teachers."