Home 

THE EDUCATOR

Volume XXIII,  ISSUE 2                                                                                                                                                                                                                      January 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RESEARCH

IN VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Publication of

The International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment

 

 


 

PRINCIPAL OFFICERS

 

PRESIDENT

Lord Low of Dalston

Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB)

105 Judd Street, London WC1H 9NE, UNITED KINGDOM

e-mail : colin.low@rnib.org.uk

 

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

Lawrence F. Campbell

1, Center Street, Rockland, Maine 04841, USA

e-mail : larryicevi@hotmail.com

 

FIRST VICE PRESIDENT

Prof. Jill Keeffe

Centre for Eye Research Australia, University of Melbourne
Department of Ophthalmology, Locked Bag 8, East Melbourne 8002, AUSTRALIA

e-mail : jillek@unimelb.edu.au

 

SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT

Hans Welling

Royal Visio

Amersfoortsestraatweg 180, 1272 RR Huizen

THE NETHERLANDS

 

TREASURER

Nandini Rawal

Blind Peoples Association, Jagdish Patel Chowk, Surdas Marg,
Vastrapur,
Ahmedabad 380 015, INDIA.

e-mail : bpaiceviad1@sancharnet.in

 

SECRETARY GENERAL

Mani, M.N.G.

No.3, Professors Colony, Palamalai Road, S.R.K. Vidyalaya Post,

Coimbatore 641 020, INDIA

e-mail : sgicevi@vsnl.net

 

 

REGIONAL CHAIRPERSONS

 

AFRICA

Wilfred Maina

African Braille Centre, P.O. Box 27715, 00506, Nairobi, KENYA

e-mail : wmaina@africanbraille.org

 

EAST ASIA

Suwimon Udompiriyasak

Faculty of Education, Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, 295 Ratchasima Road

Dusit Dist., Bangkok 10300, THAILAND

suwimon_u@hotmail.com

EUROPE

Hans Welling

Visio, Amersfoortsestraatweg 180, 1272 RR Huizen, THE NETHERLANDS

e-mail : hanswelling@visio.org

 

LATIN AMERICA

Lucia Piccione

Urquiza 2659, 5001 Cordoba, ARGENTINA

e-mail : lpiccione@arnet.com.ar

 

NORTH AMERICA/CARIBBEAN

Kathleen M. Huebner

NCLVI, College of Education and Rehabilitation, Salus University

8360 Old York Road, Elkins Park, PA. 19027, USA

e-mail : kathyh@salus.edu

 

PACIFIC

Frances Gentle

The Renwick Centre, Royal Institute for Deaf & Blind Children

Private Bag 29, Parramatta NSW 2124, AUSTRALIA.
e-mail :
frances.gentle@ridbc.org.au

 

WEST ASIA

Bhushan Punani

Blind Peoples Association, Jagdish Patel Chowk, Surdas Marg

Vastrapur, Ahmedabad 380 015, INDIA

e-mail : blinabad1@bsnl.in

 

 

 

FOUNDING ORGANISATIONS

 

American Foundation for the Blind

Maureen Matheson

11 Penn Plaza, Suite 300, New York, NY 10001, USA.

e-mail : cynthia@afb.net

 

Perkins School for the Blind

Steven M. Rothstein

175 North Beacon Street, Watertown, MA 02472, USA.

e-mail : president@perkins.org

 

Royal National Institute of Blind People

Lord Low of Dalston

105 Judd Street, London WC1H 9NE, UNITED KINGDOM.

e-mail : colin.low@rnib.org.uk

 

 

INTERNATIONAL NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

 

Deafblind International

Bernadette M. Kappen

999, Pelham Parkway Bronx, New York 10469, USA

e-mail: bkappen@nyise.org

 

World Blind Union

Maryanne Diamond

454 Glenferrie Rd, Kooyong, Vic. 3144, AUSTRALIA

e-mail : maryanne.diamond@visionaustralia.org

 

International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness

Christian Garms

Wilhelmstr. 31, 64625 Bensheim, GERMANY

e-mail : chrgarms@web.de

 

 

NON-GOVERNMENTAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS

 

Asian Foundation for the Prevention of Blindness

Grace Chan

Unit 1510, Level 15, Tower II, Grand Century Place

Mong Kok, Kowloon, HONG KONG

e-mail : grace@afbpb.org.hk

CBM

Catherine Naughton

Nibelungenstrasse 124, 64625 Bensheim, GERMANY.

e-mail : Catherine.Naughton@cbm.org

 

Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted (NABPS)

Arnt Holte

P.O. Box 5900, Majorstua0308 Oslo, NORWAY.

e-mail : arnt.holte@blindeforbundet.no

 

Organizacin Nacional de Ciegos Espaoles

Ana Pelez

C/ Almansa, 66, 28039 Madrid, SPAIN

e-mail : apn@once.es

 

Perkins School for the Blind

Aburey Webson

175 North Beacon Street, Watertown, MA 02472, USA.

e-mail : Aubrey.Webson@perkins.org

 

Royal National Institute of Blind People

Pete Osborne

105 Judd Street, London WC1H 9NE, UNITED KINGDOM.

e-mail : Pete.Osborne@rnib.org.uk

 

Sightsavers

Adelaide Addo-Fening

Grosvenor Hall, Bolnore Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 4BX,

UNITED KINGDOM.

e-mail: aaddo-fenning@sightsavers.org

 

Union Francophone des Aveugles

Francoise MADRAY-LESIGNE

5, rue Duroc, 75007, Paris, FRANCE

e-mail : international@avh.asso.fr

 

Vision Australia

Glenda Alexander

454 Glenferrie Rd, Kooyong, Vic. 3144, AUSTRALIA

e-mail : glenda.alexander@visionaustralia.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

RNIB LAUNCHES NEW TACTILE ACCESSIBLE IMAGE BOOKS TO SUPPORT BLIND AND

PARTIALLY SIGHTED CHILDREN'S EDUCATION

 

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) has announced the launch of tactile educational image books to address the shortfall in suitable curriculum materials needed by blind and partially sighted children across the UK.

 

The number of blind and partially sighted young people aged between 6-25 years old in UK mainstream education currently exceeds 24,000. Nevertheless, there is no national co-ordinated system of providing suitable textbooks and learning materials for blind and partially sighted students. With funding from Qualcomm Incorporated, the world leader in next-generation mobile technologies, RNIB has produced 20 books of accessible images. Each book contains tactile illustrations with braille labels and large print colour images with large print labels, all of which support the national curriculum.

 

Subjects such as geography and science can be challenging for blind and partially sighted pupils because they contain graphically rich materials such as photographs, maps and illustrations. The new tactile educational image books will provide teachers and learning support staff with the necessary resources to help give pupils the same understanding of these topics as their sighted peers.

 

Each book is easily accessible through central and promoted channels and covers a range of different subjects such as GCSE key stage 4 biology, physics, geography, mathematics, chemistry, food technology, information technology and physical education.

 

Richard, 15, a pupil at New College Worcester who is registered blind, said: Tactile images are extremely useful, particularly in exams where I am answering the same questions as other people. They mean that I have exactly the same diagram as everyone else. The books are easy to read and I can use them whenever I want.

 

Caroline Walker, Assistant Development Officer at RNIB, said: We often hear from teachers and support assistants who don't have the time needed to create accessible images from learning/curriculum materials on demand. These books have been specifically designed with advice from education professionals and tested by blind and partially sighted pupils to ensure they compliment the national curriculum. They will enable young people with sight problems to have equal and independent learning opportunities, where they are not excluded and have access to the same information as their sighted peers.

 

The books of images are available from RNIBs online shop at www.rnib.org.uk/shop at cost, priced from 16.50.

 

For more information contact Stacey Kerr, Senior Media Officer at RNIB on 020 7391 2290 or email stacey.kerr@rnib.org.uk

 

 

 


Global Campaign on Education For All Children with Visual Impairment (EFA-VI)

 

Regions

Existing Focus Countries

Proposed Focus Countries

Africa

         Ethiopia

         Mozambique

         Burkina Faso

         Ghana

         Kenya

         Malawi

         Mali

         Rwanda

         Uganda

East Asia

         China

         Vietnam

         Cambodia

         Laos

Latin America

         Bolivia

         Ecuador

         El salvador

         Guatemala

         Honduras

         Nicaragua

         Paraguay

         The Dominican Republic

         Chile

         Peru

Pacific

         Fiji

         Papua New Guinea

West Asia

         Nepal

         Pakistan

         Palestine

         Bangladesh

         Sri Lanka

         Tajikistan

 

 

 

 

Editor

Harry Svensson

National Agency for Special Needs Education and Schools

Box 12161

SE- 102 26 Stockholm

SWEDEN

 

Associate Editor

M.N.G. Mani

Secretary General, ICEVI

 

Editorial Committee

Harry Svensson

Larry Campbell

M.N.G. Mani

 

Publications Committee

Harry Svensson

Peter Rodney

Cay Holbrook

M.N.G. Mani

 

Our International Partners

        Asian Foundation for the Prevention of Blindness

        CBM

        Union Francophone des Aveugles

        Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted

        Organizacin Nacional de Ciegos Espaoles

        Perkins School for the Blind

        Royal National Institute of Blind People

        Sightsavers

        Vision Australia

 

Designing and Printing

ICEVI Secretariat

No.3, Professors Colony, S R K Vidyalaya Post, Coimbatore 641 020

Tamil Nadu, INDIA

Phone : 91-422-2469104

Fax : 91-422-2693414

e-mail : sgicevi@vsnl.net

 

 


 

CONTENTS

 

1. Message from the President

 

2. Message from the Editor

3. Message from the Guest Editor

4. Profiles of Principal Officers

5. Meet our Regional Chairs

6. ICEVI EXCO Meeting - Strategic Update

 

7. ICEVI Strategic Review Meeting

 

8. News from World Blind Union

- Maryanne Diamond

 

9. News from Deafblind International

- Stan Munroe

 

10. What Do We Know, and How Do We Know It?

- Kay Alicyn Ferrell