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1 - Introduction
It is very gratifying for me to find that ICEVI does not consider education to be a strictly technical affair. Teachers have a didactic contribution to make and parents, emotionally closest to the persons concerned, are instrumental in enhancing children's and teenagers' education. It is also good to note that organisations of the blind and blind people themselves are taken as role-models in the educational process.
This, unquestionably, has not always been the case and even today it does not always happen that way. In some cases this can be attributed to an inappropriate understanding of the nature of visually impaired people, whom we all claim to be serving in one way or another. Most of the time, however, the problem, more than in any other factor, lies in the belief in a mistaken philosophy about such people.
2 - Demography
We run no risk of erring if we say that the situation today varies considerably from one organisation of the blind to the next, in both education and other areas. In many cases there are no longer any visible problems; in others organisations of the blind take the initiative in fostering educational services; there is any number of examples of co-operation between organisations of the blind and educational systems and, finally, there are times when one or the other of the two elements fails altogether. It is this latter aspect that we should focus on improving now.
Organisations of the blind are not in themselves wholly satisfactory. There are plenty of examples of organisations to whose approach and philosophy we object.
The World Blind Union maintains that it is more progressive for blind and severely visually impaired pupils to enrol in ordinary schools, along with their sighted classmates; for persons with remaining vision to be taught to see using their own aptitudes; for due attention to be lent to persons who have other disabilities in addition to blindness; for educational care to begin as soon as possible after the blindness or visual impairments detected and, if necessary, shortly after birth. Unquestionably, we want to reduce the employment problem down to its objective dimensions and remove all subjective barriers that even now - in many areas and far too often - lead to discrimination. We are totally persuaded that new technologies hold a great deal of potential and that if they are often not usable by blind or visually impaired people it is because manufacturers ignore us or are unaware of our specific needs.
It is understandable for organisations of the blind to have a cautious or even a mistrustful attitude towards programmes for academic mainstreaming. We obviously do not want a lower quality of education than aspired to by blind people. Indeed, at times, there is a tendency to view the problem of integration in a simplistic way, to settle for the mere enrolment of blind pupils in ordinary schools. Obviously the organisations of the blind that are on the right philosophical path will not consent to any substantial reduction in the quality of education that blind and severely visually impaired students are to receive.
It is quite evident that the nature of blindness is complex, that it impacts different individuals in different ways and that its interaction with other features that comprise what we know as personality likewise differs. As noted earlier, organisations of the blind do not always necessarily take the right approach to this problem. They often are too elitist and tend to neglect blind or severely visually impaired elderly people, for instance, or those who, in addition to their visual impairment, have other difficulties.
Obviously, certain people involved in other aspects of the education system simply ignore some groups of blind and severely visually impaired students. The current concern for visual impairments may lead to disregard for the needs of totally or nearly totally blind people. Sometimes people firmly devoted to the blind who also have other disabilities show no interest in blind people whose intelligence and personality are, in principle, subject to no other restraints than those deriving from blindness or a severe visual impairment.
There is a growing awareness that a reasonably high percentage of people considered to be legally blind in most countries have some remaining vision. As mentioned earlier, they should be taught to use their remaining vision, but under no circumstances should they not be taught to read in Braille, if this system can be used as their main reading and writing code. Progressive organisations of the blind certainly do not feel that learning Braille is inappropriate.
3 - Philosophy
Defence of the proper philosophy has become an issue that divides organisations of the blind and often proves to be an insurmountable barrier between the more progressive organisations of the blind and educational service providers.
The World Blind Union and progressive organisations of the blind obviously champion the principle that blindness or severe visual impairments should never, a priori, constitute a justification for downgrading the expectations about what a person can become or achieve.
People involved in the education system often pay more heed to the drawbacks and obstacles they will have to face than to the aptitudes and potential that all individuals, even if they are disabled, can realise if they are treated with an open attitude during their childhood and youth.
The World Blind Union maintains here that we must adopt an affirmative and open stand towards multi-disabled persons who have, in principle, the same rights as everyone else and whose accomplishments often surprise us most pleasantly.
4 - The ambivalent new technologies
The potential inherent in new technologies not only holds great promise, but may chart unsuspected courses to solutions in the educational process. Children, teenagers and adults today may consider new technologies capable of reproducing information of any kind by tactile means, voice synthesis or large or enlargeable type.
Nonetheless, there are examples in any number of developing and developed countries where this potential produces no practical effects. There is a very strong tendency to favour visual features - and we have no argument with this - but such aspects are not always accompanied by tactile functionalities, oral language or large or enlargeable type.
Quite obviously, the ongoing attempts in many areas to define and promote universally accessible designs should receive our priority attention. Progressive organisations on the one hand and people and institutions involved in the education system on the other should, then, join forces to ensure that new technologies are truly a help and not a hindrance to blind and visually impaired people.
5 - Organisations of the blind and the education system
We obviously feel that it is much more than fitting for all of us involved to lend our wholehearted support to the application and expansion - everywhere - of the United Nations Standard Rules; legal provisions intended both to counter discrimination on the grounds of disability and to afford the disabled greater opportunities in education, employment and everyday life likewise deserve our backing.
Indeed, the World Blind Union and other bodies would have liked the United Nations to adopt a convention on the rights of disabled people prohibiting any kind of discrimination on the grounds of a physical or mental condition. Most governments felt that a convention would be too expensive and that similar results could be achieved via other types of legal instruments. Some governments that would have preferred a convention - such as Sweden's, whose very prominent Minister of Social Affairs then, Bengt Lindqvist, was blind - sponsored the alternative idea for the United Nations to approve the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. While the legal machinery involved in adopting such a text would not be costly, neither would it be binding on the countries ratifying it, as a convention would.
Although the World Blind Union and other bodies had very little choice about accepting this option for the time being, they did at least take a very active part in drafting the Standard Rules, together with other specialists in the field. The advantage now is that the Rules have a Special Rapporteur in charge of their implementation and enforcement, who is advised by a group of experts, two of whose members are designated by the World Blind Union. For the last three years Bengt Lindqvist has been the Special Rapporteur and the corresponding committee will very likely renew his appointment for a further term.
The Rules ask all States to afford organisations of disabled people a leading role and urge them to implement measures to truly attain equality and effectively combat discrimination against disabled people in the fields of education, rehabilitation, employment, culture, social welfare and daily living. The UN General Assembly approved these Rules in 1993 and some countries have since adopted measures whereby the Standard Rules are considered to be as an indispensable guideline when enacting national policies.
We sincerely hope that all organisations of blind and severely visually impaired people will adopt the progressive view advocated by the World Blind Union. We highly recommend that no-one refuse to co-operate with those that defend this line of thought and action and that all of us - organisations and people involved in the education system - firmly and uncompromisingly hold our stand against anyone who defends ideas or practices that run counter to this progressive philosophy.
One thing is clear: we at the WBU will tirelessly persist in our endeavour to convey this message to all concerned are not prepared to tolerate any significant deviations from this approach.
6 -Conclusions
In the years to come, we would obviously like to attempt to reach a point where both everyone involved in the education system and organisations of blind and severely visually impaired people are able to implement the following suggestions:
- acceptance of the premise that teachers', parents' and organised blind people's participation is indispensable to the pursuit of education for all
- acquisition of an appropriate understanding of the demographics of blind and severely visually impaired people
- defence of the proper philosophy with regard to the social role of blind and severely visually impaired people
- conviction on the part of the everyone involved in educational services, including organisations of blind people, that mainstreaming in school is worth fighting for whenever feasible, but without compromising the quality of the education received by blind and severely visually impaired children and teenagers.
- availability of new technologies (voice synthesis, tactile reproduction and large or enlargeable type) in devices and services that can be used by all and co-operation between organisations and everyone else involved in the educational process in reaching this objective.
- untiring co-operation on the part of everyone involved in the educational process, including organisations of blind and severely visually impaired people, to ensure that the United Nations Standard Rules and other legal mechanisms that tend to eradicate discrimination and encourage the adoption of affirmative theories and action become, more than just words on paper, real, effective and universal guidelines.