April 2006
Philadelphia, PA
April 4, 2006
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
This is the final issue of the ICEVI Newsline for the current quadrennium and as you will see we are ending this quadrennium on a really positive note.
The long hope for global campaign and action program to provide “Education For All Children with Visual Impairment” has moved from a concept to a program we are about to launch at the 12th World Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in July. Much thought and much effort has gone into the development of the ambitious program that in the years ahead will create educational equity for all children with visual impairment, no matter where they live.
I am particularly grateful to the organizations that have been members of the Interim Task Force that has been planning this campaign and program (Christoffel Blindenmission, Hilton-Perkins Program, International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted, Organizacion Nacional de Ceigos,Espana, Overbrook School for the Blind, Sight Savers International and the World Blind Union) who have given so generously of their time and talent.
We have already had very positive and productive discussions with UNICEF and shortly we will meet with UNESCO. We look forward to other organizations joining the campaign in the very near future. This campaign truly is one that each of us can feel part of and contribute to, in the years ahead. A special word of thanks to our partner the World Blind Union for their support and collaboration from the outset. You will be learning more about the global campaign and program in the months ahead and for those who will be attending the 12th World Conference, you will have the opportunity to participate in the historic launch of the campaign.
Speaking of the 12th World Conference, I hope that many of you reading this issue of Newsline will be with us in Kuala Lumpur. The Host Committee at the Malaysian Association for the Blind is doing a splendid job in preparing for us and Heather Mason and the Program Committee team have put together a very exciting program that will satisfy the many interests of our members. Registrations to date are looking excellent, so do not wait too long….REGISTER NOW!
So enjoy this issue of Newsline and I hope to see many of you in Malaysia.
Sincerely,
Larry Campbell
President
The much cherished idea of launching a global campaign to ensure education for all children with visual impairment is becoming a reality. Following the Pontevedra Communique issued by the international organisations in Pontevedra, Spain in November 2005, the Interim Task Force of the global campaign met at the headquarters of the Sight Savers International, Haywards Heath, United Kingdom to discuss the draft business plan of the campaign. This ICEVI led global campaign acting in partnership with the World Blind Union will be launched during the 12th world conference of ICEVI to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 16 to 21 July 2006. As per the Business Plan of the campaign, a few countries from the developing regions of ICEVI will be selected for implementation of the campaign based on criteria to being developed by the Interim Task Force. ICEVI and WBU coming together in launching this campaign will go a long way in influencing the Governments and international bodies to make education of children with disabilities in general and education of children with visual impairment in particular a priority area in the developmental programmes of the country. The global campaign will work within the overall programme of the Education For All campaign of the countries which have signed the Dakar Declaration to provide education for all children by the year 2015. The country level Task Forces will be the main implementing agencies in the campaign and therefore, we request the regional chairs of ICEVI and WBU to encourage national networking to expand educational services for children with visual impairment. ICEVI will be carrying information on this campaign through its website, The Educator and Newsline from time to time.
It is gratifying to note that UNICEF is showing interest in this campaign and has nominated Mr. Garren Lumpkin to work with the Global Task Force as UNICEF’s nodal officer for taking the campaign forward. A meeting with UNESCO will also take place soon. Both UNICEF and UNESCO have been invited to attend the world conference in Malaysia and be present for the launch of the campaign. The next four years are likely to see more access for children with visual impairment throughout the world to education.
The 12th world conference of ICEVI is fast approaching. For the first time in the history of world conferences of ICEVI, more than 450 abstracts have been received from 69 countries of the world. 290 quality presentations will be made through lectures and interactive workshops and another 90 presentations will be in the form of posters. The online registration is in progress and participants desirous of attending the conference can log onto the conference website www.mab.org.mywww.mab.org.my or www.icevi.org to register as soon as possible. Besides quality presentations at the conference, the host-committee has come out with unbelievable options for many hotels, package including free lunches, dinners, tours, and gifts as well. Malaysia is also one of the most attractive tourist destinations and therefore, you can make this an academic as well as a true holiday trip. Don’t wait too long to register.
Presenters at the conference, you have to send in your full paper before April 30, 2006. Those who lecture may send in their full lecture not exceeding 2500 words in word format and those who make poster presentations can send the entire posters in JPEG format to reach the ICEVI Secretariat at oficevi@vsnl.net or sgicevi@vsnl.net before the deadline. The conference CD will include all these presentations and will be given free of cost to those registered participants.
Are you an accompanying person? Please note: Accompanying persons are those who may be guides for persons with visual impairment or the spouses. The accompanying persons can attend the opening and closing sessions of the conference but they are not allowed to the scientific sessions, unless they are guiding blind participants of the conference. In case the accompanying persons want to make presentations at the conference, they should pay full registration fee. No certificate of participation will be given to the accompanying persons.
Contact the Regional Chairs for Post-conference workshops: Though the post-conference workshops were announced through the conference website, the programme committee, host committee, and the coordinators of the workshop have decided that these workshops should be open only to a limited number of participants from the developing countries. We also believe that the regional chairs of the ICEVI along with their country representatives have better understanding of the needs at the regional level and to identify participants who are likely to make an impact after the training. Therefore, it has been decided that the regional chairs should be asked to identify participants for the post-conference workshops. Please contact the regional chairs if you are proposing to attend the post-conference workshop and don’t contact either the Host-Committee or the ICEVI Secretariat to register for these workshops.
The Executive Committee of ICEVI which met in March 2005 in Madrid suggested a few changes in the Principal Officers’ Group of ICEVI in order to respond to the changing needs of our growing organization. These changes in the structure of the Principal Officers group require amendments to the current Memorandum and Articles of Association which must be circulated in The Educator three months prior to the General Assembly. Therefore they were described in detail in the January 2006 issue of The Educator which is on ICEVI website. The Executive Committee unanimously endorsed these amendments but they will be formally voted on by the General Assembly of ICEVI on July 21, 2006 immediately after the 12th world conference. We encourage all of you to review these changes by reading the January, 2006 issue of The Educator and sharing your views with your Regional Chairperson and members of your regional committee.
Larry Campbell, President of ICEVI participated in a meeting of the executive Committee of the World Blind Union hosted by the National Federation of the Blind at their headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland U.S.A. during the last week of March 2006. Larry apprised the WBU Executive Committee of the global campaign on education for all children with visual impairment. He stressed the importance of ICEVI and WBU collaboration at the regional and national levels to assure the success of the campaign and our joint efforts to influence Governments and local organisations to improve and expand educational services for all children with visual impairment.
ICEVI is working very closely with the WBU Children's Committee that is chaired by June Waugh (USA). The Committee has a number of exciting initiatives that it is undertaking during the current quadrennium and you will learn more about these at the 12th World Conference and in future issues of The Educator and the ICEVI Newsline.
Two initiatives that are particularly noteworthy are a Children Congress that will be organized by ONCE and the WBU Children's Committee in late 2007 or early 2008. This Children's Congress will bring together a representative group of blind and low vision children from around the world who will meet for one week to discuss their own needs and will speak through a Children's Congress Communique that will be presented to the Spanish Parliament and to the world press so that the "the voices of the children" are heard.
The Committee is also undertaking a project to study violence against blind and low vision children that will result in a publication on this subject that will be released in 2008. Ana Palaez (ONCE), a member of the Children’s Committee, is currently preparing a Focus Day session for the 12th World Congress on the subject of "violence against children". She is anxious to talk to educators throughout the world on this study so those who are joining us in Kuala Lumpur are encouraged to visit the WBU Children's Committee poster session for further information on both of these activities.
Members are aware that The Educator at present is given free of cost to organisations only and individuals have to subscribe to get a personal copy. There will be a subscription drive for the magazine during the world conference. We will ask that you pay for your quadrennial subscription fee of US $ 50 at the conference for which will bring you the next eight issues of The Educator, regular correspondence about ICEVI activities, and also special discounts to the regional and international conferences of ICEVI. Please disseminate this information to your friends and also to organisations that you know.
ICEVI and the Overbrook-Nippon Network on Educational Technology are proud to announce the release of Mathematics Made Easy for Children with Visual Impairment. This new publication is one that all teachers and parents of children with visual impairment will find to be an invaluable resource. Of particular interest to teachers will be the adaptive procedures for teaching nearly 500 secondary level mathematical concepts. Best of all, all proceeds from the sale of this publication will support programs to reach children in the developing world who currently are without access to education. Mathematics Made Easy can be ordered as follows:
North America/Caribbean and Latin America regions from Towers Press, Overbrook School for the Blind 6333 Malvern Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19151-2597 USA E-Mail: dennis@obs.org
All Other Regions: ICEVI Secretariat, IHRDC Campus, Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Coimbatore 641-0202 India E-Mail: sgicevi@vsnl.net or oficevi@vsnl.net
The cost of this publication is US$35.00 plus shipping and handling.
The ICEVI initiated research to study the critical factors contributing to the success of education of children with visual impairment in local primary schools has been completed and the report published. The report has been sent to leading international organisations and national governments as the results provide hard evidence to what is needed to make education of children with visual impairment better under the general national framework. Many countries have shown interest to replicate the study and ICEVI will be pleased to be of any assistance in this regard. We encourage ICEVI members to read the report which is posted on the ICEVI website.
The Sight Savers International, which extended assistance through its country office to carry out the research in Uganda is planning to carry out similar efficacy research studies in developing countries to plan effective service delivery strategies. It has come forward to institute the research work at the University of Birmingham, which will be closely working with ICEVI for initiating research in developing countries by effectively utilizing ICEVI’s regional network. Dr. Steve McCall will be the Director of this research unit and Mr. Paul Lynch has been appointed as the Research Associate for this research work. Dr. McCall will also be playing a key role in the research activities of the global campaign when it is launched in July 2006. ICEVI is optimistic that more need based research studies will emerge in the future to provide hard evidences to policy planners to plan cost-effective service delivery strategies to realise the goal of education for all children with visual impairment.
Through collaboration between the ICEVI Africa region, Africa Braille Centre and the Perkins School for the Blind, 30 braillers were donated by the Safaricom Foundation to special schools and integrated education programmes serving persons with visual impairment in Kenya. ICEVI Africa region is looking forward to greater collaboration in distribution of Braillers, spare parts and training in repairs and maintenance as well as overall technical support. The issue of Brailler maintenance in the vast Africa region was discussed with Mr. Steve Rothstein, Director, Perkins School for the Blind during the Africa Forum held in Midrand, South Africa in May 2004 and ICEVI is glad that this need is being effectively addressed by the Perkins School. ICEVI thanks the Perkins School for the Blind and hopes that it will play a proactive role in the global campaign on education for all children with visual impairment.
During 2005, the Fundación ONCE para Latino América asked ICEVI to prepare lists of schools for all countries of the Latin America region which are in need of braillers. ICEVI in consultation with its country representatives and/or the authorities of the Ministries of Education prepared detailed lists of deserving schools located in rural areas or in cities far from the capitals of the countries where the possibilities of owning braille machines are scarce. In 2006, the FOAL-ONCE will distribute 300 braillers to these schools in almost every country in the Latin America region.
The Nominations Committee headed by Lucia Piccionne (Latin America) presented two slates of Principal Officers for the next quadrennium. Based upon the assumption that the General Assembly will approve the amendments being recommended by the Executive Committee, the Nominations Committee has recommended the following slate of Principal Officers for the period 2006-2010:
1. President : Larry Campbell, U.S.A.
2. First Vice-President : Jill Keeffe, Australia
3. Second Vice-President : Harry Svensson, Sweden
4. Treasurer : Nandini Rawal, India
In the event that the proposed constitutional amendments do not carry at the General Assembly, the Nominations Committee suggests the following slate of Principal Officers:
1. President : Larry Campbell, U.S.A.
2. Vice-President : Jill Keeffe, Australia
3. Secretary : Harry Svensson, Sweden
4. Treasurer : Nandini Rawal, India
The theme of the next issue of The Educator will be “Orientation and Mobility”. This issue will be released during the 12th world conference. Those who want to make professional contribution to this issue may contact the Editor Dr. Steve McCall (s.McCall@bham.ac.uk) or Mani, M.N.G., Secretary General (sgicevi@vsnl.net) and the completed articles should reach the ICEVI Secretariat before May 31, 2006.
This electronic Newsline of ICEVI comes to your mailbox in April and October every year. Please provide us the e-mail addresses of individuals and organizations that may be interested in receiving the Newsline and The Educator.
ICEVI SecretariatInternational Council for Education of
People with Visual Impairment
IHRDC Campus, Sri Ramakrishna Vidyalaya Post
Coimbatore – 641 020, INDIA
Phone : 91-422 -2697530, Fax : 91-422 -2692353
e-mail : sgicevi@vsnl.net, Visit us at www.icevi.org