EBU Member's Newsletter

Dear readers of our monthly newsletter,

This year is in many ways not “business as usual”. The outbreak of the pandemic and the ongoing fight against the spread of the virus are having an impact on our work at all levels. And while this means adapting our plans all the time, especially when it comes to face-to-face meetings and events, it also offers opportunities such as an increased use of virtual platforms allowing a greater number of people to come together. In this context of uncertainty, and six months after my arrival at EBU, I would like to highlight the following points, as I also look at the final stretch in 2020...

Latest news from our ongoing campaigns and advocacy work, including accessible lifts, Creative Europe Media, and more.

Welcome to the 25th transcribed episode of the EBU Access Cast - podcast about assistive technology for blind and partially sighted people!

The Union of the Blind of Montenegro, in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Administration, conducted the monitoring of the application of guidelines for creating electronic documents, in line with e-accessibility standards, through 21 websites of Montenegrin institutions and 208 documents.

Thanks to the involvement of the NCBI Advocacy department and NCBI Labs, Ireland has one of the most accessible Covid-19 tracking apps in the world.  The advocacy team contacted the HSE in late April on learning of the app being developed stressing how important it would be to ensure the app was accessible to people who are blind and vision impaired. 

A number of NCBI advocates raised this issue with the HSE and the Government also.  These actions resulted in the HSE considering the needs of people who are blind and vision impaired and them acquiring the expert services of NCBI Labs who worked closely with the app developers to ensure the app was fully accessible to our community.

Brailleliga/Ligue Braille launches a new campaign about employment on September 21. The title of the campaign is: “Can you see my talents?” According to the 2019 annual report of Unia (Belgian center against discrimination), disability discrimination lists as the second most frequent cause of work floor discrimination.

From 13 to 17 October, Brailleliga/Ligue Braille organizes its yearly BrailleTech fair. Due to the Covid-19 situation, our 2020 edition will be a little different: we will organize both a ‘Live BrailleTech’ and a ‘Digital BrailleTech’.

This sponsored content is provided by Mattel. UNO®, the number one card game globally* by Mattel announces the European debut of UNO Braille, the first official UNO card deck featuring braille.