EBU Member's Newsletter

Finds out what is happening in our campaign work includng Creative Europe/Media, accessible lifts, the Marrakesh Treaty, reform of EU electoral law and more!

On August 13^th, EBU held an online workshop at the International Camp On Communication And Computers (ICC). This was the first time EBU organised such a workshop. The ICC is an annual event bringing together blind and partially sighted youngsters, aged between 16 and 23, from all across the world. The aim of the ICC summer camp is to make young blind and partially sighted students aware on the benefits of efficiently using Information and Communication Technology as well as Assistive Technologies, which skills are a "must", where to put efforts to enhance technical as well as social skills and the level of mobility, to supports students in finding a decision for their educational and vocational paths, and build social networks across different countries.

PARVIS activities are back in full swing at the start of the autumn season.

The PAsCAL project (Enhance driver behaviour and Public Acceptance of Connected and Autonomous vehicLes) is co-funded by the European Union under the EU H2020 programme. The European Blind Union joined this project as it plans, amongst other things, to collect information on “visually impaired travellers and the connected transport environment”. In response to a call from the EBU at the end of 2020, the Italian Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted (UICI) committed to organising 4 Focus Group Discussion (FGD) meetings in Italy, in cooperation with Etelätär, PAsCAL pilot task leader.

Welcome to the 32^nd number of the EBU Access Cast – our podcast about assistive technology for blind and partially sighted people.

At the start of last year, EBU’s UK member, RNIB, began working with Kellogg’s on a project to find a solution for making packaging more accessible – but what started out as a small trial and an awareness raising exercise, has since grown into a world-leading project.

The relationship began when Kellogg’s wanted to create a special edition Coco Pops box to mark World Sight Day in 2020. Knowing that nine in 10 blind and partially sighted people find it difficult or impossible to read packaging information, their aim was to increase the understanding of sight loss and use the accessible edition as a trial to show what could be achieved in this space.

Customers of the Royal National Institute of Blind People’s (RNIB) Talking Books library are now able to access their audio books by asking Alexa, as well as through RNIB’s usual library services.

Leading sight loss charity RNIB Scotland has welcomed the launch of a new Scottish Government website that brings together information on all aspects of visual impairment.

The Eyes.Scot site was launched on the 09^th of August.

With the financial support of the European Commission EBU has produced its Annual Report 2020.

Since 2020 the the Austrian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted (BSVÖ) is part of the DANOVA project. It is a transnational cooperation project co-funded by ERDF, IPA, and ENI (European Union funds) that aims to improve the accessibility of airports, seaports, train/bus stations to blind and partially sighted people by developing a set of new services and competencies to ensure full access to all transportation information, facilities, and services. 

The DANOVA project team, 18 organizations from the Danube region, including BSVÖ, is now looking for innovative ideas /solutions in the field of transport and mobility for blind and visually impaired people.

After receiving very positive feedback, the German Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted (DBSV) together with VIEWS International is happy to announce the second edition of the International Low-Vision Song Contest in May 2023.