1st EBU International Conference on Education, 19-23 July 2000, Montegrotto Terme (Padua) - Italy
I would like to thank the European Blind Union (EBU) for accepting the plans and initiative of the EBU Commission on Education to hold this conference in Italy. I must above all thank the President of the Italian Union of the Blind, Mr. Tommaso Daniele, and the management of the Union, for their sensibility, generosity and the readiness with which they financed and organised this meeting. A heartfelt thanks also goes to the Royal National Institute for the Blind in London and the Organizacion Nacional de Ciecos Espanoles for supporting the work of the Italian Union of the Blind with their financial contributions.
The EBU Commission on Education, in planning this conference, proposed as an objective the possibility of identifying some concrete solutions for the many problems encountered by those who dedicate themselves to educating blind and partially sighted children and adolescents.
The general theme that we are asked to reflect on and examine concerns "the role of associations and families in the improvement of the status of the education of the blind and partially sighted in mainstream schools"
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Somebody might ask, "Why, at this early stage, has the Commission started from the concept of improving? Must we think that similar planning is born of the conviction that we are faced with a situation that presents too many serious problems?"
The situation is not exactly like that. Certainly, everything human can be perfected because it is human (therefore, we are not being pessimistic), but we have been induced to talk about improving for a more objective, albeit less universal, reason. In reality, mainstreaming of the blind and partially sighted in nearly all European countries presents difficulties which have not yet been overcome, and which we feel certain will be overcome in time with our united efforts. A dynamic interpretation must be made of the theme, because this is the spirit in which it was proposed.
To make our discussion more concrete, allow me to give a simple example of problems not being overcome.
Reading the paper presented by the Padua centre of the "Robert Hollman" Foundation at the recent ICEVI conference in Cracow, I came across an observation that made me somewhat angry. Research proposed the study of the reactions of a small group of partially sighted children integrated into mainstream schools. Initially, cohabitation of these children with the same disability gave rise to tension and also some acts of aggression. In more aggressive moments, the strongest term used by the children to accentuate insults was "blind, you're blind".
Without wishing to go into deep psychological analysis, which anyway is not within my competence, I think we can identify at least two causes for this behaviour:
Each educator knows full well that, with respect to the life of each individual, the problem of self-acceptance remains unresolved (or partially resolved) and, consequently, the problem of faith in oneself and self-evaluation is destined to have very serious consequences. Those who do not accept and evaluate themselves adequately will find it difficult to make others accept them and have a satisfactory role within their social group.
Everyone with a disability, and therefore everyone who is visually impaired, can reach an acceptable level of social integration on two conditions: having the maximum faith in themselves and being as independent as possible. Those who respect such conditions will be capable of forming balanced personal relationships, thanks to which they will be able to become properly integrated in different social environments that they will come across.
The blind or partially sighted child who uses the word "blind" with contempt is naively trying to negate reality. They are almost practising exorcism, underlining the presence of something in others that they would like to be immune from. This means that they are still not sufficiently aware of their diversity to be able to live happily.
I have chosen this example because it is the latest documented one that I have come across, but also because the problem highlighted is undoubtedly one of the most significant.
Our worry about our children and adolescents going to school is, in layman's terms, the following. We would like schools, by collaborating with families and other education agencies, not to limit themselves to supplying (when they do) some knowledge, be it fundamental, but to promote and guide a genuine training process, finalised at evaluating and using the subject's potential.
For this reason, the poster for this conference said "Contrary to what most people thought at first, authentic mainstreaming is not just opening up schools to the disabled. More needs to be done". Schools must change completely from being schools of content and judgement to schools offering individual training and evaluation. We are not alone in wishing for this qualitative and possibly quick change in schools and are committed to uniting ourselves with an ever-increasing number of other qualified people.
With this international conference, the EBU Commission on Education wanted to give experts who are witnesses and/or a part of the reality of European countries, which is different from country to country, a chance to compare situations.
As a basis for this comparison, the following four themes were proposed:
The four themes were assigned, in order of speaking, to Mr. Norbert M�ller, EBU Secretary General, Mr. Stanislaw Jakubowski, a Polish typhlology expert, Mrs. Juliet Stone, a lecturer at the University of Birmingham until last year, and Dr. Herman A. A. Gresnigt, Chairman of the European Branch of the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI).
The specific brief papers and debates planned will allow the themes dealt with by the speakers to be studied in depth.
There are twenty-two European countries, including Italy, represented at this conference. When it ends, the most significant indications that emerge from the papers, brief papers and debate will be gathered together in a document which will be presented to the EBU Board.
However, when the Board and the Commission on Education undertake to act on the basis of the suggestions that we will be able to formulate, they must always bear in mind that even the most positive ideas in Europe cannot be transferred entirely from one country to another. All ideas to be transferred must be adapted (if they can be) to suit the society they are destined for.
Personally, I would like the spirit with which we are confronting a subject that we are deeply involved in, also on a personal level, to be sustained by the common acceptance of some assumptions, namely:
As this conference was an idea of the European Blind Union and was organised by the Italian Union of the Blind, allow me to conclude with the following observation, which may appear to be extraneous to the theme of education, but is closely related to it.
In Europe, between the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th, the blind were able to work on obtaining civil rights only because they were closely united and became aware of their common problems associated with being blind. Together, united by their spirit of solidarity, they fought (and still fight) for the solution to these problems.
Today, we must be careful that our youngsters are not led astray in evaluating their blindness or partial sightedness. Blindness or partial sightedness are not things to be ashamed of. They cause problems, some of them very serious, but they do not deprive the individual of personal resources sufficient to overcome most of these difficulties and lead a satisfying and dignified life.
We must help our youngsters in every possible way to attain total integration at school, work and in society. Moreover we must give them the chance to:
We must prevent, wherever possible, a blind person from scorning another blind person or from not wanting to know him/her or from not recognising that, because they are blind or partially sighted, they share the same problems. If we cannot prevent this, there will cease to be awareness of the problems due to visual impairment and also solidarity, which is the only resource we have to solve these specific problems.
This is a problem that must be dealt with very carefully because sentiments often come into play and also because commitment to a cause, however right it is, cannot be imposed.
Until now, blind people have been able to find effective remedies for overcoming their problems. If, in future, they cannot think for themselves or, especially, for others less fortunate than themselves, others would have to think for them, but with goals and ideas that would presumably be very different.
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