The Vision of the Austrian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted (BSVÖ):
Blind and Visually Impaired People Living in an Inclusive Europe!
On the occasion of the international “White Cane Day” on 15thOctober 2010 Mr. Gerhard Höllerer, LLM, the former president of the Austrian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted, signed the “European Road Safety Charter”. By joining this participatory platform, Austria’s largest self-help organization of permanently visually impaired people, representing some 318,000 persons, committed itself to stand up for eliminating two sources of danger for visually impaired people in today’s traffic:First, it should be ensured that the presence of low noise electric and hybrid vehicles can be readily detected acoustically by visually impaired people. Secondly, when planning “shared spaces” – these are public traffic spaces aimed at integrated use and giving “equal” priority to all road users - the safety of disabled persons must be a major concern. A key characteristic of this concept is the absence of traditional traffic signs, traffic signals and road markings. It must be ensured that at least on one side of the area in question, a safe, readily distinguishable pedestrian path is provided. Furthermore, a tactile system for use at crossing points has to be created which should also be readily distinguishable via sharp colour contrast schemes.
The Austrian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted, founded on 9thMarch 1946, has participated in the European network since many years. Since eight years, Austria has been represented in the Cabinet of the EBU Commission for Liaising with the European Union by Dr. Markus Wolf, the Austrian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted has a special delegate for international relationships, Mr. Jürgen Menze LLM.
Lobbying Activities
The importance of common European policies to support the needs of permanently visually impaired persons has been recently revealed in connection with the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF). The directive 2007/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11thDecember 2007 states in article 3c: “Member States shall encourage media service providers under their jurisdiction to ensure that their services are gradually made accessible to people with a visual or hearing disability.” This directive encouraged the Austrian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted to intensify its lobbying activities and to provide detailed legal expertise until it succeeded in laying down the principle of accessibility for blind and visually impaired people for the first time in the Federal Act on the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation. Since then, Austria’s public broadcasting corporation has greatly increased its offer for visually impaired persons.
These examples make clear that the main concern of our federation’s head office is to develop intensive lobbying activities in order to allow blind and partially sighted people to live an independent and self-determined life. So we succeeded in reactivating free directory assistance to blind customers and in installing yet another free telephone service which will start in January 2011. This pharmaceutical service which was set up in the course of another EC directive’s transposition will provide high quality information on pharmaceutical products. Five years after the deadline for the transposition of this EC directive, the package information leaflet is made available in a format which is accessible for the blind and partially-sighted. Moreover, the Austrian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted succeeded in making Austrian social insurance cards (“e-cards”) distinguishable for blind persons: since 2010, these cards are marked with the letters “SV” (for “Sozialversicherung/social insurance”) in Braille format.
High Quality Services
Apart from the high quality services provided to our members in our seven regional associations, the Austrian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted runs a training centre called SEBUS which offers specialised and needs-oriented professional courses to blind and visually impaired persons, supporting them to develop important competencies for succeeding in the job market. Next year SEBUS will integrate also the centre for text, sound and media (Einrichtung für Text, Ton und Medien, ETTM), another ÖBSV service, which converts professional relevant printed texts into Braille or acoustic media. The federation’s service offer is completed by a well-stocked audio library which lends audio books and films with audio description to its members.
“Our vision is an inclusive Europe”, confirms the BSVÖ. “It is not acceptable that blind and visually impaired persons should be any longer relegated to the position of petitioners. They should be an integrative part of our society in a Europe which is accessible for all!”
Text: Mag. Raimund Lunzer; Translation: Dr. Susanne Buchner-Sabathy
Contact: Mag. Jürgen Menze, Officer for International Relations
Austrian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted (BSVÖ)
A-1130 Vienna, Hietzinger Kai 85/DG
Phone: +43 (0) 1 9827584 204
