Resource

WORLD BLIND UNION PROFILE

The World Blind Union (WBU) is an international not-for-profit, charitable organization representing the estimated 161 Million people who are blind or have low vision worldwide. The WBU is recognized as the international voice of blind and low vision persons speaking on their behalf at the United Nations, UN Agencies and other international organizations. The WBU has consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council and with a number of relevant UN Agencies such as WHO, WIPO, UNICEF, UNESCO, ILO, UPU and World Bank.

Its mission is achieved with and through its members - organizations of blind and partially sighted persons and organizations providing services to blind and partially sighted persons in some 181 countries and through six Regional Unions. The six WBU Regions include: Africa, Asia, East Asia/Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America/Caribbean.

The overall long-term vision of the WBU is "a community where people who are blind or partially sighted are empowered to participate on an equal basis in any aspect of life they choose". This vision is actualized through the WBU three Strategic Priorities of:

Representation: Promoting full participation and equal opportunities for blind and partially sighted persons in all aspects of social, economic, political and cultural life;

1. Working towards a world accessible to blind and partially sighted persons.
2. Representing Blind and Partially Sighted Persons at the United Nations and UN Agencies.
3. Advocating for human rights of blind and partially sighted persons.

Capacity Building: Strengthening the capabilities and capacity of the WBU regional structures and member organizations; and

1. Improving employment opportunities for blind and partially sighted persons.
2. Developing the capacity of our members.
3. Supporting our target populations for full inclusion.
4. Strengthening the World Braille Council.
5. Supporting our members to implement the CRPD at the National level.

1. Developing a Resource Repository for members including website.
2. Developing international partnerships and collaboration.
3. Developing the capacity to include our various language communities within the work of the WBU.

For additional information and access to our materials and publications,
see the WBU website at: www.worldblindunion.org

Braille Celebrates Bicentenary

By Pedro Zurita

Louis Braille, who was born two hundred years ago, did not have the chance in his lifetime to witness the unbridled success of his simple but brilliant invention, a system which revolutionised the lives of blind people by opening the doors to knowledge and culture, fields which were hitherto out of bounds to them.

The birth pangs were not, however, insignificant. Braille completed his code in 1825, when he was barely 15 years old, but he passed away two years before France officially adopted his system in 1854. For decades his method faced rejection from both teachers at the Young Blind People's Institute in Paris, where Braille himself studied and taught, and from sighted people. It was even banned for some time, and it was not until 1878 when an international congress held in Paris recognised the braille system, giving it the boost it needed to be implemented gradually worldwide. Since then training, development and independence for blind people have relied largely on this reading and writing system that is now, two hundred years after it was invented, used in practically every language in the world.

Although in the past few years many have hailed the replacement of the braille system due to technological breakthroughs, no alternative method capable of substituting it completely has yet been developed. What is more, there are numerous signs that it enjoys rude health as it is used increasingly in everyday settings to enable blind people to become more independent. Braille is still irreplaceable in this respect, as we can see, for example, with the cosmetics firms, food companies and wine merchants who market their products with braille labeling, the European Union directive that makes it obligatory to have braille signage in new lifts, or the fact that since October 2005 all medicines in the European Union must carry braille labeling.

Yet more initiatives can be found in the field of citizens' rights. Countries such as France, Germany, Spain, India, Mexico, Colombia and Costa Rica are using braille to come up with different methods to ensure blind people are able to exercise their vote independently in elections.