WBU E-BULLETINVOLUME 12, ISSUE 3July 2017

Contact us at:

World Blind Union1929 Bayview Avenue Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4G 3E8

Telephone: 1-416-486-9698 Fax: 1-416-486-8107Email: info@wbu.ngo Website: www.wbu.ngo Twitter: @BlindUnion Facebook: www.facebook.com/BlindUnion

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Table of ContentsCONTRIBUTIONS TO THE E-BULLETIN..................................................3PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE.......................................................................4STAFFING ANNOUNCEMENTS...............................................................5UPDATE ON REPLACEMENT OF WBU 2ND VICE PRESIDENT POSITION. 6WBU WORKPLAN FOR 2017 – 2020 NOW AVAILABLE ON THE WBU WEBSITE..............................................................................................6EMAIL SECURITY PRACTICES................................................................7WBU PRESENCE AT THE VISION 2017 CONFERENCE IN THE HAGUE NETHERLANDS.....................................................................................7UPDATES ON THE UN AND CRPD.........................................................8

MARRAKESH TREATY UPDATES.........................................................8NEW RELEASE OF THE ACCESSIBLE BOOKS CONSORTIUM’S GLOBAL BOOK SERVICE.................................................................................9UPDATE ON WHO WORLD VISION REPORT.......................................9MARÍA SOLEDAD CISTERNAS REYES OF CHILE APPOINTED AS UN SPECIAL ENVOY ON DISABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY.......................10INTERNATIONAL DISABILITY ALLIANCE WEBINARS ABOUT THE UN SYSTEM AND PROCESSES...............................................................1010TH SESSION OF THE CONFERENCE OF STATES PARTIES TO THE CRPD..............................................................................................10WBU HAS STRONG PRESENCE AT HIGH LEVEL FORUM ON DISABILITY AND DEVELOPMENT AT UN FROM JULY 10 – 20TH..........................11WBU SUBMITS OUR VIEWS TO THE UNCRPD COMMITTEE WITH RESPECT TO THEIR DISCUSSIONS ON ARTICLE 5 AND ARTICLE 19.11

NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD....................................................12MANUEL RODRIGUES, BLIND CHILD RIGHTS ACTIVIST FROM GUINEA-BISSAU WINS THE WORLD’S CHILDREN’S PRIZE.............................12PASSING OF MR. JEAN A. SOREL, FOUNDER OF THE HAITIAN SOCIETY OF THE BLIND.................................................................................12PASSING OF MR. LABA CISSÉ DIOP FROM SENEGAL.......................13AUDIO DESCRIPTION – THE VISUAL MADE VERBAL.........................13NEW MASTER’S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN MANAGEMENT OF DESIGN FOR ALL..........................................................................................18

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DOLPHIN COMPUTER ACCESS'S FREE NEW EASYREADER FOR IOS APPLICATION..................................................................................18NEW ACCESSIBLE IN-FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT USER INTERFACE LAUNCHED BY VIRGIN AUSTRALIA AIRLINE.....................................19JAPANESE FILM “RADIANCE,” ABOUT A PHOTOGRAPHER LOSING HIS EYE SIGHT DEBUTS AT CANNES FILM FESTIVAL..............................19

UPCOMING EVENTS............................................................................20THE REGIONS.....................................................................................21

AFRICA............................................................................................21ASIA................................................................................................21ASIA-PACIFIC...................................................................................22EUROPE..........................................................................................22LATIN AMERICA...............................................................................22NORTH AMERICA/THE CARIBBEAN..................................................22

WBU TABLE OFFICERS.......................................................................22REGIONAL PRESIDENTS.....................................................................22WBU STAFF........................................................................................23OUR SPONSORS.................................................................................23

OUR PLATINUM SPONSORS.............................................................23OUR DIAMOND SPONSORS.............................................................24OUR GOLD SPONSORS....................................................................24

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE E-BULLETINWe welcome articles from the regions and from members who wish to share their good news with the rest of the world. Our next deadline for content is October 5th, 2017. We accept submissions in English, French, and Spanish in electronic format. Please note that we retain the right to edit submissions for space limitations. Send your news to: info@wbu.ngo

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGEIn June 2017, I had the pleasure of offering a keynote address at the International Mobility Conference held in Dublin, Ireland. The conference was well attended and included approximately 300 representatives from around the world.

In my address I described the structure and function of the World Blind Union and how our work supports the work of our member organizations in individual countries. I also described how access to orientation and mobility training was fundamental to the full integration of blind and partially sighted people everywhere.

At its heart, orientation and mobility training sends a powerful message to blind people and to the public. If blind people have nowhere to go, there is no need for mobility training. On the other hand, if we believe in the right and ability of blind and partially sighted people to work and to live active lives as contributing members of their community, then mobility helps support that expectation. Said another way, orientation and mobility is a powerful and vital part of advancing equality for blind and partially sighted people in every corner of the world. It supports the other critical building blocks: education, rehabilitation and other skills and professional training, and the exercise of fundamental civil and human rights.

I also discussed the challenges that we face, including the need to continue supporting the full implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; the need to continue pressing for ratification of the Marrakesh book treaty; and our work to address the danger posed by very quiet hybrid and electric vehicles. Of course, these are only a few of the initiatives in which we are engaged. We continue our work in the area of technology, challenges to independent travel posed by the increased popularity of shared spaces, and so on.

At its heart, the WBU is an advocacy organization. We share a belief in the ability of blind and partially sighted individuals to live and work as others, and our specific initiatives are expressions of our shared belief in blind people.

I invite you to visit our website at www.wbu.ngo to learn more about our work. You will find our Strategic Plan which addresses the many

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areas of advocacy in which we are involved. But, for our work to make a difference, we must work together as a world community. In other words, we need all blind people and those involved in providing education, rehabilitation, employment and other services to join in the work. The more of us who are actively engaged in promoting our basic human and civil rights, the sooner we will reach our goal of equal opportunity for blind and partially sighted people everywhere.

Dr. Fredric K. SchroederPresident, WBU

STAFFING ANNOUNCEMENTSWe are sorry to inform you that Caitlin Reid, who served as WBU’s Communications Officer and Marrakesh Project Coordinator for the past two years has left WBU in order to pursue other career opportunities. We will miss Caitlin as she contributed a huge amount to improving our WBU communications programs and also provided good support to our Marrakesh Campaign work.

While we will of course miss Caitlin’s contributions to our work, I am happy to inform you that we have now hired a new Communications Officer who is joining our team on July 31st. Ms. Terry Mutuku is originally from Kenya and has lived and worked in Toronto for a number of years now, working in a number of communications roles. Of particular interest was her work as Communications Manager for the World Association for Christian Communications and the Christian Children’s Fund, both organizations that work extensively in developing countries. We welcome Terry to our team. You will be able to communicate with her directly at: terry.mutuku@wbu.ngo.

We are happy to let you know about the recruitment of our part-time Communications Assistant, Trisha Utomi, who joined us at the end of May. Trisha will be with us until December and her main primary work is related to updating our WBU website. Trisha’s email address is: trisha.utomi@wbu.ngo

You will also be aware that the WBU Officers are in the process of recruiting a new CEO for the WBU office as Penny Hartin has announced her retirement for the first part of 2018. The applications

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for the position close on August 1st and it is hoped that an appointment will be made later this year.

UPDATE ON REPLACEMENT OF WBU 2ND VICE PRESIDENT POSITIONFollowing the untimely and sudden passing of WBU’s former 2nd Vice President, Dr. Elly Macha at the end of March, the Executive Committee requested the WBU Nominations Committee to commence the process for re-election of the 2nd Vice President post. Nominations form were sent to the membership in mid May, with nominations closing date set for 30th June. As of the end of June, several nominations were received, all from Africa. At present, the Nominations Committee is reviewing all nominations and, once validated, will submit the voting papers to the members of the WBU Executive which (as per the WBU Constitution) is the body empowered to fill any vacancies within the Table Officers that occur between General Assemblies. Depending on the number of ballots required to elect the new 2nd Vice President, we fully expect that a new 2nd Vice President will be announced in September or October. Of course the members will be informed once the election is confirmed.

WBU WORKPLAN FOR 2017 – 2020 NOW AVAILABLE ON THE WBU WEBSITEAs members will recall, the WBU Officers developed the new Strategic Plan with key priorities and objectives to be achieved for the term. This was distributed to members earlier this year. The Officers, with the help of the Objective leaders and committee and working group Chairs have now completed the development of the workplan that supports the strategic plan. This workplan has now been translated and placed on the WBU website at http://www.worldblindunion.org/English/our-work/strategic-plan/Pages/default.aspx

EMAIL SECURITY PRACTICESWe really like to hear from our members and, and you know, much of our communications nowadays occurs via email. As many of you will have heard from various news stories, there have been many high-profile computer system hackings recently around the world. Here at the WBU we have received a few suspicious emails recently as well, so we wanted to let our members know about some email safety best practices to keep our network safe and secure. You may wish to

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employ some of these same practices when dealing with your email as well, whether personal or business related. It is important when sending us or anyone else emails to always include a subject line that clearly indicates the nature of your communication. Leaving subject lines blank will often mean they end up on spam or junk folders and we likely will not see them. If you are sending a file, be sure to include description of the file in the body of the email, otherwise we will not open the file due to security concerns. We do not open unknown files nor will we click on links that do not have a proper description as both file attachments and internet links are favourite ways for hackers to invade computer systems and install viruses and other malware. We will also not reply to emails we think are suspicious as we will not know for sure who sent the file. Email has become a very convenient way of communicating worldwide but unfortunately hackers and others have also found email to be a convenient way to do harm. So we wanted to share information about what we do at the WBU to try to keep our information and systems secure. We also hope that sharing information about good email practices will also be helpful to you in your work.

WBU PRESENCE AT THE VISION 2017 CONFERENCE IN THE HAGUE NETHERLANDSThe WBU was well represented at the Vision 2017 Conference on Low Vision Research and Rehabilitation held at The Hague Netherlands the last week of June. There were some 1000 attendees at the conference that included university researchers in the field of vision loss and vision rehabilitation professionals. The topics ranged from developments in eye disease identification and treatment, new technology, rehabilitation best practice and so forth. WBU CEO, Penny Hartin, was invited to be an opening keynote speaker and she spoke about the importance of reflecting the human rights based approach in research, program development and implementation, using the CRPD and SDG’s to ensure our needs are reflected and the importance of collaboration with all partners, including blind and partially sighted persons to achieve our goals. She also made a brief presentation on the importance of the SDG’s to blind and partially sighted persons during a concurrent panel presentation dealing with empowerment. During that same session, WBU Treasurer, Martine Abel-Williamson, spoke about issues related to environmental accessibility, particularly focusing on the issue of shared spaces and quiet vehicles for blind and partially sighted persons.

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UPDATES ON THE UN AND CRPD

Marrakesh Treaty Updates

Since the April e-bulletin, we have had two ratifications, Kyrgyzstan and Kenya, bringing the total number to 29. We are also aware that the European Union is very close to ratifying the Treaty with the European Parliament adopting it in July. While not yet official, it is likely to happen very soon and we are very thankful for the support of EBU for the European Campaign to ensure that the many large libraries of accessible materials in the EU will be available to all countries that have ratified the Treaty.

We have also posted the WBU Guide to the Marrakesh Treaty in English, French, Spanish and Russian (available through our English page) on our website. These PDF versions of the Guide are free for all print-disabled persons, including our members.

Since attending the "Train-the-Trainers" Marrakesh Treaty workshop in Toronto in April, WBU's regions have been busy planning and executing regional and national level workshops on the Treaty and our newly published guide. For any questions regarding these workshops and how to connect with the newly trained advocates in your region, please contact your Regional Marrakesh Coordinator.

New Release of the Accessible Books Consortium’s Global Book Service

The Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) has launched its rebranded “ABC Global Book Service,” which was previously known as the TIGAR Service. This service enables libraries for the blind in different countries to exchange books in accessible formats and where libraries are in countries that have implemented the Marrakesh Treaty, this service now enables the exchange of books to happen without copyright holder authorization. The ABC Global Books Service can also offer guidance for libraries for the blind when engaging in cross-border exchange, making it one option of many for how to implement the Marrakesh Treaty. ABC will also continue to support copyright clearance for cross-border exchange between countries that have not

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yet ratified the Marrakesh Treaty. For more information, please read the full ABC Global Books Service Press Release.

Update on WHO World Vision Report

The World Health Organization (WHO) has hired a new Technical Officer, Megan Mccoy, who will be coordinating the development of the World Report on Vision. They are currently in the planning stages for the World Report on Vision and will make more information available on their website at: http://www.who.int/blindness/vision-report/en/. You may also contact Megan should you have any queries or concerns. Her email ismccoym@who.int.

Additionally, Dr Etienne Krug, Director of the Department for Management of Non-Communicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention at WHO has a new twitter account and he has started tweeting about global health issues, including on the World Report on Vision and eye health more generally. For regular updates on the department’s activities in this area, the WHO recommends that you follow him at @etiennekrug.

The WBU has been involved with the initial planning meeting regarding the World Report on Vision and both the WBU and IAPB will be working closely with WHO on the development of this important report

María Soledad Cisternas Reyes of Chile appointed as UN Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed María Soledad Cisternas Reyes of Chile as his Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility. As Special Envoy, Ms. Cisternas will help promote the rights of persons with disabilities, with a particular emphasis on accessibility for all.

Ms. Cisternas was most recently President of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the United Nations, recipient of the National Prize of Human Rights (2014) and Director of the Legal Programme on Disability, Faculty of Law, Diego Portales University. Her activities with the United Nations have been numerous: she was an expert before the Ad-hoc Committee that developed the United

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Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), for which she is also the rapporteur for individual complaints. She is the director of several legal and interdisciplinary projects, as well as author of various publications and exhibitor at national and international conferences.

The WBU extends our sincere congratulations to Maria on this important appointment. Maria is well known to us at WBU, being a member of our member organization in Chile and having been involved in WBU meetings and activities over many years.

International Disability Alliance Webinars about the UN System and Processes

The International Disability Alliance (IDA) has a new page on their website titled “Webinars about the UN System and Processes.” On this page you will find webinars about the UN System, and also about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the CRPD and applying for consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council. For more information, visit the IDA’s new UN Webinars page.

10th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD

The 10th session of the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD (COSP10) took place from 13 to 15 June 2017 at UN Headquarters in New York. The COSP is one of the largest and most diverse disability meetings in the world. This year, over 1300 delegates and civil society representatives attended COSP10, and participated in over 80 side-events, workshops, receptions and exhibitions. On 12 June, day prior to the opening of COSP10, the CRPD Civil Society Forum was organized by civil society organizations, including organizations of persons with disabilities. Statements, documents, webcast archives and transcripts of the official meetings are posted on the UN Enable website at: http://bit.ly/crpd_cosp10. The International Disability Alliance also has a COSP 10 highlights page on their website.

WBU has strong presence at High Level Forum on Disability and Development at UN from July 10 – 20th

WBU Past President Arnt Holte and Human Rights Policy Advisor, José Viera represented the WBU at the 2017 HLPF at the UN in New York.

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José has been very active with the Stakeholder Group for persons with disabilities and supporting our members from those countries under review to ensure that their presentations reflect the needs of persons with disabilities including persons who are blind or partially sighted. José also spoke at a number of side events at the HLPF. In addition, Arnt Holte was invited to speak on a special plenary panel discussing goal 9, with deals with industry, innovation and infrastructure.

WBU Submits our Views to the UNCRPD Committee with respect to their discussions on Article 5 and Article 19

The WBU made formal submissions to the CRPD Committee regarding two articles that are under review. The CRPD committee had developed a General Comment on Article 19 dealing with the Right to Live Independently in the Community. These General Comments are developed by the CRPD committee to provide guidance to States parties on the interpretation and implementation of specific CRPD articles. In addition, the CRPD committee will be holding a day of general discussion on Article 5, dealing with Equality, during the course of their committee meeting in August/September. In both submission to the Committee, the WBU tried to highlight the specific issues of importance to blind and partially sighted persons and provided our recommendations related to these. Should anyone wish to see a copy of our WBU submissions to the CRPD committee, please contact José Viera at jose.viera@wbu.ngo and he will be happy to provide these to you. These are available in English only.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Manuel Rodrigues, Blind Child Rights Activist from Guinea-Bissau wins The World’s Children’s Prize

The World’s Children’s Prize (WCP), often referred to as the ‘Children’s Nobel Prize,’ was won by Manuel Rodrigues, a blind man from Guinea-Bissau for his work championing the rights of children with disabilities in his country, who often face barriers to education and full participation in Guinea-Bissau. Some even face being kept hidden or being abandoned to die. Mr. Rodrigues works hard to change societal attitudes towards children with disabilities as well as legislation. The prize is voted on by a global vote of children and Mr. Rodrigues and

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two other nominees were awarded in a prize ceremony in Sweden. For more information, please visit the WCP page on Manuel Rodrigues.

Passing of Mr. Jean A. Sorel, Founder of the Haitian Society of the Blind

We regret to inform everyone of the passing of Mr. Jean A. Sorel of the Haitian Society of the Blind (SHAA). Mr. Sorel was the first blind child to attend a mainstream school in Haiti in the 1930s and he then went on to study at Harvard University and at the State University of Haiti, where he became the first blind student in the school’s history. Mr. Sorel would go on to have an exciting and varied professional life, including being a journalist, lawyer and teacher, as well as a disability rights activist. He founded SHAA in 1952 alongside Dr. Louis Baron, Antoine Poyo and several others. In the 1960s, he moved to Montreal, Canada where he would go on to co-found another blindness organization, the Association of Blind and Partially Sighted Haitians in Quebec (AAAHQ) in 1988. Mr. Sorel is sorely missed and we wish his family and friends the best during this difficult period.

Passing of Mr. Laba Cissé Diop from Senegal

We are sad to inform everyone that an important member of the WBU family, Mr. Laba Cissé Diop from Senegal passed away in early May. Mr. Diop was Chairperson of the Friendship of the Blind, Senegal (AAS), which is an AFUB and WBU member. In addition he served as a former Special Adviser to the President of Senegal on disability issues, a former Chair of the Senegalese Federation of disabled persons’ organizations, and was a lead campaigner in Senegal for the ratification of the UNCRPD and a national law for the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities. We wish his family and friends the best during this difficult time.

Audio Description – The Visual Made Verbal By: Joel Snyder, PhD, President, Audio Description Associates, LLC

Audio Description (AD) makes the visual images of theater, media and visual art accessible for people who are blind or have low vision. Using words that are succinct, vivid, and imaginative (via the use of similesor comparisons), describers convey the visual image that is either inaccessible or only partially accessible to a segment of the population.

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In addition, the visual image is often not fully realized by people who see, but who may not observe. Description may also benefit people who prefer to acquire information primarily by auditory means and those who are limited—by proximity or technology, for instance—to accessing audio of an event or production. While description was developed for people who are blind or visually impaired, many others may also benefit from description’s concise, objective “translation” of the key visual components of various art genres and social settings.

In some ways, for an access technique/form of audiovisual translation that is over 30 years old as a formal practice or area of inquiry, a great deal of progress has been made. Most notably in the U.K., where a mandate exists (albeit relatively modest) for description on broadcast television, significant strides have been made in developing the state of this art, for media, in performance (including sporting engagements), and for exhibitions. But as far as the actual practice of audio description, other countries fall far behind, including my own country the United States, the birthplace of the technique.

Audio description as a formal process of translation and accessibility is just over 30 years old-if one counts as its genesis in the literature as the landmark 1978 Masters thesis by Gregory T. Frazier, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman: An All-audio Adaptation of the Teleplay for the Blind and Visually Handicapped. Since that time, the vast bulk of serious study of audio description has been in Europe as a form of “audiovisual translation.” The field of study derives from/relates to a focus on subtitles for video and film. With most commercial media originating in the United States of America, in English, access to this work for speakers of other languages happens via subtitling or dubbing. Audio description represents another kind of “translation” in media—from visual images to words for the benefit of those who have no access to the visual image. Unlike most “light dependent” people, people who are blind or have low vision speak a language that is not dependent on the visual. Consequently, audio description has been embraced as a new field of study in academic programs that encourage the exploration of audio—visual translation.

So audio description can no longer be considered in its infancy—perhaps it is in its adolescence, with new techniques on the horizon, aesthetic innovations incorporating description within the material it

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supports, and broadened access to new media and varied settings for increased numbers of people who are blind or have low vision.

Who Uses Audio Description?

While description was developed for people who are blind or visually impaired, many others may also benefit from description’s concise, objective “translation” of the key visual components of various art genres and social settings. Disability is indiscriminate and universal—and the responsibility of us all. It demands attention from us regardless of race, age, size, gender. “The blind” don’t exist. They are unique individuals living with some degree of vision loss as the result of a wide range of causes. Most users of description are not totally blind; indeed, only 1-2% of the legally blind are congenitally blind (blind from birth); others are adventitiously blind or developed total blindness later in life. Most at one point had all or some of their sight and now they may have only peripheral vision, they may see only shapes, light and dark, colors, movement, shadows, blurs, or “blobs”—or have “tunnel vision.” Only 10% know Braille.

In June 2013, a “day of solidarity with the blind and visually impaired community” was established in Israel (June 6). A blogger for Haaretz, Neta Alexander, writes of a blind marathon runner she interviewed. She asked him what other hobbies he has, besides running. She was surprised by his response: “I love the cinemas. I go almost every week.… I go with a companion and he fills in details that are very valuable to understanding the plot.… But I especially love the thrill that I feel from the audience. When I’m with a lot of people, I actually can feel when they are going to laugh or when they react with excitement. I experience the film through their feelings.

In fact, the digital culture we live in is so visual, it is hard for us to imagine we could ever live differently. But in early societies, for example, there were communities that were based on oral tradition; traditions passed orally from generation to generation. Humans relied on memory, learned to memorize complex mythologies with dozens of characters and numerous events. Life in a visually oriented society completely changed the way our brain works: from the loss of the ability to memorize phone numbers (not to mention texts, songs and speeches) to our virtual addiction to visual stimuli.

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Audio Description – What’s Next?

What are the specific areas where audio description holds promise for future development? In no particular order, I see a range of opportunities. Let me “describe” them:

- “Self-description”: No, I’m not speaking of describing one’s self! In schools, including higher education, in employment settings, and at conferences, description is most efficiently provided by the speaker making a presentation. “Describe as you go” is the key, not necessarily assuming that all in an audience have easy access to the images being presented. It’s common for speakers to ask: “Can everyone hear me?” But can everyone see the images in your PowerPoint or in a short video?

- Visibility: I recently viewed television coverage of the Memorial Day ceremonies in the United States. An army sergeant performed a stirring rendition of “America, The Beautiful”—accompanied by a sign language interpreter. All people see the interpreter and are reminded of the importance of making the words being sung accessible to people who are deaf. And yet my own description of the presidential inaugurations for ABC-TV in 2009, 2013 and 2017 was heard only by those who accessed a separate audio channel. Similarly, at a performing arts event, description is accessed only by those who desire the service. The result is that audio description is “invisible.” I believe that the future of audio description is tied to its visibility among consumers as well as the general public. We need to create more effective Public Service Announcements, perhaps in association with the public sector—and it is critical that advocates for audio description collaborate with other constituencies— people who are deaf, people with learning disabilities, people learning English, all people who can benefit from the development of audio description.

- Information: As a member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee (VPAAC), I advocated for the widest possible distribution of information regarding:

a) what description is available on public broadcast television; andb) how to access the AD feeds.

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To ensure that the information can be accessed, it must be provided in a manner that is accessible to and usable by individuals who are blind or have a visual impairment (and that) information regarding programs with video description be made accessible, usable, and searchable online and through other means such as by telephone using an automated Integrated Voice Response (IVR) system.”

In addition, the American Council of the Blind (through its Audio Description Project), the Royal National Institute of Blind People, and Canada’s Accessible Media, Inc. maintain excellent repositories of information on audio description in a wide range of genres.

- Quality: It is my hope that this article will contribute to more audio description worldwide and audio description that is of the highest quality. Guidelines have been established in a number of countries—and this volume is informed by many of them—but I believe that a “guideline of guidelines” developed with significant input from and endorsement by users of description could be an important advance for the field.

- New Developments: Two prospects on the horizon that warrant special note:

Ryerson University—Deborah Fels, PhD: When I coordinatedfunding for multidisciplinary categories at the US National Endowment for the Arts, I developed guidelines language that invited applications for funding of access projects that represented aesthetic innovation. Inthe same vein, Deborah Fels of Ryerson University in Canada posits that “Accessibility can be entertaining.” The Ryerson website notes that “Video description and closed captioning (can be) an integral part of the creative process.”

Actiview: Actiview is a patented Smartphone application that will deliver simultaneous, synchronized foreign language audio and audio description tracks (in English or Spanish) at any movie theater or at home. It targets hundreds of millions of moviegoers worldwide who are not fluent in the local language and exclude movies from their leisure activities. It is designed to run on hundreds of millions of devices operating under iOS (iPhone, iPad and Touch), Android and Microsoft Phone platforms. The app downloads an encrypted language or audio description soundtrack to the device; the app is free with users paying

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a small fee per downloaded language soundtrack (audio description soundtracks are provided at no cost).

In the United States, there are over 20 million individuals who are either blind or have trouble seeing even with correction—that amounts to almost 8% of the population. Whether one speaks of public or commercial broadcasting, why would a broadcaster—or any institution—not wish to tap such a significant andunderserved portion of the population. There is simply a lack of awareness of the need and a misunderstanding of the public benefit that could result from reaching out to this population, not to mention the financial benefit that might be gleaned from this untapped market.

Here in the United States the principal constituency for audio description has an unemployment rate of about 70%. I am certain that with more meaningful access to our culture and its resources, people become more informed, more engaged with society and more engaging individuals—thus, more employable. With a focus on people’s abilities, we will come much closer to greater inclusion and total access.

New Master’s Degree Programme in Management of Design for All

The Central University of Catalonia in collaboration with the Design for All Foundation are offering a Master's Degree in Management of Design for All. Students will learn how to manage all aspects of the implementation of Universal Design in the different areas of the public and private sectors. The course consists of 6 weeks training in Barcelona plus tutored home work around the areas of interest of each student. It is an ideal course for civil servants that are responsible for the implementation of Universal Design policies or graduates of architecture, engineering, landscape, design, geography or social sciences with a desire to specialize in Universal Design with the aim of becoming managers or consultants in Universal Design in the public of private sector. The first cohort is scheduled to take place from 2 October, 2017 – 15 June, 2018. For more information about this new programme, please visit the Master in Management of Design for All website.

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Dolphin Computer Access's Free New EasyReader for iOS Application

To celebrate 30 years in the accessible technology space, Dolphin Computer Access is thrilled to share their new accessible reading app for blind, partially sighted and dyslexic people, available now for free on the iOS platform. Unlike other mainstream reading apps, EasyReader has no restrictions to accessibility. Users can increase text size, adjust colours, highlights and contrast, add speech to books and newspapers which have no inbuilt narration or choose from 100,000s of audio books available immediately. Readers with dyslexia can read with dyslexia friendly fonts and colours with perfectly synchronised text and audio. The App can also access 21 digital libraries 70 countries, including popular accessible library services Bookshare, NFB-NEWSLINE, RNIB Bookshare, Legimus, NLB, CELA Library and Vision Australia. For more information, visit the Dolphin Computer Access website.

New Accessible In-Flight Entertainment User Interface Launched by Virgin Australia Airline

Virgin Australia has become the first airline in the Asia Pacific region, and the second airline in the world, to introduce an accessible in-flight entertainment (IFE) user interface. The new interface increases accessibility through simplified screen layouts, larger icons and voice prompts. Virgin Australia General Manager, In Flight Experience, Ms. Tash Tobias, said in the launch announcement on 19 April 2017 that “we are determined to ensure travel with Virgin Australia is enjoyable for all of our guests and we are delighted to introduce this new user interface for guests who are blind or have low vision.” Throughout the development process, the airline consulted with disability advocates and the organization Media Access Australia (MAA) supports this new initiative as a step in the right direction for the airline industry and hopes that other carriers will follow Virgin Australia’s lead. For more information, visit the Media Access Associate Press webpage.

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Japanese film “Radiance,” About a Photographer Losing His Eye Sight Debuts at Cannes Film Festival

A new film “Radiance,” debuted at Cannes Film Festival in May. The film is about young woman employed to write movie audio commentary for blind and partially sighted viewers, who falls in love with a photographer whose sight is deteriorating. They meet because he is on the advisory panel offering guidance on her script. The relationship between the two characters develops in tandem with the deterioration of the photographer’s eye sight. The film also explores the art of writing effective audio commentary to ensure films are accessible for blind and partially sighted audience members. For more information on the film, see The Guardian’s review.

UPCOMING EVENTS

November 2-4, 2017 - 3rd Lions World Song Festival for the Blind

All blind and partially sighted singers are invited to take part in the 3rd Lions World Song Festival for the Blind, which will take place 2 – 4 November 2017 in Krakow, Poland. The aim is to create a unique opportunity for blind and partially sighted artists to show their talents and improve their careers. For more details, check their website http://lionsfestival.org/en/ and Facebook.

The deadline for registration is 31 May 2017. If you have any questions, please email festival2015@lionsfestival.org.

November 17-19, 2017 – 5th TifloInnova: International Exhibition of Assistive Technology for People with Visual Disabilities 

The Reference Centre for Research, Development and Implementation of Technologies for the Blind (CIDAT) of ONCE is hosting the 5th TifloInnova event in Madrid from 17-19 November at ONCE’s Sport and Cultural Centre. tifloInnova is an event where you can discover the latest trends in the market, and search for and learn about new features and new services related to assistive technology for people with blindness or visual disabilities. Admission to the event is free and

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it will be open to the public. For more information for visitors and exhibitors, please visit the TifloInnova website.

February 10-11, 2018 - 20th Retina International World Congress

Registration is now open for the 20th Retina International World congress, which will take place 10-11 February, 2018 in Auckland, New Zealand. Session themes include: gene therapies, bionic vision, stem cell treatment, low vision strategies, patient-focussed forums and clinician-focussed education. For more information and to register, visit the Retina International World Congress website.

August 8-10, 2018 – International Federation on Ageing’s 14th Global Conference on Ageing

The IFA’s 14th Global Conference on Ageing is being hosted in Toronto, Canada and the title of IFA’s 14th Global Conference, “Towards a Decade of Healthy Ageing – From Evidence to Action,” is in response to the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Report on Ageing and Health and the subsequent goals of the WHO Global Strategy and Action Plan (2016). The conference will revolve around four key themes related to the field of ageing which are: Toward Healthy Ageing, Combating Ageism, Enabling Functional Ability, and Addressing Inequalities. Under the theme Toward Healthy Ageing, the IFA has created a sub-theme specific to Eye Health. For more information on the conference, including on registration, the call for abstracts and more, please visit the IFA’s conference page. To contact IFA staff in regards to the eye health project, you can contact Ms. Virginia Duarte Walsh at vduartewalsh@ifa-fiv.org and for more information on IFA’s 14th Global Conference on Ageing, you can contact Ms. Savanah Duchen at sduchen@ifa-fiv.org.

THE REGIONS Our regions are the bridge between the international level of work and the local level. Policies and treaties constructed at global levels are then carried out by our members in their own countries. Most of the regions have their own websites where they post updates on their work, member activities, and upcoming events in their area.

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AFRICAhttp://www.afub-uafa.org

ASIA Website is currently unavailable

ASIA-PACIFIC http://wbuap.org/index/

EUROPE http://www.euroblind.org

LATIN AMERICA http://ulacdigital.org

NORTH AMERICA/THE CARIBBEAN Regional Office: CNIB - http://www.cnib.ca/

WBU TABLE OFFICERS Dr. Fredric K. Schroeder, Presidentpresident@wbu.ngo Mr. Fernando Riaño, 1st Vice Presidentfriano@ilunion.com Dr. Elly Macha, 2nd Vice President(deceased March 31, 2017)Ms. Martine Abel-Williamson, Treasurermartine.Abel@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz Mr. A. K. Mittal, Secretary Generalmittal24ak@gmail.com Mr. Arnt Holte, Immediate Past President arnt.holte@blindeforbundet.no

REGIONAL PRESIDENTSAFRICA (AFUB)Mr. Yaw Ofori-Debra yawdebra2015@gmail.com

ASIA (ABU)Mr. Santosh Kumar Rungta nfbsec.g@gmail.com

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ASIA PACIFIC (WBU-AP)Ms. Michiko Tabata tabacchi@par.odn.ne.jp

EUROPE (EBU)Mr. Wolfgang Angermann ebupresident@euroblind.org

LATIN AMERICA (ULAC)Mr. Volmir Raimondi presidencia@ulacdigital.org

NORTH AMERICA/CARIBBEAN (WBU-NA/C)Mr. Charles Mossop charles.mossop@cnib.ca

WBU STAFF Dr. Penny Hartin, Chief Executive Officerpenny.hartin@wbu.ngoMs. Ianina Rodriguez, Administrative Assistant Ianina.rodriguez@wbu.ngo Mr. José Viera, Human Rights Policy AdvisorJose.viera@wbu.ngo Miss Trisha Utomi, Communications Assistanttrisha.utomi@wbu.ngoMs. Terry Mutuku, Communications Officerterry.mutuku@wbu.ngo

The World Blind Union is registered in Canada as a charitable organization in order to raise funds for our work. Donations from individuals or groups are always appreciated and can be made via the “Donate Now” button on our website: http://www.wbu.ngo.

OUR SPONSORSMembers listed below provide funds beyond their membership fees to support the work of the World Blind Union. We are grateful to these members and organizations for their valued contributions.

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Our Platinum Sponsors CBM International http://www.cbm.org/ Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) http://www.cnib.ca Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted (NABP)

https://www.blindeforbundet.no Open Society Institute Foundation (FOSI)

https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/ Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles (ONCE)

http://www.once.es/new/ Sightsavers International http://www.sightsavers.org Vanda Pharmaceuticals http://www.vandapharmaceuticals.com/ Vision Australia http://www.visionaustralia.org/

Our Diamond Sponsors Swiss Federation of the Blind and Sight Impaired (SFB)

Our Gold Sponsors National Industries for the Blind (NIB) Danish Association of the Blind (DAB) German Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted (DBSV)

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