Between the 19th and 27th of June, the 5th WFDB General Assembly and the 11th Helen Keller World Conference took place in Benidorm, Spain. During those days, more than 300 Deafblind people, along with their interpreters gathered together, sharing experiences and joining forces in order to help improve the quality of life of Deafblind people around the world.
The XI Helen Keller World Conference was held to raise social awareness of deafblindness in all levels of society in the world. Our objective was to make society aware of the capacities of Deafblind people and their needs, focusing especially on countries where Deafblind people are still not visible.
Under the motto “Our rights, Our Voices, We lead the Way”, the EDbU President, Sanja Tarczay and Mr Josip Tonžetić (Croatia) gave a speech entitled “UNCRPD – How Do Deafblind Fit In?”, in which they talked about the rights of Deafblind people, and how UN governments should focus on achieving equality.
During the second day of the Helen Keller World Conference, our Vice-president, Francisco Trigueros, gave a speech about the right to access to information, and how important it is for Deafblind people to be able to communicate and get information on equality with the rest of society. He also showed proof of how technology developments are improving this matter, and therefore investigation is key for us.
To celebrate the Deafblind International Day on the 27th of June, her Majesty the Queen of Spain, Letizia Ortiz joined us. After the reading of the Manifest by FASOCIDE and her speech, she met the Executive Board of the WFDB and all international delegates. We are happy to see her implication with us and how sensitive she was with all Deafblind people.
