Left to Right: Dr. Fred Schoeder, President, World Blind Union (WBU), Mr. Miguel Carballeda, President, Grupo Social ONCE and Dr.Frances Gentle, President of the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI).
World Blindness Summit 2021
With the help of our partners ONCE Social Group and the International Council of Educators of Visually Impaired People, (ICEVI), the World Blindness Summit Madrid 2021 was conducted this past summer, June 28th-June 30th, 2021, fully online in English, French and Spanish.
The World Blindness Summit (WBS) is typically held every four years and is promoted by the World Blind Union (WBU) and ICEVI, and for the first time in history, it was postponed due to the global COVID 19 pandemic. At the WBS Madrid 2021, the focus was placed on the challenges and goals involved in raising and intervening in the public reconstruction policy agenda, in company strategies and in raising awareness in civil society.
This was a cutting-edge, disruptive, and innovative event that embraced the benefits of technologies, creating a global and accessible online conference aimed at addressing the significant challenges faced by blind and low vision people resulting from the severe crisis that has arisen from the COVID 19 pandemic.
Over 3,500 blind and severely visually impaired people from nearly 190 countries over the world participated in the World Blindness Summit Madrid 2021 to share their experiences and practices developed over the past five years, and especially those implemented to cope with the effects of the pandemic in all spheres of life of blind and low vision people throughout the planet.
The achievements and challenges experienced were shared as well as new strategies were discussed to help create a new vision of blindness and to enable these people to fully participate in any aspect of vital progress.
We want to thank all of our partners and each of our members who contributed and helped make this monumental event such a success! Please check out our other pages for more information on the WBS 2021.
Sincerely,
GA World Blind Union Team