In order to see Marianne Thyssen, the European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, the Board of the European Deafblind Network (EDbN) travels to Brussels on March 4, 2015.
One of the main topics discussed at the meeting between the board of the European Deafblind Network (EDbN) and Marianne Thyssen, the European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, last March 3rd in Brussels was the discriminatory situation of the deafblind people in Europe. The deafblindness representatives were accompanied by Ramón Tremosa, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Convergència i Unió (CiU), together with Sonja Van de Molengraf and Helle Buelund, who are also members of EDbN. Ricard López and Lucy Drescher are the president and vice-president, respectively, of EDbN.
In the meeting, the requirements of the deafblind were exposed as a first-level high-level interaction. This collective, which is thought to consist of approximately 3 million people in Europe, is clearly less attentive than other collectives. The major challenges facing deafblind people are those related to communication and information availability. There is no European policy aimed at resolving this issue or showing particular concern for such a huge group.The EDbN board suggested launching working groups aimed at identifying this collective and including deafblindness in the European Agenda under the same criteria as other disabilities. Several MEPs from other nations in Europe also support this initiative. To learn more about MEPs who support Deafblindness, click here.