The Board of the European Deafblind Network (EDbN) goes to Brussels to meet the European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Marianne Thyssen – March 4, 2015
The discriminatory situation of the deafblind people in Europe was one of the main issues of the meeting hold last 3erd of March in Brussels between the board of the European Deafblinf Network (EDbN) and the European Comissioner of Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen. Ramón Tremosa, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) by Convergència i Unió (CiU), accompanied the deafblindness representatives: Ricard López and Lucy Drescher, president and vice-president, respectively, of EDbN, together with Sonja Van de Molengraf and Helle Buelund, members of EDbN too.
The meeting established a first high level contact in which the needs of deafblindness were exposed. This collective is estimated to be almost 3 million people in Europe and their attention is at a clear disadvantage compared with other collectives. The difficulties they face of accessing communication and information are the biggest obstacles of the deafblind people. There is no European strategy leaded to solve this situation or to care specifically about such a significant collective. The board of EDbN proposed to start working lines oriented to the identification of this collective, as well as the inclusion of deafblindness in the European Agenda with the same conditions that other disabilities have. This initiative also has the support of several MEPs from different countries in Europe. Click here for more information about MEPs supporting Deafblindness.