This year, the theme was 3D, on October 25 and 26.

Over the two days, the Berufsförderungswerk Düren was the location of an advanced training course for nine colleagues from seven European countries. These colleagues are trainers from seven European educational institutions for people with visual impairments. The topic of the training was the production of tactile teaching materials for blind students using 3D printing . The highly condensed course, focused on the operation of 3D printers, as well as the basics of design using CAD software.

All participants were surprised that the operation of a 3D printer is relatively simple. The motivation of the participants to use this technology in their companies was correspondingly high.

The 3D printing technology is regularly covered in the media. The possible applications of this technology seem limitless and are increasingly finding their way into the private sphere, e.g. for upcycling of everyday objects or the production of spare parts that are no longer available. 3D printers are becoming more and more powerful and user-friendly and are now affordable for everyone. In fact, 3D printing offers many advantages for many creative home- and model makers. In the field of education for people with visual impairments, tactile teaching materials can be produced easily and affordably.

However, there is still a prevailing opinion that 3D printing can only be done by IT specialists and technicians.

This introductory course aimed to provide answers to these very questions. Contents of the course were:

• • Private application areas of 3D printing
  • Different 3D printing processes and materials
  • Costs and effort
  • Advantages of 3D printing compared to conventional manufacturing methods
  • Obtaining parts from databases, 3D scanning and design
  • Demonstration of various printing processes
  • Practical operation of a 3D printer
  • Basic construction with Autodesk Fusion360

This trainng event was held by our member BFW Düren (Germany) with the support of ENVITER. To have a 360° view on the training area, where the course is taking place: Click here

Once a year, we wish our member’s professionals to meet so they can have a training experience usually focusing on content about new and innovative methodologies, practices and tools that often resulte from our projects. It is a perfect time to exchange ideas, train our professionals, create some links between them and develop smaller internal networks of specific professionals working in the same areas.

We had a wonderful meeting! After 2,5 years and the serious pandemic times, we had our first General Meeting in person in Angers on 12 to 14 April.

From 14 different European countries,  17 member organisations could attend the meeting with 32 participants. The meeting was organised by the Institute Montéclair of VYV 3 Pays De la Loire.

Beyond our general meeting, this occasion was very special, because our network celebrated its 20th anniversary. Thanks to our former president Mr. Francis Guiteau, who is the current deputy mayor in Angers, the members were invited for an official ceremony to the Hotel de Ville d’Angers.

We also had our annual Conference Day. The purpose of our Annual Conference is to create an intellectual platform for professionals to share their theoretical and practical knowledge in the field of vision impairment, focusing especially on innovative methodologies, practices and tools.

This year the main topic was “Positive side effects of covid on inclusion of VI people” – Good Practices, Opportunities, Future Plans, Takeaways”

We had 6 presentations:

1. Mijke Hartendorp: The impact of the Covid-19 measures on the psychosocial well-being of persons with blindness, low vision and deafblindness: Lessons learnt and solutions (Saxion Hogeschool and Visio, The Netherlands)
2. Ramona Ionela Mureşan and Elisabeta Pintilie: Tools and Activities for Social Inclusion Examples of Good Practice in the Teaching of Visually Impaired Students in the Context of Covid (Highschool for the Visually Impaired Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
3. Juergen Huellen: At the crossroads between progress in digitisation and methodological feasibility (BFW Dueren Germany)
4. Dorthe Marie Degn: Positive side effects of covid on inclusion of VI people (IBOS, Denmark)
5. Margherita Anselmi: Positive sides of covid situation for people with visual impairment (UICI Ascoli Piceno Italy)
6. Agnes Somorjai: Bread online – good practices in vocational training during distance learning (School for the Blind Budapest, Hungary)

The last day was dedicated to projects and future collaborations. We talked about the new ways of funding, the EU accreditation process and about project proposals and also prepared the upcoming Blue Sky Meeting and the next Summer Course.

All the participants emphasized the importance of personal meetings. Beyond the professional work we had time for informal talks as well, and could really feel the dynamism and strength of our network.

Happy birthday ENVITER!

Increasing the quality of care, and the quality of life for people with Cortical Visual Impairement (CVI) is something professionals worldwide endeavour.

This webinar, presented by Femke van der Veer, from Visio (the Netherlands) on June 17th 2021, aimed to give its participants more insight into CVI and the implications on daily life as well as introducing Visio’s instrument “CVI in the Picture”.

 

On March 23^rd 2021 we had the pleasure to have Juan Ruiz, presenting a webinar about echolocation for our members.

Juan Ruiz is a Perceptual Navigation Instructor and Flash Sonar Coach. Himself also a user, he teaches his students how to better perceive the space around them, using sound to get an acoustic read on their surroundings.

Hilde van der Aa, Marit van Buijsen and Lia van der Ham from the Robert Coppes Foundation, in The Netherland, presented on the 23 February 2021 an overview of mental illness in visually impaired adults, an introduction to a basic attitude in working with this target group and an elaboration on PTSD.

Photo by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.