On February 28th, from 04:00 to 05:00pm (Central European Time), Mr. Lorenzo Billiet, from our new Belgian Blindenzorg Licht en Liefde member presented the ENVITER webinar “Development of the ICF Core Set for Vision Loss”.

Presenting through Zoom to an audience of about 30 participants from different European countries, the goal of this webinar was to take a moment to reflect on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework and its development, including:

• The ICF framework and its use;
• What is a core set and its value for the practice;
• How does the development of a core set happen;
• The development of the core set vision loss.

This presentation was be part of a worldwide research that can make a big difference in the near future for blind and visually impaired people around the globe, resulting from the collaboration between the University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and Ghent (Belgium), working together in the development of a tool to map the functioning of people with visual loss, that includes an online survey, part of a broader research into the development of an International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) core set for people with vision loss. A core set tries to map the factors that influence the quality of life and describe what is relevant for functioning.

Blind and visually impaired people experience problems in different areas of daily life. In particular, they face a reduction in activities associated with participation in society, religion, mobility, recreation and visual tasks. How a person experiences vision loss varies depending on personal and environmental factors and will be interpreted differently for everyone. It will negatively affect the degree of independence, the ability to participate in daily life and the quality of life. In addition, this target group has an increased risk of social isolation, depression and falls.

You can find Mr. Lorenzo Billiet presentation here.

And you can also watch this webinar recording on Youtube.

And you can find more information about the different phases of the development of the core set in the invitation paper: “International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health core set for vision loss: A discussion paper and invitation”. (free accessible via: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02646196211055954 )

If you wish to cooperate in this research, follow on of these links to the various surveys:

• survey for patients: https://forms.gle/5wTxs7LEngpLrduB6
• survey for professional healthcare experts (occupational therapists, nurses, doctors, teachers, physiotherapist, O&M trainers, low vision therapists, …): https://lowvisionresearchamsterdam.com/vragenlijsten/icf-core-set-english/

In October 2022, ENVITER became a Candidate Observer Member of the EASPD, the European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities. This status means that ENVITER is an eligible organisation and has now a temporary membership (for maximum 1 year) to assess the interest of becoming a full member.

EASPD is an Association whose vision is that support services play a key role in enabling people to enjoy their human rights on an equal basis, beyond disability or any other factor. It is precisely this belief that guides their work in Brussels, Strasbourg and throughout Europe, working to reach the following objectives:

• The full implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• The provision of high-quality, and user-centred services running in an accountable, efficient and effective way
• Fair working conditions and lifelong learning opportunities for staff employed in services.

Our full membership of the Association will be a subject for our General Meeting in Ascoli Piceno, next May. Meanwhile, if you wish to receive the EASPD newsletter and help us to decide whether or not we should become full members, you can use this web address: https://easpd.us11.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=47548462519f84ab547c39ce9&id=2c77ed4839

“Since I am unable to come to the room, the room must come to me”

On January 12th, 2023, from 04:00pm to 05:00pm CET, ENVITER had its first webinar of the year, this time about Active Learning.

Active Learning is an intervention for children and grown-ups who are – due to their impairments -, not able to explore their environment with their hands, feet, or body. They learn to be a passive rather than active participant, waiting for adults to provide activity rather than seeking it out on their own. We see this kind of behaviour mostly by young children with severe visual impairments, and by people with PIMD (profound intellectual and multiple disabilities) and visual impairments.

Active Learning emphasizes creating a developmentally appropriate and enriched environment so that children and adults with multiple special needs become active learners.

This webinar provided more information and examples about Active Learning and how this intervention challenges persons to make physical contact with materials and objects in their nearby space.

The webinar was developed by Martien Rienstra, from our Royal Dutch Visio member. You can have a look at her presentation using this link.