Johan Wesemann, EUD
The European Union of the Deaf (EUD) is a European non-profit making organisation whose membership comprises National Associations of Deaf people in each of the EU member states. Established in 1985, EUD is the only organisation representing and defending the interests of Deaf Europeans at European Union level. Emancipation and equal opportunities are key philosophies in our work towards achieving an equal position in society with recognition of Deaf people as full citizens in our own right.
"Empowerment through communication and information" is one of the three specific aims of EUD. Therefore EUD has always paid much attention to developments in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT). The expansive development and implementation of ICT has diluted the communication barriers which Deaf people always have faced, but may create new/other problems. Furthermore, Deaf people continue to have (very) limited access to TV, which is an important source of information and entertainment.
Accessible information and communication are crucial for the active participation of Deaf people in society. Information and communication permeate each aspect of our daily life: education, employment, entertainment, telecom, public transport, safety, tourism etc. Deaf people used to be cut off from the information flow, which was mostly auditory based. ICT has helped many Deaf people to break out of their involuntary social isolation.
However, some big problems remain. In this context, EUD fully agrees that there is a real need to create a Europe-wide strategy to cover networks, services and terminals in conjunction with the new EU regulatory framework for electronic communications that is being implemented in member states at the moment. The paper reports on activities undertaken so far at EU level.
