WFDB is delighted to announce the publication of its 2nd Global Report on the situation of persons with deafblindness: Good Practices and Recommendations.
The full report and an executive summary are available in English, Spanish and French, and in multiple accessible formats (plain version, international sign, easy to read, large print, etc.).
This report seeks to build on the findings and recommendations of the first global report, published in 2018, and consolidates evidence from different regions and diverse group of persons with deafblindness and professionals. The report identifies good practices and case studies, as well as recommendations across thematic areas. The aim of this report is to serve as an advocacy tool for WFDB members and their allies to stimulate collaboration and partnerships to advance the rights of persons with deafblindness and to inform stakeholders on how to foster the inclusion of persons with deafblindness.
This project was coordinated by WFDB, under the supervision of WFDB former President, Geir Jensen. The qualitative research and report compilation was led by senior independent consultant, Bailey Grey, and the quantitative research was led by Morgon Banks and Calum Davey at International Centre for Evidence in Disability, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Technical support was provided by Lucia D’Arino (WFDB Programme Advisor), Rune Jensen (former WFDB Policy Advisor), Sanja Tarczay (current WFDB President), Carina Olsen (Consultant), Priscille Geiser and Federico Martire (International Disability Alliance staff), Christopher Woodfill (WFDB Regional representative for North America), Alison Marshall (Sense International former Director), and Sara Rotenberg (University of Oxford).
We would like to thank everyone that contributed to the report, in particular, WFDB members, Deafblind International members, and Sense International for sharing literature sources and participating in WFDB’s survey. We also appreciate the contributions made by WFDB board members and participants during the WFDB technical meeting in July 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland, as well as the participants of the WFDB regional workshop in October 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya.
The report was made possible thanks to the overall organisational and technical support of the International Disability Alliance (IDA), and the Norwegian Association of the Deafblind (FNDB), with the financial support from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) and Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA), as well as the SHAPES project which received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, under grant agreement No 857159.