I have been entrusted to talk about the future for us deafblind people. But it is not very easy to know what will happen! You can only guess. What we can do is to have aims and intentions, and to make demands

So, I want to talk about what I wish for the future for us deafblind people which demands we need to make upon society and upon ourselves, and what tools we have to help us reach our goal.

For me, as for you, our goal is obvious. Our aim is a world where deafblind people live in the mainstream of society, equal to other citizens and with the same opportunities.

A world where we have the same social, economic, cultural and political right as other citizens in our country.

A world where laws do not discriminate against us because we cannot see and hear.

A world where we get the same chance of education and work as other people.

A world where deafblindness is accepted as a unique disability, and where we can get the service we need to live independently and with the same opportunities as other people.

This may sound as a large order. But in fact it is only what most people consider quite normal!

So, what shall we do to reach this "normal" life?

Even if we all live in the same world, we live in different ways, on different levels. In a few countries, deafblind people have reached a relatively high standard of living. In an increasing number of countries the work for making deafblind people's life better has begun, but still has not reached very far.

In a very large number of countries deafblind people do not exist, according to their authorities.

Furthermore we must remember that what is considered "a normal level of living" in one country could be very different from what is normal in another country.

The first demand that we have to make upon the nations of the world, is that they realize that they have deafblind people among their inhabitants, and that deafblindness is a unique disability demanding special service.

We must demand that all governments start identifying programs to find deafblind people and find out their needs.

We must demand that at the same time they start to plan for the most basic service: rehabilitation and interpreter service.

When we all have reached so far, the next natural step is to demand equal rights in all society.

We have a great task before us. If we are to succeed (be successful) we must take great responsibility on ourselves. We are the experts on deafblindness, and we know what we need to take part in society. And we know best where the shortcomings are to be found.

This means that we must make demands upon ourselves as important as those that we make on society.

We must learn to cooperate with each other and with other groups. We must learn the ways of society so that we can make the right demands to the right authority. We must organize ourselves in each country, to make our demands carry more weight.

Cooperation and solidarity will be important in our future work. This does not only mean that those who have much will share with those who have not so much. This we must, of course. But at the same time we must work according to the principle that everybody has something to give to others.

For instance a program for interpreter training drawn up in a developing country can be the best solution in another developing country because it is adapted to the available resources. Making this kind of programs freely available to others is one example of solidarity and cooperation.

When it comes to cooperation and exchange of information, technology has given us opportunities we did not dream of 20 years ago. Of course far from everyone has a computer and access to Internet. But maybe we all know someone who has and who can help with the contacts.

One of our goals must be to build a network all over the world to use in our future work.

So, what are our tools and resources in our future work?

Our national organizations naturally are very important. We can work more efficiently in a group, and we are easier heard. Forming national organizations and working in them is important for the future.

If everything goes according to plan, in a few days we will have our own international organization, The World Federation of the Deafblind.

Maybe you think that work among "grassroots" and international work are two quite different things. It is not. We work with the same things, but from different sides. Through the World Federation we can spread information all over the world, connect people and share experiences, and we can rouse international public opinion. As a registered international organization we can work with the United Nations. The UN provides us with important tools: First, the General Convention on Human Rights, and secondly, the conventions on the Rights of the Child, on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, on Civil and Political Rights, on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and on Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Moreover, we have the UN Standard Rules on Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, a tool we have not used nearly enough yet.

There is a network of international organisations of disabled people, a network where WFDB already is part, together with World Blind Union and World Federation of the Deaf, among others. This network has started work to give the UN Human Rights convention a clear disability aspect. It is true that disabled human beings are also human beings, and the convention should apply to us too, but evidently it is not as simple as that!

Bengt Lindqvist, the United Nations Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission for Social Development, also has an important part in this work, a work that starts on an international level but must be done on a national level. Here grassroots and WFDB meet each other in our united work.

I think this work will be the most important issue ever for disabled people. It will take time, and it will demand a lot of work for us all. But it will benefit us in our struggle for a better life, and it is important to be in it from the beginning.

As I have already said, we already work with other international organizations for disabled people in a network, called IDA, International Disability Alliance. WBU and WFD, the two organizations nearest to us, are both members, as are four other large international organizations. This cooperation has very quickly given us strength and possibilities to speak for ourselves in a way I would not have thought possible. I think it is important that we try to reach the same good results nationally by cooperating with other organizations in similar groups. We have different disabilities and different demands on support and service. But in the work with human rights we have a common issue to work with.

Then we have our nearest cooperative partner, Deafblind International. DBI is an organization -for- deafblind people, while WFDB is an organization -of- deafblind people, and also the international spokesman of deafblind people. But we work in the same area, even if we work with partly different issues. It is important that we make use of each other's experiences and work together where we can. We cannot afford to waste resources in our future work.

As I said in the beginning, it is not easy to guess the future.

But when you look at developments lately, the future seems rather bright. We have a challenge before us, but we will make it.

And let us hope that nothing will happen in this unsettled world we live in, that will spoil all possibilities of positive development.

Thank you.