Awareness and communication

None of the programmes described above would have been possible without the official recognition of deafblindness as a distinct disability. Thus, after numerous lobby and advocacy efforts and activities, deafblindness was recognized as a
distinct disability in 2006.

More recently, SIR and the Association Junior Sport ran the campaign “Close your eyes, cover your ears, open your soul!” where 22 famous Romanian sports champions covered their eyes and ears, delivering a message around deafblindness:

I, born for sports, take into account the fact that beyond the sports community that I am part of, there are people with deafblindness, who can neither see nor hear about my performance. Yet, through my gesture, I bring light and sound into their life. Close your eyes, cover your ears, open your soul!

RESULTS

Law 448/2006 on the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities recognizes deafblindness as a distinct disability. Under these laws, people with deafblindness have the right to communicate using communication
methods tailored to their needs.

Students learn from the national Curriculum for deafblindness/ multisensory impairments (MSI) developed by the SIR in collaboration with specialists from the Ministry of Education, Research and Innovation (Order of the Minister of Education, Research and Innovation No. 5243/01.09.2008).

National Education Act No. 1/2011 gives children with deafblindness/multisensory impairments the right to: Adequate educational services in classes with a maximum of 4 children and educational support from teachers trained in the field of deafblindness.

Order No. 3,071 of 18 January 2013 (published in the Official Monitor of Romania, Part I, No. 146 of 19 March 2013) creates the necessary legislative framework for the development of early intervention services for newborns with sensory impairments.