For 22 years, together with people with deafblindness

said Professor Vasile Adamescu, a friend and ambassador of people with deafblindness in Romania. Under this motto, we organised the National Conference ”Education of Children with Deafblindness: Together for 22 Years!”, on February 2 - 3 2023, in Bucharest.

The event marked the 22^nd anniversary of Sense International Romania, 22 years of activity celebrated on February 2^nd.

We were extremely honoured to have with us at this conference more than 60 participants, representatives of the Ministry of Education, partner special schools and universities. For two days, specialists in the education of children and young people with deafblindness shared experience and work methods under the three sub-themes of the conference: early intervention for babies born with sensory impairments, education for children with deafblindness and vocational services for youth with this type of disability.

On the evening of February 2^nd, we celebrated our anniversary in the presence of His Excellency, the Ambassador of Great Britain in Romania, Andrew Noble, Kavita Prasad, Director of Sense International, parents, youth with deafblindness, partners, friends of supporters of the organisation.

On this wonderful occasion, we were honoured to present the Sens(e) Awards to some of those who have been by our side throughout the years, a first edition of these awards:

Nelumbo Foundation – Award for Trust and Support

Orange Foundation – Award for Impact and Friendship

Liana Mitran – Award for Excellence and Perseverance

Coca Vasiliu – Award for Excellence and Perseverance

Florica Stoica – Award for Excellence and Perseverance

Eva Oprea – Aknowledgement and Involvement Award

Gabriela Jianu – Aknowledgement and Involvement Award

Ioana Tufar – Aknowledgement and Involvement Award

Cristian Buică-Belciu – Aknowledgement and Involvement Award

Viorel Micu – Promoter of the Rights of People with Deafblindness

We have also organised an exhibition of clay works created by students from the 21 partner schools attending the I too have a voice! Campaign organised as part of the project The Voice of People with Deafblindness in Romania, implemented by the Foundation Sense International Romania in partnership with Sense International UK with financial support from Active Citizens Fund Romania, programme funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants 2014 -2021.

Here is what some of the participants shared:

A new lesson – EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE! I enjoyed everything in this conference, the involvement, the project, the achievements and the presence of so many wonderful people coming to our support, us who carry various unseen and unheard problems. Thank you!

E.S. young woman with deafblindness in Sense International Romania programmes.

Happy Birthday, Sense International Romania! Thank you for the meaning you give year after year to project meant for children and young people with deafblindness and multisensory impairments! It has been an honour for me to meet you and attend such a learning environment. This exchange of experience is beneficial to all partners in special education. Together with my colleagues from the Special Technological Highschool Gheorghe Atanasiu in Timisoara, we will continue running beautiful projects together!

L.B. teacher

I spent 2 days together with true professionals in the field of deafblindness, 2 days where we gained from the expertise of practitioners and co-created new contexts and directions. Thank you to the Sense International Romania team for this wonderful opportunity to learn and share experience, such useful!