On the occasion of the European Deafblind Day, which is celebrated on October 22, the Deafblind Association of Slovenia DLAN prepared an event where people with deafblindness presented three new books. For the first time the short film Language of the Deafblind and the website Creators with Deafblindness were also presented.
European Deafblind Day is celebrated on 22 October, starting in 2018 at the initiative of the EDbU, which has been working for many years for the full social inclusion of people with deafblindness in all European countries. The European Deafblind Day is intended to make people with deafblindness heard in public and to make society aware of deafblindness, their needs and abilities.
People with deafblindness in Slovenia certainly constantly prove that they are versatile and talented artists. On October 22 their book of 13 stories was published, entitled People Who Listen with Their Heart and See with Their Palms: Living with Deafblindness II. The first book of their stories was published in 2019 and was translated into English, Serbian and Russian, and is also available in electronic form, audio format, Slovenian Sign Language and Braille. Individual stories are also translated into Hungarian. With both books people with deafblindness actually became the authors of their stories for the first time and thus important co-creators of the culture of the deafblind. Dr. Simona Gerenčer, the secretary of the DLAN Association, among other things wrote in the preface:
Short film Language of the Deafblind, made by the deafblind creator Boštjan Dragan, is a valuable outline of the path and the flourishing of the language of the deafblind in the community of people with deafblindness. Various speech positions are also shown, in which people with deafblindness use tactile methods of communication, which are the basic mean of expression of the language of the deafblind.
The book The World in the Palm of Your Hand: Language of the Deafblind was issued in 2021 upon entry of the language of the deafblind in the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia. On October 22, on the occasion of the European Deafblind Day, the book was also published in Braille and audio format. In the near future, we expect the outcome of the book in easy reading. In this way, people with deafblindness and other readers, who need adjustments when reading, will have the opportunity to read and feel the book for themselves.
On this occasion we would like to thank the Ministry of Culture, who co-financed the publication of translations of the book The World in the Palm of Your Hand: Language of the Deafblind in Braille and audio, and the City of Ljubljana, which enabled the publication of Stories Who Listen with Their Heart and See with Their Palms: Living with Deafblindness II.
We also thanked the Ministry of Labor, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities and FIHO, which have been supporting and enabling the association to operate for many years. Special thanks also to the Lionists and Rotarians, whose support we sincerely appreciate. We also gratefully remembered all those who in any way support people with deafblindness and the realization of the mission of the DLAN Association: volunteers, donors, the media and other organizations.
