Austrian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted

The Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband Österreich (BSVÖ) — in English the Austrian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted — is Austria's national self-help organisation of and for blind and partially sighted people. It was founded on 9 March 1946 as the Österreichischer Blindenverband (ÖBV), with Erwin Horacek as its first president, in order to bundle the interests of the many regional blind associations that existed at the time. Its headquarters are in Vienna, and it describes itself as working since 1946 "where it counts: for inclusion, self-determination and accessibility" for blind and partially sighted people in Austria and beyond. The federation is a membership-based umbrella body. Its seven regional organisations cover the whole of the federal territory: Carinthia (BSVK), Upper Austria (BSVOÖ), Salzburg (BSVS), Styria (BSVSt), Tyrol (BSVT), Vorarlberg (BSVV), and Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland (BSVWNB). These regional bodies act as local service points, providing social-law advice, rehabilitation training, visual rehabilitation and counselling, career orientation and qualification guidance, early-childhood support and parental counselling, orientation and mobility training, daily-living-skills training, public-awareness work, leisure programmes, and assistive-aid shops. The president and leading officials of the BSVÖ are elected from among blind and partially sighted people themselves, reflecting its character as a self-help organisation. Among its best-known services is the Hörbücherei des BSVÖ, Austria's competence centre for accessible media. It offers roughly 17,000 audiobooks, radio plays and audio-described films, and through cooperation with international partners its members gain access to more than one million titles in over 90 languages. Media can be downloaded or borrowed on CD, SD card or the Vine C1 player, and the library produces around 120 new audiobooks each year in the accessible DAISY format — many of them titles that are not commercially available as audiobooks and would otherwise be inaccessible to blind and partially sighted people. It also prepares magazines and non-fiction in accessible form, organises readings and mobile listening stations in public libraries, and advises broadcasters such as the ORF and private television channels on accessibility. Membership of the Hörbücherei is free not only for blind and partially sighted people but for anyone who cannot read printed books for health reasons, including people with reading and learning disabilities such as ADHD or motor impairments such as those associated with MS. Beyond the library, the BSVÖ runs first-contact counselling and social counselling services across Austria, from early intervention to support for people who lose their sight later in life. It maintains specialist bodies and committees, including a Braille commission, a group for guide-dog handlers, a body for mobility and infrastructure, and the association of blind Esperantists. It also houses departments for accessible building and for international cooperation, and it is a member of the Austrian Disability Council (ÖBR), the Klagsverband, the European Blind Union (EBU) and the World Blind Union (WBU). The organisation is a non-profit association rather than a commercial company, but it operates a recognisable service brand — the BSVÖ name, its regional BSV labels and the Hörbücherei — and it is a long-standing advocacy voice on issues such as telephone banking accessibility, the European Disability Card and accessible consumer technology.

The Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband Österreich (BSVÖ) was founded on 9 March 1946 as the Österreichischer Blindenverband (ÖBV), created to bundle the interests of the numerous regional blind associations that existed at the time. Erwin Horacek was its first president. The first delegates' assembly took place on 13 December 1947 — exactly fifty years after the founding of the First Blind Support Association for Lower Austria — in the dining room of the L. Pawlik inn at Kaiserstraße 84 in Vienna's seventh district. Leopold Bick was elected president, and numerous specialist groups and interest communities were established, including a concert association of blind artists, an association of blind intellectual workers, blind workers, blind church musicians, the Vienna chess circle, an assistive-aids specialist group, and disability sports. In the 1950s new earning opportunities emerged in craft and industrial occupations for blind people. In 1954 the first Austrian Blind Welfare Day was held, with demands for a blind allowance that were not yet implemented; in 1955 blind people demonstrated in front of parliament, leading to a blind allowance at provincial level that later lost value. An assistive-aids centre was established in 1956, and in 1957 the Dr. Karl Renner Prize led to the founding of Austria's first audiobook library for blind people. In 1960 the second Blind Welfare Day was held under the theme "The social position of blind people in Austria". From 1967 to 1987 Hofrat Matthias Bleier served as president. In the 1970s working opportunities and internal association infrastructure projects improved, and in the 1980s rehabilitation, cultural offerings and school integration moved more strongly into focus. In 1990 the audiobook libraries of the Association of War-Blind Austrians and of the ÖBV were merged into a joint library. In 1993 the Federal Long-Term Care Allowance Act (Bundespflegegeldgesetz) came into force. In 1999 a change to the statutes renamed the Österreichischer Blindenverband (ÖBV) as the Österreichischer Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband (ÖBSV), intended to make it easier for the large group of people with severe visual impairment to access the association; a separate Salzburg regional group was also founded that year. Since 2000 the Social Ministry Service has worked closely with self-help organisations, including BSVÖ institutions such as the former Vocational Training and Research Centre for Blind and Partially Sighted People (BBFZ), today the Training Institution for Blind and Partially Sighted People (SEBUS). In 2013 the organisation renamed itself Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband Österreich (BSVÖ). The umbrella body today consists of seven regional organisations: Carinthia (predecessor association founded 1901), Upper Austria (predecessor founded 1945), Salzburg (founded 1999), Styria (predecessor founded in the 1920s), Tyrol (predecessor founded 1945), Vorarlberg (predecessor founded 1949), and Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland (predecessor founded 1945). The BSVÖ is a member of the Austrian Disability Council (ÖBR) and the Klagsverband, as well as of the European Blind Union (EBU) and the World Blind Union (WBU). Its central tasks are promoting the interests and needs of blind and partially sighted people; to represent them best in public, the president and leading officials are elected from within this group. The organisation's departments include the federal secretariat, the department for accessible building (responsible for awareness-raising, planning advice, training and research, and mobility in public space in connection with accessibility), the department for international cooperation, and the presidium.

• 2013

  Renamed Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband Österreich (BSVÖ).

• 2000

  Social Ministry Service began close cooperation with self-help organisations including BSVÖ institutions.

• 1999

  Renamed Österreichischer Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband (ÖBSV); Salzburg regional group founded.

• 1993

  Federal Long-Term Care Allowance Act (Bundespflegegeldgesetz) came into force.

• 1990

  Audiobook libraries of the Association of War-Blind Austrians and the ÖBV merged.

• 1967

  Matthias Bleier began his presidency (until 1987).

• 1962

  Specialist group of blind Esperantists founded.

• 1960

  Second Blind Welfare Day held on 'The social position of blind people in Austria'.

• 1957

  Dr. Karl Renner Prize led to the founding of Austria's first audiobook library for blind people.

• 1956

  An assistive-aids centre was established.

• 1955

  Blind people demonstrated in front of parliament; a provincial blind allowance followed.

• 1954

  First Austrian Blind Welfare Day held, demanding a blind allowance.

• 1947

  First delegates' assembly on 13 December; Leopold Bick elected president; numerous specialist groups founded.

• 1946

  Founded on 9 March as Österreichischer Blindenverband (ÖBV); Erwin Horacek first president.

A national, member-led self-help organisation and advocacy body for blind and partially sighted people in Austria, combining local counselling services with a flagship accessible-media library.

• Hörbücherei des BSVÖ

  Austria's competence centre for accessible media, offering around 17,000 audiobooks, radio plays and audio-described films, access to over one million titles in more than 90 languages through international partners, and around 120 new DAISY audiobooks produced each year.

• First-contact and social counselling

  Nationwide, unbureaucratic first point of contact and social counselling for people with visual impairment, blindness and their families; membership is not required for first counselling.

• Rehabilitation and visual rehabilitation

  Orientation and mobility, daily-living skills, visual rehabilitation and counselling provided by the regional organisations.

• Assistive-aid shops

  Regional shops offering supportive utensils for everyday life, work and leisure.

• Braille commission and specialist groups

  Includes the Braille commission, the guide-dog handlers' group, the mobility and infrastructure body, and the association of blind Esperantists.

1. 1Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband (BSVÖ) – official websiteblindenverband.at
2. 2Geschichte | Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverbandblindenverband.at
3. 3Services | Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverbandblindenverband.at
4. 4Hörbücherei des BSVÖ | Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverbandblindenverband.at
5. 5Austrian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted – Wikidatawikidata.org
6. 6Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband Österreich – Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org