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ROMANIAN ASSOCIATION OF THE BLIND |
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BRASOV BRANCH |
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106 Castelului Street, 500014 Brasov; Phone / fax: +4-0368-429.123, +4-0268-478.328
E-mail: bvanvr@gmail.com; Web:
www.nevazatoribrasov.ro; Fiscal code: 4317827
Account: RO23WBAN2511000008500569, SANPAOLO IMI Bank Romania, Brasov Br. |
Who we are and what we do |
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Established on April 1, 1961 as a branch of
the Romanian Association of the Blind, the Brasov Association of the Blind
is a non-governmental organization of public utility, with
social-cultural, educational, sportive and humanitarian profile,
based mainly on volunteering. Its work is carried out with the support of
local and central authorities. Always promoting the principles of
total freedom and democracy, the Brasov Association of the Blind acts for
the integration of visually impaired people in the economic,
social-professional, cultural-artistic and sportive life of the county.
Any member can be elected in the
association’s governing bodies and functions, both at branch and national
level. All members have the right to vote at these elections. This way the
members can influence directly or through their elected representatives
the actions and policies which will determine their fate, having in the
same time the opportunity to belong to the country's only organization of
its kind, an organization with over 81,000 members, managed by blind
people for the blind people.
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The branch has three main categories
of current activities for the benefit of its members, as follows:
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Support
activities – assistance and representation services, support
for the acquisition of specific goods, professional improvement and
reorientation courses;
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Socialization activities – general knowledge, literary and
sport competitions, meetings, social events, festivities, trips and
experience sharing, all organized either by the branch or with its
support;
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Activities designed to provide access to information – free
access to the branch’s library and internet café, procurement of
publications adapted for the visually impaired people at minimal prices.
You can find below more details
about each category of activities.
For other information and membership
please get in touch with the branch using the contact information provided
in the header of this page. |
Support activities
The branch offers direct support,
assistance and representation services for all its members, aiding them to
obtain their legal rights, appropriate jobs, a better quality of life and
the improvement of their social integration. It also contributes to the
orientation of visually impaired children toward the special schools.
Furthermore, the branch also provides, on request, psychological and legal
counseling for its members and their families.
The members can acquire through the
branch, at minimal prices, with no commercial fees and subsidized by the
association, straight and folding white canes, talking watches and clocks,
specially adapted chess and backgammon games. Also the branch assists its
members in the procurement, installation and configuration of
accessibility software for their personal computers.
At national level the association
periodically organizes professional improvement and reorientation courses
for the adult members, where the graduates can obtain nationwide
acknowledged certificates. For the courses organized in other localities
than the ones where the participants currently reside, the association
provides board and lodging at minimal costs. |
Socialization activities
Every year the association organizes
general knowledge, literary and sport competitions. These are opened to
all members, with no entrance fee.
The necessary bibliography to
prepare for the general knowledge and literary competition is provided
freely by the association, on audio tape, CD and in electronic formats, as
well as the equipment required for the participation in the sport
championships.
The individual competitions are
organized in three phases (branch, regional and national), while the team
competitions have two phases (regional and national).
The association covers the
preparation, travel, board and lodging expenses for all the participants,
also providing important prizes for the winners, at every phase in every
competition.
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The list of events includes the “On
the world meridians” and “Friends of the braille books” general knowledge
competitions, a new cosmetics and fashion competition for visually
impaired women, two annual literary competitions for visually impaired
writers and the national chess and bowling championships. The best chess
players have the opportunity to be selected for the prestigious national
team, which obtained the 7th place at the last Olympics and 5th place at
the last World Cup.
The branch members or groups of
members can have free access to the branch’s Blind Clubs in Brasov and
Fagaras, on request, for the organization of meetings and social events.
Also the branch organizes trips and experience sharing activities with
other branches, depending on the request received from the members and
their interest, keeping the costs for the participants at a minimal level
through negotiations with the suppliers and by subsidizing them from
donations.
Christmas, Easter and Children Day
celebrations are organized each year by the branch, both for the member
children and the children of the members. These celebrations are organized
with the help of volunteers, while the branch covers the cost of presents,
meals and beverages with the support of its sponsors and donors.
Activities designed to provide access to information
The branch members have free access
to its 1,200 volume audio and 600 volume braille libraries, both expanded
continuously. The braille volumes and those recorded on audio tape can be
borrowed by the members with no charge, while those recorded in CDs can be
listened in the branch’s internet café also free of charge or copied for
the interested members at a minimal fee.
The branch also intermediates the
members access to the association’s and its partners’ publications,
including the monthly audio magazines “Impact” and “Radar” available on CD
in mp3 format and the “Our letter” magazine, which is published monthly in
braille and quarterly in regular writing. All magazines are made available
at minimal, subsidized costs.
The branch’s internet café, equipped
with computers with the latest innovations in access technology to allow
their operation by visually impaired people, offers to the members a free
high speed connection to the World Wide Web and access to browsing,
e-mail, instant messaging and internet phone services.
Related links
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