German Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired in Study and Work
The German Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired in Studies and Work (DVBS) is a self-help organization for blind and visually impaired people who, despite their disabilities, want to live independently and have professional success. Founded in 1916 as the “Association of Blind Academics in Germany” (VbAD) , self-help and lobbying are among the core objectives of the DVBS.
The association supports all blind and visually impaired people in academic and related professions as well as in the corresponding training courses and in retirement. He represents your social, cultural and legal concerns in questions of professional orientation, education and training, labor market integration, in relation to work, career and rehabilitation. The DVBS operates nationwide and has around 1350 members. The registered office of the non-profit association is Marburg / Lahn.
The DVBS is a member of the World Blind Union .
history
The First World War gave the impetus for founding today's “DVBS” . Soon after its outbreak, soldiers who had lost their sight at the front returned home. For them taught Alfred Bielschowsky as head of the Marburg University Eye Hospital a retraining courses. The student Carl Strehl , who was blinded by an accident at work in 1907 , gave them lessons in Braille and typing. These war blind people also included high school students , college students and young academics . For them, their apprenticeship or career path seemed to be over, because the handicrafts of the blind, which were common at the time, offered no suitable alternative. On March 6, 1916, Strehl, Bielschowsky and other like-minded people founded the “Association of Blind Academics in Germany” (VbAD). After the Second World War, it was given the name “Association of Blind Spiritual Workers in Germany” (VbGD). Since 1983 it has been called the "German Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired in Study and Work" (DVBS).
organization
Of the approximately 1,350 blind or visually impaired members, 25 percent are studying or training. They receive support in order to improve their study conditions and thus also their career opportunities, and are grouped together in the "Training" specialist group. In addition, like the working members, they can organize themselves in the following eleven job-related specialist groups: Education & Science, Law , MINT , Media, Music, Visually Impaired, Self-Employed, Social Professions & Psychology , Theology , Administration and Economics. Members who have since retired from the profession have come together to form the "Retirement" group to deal with their specific concerns.
Parallel to the specialist groups, the DVBS is organized nationwide in 13 district groups, so that a local exchange on cross-professional topics is also possible.
In the federal office in Marburg, the voluntary self-help work is supported and the services of the DVBS (information, text service, advice, training) are supervised on a full-time basis.
literature
- Mohammad Reza Malmanesh: The blind under the swastika: a study on the German Blindenstudienanstalt eV Marburg and the Association of Blind Academics of Germany eV under Fascism , Marburg, Dt. Association of the blind and visually impaired in study and work, DVBS, 2002, OCLC 76576643
- Strehl, Carl: War Blind Welfare , Springer, Berlin 1921 and 1922
- Strehl, Carl: School, professional and follow-up care for the blind and visually impaired , Thieme, Leipzig 1939