Cuba: Int´l Workshop on Deaf-Blind Advocates Integration

Cuba: Int´l Workshop on Deaf-Blind Advocates IntegrationHavana, Jul 13. -The First Workshop on Deaf-Blindness, "Defending Hope," concludes Wednesday after three days of debate focused on how to provide the best services to people with this disability and integrate them into society.The last of some 60 presentations will be made today at the workshop, held at Havana´s Palco Hotel, on the multi-sectoral and community concept of comprehensive care for the deaf-blind.

Participants in the event will discuss the family and its central role in educating children; training and education for teachers of the deaf-blind, and other issues.

Also today, delegates from Puerto Rico, Argentina, Mexico, Angola, Spain, Ecuador and Venezuela will visit the William Soler special education school, one of three schools that provide services for 150 school-age deaf-blind children nationwide.

Santiago Borges, director of the Latin American Reference Center for Special Education and president of the forum´s organizing committee, said Tuesday that while special education is inclusive, it cannot lose its role in role as a transition in educating the deaf-blind.

Miriam Portuondo, a second-level specialist in clinic genetics, said that 63 percent of 225 Cuban children who have had cochlear implants are enrolled elementary and middle schools. (Prensa Latina)