PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Dear friends and members, I am happy you joined us in this last EURO-CIU 2020 newsletter, our 45 newsletter. This year has been tough for everybody, especially for persons with hearing loss. EURO-CIU was supposedly celebrating its 25 anniversary in the European Parliament, but COVID has changed all our plans. We do not renounce being there, raising the voice of #CochlearImplantUsers in the @EUParliament, we have just postponed it until further notice.
But this year of being inside our homes has helped in a way to raise visibility and awareness about #CochlearImplants. More #CommunicationBarriers have been raised but society has heard our claims and we have been able to expose and sometimes even take down some of these barriers for good. Accessibility online has increased exponentially helping all of us in our daily life.
This year as well has been the “collaborative” year. The first time ever World “Consensus” about #CochlearImplantation in Adults is a motive to celebrate. We need now to fight to make it a reality in all countries. We had a productive time being part of the World Hearing Forum, European Parliament Commissions, collaborating with European Disability Forum, ANEC (European Association of Standardization), etc. as well as other new organizations like CIICA where we defend persons with #HearingLoss and #CochlearImplant rights.
We now deserve to breathe and enjoy our holidays to come back in 2021 to fight ever more to reach the goal of a complete accessible and inclusive society showing our love for #Hearing. Merry Christmas, Hanukkah and Ramadan!