---

Vision 2020

My Lords, in my maiden speech in this House, I described blindness as one of the severest disabilities and suggested that, considering the critical role that sight plays in enabling us to interact with our environment, couching everything in terms of disability is unhelpful because it obscures the central importance of sight. There is now a pressing need for blindness to be placed higher up the political and social agenda. It therefore gives me great pleasure to be the first to congratulate my noble friend Lord Crisp on bringing these matters to wider attention today and on having secured this opportunity to set out his stall in an already overcrowded marketplace. I am sure all noble Lords will agree that it was an impressive presentation. I am only sorry that I missed his first few sentences in the commotion of the albeit seamless changeover from the previous debate. In my maiden speech I talked about the domestic agenda, but the problems in the developing world, although not exactly the same, are if anything even more pressing. I therefore join others in paying tribute to organisations, such as Sightsavers International, the Christoffel Blindenmission and the IAPB, which are attempting to tackle them. At a time when it is difficult to find anyone with a good word to say about bankers, it is good to learn that the Standard Chartered Bank is putting so much of its considerable weight behind such endeavours. As my own organisations, the RNIB and Skill, are less active internationally, I do not have quite so much of an interest to declare this afternoon. It is also very gratifying, as my noble friend has said, to see such an impressive turnout for this short debate. When such an impressive list of speakers is so obviously seized of the issues, it is clear that the message is getting through. I am sure that the Government have got the message; I just hope that the debate will reassure them that they have the support that they need to give this priority, and that it will give them some pointers on how this can be done most effectively. After the formalities, which are important, it is not possible to say very much of substance in four minutes. I want to make just two points within an overarching framework of rights. Although blindness cannot be prevented, it behoves us to have particular concern for the rights of those who are left to grapple with it. Two of the most important of these are the right to education and to information in a form in which people with little or no sight can access it. On education, 6 million children worldwide are living with a disabling visual impairment, 80 per cent of them in under-resourced developing countries. Of these, more than 90 per cent—4.4 million—receive no education at all. In 1990, the Education for All programme was launched by the United Nations, with the goal of universal access to education by 2015. EFA has made significant progress in reaching non-disabled children, but I fear that it has in large measure failed to include children with disabilities, particularly those who require alternative modes of communication. The funding for EFA comes largely from developed countries, so those countries should be asking why children with disabilities are still not being reached effectively by EFA and should be insisting that Governments which receive EFA funding should serve all children, including those with visual impairment. EFA-VI is an initiative led by the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment and the World Blind Union—I am a board member of both. They assist developing countries with technical advice and support to ensure that their EFA national plans include provision for children with visual impairment. Any support which the Government can give to this initiative will represent a very good investment of effort. On access to information, efforts are under way through the World Intellectual Property Organisation to agree a treaty which will dismantle copyright barriers to the free flow of information in forms made accessible to the visually impaired. More than 100 countries have expressed support for such a treaty but some of the big players, like the United States and the EU, are digging their heels in. Any assistance which the Government can give to promote a more positive approach would be very welcome, and I shall be happy to give the Minister a full briefing if he would find that helpful.