Moira recently represented the DUAL-SIP team at the Low Vision Research and Rehabilitation conference in beautiful Florence, Italy. Not the first time she’s presented in Italy – the last time was in Lake Como in 2012 for the Vision-Hearing Project led by Julie – so its been a while between visits. Florence did not disappoint!
First, the conference – it was held in the beautiful Palazzo dei Congressi, very central and straight across from the train station so easy access to trains and transport. The conference ran over 3 days 9-11th September with a huge range of speakers, mainly European, but a small group from Australia (Melbourne University) who have secured Vision 2027 for Melbourne; and a number of other speakers from a range of areas, Pakistan, USA, India to name a few. The diversity of speakers and topics made it hard to choose which sessions to attend but all conference rooms were located close by and easy to transition from one to another.
Excitingly, we had two key sessions on Deafblindness/Dual Sensory Impairment. These were organised and chaired by Professor Walter Wittich, Shirley Dumassais and Karen Keyes from Canada who kept us entertained, challenged and inspired throughout. The first session was focused on congenital deafblindness, and a standout for me was Moa Wahlqvist’s presentation of the Life Adjustment Model study currently running in Sweden, lots of take aways here on life transitions, coping and the role of social support and their application in older adults living with DB/DSI. The second session was ‘Deafblindness across the lifespan’ which is where I presented an overview of the DUAL-SIP and then focused on one of our current studies, the ‘conscious caring’ social approach to DB/DSI. Despite being the last session on the last day, the room was packed and the audience attentive- the Aperol spritz were waiting in the beautiful surrounds of the Palazzo dei Congressi, but that didn’t stop a steady flow of questions from the audience!
Now to Florence itself…truly a city of culture! I managed to squeeze in a visit to the Uffizi between sessions and other than the incredibly long queues to get in- was spectacular. Annmaree gave me ‘The Birth of Venus’ book by Sarah Dunant, set in 15th Century Florence which set the scene for me and the Uffizi did not disappoint! No photo can do justice to being in the presence of art like this but I have included some photos- highlights for me were seeing the Birth of Venus by Botticelli and Medusa by Caravaggio. The conference also ran a tactile session at the Uffizi which was fully subscribed and by all accounts, excellent. Lots of other highlights – The Duomo, Bell tower (and its 416 steps!) and of course a visit to Michaelangelo’s David.
Navigating Florence was easy with google maps but the cobbles were challenging and access to some areas difficult for anyone sensory impaired. Would definitely go again…!
