Issue date: 12 Sep, 2006
The Europa issue, launched every year by member countries of Post Europ, is this year devoted to Integration as Seen by Young People and is made up of two stamps: One to the blind and the other to the deaf.
Society’s interest in establishing equal opportunities for all and socially integrating the disabled are issues that have become more and more important in the last decades. In article number 49 of the Spanish Constitution it refers to the physically disabled saying: “The public authorities shall carry out a policyof preventive care, treatment, rehabilitation and integration of the physically, sensorially and mentally handicapped by giving them the specialized care they require, and affording them special protection for the enjoyment of the rights granted by this Part to all citizens” . Integration demands an adequate education, personal autonomy, a job and a space for culture and sport. Care in the early years and the adequate treatment for every problem are the pillars of integration. With the deaf, the programmes for developing communication skills include lip reading and learning the hand signs. This latter features in one of the stamps that make up this issue.
For the illustration of the stamp devoted to the integration of the blind, the stamp depicts the winning design of the XXII School Contest Organised by the ONCE (National Organisation for the Blind). Schoolchildren from schools all over Spain between 8 and 18 years of age have taken part in the contest. The winning design is the work of the Secondary High School of Fene in A Coruña (Galicia) and depicts a keyboard with Arab and Braille digits and the world Normalizacion (Normalisation) written in the four official languages of Spain. Since 1999, Correos takes part in different social corporate programmes aimed at disadvantaged groups. These programmes are developed together with NGOs such as UNICEF, Fundacion Bosques de la Tierrra (World Forest Foundation) and Payasos sin Fronteras, (Clowns of the World) aiming to help the needy.
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