June 13th 2018 - International Albinism Awareness Day. On this day the European Albinism Associations organised several activities, at national and international level to raise awareness about Albinism.
Common Social Media campaign #ILookOutForAlbinism
This campaign was supported by all the associations of Albinism Europe. The aim of the campaign was to raise awareness about albinism and to show that we value people living with the condition, by filling our social network with selfies of people who care about albinism.
People joined the campaign by posting a selfie with their finger pointing to their eye and sharing the picture on social media with the hashtag #ILookOutForAlbinism (I look out for albinism).
This year more than 1.000 photos have been posted! Thanks to everyone that did join us sharing this message. We have made a video that collects all the photos of the campaign that we have collected. You can see it at the head of this article.
Local Countries Associations IAAD Activities
Finland – Suomen albinismiyhdistys ry
This year IAAD was more visible in Finnish social media than last year. Many took pictures with the hashtag #LookOutForAlbinism. Pictures was shared on Facebook and Instagram. A text about International Albinism awareness day was posted on the website with a link to the campaign
Italy-Albinit
The cooperation between the Italian Association Albinit and NOAH (The US Association for people with Albinism) has been very important for co-ordinating activity between Italy and USA.
Clio, a famous Make up blogger– made a live streaming make up Facebook session with a girl with albinism. A special thanks to Kristin our model for the day. It was good to witness the way natural make up can enhance the personal characteristics of someone with albinism.
The video was followed by approx. 3.500 persons during the live session and to date, the facebook page has 8.000 viewers.
You can follow the video on this website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BDuw40JWVw
Spain-Alba
On June 13th ALBA publicly lunched the short film ¿Los Ves? By Patty Bonet, available for free online. The short film shows the daily situations faced by a person with albinism, shot from the person’s perspective. This allows the viewer to put themselves in the shoes of a person living with a visual impairment.
The digital newspaper, Huffington Post, published a report about albinism with Javier Andres, a board member of ALBA. Also, the TV show ”El Tiempo” interviewed him to see how weather affects people with albinism.
ALBA coordinated the campaign “I look Out for Albinism”, which was launched this year by Albinism Europe as a worldwide initiative.
UK & Ireland – The Albinism Fellowship
Several events took place during June 13th week in different cities across the UK and Ireland.
The events were very successful. The cooperation between Albinism Fellowship and Rare Revolution magazine helped the organisation to raise awareness about albinism and their work.
The Netherlands-Oogvereniging Albinisme
Oogvereniging Albinisme hosted a successful event on the 16th June 2018 on International Albinism Awareness Day. It was held in the middle of the Netherlands: Utrecht. Around 45 people attended the IAAD-event: people with albinism and their families and friends.
In the morning Charlotte Kruijt, physician-researcher and PhD student ophthalmology, gave a lecture about the diagnostic criteria of albinism. In the afternoon an eye care professional explained which contact lenses were suitable for people with albinism and an occupational therapist gave a presentation about (interior) lighting. At the end of the day, a co-founder of the Josephat Torner Foundation, Europe told us about the work they do in Africa and beyond. After this Oogvereniging Albinisme, updated the audience about the last EDA and YPA in Oslo this year.
in addition to all of the interesting presentations (and questions!), there was plenty of time to exchange experiences with others. While enjoying a drink at the end of the day everybody agreed that it was a great day: worth repeating!
