ICSD President's Greetings to the 2018 EDSO Congress

Dear EDSO members,

I bring you greetings on behalf of the ICSD Executive Board and of the rest of the world!  I am very sorry that I am unable to join you at your 19th Congress in Crete, but I hope this is the next best thing.  If I know your host at all, Iosif and Greece will be looking after you very well!

I do not want to take up too much of your time, but I thought I would share with you the 4 key goals that I would like to see ICSD working to achieve:

1. Putting our deaf athletes at the centre of what we do.  For example, we are re-establishing the ICSD Athletes Commission and they will be providing representatives to other ICSD Commissions so that the athlete’s voice is heard in the decisions that ICSD makes.

2. A steady pipeline of hosts for the Deaflympics and World Deaf Championships that is confirmed at least 4 years in advance of each event.  This will provide increased confidence to deaf athletes and Members and help planning and fundraising efforts.

3. Improving the governance of ICSD through the ICSD Reform Program and the establishment of an independent ICSD Ethics and Complaints Commission.  This will take a lot of time and effort and I encourage all you to be involved in some way to contribute to a new and improved ICSD.

4. Increased transparency of ICSD decisions and more regular communication and engagement with our athletes and with you, our members.  I firmly believe that the more we talk with each other and share our ideas, successes, and challenges, the better the opportunities we will achieve for our deaf athletes.  Let us remember that as the reason why EDSO and ICSD exist!

Enjoy your time together and I wish you a very successful 19th EDSO Congress!

Rebecca Adam

ICSD President