Francesca Sbianchi Biography

Francesca Sbianchi, partially sighted, was born in 1987 in Assisi, Italy. She holds a master’s degree in international relations, a master’s degree in Diversity and Disability Management, and a master’s degree in Inclusive Didactics and Educational Support in Secondary Education.

Since 2010 she has been involved in the Italian and international disability movement. She is currently the chairwoman of the EBU Advocacy Committee which guides our advocacy and campaigning activities. From 2017 to 2022 she was a member of the European Disability Forum’s Youth Committee as a representative of the Italian Disability Forum (FID), an organisation with which she has continued to collaborate in the framework of shadow reporting regarding CEDAW and the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention).

At national level she holds positions in the Italian Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted (UICI), both in its national Council and as the person in charge of the international relations of the association, and the Institute for Research, Training and Rehabilitation (I.Ri.Fo.R.). She is also the Vice-President of the “Accessibility Days” association that promotes accessibility and inclusivity of digital technologies.

Her past responsibilities with EBU include member of the Youth Committee of the World Blind Union (WBU) as EBU representative from 2017 to 2021, and Leader of the EBU Working Group on youth activities (EBYouth) co-funded by the CERV programme. Under her leadership of this WG, the EBU issued two important youth advocacy papers: the EBU Manifesto of young Europeans with visual impairment and the Madrid declaration on international mobility of young persons with visual disabilities. She also coordinated the organisation of the 11th EBU General Assembly in Rome in 2019.

She represented EDF and EBU in different activities and events, such as the 2018 European Day of Persons with Disabilities, where she held speeches on issues concerning young persons with disabilities, and the 2022 Ministerial Conference on Disability organised by the French Presidency of the EU on improving employment and education for a more inclusive EU.

She actively contributed to several local, national and international events and projects. She participated in numerous international exchange projects aimed at young people with disabilities, organized and coordinated study visits including accessible tourist-cultural activities abroad.