I am happy to give you information as regards progress made by ICSD since the last video message in December last year:

Deaflympics remain our number one priority. We are working on resolving situation with Hungary 2013 and other possible options by end of May 2012. Please see that video.

Rome Congress provided ICSD Board & staff crucial mandate to work on ICSD review. Again, please see separate video.

After difficult 2011 we have a shoestring budget for 2012. Same as many countries after failure of Deaflympics. David Lanesman, our vice president has made a financial video.

All of these videos can be found on our website, on our facebook page, on my twitter feed and on our YouTube channel.

Continuing dialogue and re-establishing relationships/MoU with ISFs & IPC to advance Deaf Athletes movement. We are pleased to have the support of international federations including FIFA for football.

Regular and continuing support from IOC is important. The IOC has increased our financial support by 35% this year and is now helping us look for new hosts for the Deaflympics.

We have also started discussions with potential sponsors with help from IOC.

We have restructured all our operational systems to make it more accessible and modernized. All audiograms are now stored electronically.

Thanks to the help from IOC we are getting closer to funding for a new Sport Director.

5 countries have chosen to call for Extraordinary Congress, and I am disappointed about this.

WHY?

Congress voted only six months ago. Congress told ICSD to put athletes first and go forward.

With due respect to those 5 countries I simply must ask majority of ICSD member countries to oppose/reject this proposal.

Members need to be aware that commitments were made before I started to host Deaflympics in Slovakia, in Greece and in Canada. But they all failed because of bad contracts and lack of government support. First, we had to win back the trust and support of the sporting world. Now that we have done that, we can go forward to work with new hosts.

We must all engage with the sports world. Not just ICSD. All members can help. Did IOC members come to your competitions last year? Please invite them. Together we must raise the visibility of our deaf athletes.

Sometimes, we are working so hard on so many problems and priorities, that we do not communicate our progress to members well enough. I’m sorry for that. We need to do a better job of showing you our work. There will be regular news and more social media. We will also remember to use email and you will see a lot more video in ISL.

Remember that we have to repair the damage of one deaflympics. We have to find hosts for two more. We have to review our governance. And we have very limited time, money and resources. Please allow us to get on with our work, showing us the same confidence you showed only six months ago at the Rome congress. And we will keep you regularly updated about that work.

See you again soon.

Thank you