Marek Kalbarczyk
Chair of the IMC Local Organizing Committee; the blind IT specialist, manager and author. Member of: National Consultative Council for Persons with Disabilities, Accessibility Council.
Repeatedly awarded and decorated social activist, e.g. in recognition for promotion of corporate social commitment and methods of employment of the blind.
Creator of the REHA FOR THE BLIND Conference and the global East-West Meetings.
Author of mathematics textbooks, rehabilitation manuals and books about the world of sound and touch.
When he was a child, he attended a school for the visually impaired, and after that the Education Centre for the blind in Laski. It is worth noting that after years in special education institutions, he was one of few, who decided to continue his education in a mainstream high school. He graduated from high school with the best grades and studied at the department of IT and Mathematics at the University of Warsaw.
Mr Marek Kalbarczyk has been an active member of the Polish Association of the Blind since he was 16. Also, during the studies he was the president of the Polish Blind Students Organization. His IT career started when he was appointed IT specialist at The Institute of Meteorology and Water Management. In 1989 he established Altix – a company known and appreciated around the world. In 1992, he began running the Chance for the Blind Foundation.
One of his biggest inventions is the first Polish speaking voice synthesizer. He is also the author of a number of important IT projects including: a software library for the blind, and a system of translation between mathematical notation and the Braille system.
Mr Marek Kalbarczyk is the author of around 60 publications including various books and guides. For example:
- Can a blind person become president?
- Taste at fingertips
- How to write and read – Braille mathematic record
- Dotykownik (Touch dictionary) – an atlas of tactile graphics
- “Ich Trzecie Oko” (Their Third Eye) – a novel
- „Epilogi Przywracające Nadzieję” (Epilogues, bringing back Hope)
Mr Marek Kalbarczyk has won many awards from the Polish Government, local authorities and the business community. His distinctions include: Order of Polonia Restituta, “A Man without barriers”, “A Man who change a business”.
Janusz Mirowski
Chair of The Council of Patrons of Chance for the Blind Foundation, graduate of Social Communication at the University of Warsaw. Expert in innovative Internet technologies. He has experience in project management using PMI, TENSTEP and KISS methods. He has implemented projects of the Ministry of National Education, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and the State Fund for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled Persons. Every year he is a key member of the organizing committee of the REHA FOR THE BLIND IN POLAND conference.
Milena Rot
Graduated from English philology and conference interpreting. She has been working for the Chance for the Blind Foundation since 2016. She was responsible for establishing and maintaining international relationships in our organization.
Anna Koperska
Director and Member of the Patronage Council at the Chance for the Blind Foundation, a Ph.D. student at the Poznan University of Medical Sciences, author of scientific publications, and member of research teams. Her interests are focused on clinical and biomedical research. She actively works for the environment of blind and visually impaired people. She was honored with the Cross of Merit by the President of Polish Republic. She is involved in equalizing opportunities for people with disabilities, preventing their exclusion. She is author of over 50 projects. She promotes reading in Braille among blind children and adults. She has been involved in volunteering activities since early age. She cooperates with many non-governmental organizations and institutions with which she implements initiatives for social inclusion. She manages the Charity Department „We are together” at the Chance for the Blind Foundation, assisting the neediest people in Poland and abroad.
Małgorzata Rajzer-Matjaszczuk
Legal Counsel qualified in civil law jurisdiction with over 18 years post qualification experience, since 2010 lecturer in Polish Bar Association, before she got involved with the Chance for the Blind Foundation in the IMC18 project as Coordinator she had worked as a Legal Department Coordinator in Polish Railways Lines and provided her own law firm with a broad range of legal services including a wide variety of commercial contracts, consumer/retail, competition, real estate issues, construction and maintenance, as well as civil and commercial litigation.
Lucyna Zalewska
Justyna Rogowska
Adam Kubiak
Studied at Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering. Worked for some time in his profession as a site engineer on large residential and office projects in Warsaw. Currently associated with the Chance for the Blind Foundation.
Stanisław Pietrak
Studied at five different universities, lived in a few European countries, created an educational Foundation for Kenyan kids, run a French massage concept company. Dedicated to creating a healthy environment for healthy people and uniting intuitive knowledge with evidence-based science. Currently a psychology student.
Persons of Merit for the Foundation
Michał Bałamut
Great, blind computer scientist honoured with the Silver Cross of Merit by the president of Poland in 2017. He works for the innovative company, creating many technological solutions for people with blindness and other disabilities. He designed many computer programs and other technological solutions. In his professional life, he pays a great deal of attention to making new technological solutions accessible for blind users.
Henryk Rzepka
Great, blind computer scientist and accessibility specialist. Graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Computer Science at the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Łódź. He coordinated the “Strażnicy dostępności” project implemented in 2008 by the Polish Association of the Blind. He specializes in the use of modern technologies in the education of blind, partially sighted and deaf-blind people. His works change lives of thousands of blind people in Poland. In 2017 Mr Rzepka was honoured with the Silver Cross of Merit by the president of the Republic of Poland.
Igor Busłowicz
Extremely knowledgeable computer scientists; graduate of the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics at the University of Warsaw. He devoted his entire professional life to visually impaired people. He has over 20 years of experience in managing IT projects. He developed software for translating ordinary text and texts containing mathematical formulas into Braille and vice versa. He participated in the creation of ReadBoard, the most commonly used speech synthesizer in Poland, which is a screen reading program; as an expert in mathematical formula writing, he participated in the creation of extended mathematical notation for the blind. He is one of founders of both Chance for the Blind Foundation and the Altix company.
Adam Kalbarczyk
President of Altix. Leader in the Polish market of products for the blind and visually impaired. Connected with the blind and partially sighted community since birth. His father and brothers are burdened with vision dysfunction. Practitioner, specialist in accessibility and universal design, Adam Kalbarczyk has excellent knowledge of specialist equipment adapted to the needs of blind and partially sighted people (e.g. Freedom Scientific, Dolphin Computer Access, Optelec, Index Braille). Graduate of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw.
Malwina Wysocka-Dziuba
President of the Chance for the Blind Foundation since 2019. Malwina graduated from SGH Warsaw School of Economics with very good final results. Malwina has created and coordinated many projects and undertakings for people with disabilities. She holds a PRINCE 2 Foundation certificate. She participated in the 16th International Mobility Conference in Dublin and is one of those who contributed to the success of organizing IMC in Poland by our foundation. She is one of the closest employees of Marek Kalbarczyk.
Marta Zielińska
Longtime employee, and a social activist of the Society for the Care of the Blind in Laski. She comes from the southern region of Poland. She graduated from Polish philology. Marta Zielińska was an assistant to chairperson of Laski. While performing this task, she worked with bright blind children and young people from this school. She organized special foreign trips for them, so that they were able to learn and acquire the English language. For many years, she lived in Great Britain where she contributed to the founding of the British Foundation “Fund for the blind of Laski”.