Blind Citizens Australia, ABN 90-006-985-226

27^th Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2002

Edited by Maryanne Diamond, Executive Officer and Robert Altamore,

National President

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Blind Citizens Australia; the united voice of blind and vision impaired Australians. Our mission is to achieve equity and equality by our empowerment, by promoting positive community attitudes, and by striving for high quality and accessible services which meet our needs.

I am pleased to introduce the 27^th Annual Report of Blind Citizens Australia (BCA) for the year ended 30 June 2002. As this report demonstrates, in the past year BCA has worked diligently on its key activities of individual advocacy, systemic advocacy, peer support, information dissemination and advice to government and the community.

The year has been a busy and productive one for our organisation. The highlights of the year are:

• the establishment of a staffed office in NSW;

• participation in agency negotiations for the merger of library services;

• working with the banking industry to develop voluntary standards for access to ATMs, EFTPOS, internet banking and telephone banking;

• substantial advocacy on behalf of people who are blind or vision impaired in relation to welfare reform, education, access to tertiary study materials, e-commerce, rail safety and access to premises; and

• persuading the Commonwealth Government not to proceed with changes to the Disability Support Pension (Blind) which would have had detrimental effects on people who are blind or vision impaired.

This report is the collective effort of various directors and members of staff. I hope you will read it and gain an appreciation of the work that BCA has undertaken on behalf of Australians who are blind and vision impaired.

Karen Knight, Chair of our Finance Committee, and the National Office through Maryanne Diamond, have worked hard to ensure our organisation is financially stable.

I thank all members and supporters who have made financial donations to Blind Citizens Australia during the past year. I also thank those blindness agencies who have supported us over a number of years, and those blindness agencies and commercial organisations which financially supported us this year.

I am pleased to report that in November 2001, Tony Clark joined the Board of Blind Citizens Australia. Tony filled the casual vacancy on the Board resulting from my election as President. Tony is a vision impaired person and works for the Vision Australia Foundation. He brings to the Board a considerable knowledge of blindness services, particularly information access, and skills in corporate governance and strategic planning. The other members of the Board, in addition to Tony and I are: Peter Johnson, Karen Knight, Lynne Davis, Tony Starkey, Leighton Boyd and Lyn Eagers. The Board met monthly by Teleconference and held 3 face to face meetings during the year, two of which coincided with meetings of our National Policy and Development Council.

The NPDC consists of the Board members, a representative from each State or Territory that has more than 50 Full Members, and a representative of the Organisational Members. The NPDC has responsibility for guiding the development of BCA policies. The members, (in addition to the Board of Directors whose names are listed above) are: Sean Tyrell - Victoria, Donna Wilson - New South Wales, Craig Magill - Queensland, Kym Hand - South Australia, Keith Hayes - Western Australia, Maree Brown – Tasmania, and Diana Braun - Organisational Representative.

The NPDC held two face to face meetings during this reporting period, in November 2001 and May 2002. The Council used Working Groups to carry on its activity between meetings. These Working Groups meet by teleconference. The Working Groups established to reflect the NPDC priorities for this year were: membership and development, transport and environmental access, education, and library services. Each of these Working Groups was Chaired by a Board Member. A separate report on the activities of each Working Group is contained in this Annual Report.

The Board established 3 Sub-Committees to oversee its work. The Finance Committee developed BCA's budget and oversaw our compliance with it on a month to month basis. This Sub-Committee also oversaw the development of office and organisational procedures to ensure that BCA followed sound business operational principles and could comply with auditing financial and legal requirements.

The Fundraising Committee, chaired by Tony Starkey, consisted of Board members and other BCA members. The Committee developed a Fundraising Strategy to be implemented over three years.

A most significant development this year was the establishment of a Strategic Action Committee. This committee, chaired by Tony Clark, comprises a number of Board members and has the capacity to co-opt BCA members with skills relevant to a particular project. The purpose of this committee is to give strategic guidance to the Board on particular matters. The committee is responsible for BCA's strategic approach to three questions of possible Government changes to the Disability Support Pension (Blind), the blindness agencies merger, and funding for our NSW office.

In February 2002, we opened an office in NSW and engaged Sharon Chalmers as a part time Project Officer. The NSW office was open two days a week and located in the Association of Blind Citizens of NSW premises in Burwood. We funded the service from our own resources and with grants from the Jeffrey Blyth Foundation and the Royal Blind Society of NSW. Unfortunately, our application to NSW Government for funding for this service was unsuccessful. We are continuing to pursue options for funding our presence in NSW as part of our long-term strategy to have a staffed office in each State in Australia.

The Government asked the disability peak organisations, including BCA, to establish an organisation to present government with a co-ordinated view from the disability sector on key issues. The AFDO has now been established. As a founding member, BCA is entitled to a representative on the Board. While BCA will contribute to AFDO's role in presenting a co-ordinated disability sector response to the Government, the Constitution of AFDO provides for advice from all parts of the sector to be given to the Government. Further, in accordance with the Resolution on this matter passed at our 1999 Convention, BCA will continue to independently advocate for blind people on issues of specific concern to them.

Blind Citizens Australia does not have direct representation on NDAC, which advises the Commonwealth Minister for Family and Community Services, Amanda Vanstone, on disability issues. However, we have maintained close links with the Council through Michael Simpson who was one of its two Deputy Chairs. Michael's term on NDAC ended in 2001. Lynne Davis, a BCA Board Member, has been appointed to NDAC as a Deputy Chair. We congratulate Lynne on this appointment and look forward to a continuing close relationship with NDAC.

On Australia Day 2002, we welcomed the Award to David Blyth of the Honour of Officer in the Order of Australia. The Award recognised David's outstanding service to the blind and vision impaired people of Australia and the world. As members of BCA, we acknowledge David's contribution as a leader in our organisation and a strong personal friend to many of us.

A full report of activities by the NPDC’s Working Group on Membership and Development is contained further in this report. However, I want to congratulate Young Blind Citizens Queensland on its establishment this year as our newest branch. I look forward to their achievements and their contribution to BCA.

A highlight of last year’s National Convention was the presentation of awards to people who have made an outstanding contribution to BCA, and improved the quality of life for blind people in general.

The BCA David Blyth Award was presented to Harold Gration. Harold has a lifetime record of achievement for people who are blind and vision impaired, as a pioneer in blindness services, a founding member of BCA and a strong contributor to our organisation over many years, and as a supporter of the Blind Workers Union.

Certificates of Appreciation are awarded to people who have made a major contribution to Blind Citizens Australia. In 2001, Certificates of Appreciation were awarded to Trish James and Brian Turner, both from NSW. Trish’s award recognised her service to BCA as a longstanding President and leader in the Sydney Branch, and her work for the National Women’s Branch and on behalf of people who are deafblind. Brian Turner's award recognises his contribution over many years, providing transport and practical assistance and support to our Sydney members.

I am pleased to report that BCA has enjoyed a busy twelve months. Through our hard work, we made an impact on a wide range of issues of importance to people who are blind and vision impaired.

There was little movement in our National Office staff during the year. During 2001-2002, staff included:

Maryanne Diamond Executive Officer

Aileen McFadzean National Advocacy Officer

Collette O’Neill National Policy Officer

Helen Freris Victorian Advocacy and Information Officer

The Administration Team consisted of:

Cheryl Gration, Robert Mascitti, Rosalyn Bates and Alison Lynch.

At the start of August 2002, Helen Freris left us to undertake new employment opportunities and Nadia Mattiazzo commenced as her replacement in mid August. I would like to thank Helen for her contribution to BCA as a staff member over the last two years and wish her every success in her new ventures. We look forward to Helen’s future involvement with BCA as an active member.

BCA continued to manage the lottery during 2001-2002. Megan Power worked with us during 2001 to develop procedures for the administration of the lottery and undertake the data entry. Megan left us at the end of 2001. Debbie Grima joined us in January 2002 as the Data Entry Officer for the lottery, and she works two days per week. During the year, four people were employed in Bathurst as telemarketers. Two lotteries were conducted during this time and BCA raised $33,602.00 as a result. This was a significant increase on the previous year, and we are confident we can continue this result at little cost to the National Office.

During the year we established a core group of volunteers who fit well into the office environment and provide an enormous range of skills which support and enhance the work of our paid staff. They are a mix of members and local residents, some with sight and many without. Under the direction of Rosalyn Bates, they have proven a co-ordinated and effective team of people.

The staff and volunteers are a friendly, dedicated and capable group of people. I am pleased to be a member of this group both professionally and on a personal level.

As the President reported, Sharon Chalmers joined BCA in February this year as a part time Project Officer based in NSW. Under the leadership of Lynne Davis, the NSW/ACT Co-ordinating Committee was established to act as a resource for Sharon. It is anticipated that this group will continue to work closely to support the services provided to blind and vision impaired people living in NSW/ACT.

BCA has had a Victorian Co-ordinating Committee for many years. The committee provides a mechanism for the Victorian Advocacy and Information Officer to raise issues, input to and from branches, prioritise tasks which assist them in their work. For much of this year Michael Janes Chaired the committee, following his resignation, Tony Clark took on this role.

The five key activities undertaken by BCA to achieve our objectives are unchanged. They are: individual advocacy, systemic advocacy, information dissemination, peer support, and consultation. These services are provided to members as well as all blind and vision impaired Australians. Examples of advocacy undertaken during this year include: dealings with Centrelink, employment, migration, access to information, and provision of bills and statements in accessible formats. Access to banking was a major activity undertaken during this year both as individual advocacy by lodging complaints against the five major banks and at the same time as systemic advocacy working with the Australian Bankers Association to develop and launch the Voluntary Industry Standards for accessible internet, eftpos, internet, ATM and telephone banking. We anticipate and am working towards many of the individual cases resulting in change that is of benefit to all blind and vision impaired people.

BCA has continued as a member of the Centrelink Customer Reference Committee. Aileen McFadzean has represented BCA on this committee and I am pleased to report that her contribution has been most welcome and appreciated by the staff of Centrelink, although request s for support in this area are endless.

Our National Policy Officer position has been filled for all of the year by Collette O’Neill who has made a tremendous contribution to our work. Through her work we have been able to respond to many and varied discussion papers, undertake our own Non Optional Cost of Blindness Study, influence the Australian Standards in regard to physical access and much more.

Reports from a number of our staff appear later in this Annual Report.

BCA has links with a number of external organisations and representatives on many committees and working parties to ensure the needs and views of blind and vision impaired people are represented. A complete list of these appear later in this report along with the names of our representatives. BCA is an Organisational Member of ACROD, the Australian Blindness Forum (ABF), the Round Table on Information Access for People with a Print Disability, the South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment (SPEVI), Australian New Zealand Blindness Agencies (ANZBA) and a corresponding member of Vision 2020 Australia.

Our work at an international level continues with the World Blind Union 5^th General Assembly held in Melbourne almost two years ago and our National Convention held in Sydney last year with the theme "Blind peoples advocacy – from the local to the global." Our members continue to show a great deal of interest in issues concerning blind people around the world.

Graeme Innes and I represent Australia as Delegates to the WBU both at a regional and international level. I have Chaired the WBU Women’s Committee since November 2000. Our work to assist the people of East Timor establish an organisation of the blind continues with a steering committee established early in the year chaired by David Blyth to monitor all work undertaken in East Timor from Australia. With the support of a benefactor, a train the trainer project is expected to begin in the near future. There are a number of other initiatives being undertaken at the same time. A needs analysis was undertaken into the educational situation of blind people in East Timor by Francis Gentle from St Edmonds, braille transcription items being purchased and sent over, book/white canes/paper/pens gathered together and sent to Timor, and two young people from East Timor are expected to participate in the WBU Youth Leadership seminar in October 2002.

Over the past year, there has once again been steady growth in membership, with over 154 new members joining. There are currently 45 Junior members, 289 Associate members and 2,576 Full members. I am pleased to report that Young Blind Citizens Queensland was established early in 2002 and we look forward to the contribution to the organisation from this group and our future leaders from our two YBC branches.

We continue to communicate with members and the blindness field through a variety of alternative format methods.

Blind Citizens News, edited by Lynne Davis (Lynne’s continued efforts and hard work in this area is appreciated) is read widely both in Australia and overseas. Lynne resigned as Editor of this publication in June after 4 ½ years. I would like to thank her for her tremendous contribution and professional approach to this publication.

Neville Kerr continues to host the Horizons radio program each week, and for those who are unable to listen on the RPH network it is streamed on our home page. Congratulations to Neville who has produced more than 960 programs over 17 years

Our audio magazine SoundAbout which has been produced for more than 10 years was produced in a different format during this year. For Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales, ACT, Queensland and Western Australia, the magazine consisted of one side of common material of national interest and one side of material of interest to each State. This was a great success. South Australia continued to produce their own SoundAbout and QLD has advised us that they will trial production of their own SoundAbout.

Thanks to Dale Simpson for his technical expertise , Stephen Jolley as the main presenter with a number of other people presenting, and Peter Johnson who Chaired a committee to oversee this production. Their hard work and professional approach was appreciated.

The BCA Home Page is managed and kept up to date by Barry Chapman who continues to make this one of the best and most accessible web pages about.

The BCA-L discussion list has operated for members over most of the last year. The purpose of this list is to provide a forum for discussion and information sharing on issues important to members who are blind and vision impaired. Thank you to Lyn Eagers who has administered this list.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who support BCA in the National Office, NSW office and at the State and branch level providing their expertise covering a range of tasks, from labelling envelopes, formatting braille, copying newsletters, answering telephones, data entry, sending out raffle tickets, recording interviews, copying cassettes, developing submissions etc. Your efforts and time commitment are much appreciated.

BCA has undertaken a range of projects over a number of years, some specific to blindness and others a cross disability. During this year two major projects have been hosted by BCA: TEDICORE and the Skill and Thrills Project in Tasmania.

The Telecommunications and Disability (TEDICORE) project has been managed by BCA over the last four years with Gunela Astbrink employed as a consultant to lead this work. Karen Knight has Chaired the Policy Advisory Board for this project over the last two years with representatives from a number of disability organisations providing a resource and support to Gunela in her work. The project aims to advance and represent the interests of telecommunications users with disabilities, and to promote equity and accessibility. BCA has been granted funding for a further year on this project.

Given this is a cross disability project, the BCA Board has decided to hand it over to the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations once it is established. A report of the activities of TEDICORE over the last year can be found later in this report.

Through the efforts of the Tasmanian Branch, a project grant was obtained from the Community Support Levy (Charitable Organisations) grants program to undertake a project looking at the access to recreation and leisure activities for blind and vision impaired people in southern Tasmania. A report of this project is found later in the Annual Report.

The E-Commerce project was completed last year, although some of the financial transactions appear in the financial figures for this year.

I believe that work undertaken by Tim Noonan in this area led to the successful development of the Volunteer Industry Banking Standards which were launched at the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission on 15 April 2002.

Details of all finances and project reports, prepared by a number of Directors and staff members, are contained in this report and I urge you all to read these at your leisure.

For those who study our Annual Reports each year you will see that last year our Profit and Loss Statement showed a healthy surplus, while this year’s shows a deficit. The major reason for this is that BCA held project funds which were not expended in the year they were received. Our cash flow indicates we are in a healthy position.

Funds which remained from the World Blind Union 5^th General Assembly and funds received for the use of the WBU Women’s Committee work have been integrated into our accounts. We received a grant from QLD to undertake a project which will be undertaken in 2002-2003.

We have moved to having a budget for each area of our work ie: every project, our national advocacy service, national policy service, and NSW Office. Each of these has an income line and a single expenditure line. All costs associated with each of these are included in the single line item. The projects are audited separately and our own internal projects have an income/expenditure report which is available at our National Office.

As we move to this means of reporting, the Balance Sheet which compares income and expenditure for the current and previous year in places has "-" in the column, this is because it is a new item or no longer used. The accountant assures us that this will disappear.

We highly appreciate the support from our members through our Appeal to Members and Pre-Authorised Credit Card (PACC) program, which raised $24,477.87 also the increase in donations from the general public which provided 7,394.10 and the National Lottery is a continuing success with $33,602.00 raised. We also thank all the blindness agencies who provided $67,000 during this year and other organisations for their continuing support.

Under the leadership of Karen Knight and the Finance Committee, I am pleased to report our books are all in order with regular reviews.

Under the leadership of Robert Altamore, our National President, we have worked hard to encourage blind and vision impaired Australians to be part of BCA and the work undertaken.

Thank you to the Staff, Board members, NPDC members, Branches and all associated with BCA. Without you, we could not achieve anything.

I am pleased to commend this Annual Report for the year 2001-2002 of BCA to you.

Two issues, access to education and access to banking services have dominated the individual advocacy service over the past year. Advocacy in both areas has the capacity to result in systemic change and we believe that over this last year we have seen the beginnings of such change occurring.

In last year's Annual Report we referred to the fact that disability discrimination complaints had been lodged under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) against the five major banks in Australia. The complaints related to the inaccessibility of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and inaccessible Internet banking sites.

These complaints have all been investigated, conciliated and settlements negotiated in all but one case. In four of the cases we have a commitment from the banks that will see future ATMs fitted with audio capacity to enable access for people who are totally blind. In the case that remains unconcluded, the issue is not whether the bank will incorporate audio capable ATMs into its fleet but rather agreeing on an acceptable timeframe for implementation. For the first time, BCA on behalf of one of our members, took action in the Federal Court of Australia against one bank when all attempts to negotiate at the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) failed. This matter has now settled with commitments both in relation to ATMs and Internet banking services.

BCA originally lodged the complaints to encourage the banks to support a process of reform that was already underway. With support from HREOC, the Australian Bankers Association (ABA) has been in the process of developing access standards relating to telephone banking, EFTPOS, Internet banking and ATMs. Representatives from the banks had input into this process but there was no guarantee of banks actually committing to implement the standards once finalised. It was this outcome which BCA sought in each of the complaints lodged. We have been extremely pleased with the outcome of these complaints and are very grateful to the members who came forward as complainants.

Unfortunately, we cannot rest on our laurels. Despite achieving positive change in some areas any change in a product has the potential to negatively affect access. We have had the recent experience, for example, of one of the banks with a heightened awareness of access issues, changing its ATMs interface with the result that a number of people with vision impairment have contacted BCA no longer able to access ATMs independently. BCA is about to lodge a discrimination action in relation to this matter. BCA has more work to do in the next 12 months in the general promotion of the ABA access standards.

There has been a surge in the number of complaints about access to education in the last 12 months. Most of these complaints have related to the late provision of alternate format materials, the refusal to make course materials available in a student's preferred format and placing on students the onerous task of formatting, enlarging and photocopying course materials presented electronically. BCA has been extremely concerned about requiring students who utilise audio format to access all of their material electronically. For students who experience eye fatigue and for whom reading materials takes longer than sighted students, this extra work consolidates the disadvantage.

There is no case law on this issue to guide BCA or education providers as to what is required under discrimination law. We believe, however, that we have only ever requested adjustments that put students in the situation of substantive equality to sighted students. A number of our cases have been investigated, conciliated and successful outcomes negotiated and some are still outstanding.

BCA supports the process of Education Standards under the DDA as a means of putting the meat on the bone in terms of making clearer the issue of access to materials in alternate formats. BCA has written to all of the relevant State and Federal Education Ministers encouraging them to get behind the most recent draft of the Standards. Most of the discrimination in education cases which BCA handles would have benefited or been avoided if the Standards had been in place.

BCA has supported a number of employees over the last month. This has involved not just the management of disability discrimination complaints but also offering advice in relation to redundancy and workplace accommodations.

BCA attended an inaugural national conference for workers with disabilities convened by the ACTU. We believe that unions can do more to support the rights of workers with disabilities but first need to better understand the diverse employment experiences of workers with disabilities.

A paper discussing discrimination in employment written by BCA was circulated at the conference which was also attended by the Blind Workers Union.

BCA has been extremely encouraged by the program developed by workers with disabilities, individual unions and the ACTU to make unions more relevant for workers with disabilities.

BCA’s supporting a member in a discrimination complaint against a transport provider in relation to its refusal to lay Tactile Ground Surface Indicators (TGSIs) at the edge of the island platform that she uses everyday to get to work.

BCA has also had requests from people around Australia about local pedestrian access issues and how to best advocate to get results. In some of these cases ongoing support has been requested which we are keen to provide.

BCA continues to provide advice to members and non members regarding social security matters. The most frequently raised issue over the past 12 months has been the inappropriate sending of Income and Asset Review Forms. Each time one of these forms is received inappropriately BCA refers the matter to Centrelink Head Office in Canberra and the request is cancelled. We have also assisted people in relation to clarifying entitlements and applications to have decisions reviewed.

2001- 2002 was a busy year. The number and range of urgent issues which arose during the year was remarkable – from railway access to student material in alternate formats. I am sure however, that many members would agree that the most important challenge we overcame during the past year was the Federal Government’s attempt to change the status of the Disability Support Pension (Blind).

We had been concerned all year that the Government was planning significant changes to the DSP (Blind) but only learned exactly what was proposed in May 2002, when the ABC’s AM revealed that the Government planned to introduce a means test to the blind pension.

With help from the National Office, members quickly organised a campaign to oppose the Government’s plan, which included lobbying Members of Parliament, using the media, obtaining support from the blindness agencies and holding a picket outside the Treasurer’s office.

Our campaign was successful and the Government dropped the changes. But, as the President points out in his report, members should see the win more as a temporary stay of action than a permanent victory. Hopefully, the debate about the DSP (Blind) and the DSP more generally will be just the beginning of a larger campaign to achieve a just cost of disability allowance.

On that note, the Non-Optional Costs of Blindness research is near completion. Members may remember the research had three stages: focus groups, in depth interviews and diary keeping. The first two stages are complete and the third is almost finished. I offer my thanks to all members who have taken part in the research.

The research has identified substantial non-optional costs of blindness in a range of areas. An initial report on the preliminary research findings has been prepared for the National Policy and Development Council, which will be used to assist members’ discussions about income support at State Conventions.

Other urgent issues that arose during the year were the application by Queensland Rail for an exemption from the Draft DDA Transport Standards, and tertiary student access to information in alternative formats.

Late last year, Queensland Rail (QR) applied for an exemption from the Draft DDA Transport Standards as they apply to Tactile Ground Surface Indicators (TGSIs) at railway stations. Blind Citizens Australia opposed the application on the grounds that TGSIs are essential for the safety of people who are blind and pose no hazard to other pedestrians. Unfortunately, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) granted a six month exemption to QR on the condition that it negotiate with Blind Citizens Australia and the Physical Disability Council of Australia to find an acceptable compromise.

Two members from Brisbane - Craig Magill and Karen Knight - and National Office staff participated in the negotiations. The outcome is that QR has committed to install TGSI’s as required by Australian Standard 1428.4 where possible, and where not, to negotiate with people with disabilities to find compromises on a case by case basis. This is a sensible outcome, but ironically is no different from the position that QR was in before they made the exemption application. From our perspective, the process has largely been a waste of valuable time and resources. We believe that the same outcome would have been achieved by QR approaching us directly to discuss particular railway stations.

Another significant issue which we worked on during 2001-2002 was university student access to educational materials in alternate formats. After a public call by us for action to address the issue, HREOC organised a National Forum on Accessible Tertiary Materials. The forum was held in May 2002 and was co-hosted by the Australian Vice Chancellors Committee (AVCC). Representatives from almost every university in Australia attended, as well as representatives from publishing, the Copyright Agency Limited, students with print disabilities, producers of alternate format materials, and relevant government departments.

The Forum addressed five specific areas: production, copyright and publishing, digital technology and sharing of material, guidelines and standards for material production and university policies, practices and procedures. Comprehensive recommendations in each area were developed and a steering committee, Chaired by the AVCC, is being established to oversee their implementation. Blind Citizens Australia will have a position on that committee.

Work in this area will continue throughout the next year. Our challenge will be maintaining the momentum that has begun with the National Forum. We will also work to extend the progress that is achieved for tertiary students to students in the TAFE, community education and private sectors.

The Victorian Information and Advocacy Project has continued this year, in accordance with an agreement with the Department of Human Services, and a funding allocation covering information and individual advocacy services. Once again, staff of this department have been most encouraging of BCA’s work in Victoria, and have offered valuable support to ensure that our organisation is well-able to play its part in the State Disability Plan, the Victorian Government’s review and overhaul of services to Victorians with disabilities.

The Victorian Co-ordinating Committee has worked hard this year to identify priorities and set directions for the Information and Advocacy Project. The group have this year identified the long-standing issues of physical access, public transport, access to information and services, and support to rural Victorians as priorities for the year. Additionally, much effort has been devoted to the planning of the Victorian State Convention, a first time event for the State. Their work has been much appreciated, as has the co-operative atmosphere present within the committee.

Parent News has continued to grow in popularity, with a mailing list representing families and educators in Victoria and interstate. It continues to feature a wide variety of articles of interest to children and families, covering subjects such as education, recreation and upcoming events within the fields of blindness and beyond. This year, in order to broaden its focus, items not specific to blindness but of interest to families have been included. Notable items have included:

• Information regarding the Victorian State Budget;

• An introduction to holiday programs run by Local Government; and

• A profile of a report on children’s reading habits in Victoria.

Readers of Parent News were also asked to complete a short survey to assist in the evaluation and improvement of the publication. Respondents gave positive feedback about Parent News, and made useful suggestions for the types of information they wanted to read in the newsletter. A warm thank you to those who have contributed articles, contributed to the survey or generously given their permission for information to be copied in to the publication. I look forward to producing Parent News next year, and hope it meets the information needs of children and families in the year to come.

Victoria has always maintained a high standard of production and quality in our Soundabout audio magazine, thanks to the hard work and commitment of our members involved in presenting, copying and mailing out each issue. This year, Victoria was part of a national working group implementing the trial of a National Soundabout magazine, incorporating both National content, and material prepared by each State. The Victorian format of the magazine remained relatively unchanged, but will now incorporate content relevant to blind and vision impaired people Australia-wide.

Our membership of the Victorian Government’s Public Transport Advisory Committee enables us to stay in touch with current developments in public transport, and work to bring about accessibility for travellers who are blind or vision impaired. We have needed to work hard this year to ensure that our needs for accessibility of transport services are communicated to ministers within the State Government and opposition, and to senior policy-makers within the Department of Infrastructure and the private transport companies. Our main access priorities are still audible announcements at stations and on vehicles, use of Tactile Ground Surface Indicators and education of transport providers. These issues are expected to take considerable work as election issues in the coming year, as are redevelopments of Spencer Street Station and other transport initiatives.

Victorians who are blind or vision impaired have had the assistance of the Public Transport Directory in making contact with and representing their needs to transport providers. This directory, which has been produced in accessible formats, contains contact details for transport providers and bodies in Victoria. The directory has been widely promoted to members and blindness agencies, as well as through BCA and other media. It is planned that the directory be kept up-to-date, and it is hoped that it becomes a means whereby users can make independent contact with providers to resolve customer issues.

Feedback and suggestions from Victorian members on the issue of public transport are easily gained. We encourage the active involvement of members in transport issues, as this will raise awareness of the needs of blind and vision impaired travellers.

Concerns have been raised by our members about the lack of real value of the M40 taxi subsidy, given taxi fare rises. Work is currently underway to lobby the Victorian Minister for Transport for an increase in the rate of subsidy, and for the subsidy to be indexed in line with fare increases. Unfortunately, despite extensive lobbying by members to local MPs, networking with other disability organisations and attempts by BCA to raise the priority of this issue with government, progress has been frustratingly slow. BCA is currently investigating other ways to move this project forward, hopefully by collaboration with other agencies. However, we thank those members and others who took the time to make contact with their State Members of Parliament around the M40 subsidy.

We continue to work with Local Government in Victoria, with varying degrees of co-operation on the part of Councils.

Blind Citizens Australia continues to work closely with Melbourne City Council in an advisory capacity, due to our representation on the Council’s Disability Advisory Committee. We have been able to advise on appropriate business practices for city retailers for greater accessibility in the Central Business District. Thanks to our members, we have been able to monitor and give feedback to Council about pedestrian access within the City of Melbourne. Council’s major initiative for this year has been a major task for Melbourne City Council’s Disability Advisory Committee has been participation in a review of the committee’s functions and activities. Feedback from this review will ensure that the committee increases the involvement of residents and other city users with disabilities in Council processes, as well as focusing on issues pertinent to particular communities within the municipality. BCA appreciates the partnership developed between the Council and our organisation.

An important part of the Information and Advocacy Project in Victoria is the contact between us and our members through forums and other presentations to community groups. This year it was decided to hold forums in regional locations, as we believe blind and vision impaired people in rural areas have less opportunity to have contact with our services and have a right to express their needs for accessible and flexible services. Our intention was to foster networking and peer support among blind and vision impaired people, blindness-specific and local community services, and so break down the potential isolation associated with living far from Victoria’s main service centres.

Two forums were planned this year, to be held in Horsham and Morwell. Unfortunately, the Morwell forum had to be cancelled due to low numbers, but the Horsham Forum was a great success. Participants enjoyed finding out about local blindness and community services, opportunities to become involved in advocacy issues, and the informal contact and peer support which occurred.

We have also taken opportunities to make presentations to already-existing groups of vision impaired people within the community. Notably, presentations have been made to a low vision support group, and a peer mentoring group auspiced by one of Victoria’s blindness agencies. At both presentations, the role and services of BCA were described, and the concept of self- and peer-advocacy was introduced and discussed. Perhaps more importantly, group participants were encouraged to share their ideas and concerns about issues they encountered as vision impaired residents of their local communities.

Due to the location of our office, BCA members in Victoria have the opportunity for contact with us through branches, participation in forums and feedback sessions as well as having direct contact with the office.

We are grateful that some Victorian members and others have been able to assist us in a voluntary capacity. Volunteers now assist us with all mail- outs from the National Office, recording and copying of audio information, and other vital tasks such as photocopying and answering telephones. Many of our members who assist us with voluntary work have also had the opportunity to become involved in our advocacy work, especially in the area of pedestrian safety and branch development. It is with much gratitude that we extend thanks to all our volunteers for their commitment to BCA and their part in the provision of information and other services to the general membership. In particular, the volunteers who assisted us in our mail-outs and other tasks associated with our 2001 National Convention deserve special thanks. They helped ensure a smooth Convention administration process.

BCA has always provided some form of sponsorship to enable members to attend their first BCA Convention. This year, in line with our commitment to facilitating access to the organisation by people living in regional areas, the Victorian Information and Advocacy Project sponsored two such BCA members to attend Convention in Sydney in September 2001. Applicants for this project were invited to submit applications indicating their interest in future involvement with BCA. Two applicants were selected, and they were able to experience at first hand the workings of the organisation, and benefit from the Convention content and informal peer networking which is a feature of Convention.

The first half of 2002 saw the work begin on the planning for our first Victorian Convention. Since changes to the Memorandum and Articles of Association in 1999, each State has the opportunity to hold a State Convention every second year. Victorian members are enthusiastically planning the program and the organisation for what promises to be an exciting Convention on the theme of local advocacy. We are very lucky that the Honourable Bronwyn Pike, Minister for Community Services has agreed to open the Victorian Convention. We look forward to an event which inspires and stimulates members of BCA to greater involvement in advocacy, either their own or that of the wider BCA.

For some time, BCA has had access to telephone interpreting services to facilitate communication with consumers from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. We have also been concerned due to our minimal involvement with blind Victorians and their families of CALD background. In 2001 we decided to promote our service more effectively by producing our information brochure in 10 community languages, and producing it in large print, audio and electronic formats. The next phase of the project is a direct mail-out to Victorian organisations working with people of CALD backgrounds, promoting BCA services and inviting further contact. We anticipate greater contact with CALD individuals and groups, and we hope to gain insight into the issues encountered by blind Victorians of culturally diverse backgrounds.

Many BCA members and other Victorians who are blind or vision impaired are involved on local government disability advisory committees. BCA has been aware of this involvement for some time, and has benefited enormously from the work carried out by committee members within their local communities. However, we also have an awareness of the difficulties and challenges inherent in this role, and have begun a project to support blind Victorians who take on this important challenge.

The aim of the project is to make contact with blind and vision impaired members of disability advisory committees, determine their needs for information, advocacy and peer support and develop strategies to meet identified needs.

Blind Citizens Australia receives numerous calls from Victorian members, requesting information and referral and short-term advocacy on a wide range of issues. Requests for information mostly centre around locating appropriate blindness specific and community services to which the caller can be referred, as well as information and advice about entitlements and access to benefits for public transport and taxis. We also provide information to anyone in the general community who wishes to provide appropriate services to people who are blind or vision impaired. This year, for example, several queries about the provision of information in accessible formats have been received.

Requests for short-term advocacy are also wide ranging in their focus. Again, the common themes of access to the pedestrian environment and to public transport services and entitlements predominate, but we also receive requests for advocacy with blindness agencies and education services on behalf of members.

We thank the members of the Victorian Co-ordinating Committee, led by Tony Clark, for their advice and voluntary contributions during the year. We also thank our Soundabout team: Stephen Jolley (on-air magazine host), Dale Simpson (audio production), Natale Cutri (content co-ordinator) and Kylie Partington (cassette sorting and copying). They continue to do a great job, without fuss or bother, and Soundabout Victoria maintains its high standard and continues to receive positive feedback from members and staff of blindness agencies.

In accordance with BCA’s object of establishing an office in each state, the Board this year took the decision to commit some of the organisation’s resources to setting up an office in Sydney to serve members in NSW and the ACT. At the same time an application was made to the NSW Department of Disability, Ageing and Home Care for ongoing advocacy and information funding such as we receive from the Victorian Government. Unfortunately, the Department turned down our application, even though many other similar organisations are funded in this way. At present we are exploring all possible funding options in the hope that we can maintain our presence in NSW.

As a preliminary to establishing an office, the Board created a NSW/ACT Co-ordinating Committee to oversee the work of this project. The committee is Chaired by Lynne Davis, and its members are Sondra Wibberley (Sydney Branch), Bill McKennariey (Tweed Valley Branch), Shirley Collins (Macleay- Nambucca Branch), Michael Johnston (ACT Branch), Joana D’Orey Novo and Jessica Richards (Board nominees). The position of NPDC representative is currently vacant. The Co-ordinating Committee, being geographically dispersed, meets by telephone once a month. It has been meeting since August 2001, and has been able to create much stronger links than previously existed between our members and branches in NSW and the ACT.

In February 2002 we appointed a part-time Project Officer, Sharon Chalmers, and in March we opened a BCA office in Shirley House, the premises of the Association of Blind Citizens of NSW. The office is open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and at other times messages can be left on the answering machine or emailed to the office.

At this stage, and given our very limited resources, the priorities for the NSW office have been defined as raising the profile of BCA in the NSW disability sector, identifying potential funding sources, and developing BCA membership. The project officer has also provided support for the Co- ordinating Committee and its sub-committee, the NSW/ACT Convention Committee. Quite a lot of our attention in 2002 has been directed to the organisation of the first ever State Convention. The organising committee for the Convention is Chaired by Michael Simpson, and its members are June Ashmore, Kathy Fela, Jessica Richards, Richard Mackay and Bill McKennariey. The Convention will be held at the Harbourview Hotel, North Sydney (scene of the very successful 2001 National Convention) on the first weekend in November.

Looking ahead, we are optimistic that we will be able to obtain funding for the work we want to undertake in NSW. BCA already receives many more requests for input into policy processes than we can hope to meet with our current limited resources. If we can find a way to fund our operation in NSW, we can make the voices of blind people heard where previously they have been absent and as a result improve the quality of life for all blind people in the state.

In late 2000, the Tasmania Branch of BCA received a grant from the Community Support Levy (Charitable Organisations) Grants Program to fund the Skills and Thrills Project. The project goal was to "improve access to recreation and leisure activities for blind and vision impaired people in southern Tasmania".

The project was in two parts - the first, being to complete an extensive phone survey to assess the current recreational status of blind or vision impaired people. This involved compiling a questionnaire that surveyed all Tasmanian blind and vision impaired people regarding their current recreational activities that individuals participated in, the types of activities that individuals would like to participate in if the opportunity arose and factors or barriers that had prevented participation in the past. Additionally, people were asked to comment on what factors they felt would improve access to recreational opportunities for them such as issues of support, access to information and knowledge of services and agencies.

The survey was carried out with the support of the Royal Guide Dogs Association of Tasmania. A local Hobart blind woman was employed to carry out this telephone survey.

From the results, it was apparent that many individuals had active and fulfilling leisure lifestyles. However, many others (particularly those in the older age group) appeared to have few leisure options apart from radio and television.

In November 2001, the project moved to its second stage where Kathy Hall was employed as Project Officer to facilitate the establishment of social and craft groups within the south of the State.

Kathy used the data collated in the project’s first stage, in addition to liasing with professional workers in the field. This provided valuable knowledge into issues facing people with a vision impairment as well as practical information in relation to what tutors and volunteers would need to be aware of in terms of methods that they used for operating in sessions to allow the most positive outcomes for participants. From these discussions, the project identified a range of activities, both social and craft oriented that would be used to explore as "taster sessions", that would be offered for people to attend on a trial basis.

There were ten sessions of two to three hours in duration run once a week over ten weeks. Sessions were held in several locations around Hobart and its suburbs. A range of craft and social activities were offered. Volunteers were used to assist with sessions and appropriately experienced tutors were employed to facilitate these sessions. Further thought was given to ensure that sessions were held in appropriate community facilities to foster inclusive practices.

Within all sessions, the activities that people were undertaking became the catalyst for discussion and the mutual support that was exchanged by participants. The activity was important and people enjoyed the process of creating. However, it was also the means of exploring and describing what their own loss of vision meant to them in a very personal way. They discovered similarities and differences between themselves and other participants.

In many ways, the successful participation and their achievements that people made were the essence of the project - in that, some of the people who initially came along intending just to be "there" took part and achieved much more than they thought was possible.

The social aspect of the sessions were of enormous importance in terms of breaking down isolation and creating networks. Many of the participants did not know any other people with similar vision, and outings had previously been confined to necessary every day commitments rather than for social or leisure activities.

Individuals had a chance to increase their networks beyond home and the general necessities of daily life to include people with similar recreational interests.

Participants gained knowledge of a variety of recreational facilities around Hobart, as well as some insight into what services were available and how to access them.

Overall the Branch knows that the Skills and Thrills Project has provided a valuable basis for those who took part. Participants have had the opportunity to experience activities in a supported environment and to increase their confidence in their ability to participate in the activities of their choice. A further emphasis of the project was for these groups to be self-perpetuating after the Project Officer had completed her contract.

On behalf of the branch I must thank all members of the Executive over the past two years and specially the continued efforts of Maree Brown and Maryanne Diamond.

TEDICORE (Telecommunications and Disability Consumer Representation) has been in operation for the past four years as a project funded by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Over that time, Blind Citizens Australia has sought funding on an annual basis for the continuation of the project. Funding has been approved for the period October 2002 - September 2003. It is expected that TEDICORE will transfer to the new Federation of Disability Organisations once it has been formally established.

TEDICORE objectives are to:

(a) Provide a forum for the discussion of telecommunications matters that are a concern or of common interest to telecommunications consumers with a disability and represent those concerns to the appropriate bodies;

(b) Represent the interests of disabled consumers of telecommunications in the development of government and industry policy in relation to telecommunications; and

(c) Focus the attention of consumer bodies, the public, government and industry on telecommunications issues affecting disabled consumers.

While Blind Citizens Australia is the peak disability body hosting and auspicing the project, TEDICORE has always had a mandate to represent all disability groups to achieve better access to and equity in telecommunications. The advantage of TEDICORE activities is that it has the resources and ability to advocate on general telecommunications issues which will benefit many people with different disabilities in a way that would not necessarily be done by any one disability body only representing its own constituents. In many ways, there is a direct flow-on benefit to blind and vision impaired people.

Another more intangible outcome of TEDICORE is that it provides an opportunity to maintain the high profile of Blind Citizens Australia in a wide variety of government, industry and community-based organisations. It is also a way for Blind Citizens Australia to maintain its profile amongst other peak disability bodies.

This report will highlight some examples of TEDICORE activities in the past year and their outcomes for blind and vision impaired people.

I completed a major report on Best Practice in telecommunications covering a wide range of topics which TEDICORE has been working on for the past few years. The report presents these as a set of principles with 16 major recommendations. The topics covered are accessibility, universal design, network services, additional equipment and services, the Internet, prices, consumer consultation and promotion and information dissemination. The report has been printed by Blind Citizens Australia and will be distributed broadly to major stakeholders. It is a major lobbying tool and hopefully can be updated as issues arise.

I am active on the Telstra Disability Forum and the Consumer Advisory Group for the Disability Equipment Program. Recent discussions have centred on issues such as responding to customers with life-threatening conditions, CallConnect reduced costs eligibility, voice recognition technologies, disability stakeholder research and planning for the next Disability Action Plan. Recent positive outcomes include the Catalogue of Products and Services for People with Disabilities being made available on Telstra's web site and the commitment by Telstra to provide braille versions on request. There are also possibilities of an expansion in the Telstra Disability Equipment Program in future.

There has been much lobbying by TEDICORE and other consumer representatives to have a complete overhaul of the Disability Equipment Program. An independent and consumer based program would enable consumers with a disability to choose whichever carrier they wish and still obtain the equipment they need to effectively use the telephone. TEDICORE has written a Position Paper and been invited by the Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF) to participate in a seminar on the topic. This was attended by consumer, industry, government and regulatory representatives. As a result, there is an agreed position by HREOC, the Government and the Australian Communications Authority of the interpretation of the Disability Discrimination Act and the Telecommunications Act. I have written to Sen. Alston on this matter and am continuing to work on a number of fronts to achieve change.

Changes in compliance testing for specialised products

TEDICORE has worked with the Australian Communications Authority (ACA), the government telecommunications regulator, to reduce the compliance testing required for specialised disability equipment which is imported or manufactured in Australia in volumes of 50 units or less per year. The reduced testing will save time and money and hopefully enable specific equipment to become more available and affordable. An example of such equipment is the telebraille.

A number of peak disability organisations including Blind Citizens Australia will participate by certifying on an ACA form that a particular product is specifically designed for people with disability and not the general market. This does not mean that the disability organisation endorses the product.

Changes are required to the Telecommunications Labelling Notice and are relatively complex legally. We hope that the process will be completed by the end of 2002.

The Disability Standard (officially called the AS/ACIF S040:2001 Requirements for General Use Customer Equipment for use with the Standard Telephone Service) was registered by the Australian Communications Authority in 2002. This means that all phones will in future have to have a raised mark on the "5" key of the keypad and also have inductive coupling for people with hearing impairments. This Disability Standard is quite limited in its scope. Therefore, the Australian Communications Authority will establish a Working Group to discuss the way forward.

The Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF), the industry body responsible for the development of codes and standards has adopted a set of guidelines for use by Reference Panels and Working Committees when making standards. I wrote the first drafts which were then discussed and amended by the ACIF Disability Advisory Body on which TEDICORE is a member. Examples of recommendations in the Guidelines are that any documentation relating to codes or standards should be made available in alternative formats such as large print, braille and electronic forms upon request. The Guidelines also state that the ACIF web site should meet international web accessibility guidelines.

The launch of the Guidelines included a workshop with ACIF Disability Advisory Body members discussing and demonstrating various issues. Tony Starkey presented practical information on the effects of a variety of vision impairment’s. Industry members found this workshop useful in gaining some understanding of disability issues.

We continue to be active in organisations outside BCA. Either we have representation in our own right or members take part in various activities as individuals. We believe that it is necessary that we are active and visible at all levels of work undertaken in the disability sector, blindness sector and the community. A list of involvements in external bodies follows at the end of this section.

We have continued to be involved in co-ordinating bodies in the blindness field, namely: Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities, Australian Blindness Forum, Australian and New Zealand Blindness Agencies, Project Synergy, the merging of the National Information Library Service (NILS) and Vision Australia Foundation Library.

Our responsibility is to represent blind and vision impaired people. In so doing, we believe it is critical to be part of other organisations: to receive information from them, to give advice to them and to ensure that when they speak out or develop policies on blindness or disability related matters, they conform with our views. We have enjoyed productive working relations with many external bodies, and we value the contacts we have made and the information and advice we have received.

Blind Citizens Australia is a member of ACROD, Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF), Consumers’ Telecommunications Network (CTN), The Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO), Vision 2020 Australia, and the Australian Blindness Forum

We have continued to work with, advise and receive information from our members on various bodies, even though they do not necessarily directly represent Blind Citizens Australia. We believe that it is important that blind people in representative positions to have strong links with other blind people, and we encourage our members to be involved in their own right in the wider community sector.

Michael Simpson, finished his involvement as Deputy Chair of the National Disability Advisory Council (NDAC), in December 2001. NDAC is the advisory council to the Commonwealth Minister for Family Services. Lynne Davis has been appointed Deputy Chair of NDAC. Lynne’s major portfolio responsibility on NDAC will be to liaise with the peak national disability organisations such as Blind Citizens Australia.

We played an active role in Project Synergy which was established to develop a business case and implementation plan to merge the Vision Australia Library and the National Information Library Services. Lynne Davis represented BCA on the working party with Maryanne Diamond as a member of the Steering Committee.

Aileen McFadzean has represented BCA on the Centrelink Reference Group over the last year.

• Australian Blindness Forum: Maryanne Diamond*, David Blyth*, Robert Altamore*

• Australian Braille Authority: Karen Knight*, William Jolley

• Australian Communications Industry Forum: Tony Starkey*

• ACROD: Maryanne Diamond *, Robert Altamore*

• Consumers’ Telecommunications Network: Tony Starkey*, Darren Fittler*

• Telstra Disability Forum: Tony Starkey*

• Optus Consumer Liaison Forum: Tony Starkey*

• National Disability Advisory Council: Lynne Davis

(Deputy Chair)

• Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities:

Karen Knight*

• Australian Banking Industry Association: Barry Chapman*, Darren Fittler*

• The Telecommunications and Disability Consumer Representation (TEDICORE): (Chair) Karen Knight*, (BCA Representative) Tony Starkey*

• Australian Federation of Disability Organisations Establishment Working Group: Maryanne Diamond*

• Australian Federation of Disability Organisations Board: Robert Altamore*

• Project Synergy Sterring Committee: Maryanne Diamond*

• Project Synergy Working Group, Lynne Davis*

• DDA Standards Steering Committee: Robert Altamore*

• ME/64: Access for People with Disabilities, Collette O’Neill currently represents BCA on this committee

• AS1428/1, 2 & 4 Access for People with Disabilities – Vision, Collette O’Neill currently represents BCA on these 3 committee’s

• Australian Delegates: Maryanne Diamond*, Graeme Innes

• Chair, WBU Committee on the Status of Blind Women: Maryanne Diamond

• WBU Asia Pacific Board & Executive Member: Maryanne Diamond

• Australian and New Zealand Blindness Agency, Maryanne Diamond*

• Executive Member of International Council on English Braille: Bruce Maguire, William Jolley

The Membership & Development Working Group continued its work during 2001-2002. I took over from Leighton Boyd as Chair following the National Policy and Development Council meeting in November 2001, which reassessed the organisations priorities. This resulted in a change in the Working Group’s personnel, with members of the revamped group being:

Lyn Eagers – Queensland (Chair);

Pat Stillman – Queensland;

Donna Willson – New South Wales;

Diana Braun – New South Wales;

Leighton Boyd – Victoria; and

Val Emerson – Tasmania; with

Robert Altamore – BCA President; and

Maryanne Diamond – BCA Executive Officer.

The Frequently Asked Questions Sheet completed by this group during 2000-2001 is now part of the BCA Information Kit. This Kit now has a BCA Application Form, a brochure about BCA, the Frequently Asked Question Sheet and the ID Card Application Form.

The ID Card has now been operating for just over three years. The National Office commenced distributing the Explanation Statement Card developed by this Working Group last year both with renewal and new cards around March 2002.

Work on a membership drive advertisement is near completion. It is hoped to have this included in blindness agency newsletters, other newsletters and as a community announcement on radio stations. We also want to reach out to parents and visiting teachers of the vision impaired.

At the 2001 Convention in Sydney, there was concern expressed about the need to increase our membership in the Northern Territory. Our Group has been looking at this issue and plans to take some positive steps in this direction over the next few months.

In partnership with the Victorian Project the BCA Information Brochure has been translated in to eleven languages and distributed to ethnic groups throughout Victoria.

The Working Group thanks all those at the National Office who have provided us with invaluable assistance to ensure that the work of the Group can continue.

Access to information has always been an issue of great importance to blind people, and library services (both mainstream and specialist) play a central role in that access. At BCA’s National Convention in 2001, following an interesting session on library services around Australia, two resolutions were passed, as follows:

"9. This Convention resolves that the concept of a national library service for Australians with print disabilities be endorsed on the following conditions:

"10. This Convention resolves that Blind Citizens Australia should work with the organisations representing the public library systems of Australia to bring about improvement in access to and quality of public library services for people with print disabilities."

In order to give effect to these resolutions, and in recognition of the significant changes occurring in the delivery of library services to blind people in Australia, BCA’s National Policy and Development Council established a Working Group on library services. The Working Group is Chaired by Lynne Davis (NSW), and its members are Keith Hayes (WA), Peter Johnson (WA), John Simpson (Vic), Jan Miller (Tas), Diana Braun (NSW) and Bev Burrows(Qld). The Working Group has met monthly by teleconference and its work during the year has included the following:

representation of BCA at a forum on library services for people with disabilities hosted by the National Library of Australia (this forum has resulted in further contacts between the working group and ALIA, the professional organisation of librarians in public libraries);

• participation in a forum on the (then) proposed merger of the NILS and VAF libraries, hosted by the Melbourne branch of BCA and broadcast on the RPH network;

• monitoring of new technological developments, in Australia and overseas, relevant to the delivery of library services for people with print disabilities;

• monitoring the process of merging the NILS and VAF library services from the perspective of library users and potential users around Australia;

• developing a proposal for a project on braille reading resources for children; and

• developing a BCA Policy Statement on library services for blind and vision impaired people.

At its meeting after the last Annual General meeting, the National Policy and Development Council (NPDC) identified a number of priorities for action in 2001-02 and education was one of these. The membership of the Working Group is as follows:

Karen Knight (Chair) (Board and NPDC member, Queensland)

Tony Clark (Board and NPDC member, Victoria)

Sean Tyrell (NPDC member, Victoria)

Maree Brown (NPDC member, Tasmania)

Kim Hand (NPDC member, South Australia)

Pam Baras (Parent Representative, Western Australia)

Gilli Bruce (DLO Representative, Victoria) and

Leanne Smith (Teacher Representative, Queensland).

Recognising that education is a broad yet complex topic, it was necessary to identify some priorities for the group to achieve in its one year term.

One of the earliest tasks of the Working Group was to put in a submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Education of Students with Disabilities highlighting the issues for blind and vision impaired students at all levels of education from early intervention, through formal schooling to tertiary education. With support from Collette O’Neill and Robert Altamore, a comprehensive submission was lodged, a copy of which can be found on the BCA web site. The Working Group is hopeful that there will be an opportunity to give a verbal presentation to the Inquiry in September.

Recently, a review of the higher education system in Australia commenced. The working group was concerned that the issues of students who are blind and vision impaired undertaking higher education were raised. Again, with the support of Collette O’Neill, a paper from BCA was submitted.

The working group has been very concerned about the level of braille literacy in Australia. Our emphasis this year has been on lobbying the Commonwealth Department of Employment Science and Training (DEST) to broaden funding guidelines for adult literacy and numeracy to include adults learning braille. Many people experience deteriorating vision in their adult years and choose to learn braille. They should be afforded the same support as other adults who make a choice to improve their literacy.

The Education Working Group concluded that advocacy in this area can be very challenging because many issues relating to primary and secondary education are state based. Consequently, it was decided that members of the Working Group would prepare state based summaries with the aim of identifying common concerns for advocacy across the country. An overview of these state based position papers is located on BCA’s website. The issue of how parents access information about the options for their blind or vision impaired child was raised in most states. As a result, the working group is developing a small brochure highlighting issues for parents to consider and some key contacts. It is hoped that the brochure will be widely distributed throughout Australia with the South Pacific Educators for the Vision Impaired (SPEVI) conference in January 2003 being seen as an important opportunity. One day of that conference is devoted to encouraging parent participation.

Young Blind Citizens Victoria proposed that students receiving the Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) ($62.40 per fortnight) be given the option of receiving it as a lump sum to assist with the cost of purchasing the adaptive equipment they need to pursue their chosen course of study. The Education Working Group endorsed the proposal and forwarded it to the NPDC for consideration in light of other work in relation to the non-optional costs of blindness.

As there has been significant activity in the area of education this year at a policy and advocacy level, the working group felt that it was important that many of these issues be further discussed at a state level. The Working Group requested the NPDC to in turn request the respective State Convention Planning Committees to consider conducting a session on education at their Convention. The Working Group would provide support in assisting to develop the content and structure of the session and to provide facilitators where possible. Victoria, Queensland and South Australia have taken up the challenge.

I would like to thank members of the Working Group for their active participation over the past year. There has been a strong commitment by all members to achieve some positive outcomes in our ongoing endeavour of influencing policy to assist blind and vision impaired people to participate in and successfully complete study at all levels of education. The Working Group has expressed the hope that once again, the NPDC will see education as a priority for the coming year and additional issues can be addressed.

The area of transport and access is a vast one, and so important to blind and vision impaired people, we could employ someone full time just to stay abreast of the issues and respond appropriately. Therefore for this committee to function effectively we have concentrated our efforts as follows.

The Building Codes Board of Australia is developing a Standard for accessing premises, and we have been liaising with the Building Access Policy Committee in this regard. This problem is more complex than it first appears, as different problems arise depending on whether a blind or vision impaired person wants to go shopping or visit an office complex. However some of the issues we offered advice on were as follows:

Tactile Pathways leading to main entrances of buildings can vary from a strip of directional tiles to a path with colour contrasted hand rails or raised contrasted kerbing. No entrance should have clear glass doors, they should have a minimum of two coloured strips at least 15cm wide. People with low vision have problems detecting doorways and we suggested such things as colour contrasted door frames or a contrasting mat in front of the doorway. Once inside the building different types of floor textures, again with good background contrast, can be used as a guide to reception desks, lifts or information areas.

Signage should be in both braille and tactile lettering. Signs on the outside of buildings should state the name and number of that building as a minimum requirement, and should be located in a standard position. The committee stressed the need for the development of a standard national system for audible signage. This should enable blind and vision impaired people to listen to the information being broadcast without intruding on the general public. Dissemination of information within high-rise buildings is also a problem. How to give blind and vision impaired customers access to the information shown in the lobby of most buildings. This could be provided audibly or by use of a internal telephone with recorded information. This would have the benefit of giving privacy and being able to be menu driven. If there is only a small amount of information, braille and tactile signs should be used. In regard to shopping centres, universities or other such extensive complexes, we suggested that a 3D model could be constructed and kept at the main reception point. This would give people an opportunity to study the layout of the structure before attempting to negotiate it. In places such as hotels where all the floors are laid out in a similar pattern, we suggested that the reception area could hold a tactile map for the use of blind and vision impaired clients. We also asked that all rooms have braille and tactile numbers. It was agreed that any diagrams should be uncluttered, showing emergency exits, lifts and toilets.

All lifts should be fitted with human voice indication, stating whether the lift is going up or down, which floor it has stopped at and doors opening and closing. The call buttons should be located next to the lift door, not as in some instances, on columns situated some distance from the lifts. Braille and tactile numbering should be installed in all lifts as well as on each floor to enable the blind and vision impaired to know which floor they are currently on.

Lighting in all buildings should be clear, non-reflective and comply with the appropriate Standard.

Of course not all this information will be absorbed in to the new Standard. It is very difficult to get issues accepted in to a Standard, however the Committee is hopeful that at least some of the points we have made will be accepted, and in time blind and vision impaired people will be able to access premises with greater confidence, safety and dignity.

Transport: We wrote to both Qantas and Virgin Blue seeking clarification on their policy of carrying dog guides. We were assured that when a person with a dog guide makes a reservation they are automatically given an extra seat where their dog can lay down. It was pointed out that the dog owner should carry a mat on which the dog can lay.

After the dreadful train accident to one of our members in Victoria it was decided that BCA should develop a Rail Safety position. This will be circulated to all branches and is designed to prevent such accidents from re- occurring. Once this Position Statement has been completed it will be integrated with our Transport Policy.

We have compiled and submitted a response to the draft Standard for Accessible Public Transport, and looked at the Regulatory Impact Statement when formulating that response.

I would like to thank all the people that have made this work possible, and who have given their time, enthusiasm and expertise. Carolyn Rupe, Keith Hayes, Tony Starkey, David Gordon, Sean Tyrell, Barry Chapman, Karen Knight and Robert Altamore, all of who have had input at the committee level. I also wish to say a warm thank you to Collette O’Neill from the BCA Office. She liaised with the Building Access Policy Committee, attended Transport and Access meetings and generally helped keep us on track. As always Ivan Peterson has helped clarify any issues I wasn’t sure about and gave helpful advice when required. A special thank you to Karen Knight, Craig Magill and Collette O’Neill for all their hard work in regard to the Queensland Rail negotiations. This is in regard to the laying of Tactile Ground Surface Indicators at railway stations in Queensland, and has resulted in a decision that they will be laid on a station by station basis.

Finally, I will not be nominating for re-election to the Board this year, so I wish to thank all of you who have helped me in the past, and look forward to catching up at future Conventions.

Once again branches and organisational members of Blind Citizens Australia report a busy year. The following paragraphs summarise projects and activities they have been involved in as they work towards achieving a better environment for blind and vision impaired Australians.

Young Blind Citizens Victoria ran a trivia night to raise money to purchase equipment to send to the Seychelles Islands for the use of blind and vision impaired people.

BCA WA assisted ten members to gain lottery grants towards financing the purchase of adaptive equipment.

Melbourne Branch ran an audio trivia evening and the money raised went towards supporting one of their members who was injured in a serious accident at Richmond Railway Station.

Macleay-Nambucca Branch helped raise money to assist with the work of the Guide Dogs Association of New South Wales.

Brisbane Branch assisted two of its members to attend the 2001 National Convention in Sydney

There are fifteen Organisational Members of Blind Citizens Australia. I have provided some information on the Organisational Member’s below.

RPH Australia provides information to people with a print disability through its fifteen dedicated RPH services and on various community stations throughout Australia. They have improved their ability to circulate information to their network through the development of digital program exchange service facilities via internet technology. This reduces the need to copy and mail a large number of tape reels and cassettes.

Retina Australia – Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales and the Association of Blind Citizens New South Wales provide information

to people who are blind or vision impaired through the distribution of newsletters and brochures.

The Association of Blind Citizens NSW produced their "Browsing in the Library" program for a period of twelve months which aimed to encourage people with a print disability to listen to talking books.

Employment issues are the concern of Senswide Services and the New South Wales and Victoria Blind Workers’ Unions. Senswide continued finding employment for people with a sensory disability until funding ceased in June, despite having passed their required target. They hope to continue assisting their client base by exploring the type of job the client wants, how they can function effectively in this type of job and the equipment needed as well as seek prospective employers.

Peer support is provided by several of BCA ‘s Organisational Members including the South Australian Association of and for Blind Citizens Inc, Vision Impaired Persons’ Network (on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland) and the Deaf-Blind Association of New South Wales as well as the Retina Australia associated bodies mentioned above. The Deaf-Blind Association worked towards organising the Touching the World Convention that was held in July 2002 in Sydney.

Other support activities carried out by BCA Organisational Members included:

• the Sensory Options Co-ordination eighteen month pilot program, "Successful Adults In Life". This is a confidence and self-esteem building program to better equip participants to approach service providers and the like in order to achieve what they require for themselves rather than rely on someone else to do it;

• Vision Resource Centre through its Visiting Teacher Program, runs professional development courses and provides production of material in alternate formats. They also ran activities such as a Braille Games Day and a circus skills morning.

As you can see from this report, BCA Branches and Organisational Members have all been working towards improving the environment in which blind and vision impaired people live.

PO Box 6,

Duffy ACT 2611

Home: 02 6288 4149

Adelaide: Tony Starkey

PO Box 3103, Rundall Mall

ADELAIDE SA 5000

Home: 08 8289 2733

Fax: 08 8223 7836

Brisbane: Terry Boyle

40 Bowral Street,

Alderley QLD 4051

Branch Phone: 07 3891 2522

Macleay/

Nambucca: Richard MacKay

3 Laurels Avenue,

KEMPSEY 2440

Home: 02 6562 7174

Melbourne: John Simpson

18 Prosper Pde

GLEN IRIS VIC 3146

Home: 03 9889 0392

Sydney: Sondra Wibberley,

Tweed Valley: Ian Harrison

Site 28B Tweed Heritage Caravan Park

Chinderah Bay Drive

CHINDERAH NSW 2487

Home: 02 6674 3243

Blind Citizens WA: Greg Madson

Locked Bag 2

MAYLANDS WA 6931

Tasmania Miss Maree Brown

PO Box 22,

SANDY BAY TAS 7006

Home: 03 6223 7416

Computer Users Peter Scanlon

18 Laburnum Street

Home: 03 9878 3623

Women's Branch Lee Kumatat

3/52 Chamberlain St,

CAMPBELLTOWN NSW 2560

Home: 02 4620 4873

Overseas Service: Ivan Molloy

8 Morrisons Avenue,

MT MARTHA VIC 3934

Home: 03 5975 1858

Young Blind Benjamin Van Poppel

Email asnblind@zip.com.au

Email dba@internex.net.au

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