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 23rd Annual Report of Blind Citizens Australia for the period ended June 30, 1998. This report covers fifteen months, since we changed our year-end from March to June to comply with Federal Government audit requirements. We have had another good year, and this report shows that Blind Citizens Australia continues to grow in strength and achievement.
We have pursued our mission and focused on our core activities. We have provided:
We achieved a great deal during the year. Much of this success can be directly attributed to our hard working, expert and dedicated staff lead by Executive Officer, Bill Jolley. Our Branches and many individual members have also played their part through the running of forums and by participating in Branch activities and the work of various projects. Some of the projects carried out or completed during the year are covered later in this report.
We are ready to launch the Blind Citizens Australia Identity Card. The Identity Card will have equivalent status to a driver's licence, and will meet a growing need expressed by our members.
Our key objective as an organisation of blind and vision impaired people is to make a difference in Australia, but we cannot forget our blind brothers and sisters in developing countries. We have the capacity and expertise to create change both at home and overseas, so we have continued our work in Viet Nam and Fiji. Funding and management support for these two projects has been provided by AusAID through ACROD, and we value their support and involvement.
We learned during the year that Australia's bid to host the 5th World Blind Union General Assembly in November 2000 was successful. I am looking forward to this event which will highlight issues concerning blind and vision impaired people throughout the world. We expect to host up to 800 delegates at the Assembly from over 150 countries. We, in Blind Citizens Australia and in the blindness agencies, should use the event for maximum benefit to blind people in Australia.
The year was financially stable. We had strong and generous support from our members, continuing support from the Office of Disability and the Attorney-General's Department, and assistance from most blindness agencies. In particular I want to thank Commonwealth Bank, Telstra, Ozemail, Commonwealth Office of Disability and the Victorian Department of Human Services for their ongoing support.
We have finished the year with a deficit of $21,113. This is mainly due to depreciation on our office equipment and computers; however, if we are to maintain our momentum our organisation needs to become stronger financially.
Our membership has grown steadily in recent years, from around 1600 in June 1994 and passing 2,500 this year. It is vital that we stay in touch with our members to make sure we are addressing their needs, but this is costly both in terms of producing accessible format material and in staff time. Those of us who are leaders in Blind Citizens Australia must take a greater lead in networking and peer support.
We have given consideration to strategic planning and our corporate image during the year. A Future Development Working Party was convened, and its work has led to an "Options for the Future" discussion paper which is being circulated to Branches, Organisational Members and interested Individual Members. My thanks to John Simpson and Karen Knight for their leadership of this work.
In November the Board Of Directors, our new terminology for the Council, took a decision to adopt Blind Citizens Australia as a common use name, and this change has been very well received. We have also adopted a new logo and designed matching stationery. Our thanks to Cato Design for its free advice and design for our new corporate identity.
I would like to thank our staff for their continued efforts, and our members for their continuing loyalty and effort at a local level. I also thank our Directors: Robert Altamore, Leighton Boyd, Lynne Davis, Kym Hand, Peter Johnson, Karen Knight, Joan Ledermann, John Simpson and Gai Wibberley. They have all contributed to our achievements during the year.
In June 1997 John Bastiaans and Fiona Woods retired as Directors. They have both given very good service and we are very pleased that they continue to be active at the local level. I thank both John and Fiona for their contributions and wish them every success and happiness. During the year June Ashmore and Doug McGinn found it necessary to resign as Directors for personal reasons. June has been a Director for almost six years and a Vice-President in recent years. She has made an outstanding contribution through her commitment, her understanding of people's individual needs and her capacity for hard work. Thank you June. Doug McGinn was a Director for just one year and was starting to make a valuable contribution. We hope that Doug will be back again one day with improved health, and we look forward to his continued involvement.
I anticipate another year of high achievement in 1998-99, and I look forward to the continuing involvement and support of our members.
Board of Directors
Michael Simpson, President, Sydney
Robert Altamore, Vice-President Community Access, Canberra
Peter Johnson, Vice-President Transport & Access, Perth
Karen Knight, Vice-President Membership & Communication, Melbourne
John Simpson, Vice-President Planning & Development, Melbourne
Leighton Boyd, Director, Melbourne
Lynne Davis, Director, Sydney
Kym Hand, Director, Adelaide
Joan Ledermann, Director, Sydney
Gai Wibberley, Director, Sydney
Staff
Bill Jolley, Executive Officer
Aileen McFadzean, National Advocacy Officer
Sandra Knight, Projects Administrator
Cheryl Gration, Administration Officer
Robert Mascitti, Finance Officer
Ivan Peterson, Victorian Advocacy & Information Officer
Rose Ross, DDA Standards Project Officer (based in Canberra)
Tran Dan Phuong, Representative in Viet Nam
Editor's Note: The Executive Officer's Report is a summary of the year's activities, complementary to the President's Overview. It is not a summary of everything in the Annual Report, highlighting the overall work of Blind Citizens Australia and emphasising some things more than others. It is written for delivery to the National Convention as the speech in which the Organisation's work is summarised and the Report is released.
Introduction
Once again, as I compiled the Annual Report over recent weeks, I was reminded of the importance of Blind Citizens Australia to the blind community and of the breadth and complexity of the issues with which we deal. I set out to compile a shorter report this year, and perhaps I have not been completely successful as we still present too many words and not enough pictures. But the Annual Report is a historical document, a digest of the issues which are priorities of the day. We cannot cover everything in the Annual Report, and there is not much room for editorialising, but I am well satisfied that the Annual Report provides high quality information for those who are interested to receive it.
Whilst the trend towards more project work has continued during the year, we have been careful to ensure that we keep focused on our core activities. This summary report will cover:
I feel that it has been a very good year for Blind Citizens Australia. We are meeting the challenges of growth in our organisation and increased demand for our services. We are struggling with insufficient resources, but we are not going under. We have been extremely well led by Michael Simpson as President, and I appreciate the support I have received from our staff.
The direct service staff are implicitly recognised as we highlight the work that they do, but we must not forget our administration staff. We have been very well served by Cheryl Gration, Robert Mascitti and Sandra Knight. We communicate with 2500 members in their preferred formats through Blind Citizens News, SoundAbout magazines, the Convention notice and specific information. Each year we handle $600,000 and write 700 cheques. We photocopy 110,000 pages per year. In September, whilst preparing for the Convention, we sent out 9000 cassettes to members and some election candidates of which we copied 2000 ourselves. We could not have done this without great teamwork by our administration staff and without regular and reliable help from volunteers. Especially, I want to acknowledge Kylie Partington who comes in twice a week to sort, erase and copy cassettes for Blind Citizens News and the SoundAbout magazines.
Individual Advocacy
Isabel Anton was the main-stay of our individual advocacy work at national level whilst Aileen McFadzean was away on maternity leave. Isabel has done an outstanding job and she leaves us with our sincere thanks, congratulations and best wishes for the future.
I consider that individual advocacy is the most important thing we do. It is where we can touch people's lives and our intervention can make a positive difference. It is regrettable that discrimination against people with disabilities is still endemic throughout Society, despite awareness-raising campaigns and our own best endeavours. What's more, developments over recent years have seen the tools we have for fighting discrimination blunted, so our resolve needs to be strengthened. Let us never forget that discrimination against one single person on account of blindness is discrimination against all of us who are blind. Next time it could be you or me who is sacked for no good reason, denied entry to a restaurant, ignored by a taxi driver, refused insurance cover, harassed by a neighbour, denied accessible information or sexually assaulted. Last year we attended to more than 400 enquiries, mostly concerning social security and discrimination in education, employment, accessible information, goods and services, housing and migration.
We were asked for help in a variety of employment cases. Recruitment cases are very difficult to resolve because it is almost impossible to prove that had the discrimination not occurred the complainant would have been the best person for the job. We have observed an increase in employment terminations without good cause, where vision impairment is the reason although not usually explicitly stated. There is no doubt that the labour market is becoming more challenging for blind people, despite our better access to information through assistive technology.
Meanwhile, there are many problems with assistive technology for information access: the rate of change, poor advice, lack of support, equipment cost (especially for Braille displays and embossers), and incompatibility with or inaccessibility of work-place systems. Notwithstanding that some work-place access issues are quite complex, it must be of concern to all parties that the services offered by blindness agencies are poorly regarded by many blind people. Training, in-home or on-the-job support, and system configuration are major concerns of blind people.
In some cases we advise against the lodgment of employment-related discrimination complaints, and our advocacy takes the form of direct negotiation with employers. If it is not too late to do so, we work hard to avoid the employment relationship breaking down irretrievably. Many problems can be addressed by information and a little persuasion to clarify rights and obligations under discrimination or industrial laws.
Inaccessible goods, services and information give rise to many complaints. Nonetheless there is still a lethargy in our organisation, as many people seem content to accept discriminatory practices by organisations which should know better. Complaints against inaccessible Internet Web Pages are only just starting, and there is no excuse for developers who do not create accessible Web Pages or who do not modify them when inaccessibility is drawn to their attention.
Along with several other members I have lodged a complaint against the Federal Government's Office of Asset Sales in relation to the Telstra Share Float last year. This matter has nothing to do with Telstra. It concerns the Federal Government agency which manages the sale of Commonwealth assets. I wanted the documentation in Braille, but I couldn't even get it on disk or on cassette. If the law requires that documentation be widely circulated, or if Government policy simply dictates it, then surely I have a right to read it myself. I want the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) to make a public investigation of this matter, so we can gain access to government, public and corporate documents and so the availability of legal documents in electronic form can be addressed. This is a good example of how we can use individual or strategic complaints to bring about systemic change.
Our fight against discrimination in the insurance and superannuation industry continues. I am pleased to report that we are having some wins. In one case a superannuation fund was treating all members with disabilities less favourably by providing to them fewer benefits than for employees without disabilities in the event of death or total and permanent disability. It is very hard to argue from the grave or a coma that an accident was not related to one's disability. Why should the onus of proof be on us? We were able to have the complainant re-classified with access to the same benefits as a person without a disability. What's more, there was no exclusion clause inserted that would have precluded the complainant from receiving a benefit if permanent disability was a direct result of vision impairment.
As usual we received many enquiries regarding the Department of Social Security and Centrelink. Of particular concern were administration errors by the Department or Centrelink and confusion over AUSTUDY entitlements and provisions. There were a greater number of enquiries about the impact of compensation on the blind pension than in previous years. Due to the complexity and volatility of the legislation, providing advice in this area is quite difficult and usually involves research.
Systemic Advocacy
Our systemic advocacy is wide-ranging. The Report gives details of our work concerning changes to employment assistance, social security, lobbying Government, HREOC, community access, accessing the built environment, access standards, telecommunications, information access and related research. Isabel Anton, Ivan Peterson and John Simpson, who carried out most of the work between them, have contributed to this part of the Report.
The Commonwealth Government is changing the delivery of its labour market programs for people generally, changes that have a major impact on blind people. The proposal for all job seekers to first go through Centrelink, and for people with disabilities to be assessed by the Job Seeker Classification Instrument and the Work Ability Tables for streaming between service delivery frameworks, raised many issues of concern to Blind Citizens Australia and to blindness agencies.
In March the Department of Health and Family Services belatedly funded some consultation processes with people with disabilities about the proposed reforms. We hosted a national employment forum, mainly for consumers and staff of blindness agencies. We made a report from the forum, and we are pleased that the Government has heard our concerns and taken some of them into account. The forum rejected the proposed model for streaming job seekers with disabilities between services funded by the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs and services funded by the Department of Health and Family Services. We believe that the needs of blind people would not be identified under the proposed assessment process, and so particular needs may not be met. Our needs for employment assistance are different from those of people with other disabilities in some very important respects. In addition to some specific work-place modifications, we need assistive technology and training and support in its use.
The Government has established an Industry Reference Group to examine the proposed labour market assistance reforms and address the concerns of the disability community. We are fortunate that Michael Simpson is a member of this Group.
As well as dealing with Social Security issues for individuals, we must address some systemic issues. Under the Department's first-ever medical review of blind pensioners, there were administrative problems and some issues of insensitivity by the Department. We wrote to the Department on a number of occasions. We consider, for example, that people who are totally blind (especially if they have artificial eyes) should not be required to consult an ophthalmologist, since a general practitioner could surely satisfy the Department's certification requirements.
The Department has issued a discussion paper called "Reform of Income Support Arrangements for People with Disabilities". Being careful not to press panic buttons but simply to ring some warning bells, we distributed it widely to Agencies, Organisational Member and Branches. The key proposal is a new income support payment to replace the Disability Support Pension and an allowance to compensate for the costs of disability. Although the paper does not mention the Blind Pension, it infers its abolition. The income support payment would be means tested and the disability allowance would be small and inadequate. We have made it clear to the Department, in blunt terms, that we will not tolerate changes to the Blind Pension that lead to its abolition. We must maintain our stance not just for ourselves, but for the generations of blind people who come after us. This is a serious matter, since post-election budgets are notoriously brutal these days.
We are continuing to work systemically to improve services to people who are deafblind. This year has seen the availability of new Braille-based text telephones in Australia, although new problems of availability are emerging following company restructuring and product obsolescence in the United States. I have written to the Prime Minister following the disgraceful series of delays with the National Advocacy Review, which have meant that our application for a national deafblind advocacy service has been on-hold for almost two years. We hope that the need for improved services for people who are deafblind will be accommodated in the meeting of Commonwealth and State Disability Ministers later this year, at which unmet need will be addressed as part of the new Commonwealth State Disability Agreement.
We are pleased to report that good amendments to the Copyright Act 1968 were passed this year. They make it easier for blindness agencies to produce accessible format materials without breaching copyright. We are continuing to work in this area for a radical simplification of the law, and for the appropriate accommodation of accessible materials in electronic or digital audio formats.
At consumer forums in recent years issues of pedestrian access and transport have always been prominent. I am reallocating staff duties and responsibilities to make it easier for us to give attention to issues of transport, pedestrian safety and accessible premises. Ivan Peterson will lead this work with the support of key members, and we are recruiting a new Victorian Project Officer.
Our Policy Statements on Pedestrian Safety, Audible Traffic Signals and Transport are valuable tools. They are a good starting point. They give members confidence and documentation that enables them to advocate for change at a local level directly or through Access Committees. The Disability Discrimination Act and local laws are also useful tools.
We, the members of Blind Citizens Australia and of other organisations, have not put our case strongly enough for an accessible built environment. We have not stopped authorities from turning off audible traffic signals; we have let hedges over-grow and footpaths become cluttered; we have allowed governments to prescribe that blindness of itself does not warrant access to taxi fare subsidy programs; we have allowed tactile ground surface indicators to be used haphazardly; we have allowed transport staff to stay silent whilst we have missed our stops or stations; and we have given conflicting advice or too often accepted "no" for an answer. We haven't done a very good job in achieving an accessible built environment. We have allowed discrimination to flourish, fertilised by our own apathy.
We thank those members who have worked hard and lodged complaints. During the year we provided input to Standards Australia in relation to Draft Standards for lighting, lifts, tactile ground surface indicators and pedestrian push button assemblies. We want better lighting, Braille and speech in lifts, consistent use of tactile ground surface indicators and mandatory use of audible traffic signals. We have issued an interim policy position on tactile ground surface indicators, urging people to follow the existing Standard AS1428.4. Our request to join Committee ME/64 of Standards Australia concerning accessible premises for people with disabilities has been rejected. Standards Australia believes that blind people are well represented by the Australian National Council of and for the Blind (ANCB). The ANCB was defunct seven years ago. As you might expect, we will not take "no" for an answer on this one.
We have enjoyed a constructive relationship with Telstra for ten years now, and again we can report progress this year. We welcomed Telstra's announcement of telephone bills in Braille, and we have given advice to Telstra on implementation issues. We are not happy that Calling Number Display is still inaccessible, almost a year after its launch on the open market. We are also concerned that the new generation of multimedia payphones, which are now being trialled in Adelaide and Sydney and will be released early in 1999, are inaccessible to people who are totally blind.
The new telecommunications regulatory environment has increased our workload and provided us with new opportunities to influence companies towards making their products and services more accessible. We have started working with Optus, and will no doubt lobby or advise other companies as they enter the residential or small business markets.
John Simpson has represented Blind Citizens Australia on Working Groups of the Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF). In particular, the Industry Code for "Consumer Information on Prices, Terms and Conditions" is almost in final draft form, and work on the Industry Standard for the inclusion of disability-related features in the standard telephone is progressing well. Recognising the fundamental importance of telecommunications for blind people, and acknowledging the vital role of ACIF in industry self-regulation, the Board of ACIF has decided that Blind Citizens Australia should become an ACIF member.
Membership & Communication
Membership growth was steady this year, just under 5% taking our numbers past 2500. Our Regional Branches continued their work steadily, but some of the Special Interest Branches struggled. The Board has been requested to wind up the two RPH Supporters Special Interest Branches in Melbourne and Adelaide. This is a result of changed circumstances which we hope will lead to new consultative arrangements being made.
Funding from Royal Blind Society and Royal Society for the Blind has supported our local work in New South Wales and South Australia, particularly the SoundAbout cassette magazines. All States except Tasmania now produce these magazines which are proving popular among our members. We continue to hold Forums which have raised issues relating to access to generic and specialist community services and the inaccessibility of the built environment.
We have continued to produce Blind Citizens News in multiple accessible formats, and its high standard has been maintained by Lynne Davis as editor. It continues to be a "must read" for many members, staff of blindness agencies and officers of Government & Departments.
Our Horizons weekly radio program has continued to keep listeners apprised of news and developments. We thank Neville Kerr for his continued contribution as the program's producer and presenter. We also acknowledge with thanks the work of Barry Chapman who keeps our Web Page current, looking good and sounding great.
External Relations
We continue to maintain good relations with many national and international organisations. Our leaders are associated with twenty organisations, on most of which we are directly represented. In the blindness field they are the Australian Blindness Forum, the Australian Braille Authority, the Australian and New Zealand Blindness Agencies, the Committee of Australian Blindness Agencies, the Australian Council for Radio for the Print Handicapped, the International Council on English Braille, the Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities and the World Blind Union. Of course we maintain bilateral relationships with the blindness agencies as well. It is safe to assume that the Committee of Australian Blindness Agencies is now defunct, an honourable attempt at interstate service rationalisation consigned to history. We can simply hope and strive for the liaison between Royal Blind Society and Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind to bear fruit that benefits blind people.
Early last year we joined Australian and New Zealand Blindness Agencies to lend our support to the development of standards for digital talking books. We whole-heartedly support the international collaboration which is the DAISY Consortium, and we are pleased that blindness agencies in Australia are embracing the new digital technology and standards for talking books.
We have continued our involvement in the World Blind Union, and this year meetings in Morocco, Ha Noi and Seoul were important events for this organisation. I am grateful for the privilege of representing Australia in the World Blind Union, and I shall continue to work hard to make that involvement beneficial to all stake-holders. Hosting of the Fifth General Assembly and Second Blind Women's Forum in November 2000 in Melbourne is of course a daunting challenge, but it is a wonderful opportunity for us to bring enormous expertise and media attention together for the benefit of blind people and service agencies throughout Australia.
Administration and Finance
We have introduced some changes in terminology and organisation at the top, to separate the two distinct functions of Councillors in Blind Citizens Australia: governance and policy & development. The Board, which deals with governance, has met quarterly for half-day meetings. The Council, which deals with policy & development, has met quarterly for one-and-a-half days each time. So far these are distinctions of terminology and meeting agenda's only. We are heading in the direction of separating these functions by eventually having different bodies to carry them out: a Board of Directors which may be a smaller body comprised of individual members, and a National Policy & Development Council which may be a larger body including some specific regional representation.
This time we have a fifteen month reporting period, significant when it comes to the finances. We changed the financial year to comply with audit requirements of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services which funds our National Advocacy Service. Our income for the period was $779,119 and expenditure was $800,232. This meant a deficit of $21,113. Our accumulated funds are $121,434, of which $88,417 is represented by fixed assets.
Last year we received $62,500 from blindness agencies, led by $20,000 from Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind. We thank those agencies for their financial contributions and for other in-kind support which we receive. We received $35,630 from members through responses to our appeals and from the PACC program. We also made a profit of $10,000 on the national lottery last June. The support from members is strong and very much appreciated.
Last year we spent $30,497 on consultancy & fundraising, much of which was for work done by Michael Cassar. Although he did some good work for us in marketing, it did not bear sufficient fruit quickly enough and we could not afford to retain a paid specialist fundraiser. Other expenditure is detailed in the Report.
Last year we made some changes to our accounting processes, particularly to enable us to keep a better track of project expenses. We also computerised our accounts. This has been important, because our project work is increasing and there is a need for specific accounting for and auditing of project funds.
Services & Projects
We continue to receive $162,000 per year from the Office of Disability for the National Advocacy Service. We record our appreciation to staff of the Office of Disability for their advice, support and co-operation. Under this service we use and promote tools such as the Disability Discrimination Act and comparable State & Territory Legislation to raise awareness, monitor change, develop and promote policies on specific issues, and provide individual advocacy support. We have continued to carry out our responsibilities as the peak body in the blindness field, and we have worked constructively with kindred organisations of people with disabilities.
We receive $64,000 per year from the Victorian Government for our State-wide advocacy and information service. Our priority this year has been pedestrian access and safety, and under the co-ordinating committee leadership of Maryanne Diamond and through the work of Ivan Peterson we have made good progress. In June we received a special grant of $20,000 to investigate issues of concern to blind people in rural Victoria.
For the DDA Standards project we have just signed a new consultancy contract with the Attorney-General's Department that will provide $105,000 for each of the next two financial years. We convene and host the DDA Standards Project on behalf of the National Caucus of Disability Consumer Organisations. This responsibility is demanding of our leaders, but we consider that the development of Standards under the Disability Discrimination Act is very important and can be of particular benefit to blind people.
Rose Ross has worked very hard this year as the Project Co-ordinator, and we do hope that a DDA Standard for Accessible Public Transport can be approved by the Council of Commonwealth and State Transport Ministers before the year is through.
We received $27,000 for a research project to investigate computer access in vocational education and training. After some delays we hired Anne Bradford who carried out the work on our behalf. She has provided us with a comprehensive report with recommendations, which will be published shortly.
We have received $37,800 from the Office of Disability for a project on Digital Television Access. The work is being led by John Simpson and has already started. Following the introduction of new technology and revised broadcasting legislation, we hope that vision-only announcements on television will be a thing of the past.
We have received a grant of $50,000 to carry out work on Making E-Commerce Accessible to People with Disabilities. The project will concentrate on people who are blind or vision impaired and will include the use of Smart Cards. The Australian Government has announced a commitment to E-Commerce developments, doing business over the Internet, and we are committed to ensure that this development advantages blind people rather than presenting a new set of access barriers.
We have received a grant of $100,000 from the Department of Communications and the Arts for the Telecommunications & Disability Consumer Representation project. This is an important piece of work for us, which we hope will be ongoing, because telecommunications are of fundamental importance to blind people. We are leading this cross-disability project, with the support of a Project Advisory Board, and we are in the process of appointing a telecommunications policy officer.
We continue to support the United Blind Persons of Fiji to raise funds in Fiji and develop the organisation. Last year our $2,000 contribution was matched by $4,800 from AusAID. UBP has used this money to employ a part-time fundraiser, publicise the organisation and hold forums for its members. It is also rewarding to see the rise to leadership by young blind people whom we have supported. In this regard, we congratulate Angeline Chand from Fiji on her appointment as Chairperson of the WBU Blind Women's Committee in the East Asia Pacific region.
Braille Literacy in Viet Nam
Our involvement in Viet Nam started in 1993 with funding from AusAid for the Blind Women's Literacy project in Thai Binh Province. We are now mid-way through a three year Braille Literacy Training project funded by AusAID. The sixth teacher-training course is now starting in Thua Thien Hue Province, after which we will have supported the training in total of 125 women as teachers of Braille, mobility, independent living and vocational skills to blind people. About 60% of the trainee teachers are blind and another 20% have low vision. We work with the support of ACROD and I thank Helen McAuley for her assistance and advice.
Our Vietnamese partner is the Viet Nam Blind Association (VBA) and we have developed a very good relationship with this organisation. I make monitoring visits to Viet Nam twice a year and I appreciate the partnership with VBA and the support of its leaders. Our representative in Viet Nam is Ms Tran Dan Phuong, and she is my interpreter and guide when I visit. Miss Phuong has worked for Blind Citizens Australia for four years now, and she continues to do a very good job. She has a good understanding of the project and an empathy with the blind people whom our project supports.
Each teacher-training course is residential and lasts for nine months for 20 to 25 trainees. The newly trained teachers then set up classes in their home districts, which are proving very beneficial. A typical district class is residential and lasts for three months for fifteen students. The priority for all classes is literacy through Braille. Since January 1995, when the first trainees graduated, there have been 34 literacy classes for 616 students.
VBA considers that the course in Thai Binh was the best, because it ran for fifteen months and teachers were therefore better trained. Funding constraints have restricted later courses to nine months. VBA recommends that future courses be at least fifteen months long with only fifteen trainees. VBA prefers blind or low vision trainees because their retention rate is higher and their relationship with blind students is better.
With more than 100 teachers trained and more than 600 blind people receiving the gift of literacy through Braille, I am well satisfied that our work in Viet Nam is making a real difference to blind people. I express appreciation to AusAID for providing funds and to our Vietnamese partners who contribute to the success of the project. Especially I thank Miss Phuong for her excellent work and attention to detail. For me personally, the work in Viet Nam is a special part of my job that I deeply cherish and from which I gain much satisfaction.
Summary
So we come to the end of another year. We have made some advances for blind people, but we can see that there is much work to be done and that in some ways the task is getting harder. I feel that we live in a less compassionate society now than we did a few years ago; so we face an extra challenge in turning the tide of public opinion away from incentives and the free market and back towards community services and social justice.
For me personally it has been another demanding year, and I am becoming concerned that the burden of leadership in our movement is falling to fewer people rather than more. We desperately need another blind leader to be employed in our National Office, to share the advocacy, management and representation workload with me and to plan for the future. I remain strongly committed to Blind Citizens Australia as an organisation, to the work we do, and to the people we serve both here and in Asia. But the workload takes a heavy toll on family responsibilities and social life. We must plan for succession among our staff and our voluntary leaders, before succession is forced upon us.
I especially thank our President Michael Simpson for his support and advice to me, and I highly commend him on his strong and committed leadership of this organisation. He leads by example in all respects. Michael Simpson is an outstanding person and a staunch ally of people with disabilities. I especially thank my wife, Carmel, for her support and understanding this year, and my close friends for their encouragement.
I have pride and satisfaction in commending to you the Annual
Report for 1998 of Blind Citizens Australia.
Editor's Note: Isabel Anton as our National Advocacy and Policy Officer, has carried out most of the individual advocacy support this year. She has contributed the following report. Aileen McFadzean has now returned from maternity leave to lead the individual advocacy support. We cannot cover all of the individual advocacy matters dealt with. Since these issues concern individual people, whose rights to privacy and confidentiality we respect, the reporting of particular cases is necessarily circumspect.
Introduction
Blind Citizens Australia has provided advocacy support to about 400 individuals over the last financial year. As in previous years, enquiries have predominantly concerned social security issues and disability discrimination in the areas of employment, education, access to information in accessible formats, community access, housing and migration.
Employment
We represented people who experienced discrimination in every aspect of the employment relationship. We lodged a complaint on behalf of a young man who was unable to 1complete the application for a position in a factory as the employer refused to make adjustments to the written aptitude test. Complaints relating to the recruitment process are notoriously difficult because it is almost impossible to prove that, had the discriminatory practice been removed, the complainant would have been the successful candidate. On the other end of the employment spectrum, we recently lodged a complaint on behalf of a man who was dismissed by his employer after 27 years of service! As far as we can ascertain his vision has not deteriorated significantly in recent years, and certainly our view is that he could have continued to perform the inherent requirements of the job.
As in previous years many people requested advice about difficulties in the workplace relating to appropriate assistive technology and compatibility with workplace systems. Unfortunately, many of these problems can be difficult to resolve and callers are usually reluctant to lodge complaints of discrimination against their current employer.
In many cases it is not necessary or desirable to proceed with legal action in employment disputes. Sometimes our advocacy takes the form of direct negotiations with an employer. In one case we wrote to the employer of a person who was being harassed by his colleagues at work. Our intervention led to steps being taken by the person's employer to improve the environment in the workplace.
We continue to be involved in the matter of Mrs Nerilie Humphries against the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DEETYA). last December the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) found that DEETYA had unlawfully discriminated against Mrs Humphries in her employment. DEETYA, in the name of the Commonwealth of Australia, appealed HREOC's decision to the Federal Court arguing that the Hearing Commissioner had erred in the way she applied the law to Mrs Humphries' case. In August this year the Federal Court handed down a decision in favour of DEETYA and ordered that Mrs Humphries' case be re-heard by HREOC.
The decision of the Federal Court has concerning implications for the interpretation of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). In particular, the judge stated that the DDA requires employers to eliminate wrongful differential treatment of employees with disabilities but it does not go so far as to require employers to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities. At the time of writing Mrs Humphries is examining her options for appealing the decision to the Full Federal Court. As in the past, we are providing Mrs Humphries with as much support as possible.
Goods and Services
Goods and Services is the most common area of complaint. As in previous years we have a number of complaints relating to guide dogs. Our experience has been that most of these cases settle through the conciliation process. One case against a bus company which refused to accept a guide dog settled satisfactorily by a payment of $800, a written apology and an undertaking by the company to arrange for the driver in question to receive disability awareness training. Regretfully we have two matters which have not settled and are likely to go to public hearing in the very near future. One case is against a motel and the other is against a shop keeper.
Access to information in accessible formats is another ongoing difficulty for blind and vision impaired people. A case against Microsoft was successfully resolved by provision of an installation manual in disk format. In a subsequent case Microsoft readily provided a manual on disk and granted permission to enlarge the contents of the manual. Achieving a satisfactory outcome in these cases continues to be difficult at times. Bill Jolley and a number of other people have lodged complaints in relation to the Telstra Share Float last year and the failure to provide the prospectus documents in accessible formats. The complaints are against the Office of Asset Sales, a Commonwealth Government authority, which managed the float.
The case against the Office of Asset Sales demonstrates that, despite the Commonwealth Disability Strategy, the Commonwealth Government and its instrumentalities often continue to overlook the needs of blind and vision impaired people. Another example is the failure of some departments to ensure that their Internet sites are accessible. One of our members has lodged a complaint against the Australian Taxation Office for this reason.
We also represented people in cases against state and territory governments. Earlier this year we advocated on behalf of a blind man who was in prison. He was disadvantaged because the prison authorities refused to make the required adjustments to an educational course offered by the prison. Participation in the course increased the chances of prisoners obtaining an early release on probation. We worked with a legal service in the relevant state and eventually negotiated for the adjustments to be made.
In another state, one of our members lodged a complaint against the rail network for failing to make the announcements required on trains to allow blind and vision impaired people to travel safely. The matter has recently been the subject of a conciliation conference and all indications are that it will settle satisfactorily.
Other ongoing complaints in the area of goods and services include the failure of a childcare service to accept a vision impaired child, discrimination by a cycling club and complaints in relation to the provision of insurance and superannuation.
Insurance and Superannuation
Despite many successful cases against insurance companies and superannuation funds in the past we have found that providers of insurance continue to discriminate against blind and vision impaired people. By and large, however, complaints against insurance companies are much easier to settle these days than they were a few years ago.
We lodged a complaint against a superannuation fund which classified all employees with disabilities such that they received fewer benefits in the event of death or total and permanent disability than employees without disabilities. The superannuation fund agreed that this was an arbitrary and unfair practice. We were able to negotiate for the complainant to be re-classified so he would receive the same benefits as a person without a disability. The case was particularly unusual in that it was not necessary for the complainant to agree to an exclusion clause which would have precluded him from obtaining a benefit if permanent disability was a direct result of vision impairment.
Education
Disability discrimination in the area of education can take many forms. In most cases the issue is the failure of the educational institution or provider to make the adjustments required to ensure the student has equal access to the course curriculum. Often the main impediment is getting material in accessible formats. In two cases this year we were able to assist students to achieve a satisfactory outcome in these circumstances.
An extremely complex case we are involved with concerns a nursing student who is not legally blind but has a significant vision impairment. The university was aware of her vision impairment when she was accepted into the course. In her second year the university advised her that she could not undertake the clinical component of her training which takes place in a hospital setting. There are many complicating factors to this case, for example, the fact that the university does not control the hospital and the hospital has a duty of care to its patients. Further, in order to practise as a nurse, the registering body must be satisfied that a student has met the core competencies required. At the present time the university has agreed to make the adjustments required so she can undertake the clinical training. This will involve more intense tuition and supervision. The difficulty is that even if she completes her course there is no guarantee she will be able to be registered and practise as a nurse. One of the issues to explore is whether she can be registered on a restricted basis. The main difficulty with this case is that these issues have not been previously considered. In Australia and overseas, educational institutions are just beginning to grapple with the issues.
Social Security and AUSTUDY
As usual we received many enquiries regarding the Department of Social Security and Centrelink. A number of enquiries arose as a result of Centrelink's new database which generated many letters containing incorrect information. For example, many blind pensioners who are married but continue to receive the frozen single rate of payment were advised that their pension had been reduced by $2.50 per fortnight due to a change in circumstances. This appears to be an error.
There were a greater number of enquiries about the impact of compensation on the blind pension than in previous years. Due to the complexity of the legislation, providing advice in this area is quite difficult and usually involves research.
We also assisted a number of people who were required to repay AUSTUDY incorrectly given in respect of their children. Blind pensioners are usually exempt from a means test for AUSTUDY for their children unless they are self-employed. The issue has been complicated by repeated changes to the legislation governing AUSTUDY. In one case a member was incorrectly requested to repay $4000 of AUSTUDY. Our appeal to an Authorised Review Officer on her behalf was successful.
Conclusion
The matters outlined above provide an indication of the range of
work which we undertake as part of the individual advocacy
service. The extent of work required in each particular matter
varies considerably. Some matters can be resolved with a
telephone call while others involve many hours of research,
submission writing, and negotiation. Individual advocacy is a
vital part of our work, demonstrating the difference we can make
for individuals who request our help.
Editor's Note: My Thanks to Isabel Anton, Ivan Peterson and John Simpson who have contributed material for this report.
The systemic advocacy dimension of the work of Blind Citizens Australia covers a broad range of issues. The majority of our work involves seeking to influence government - both Commonwealth and State - about issues which affect blind and vision impaired people. However, we have also undertaken some work to improve community access by targeting non-government organisations. We are increasing our work to make the built environment more accessible through means such as audible traffic signals, clear walk-ways, tactile ground surface indicators and improved lighting and signage.
In a year when Australia has embraced a new telecommunications regulatory regime it has been very important for us to give priority to access to telecommunications services and emerging information technologies. The extension of competition within the Telecommunications Industry and the move to deliver more and more information, government and community services via the Internet and through public access terminals brings both opportunities and threats for people who are blind or vision impaired. During this last year our thrust has been to ensure that the providers of these services and developers of new information technology (IT) take account of the needs of people with disabilities as part of their implementation strategies rather than as costly and harder to achieve afterthoughts.
Changes to Employment Assistance
One of the key developments this year was the Commonwealth Government's decision to change the way employment assistance is provided to people with disabilities. The new arrangements require people with disabilities to be assessed by Centrelink according to two new tools: the Job Seeker Classification Instrument and the Work Ability Tables. The purpose of the assessment is to decide whether a job seeker should be streamed to a service funded by the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, or a service funded by the Department of Health and Family Services.
As part of the consultation process Blind Citizens Australia hosted a national employment forum mainly for consumers and staff of blindness agencies. The results of the consultation were documented in a report which was submitted to the Government. In summary, the forum rejected the proposed model for streaming job seekers with disabilities because our assessment was that the needs of blind and vision impaired people would not be identified and thus would not be met.
As a result of our lobbying and that of other disability groups the Government established an Industry Reference Group to consider the issues further.
Social Security
Social Security matters have also been a focus of our attention this year as part of the systemic advocacy program. The Department decided to undertake the first comprehensive medical review of blind pensioners to date. As a result many blind pensioners were required to provide documentary proof of blindness, including some people who had been totally blind since birth. This was particularly distressing for some people and also created unnecessary inconvenience. We wrote to the Department on a number of occasions raising issues of concern about the review and suggesting alternative strategies. Thankfully, the Department has stated that people will not be reviewed again if they have provided documentation which verifies that they have a vision impairment which will not improve.
In recent months the Department issued a discussion paper called "Reform of Income Support Arrangements for People with Disabilities". The paper foreshadowed a new policy approach to the provision of income support for people with disabilities. The key proposal is a new income support payment to replace the Disability Support Pension and an allowance to compensate for the costs of disability. The paper made no reference to the blind pension. We made a submission to the Department based on the paper and subsequently met with key bureaucrats to express our concerns. We emphasised in the strongest terms possible that we would not accept any change to the blind pension that would lead to its abolition now or in the future. Blind Citizens Australia has regard for the needs and rights of people now, and for future generations of blind people.
Other policy initiatives have included letters to the Minister for Social Security regarding the impact of the compensation provisions of the Social Security Act on blind people, and to the Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs about the effect of the AUSTUDY provisions on the children of blind people who are self-employed.
Lobbying Government
In addition to Social Security matters and the changes to employment assistance, we have attempted to influence federal and state governments about many other issues which touch the lives of blind and vision impaired people.
Examples include:
HREOC
In last year's annual report we outlined the proposed changes to the DDA process which will lead to public hearings being conducted by a special division of the Federal Court rather than HREOC. The legislation enshrining these changes is contained in the Human Rights Amendment Bill. We have a number of concerns about the Bill, the most significant of which relates to the power of the Federal Court to award costs against an unsuccessful party. We have lobbied strongly against this provision as we believe it will act as an enormous inhibitor to the lodgement of DDA complaints.
In addition, we have been involved in some of HREOC's policy work. For example, we provided a lengthy submission in response to HREOC's Draft Insurance Guidelines to assist insurers in meeting their obligations under the DDA and also commented on the revised Web Access Guidelines.
Community Access
Removing the barriers to community participation by blind and vision impaired people remains one of our priorities. Some of the ways we have endeavoured to do this are listed below. We have:
There are many other areas of public life which require our attention in order to minimise the barriers faced by blind and vision impaired people in the community. Prioritising the most important issues is always a difficult task. We will continue to build on the work described above in the coming year.
Accessing the Built Environment
At Consumer Forums and meetings throughout Victoria during the past year blind and vision impaired people identified barriers to equity of access to the built environment. A Pedestrian Safety Forum at Prahran in July 1998 was attended by more than 70 people who want barriers in the following areas removed:
Although usually expressed through a focus on specific issues, the major barrier identified by people at all meetings as preventing equity of access to the community for blind and vision impaired people could be termed "Sins of Omission".
Authorities at all levels:
There are, of course, mean-spirited people who regard equity of access as merely a "societal notion" or "political correctness" who, unfortunately, will probably only respond to due legislative or legal process from which we should never resile.
What Must Be Done?
Authorities at all levels must address the needs of blind and vision impaired people in design, development, review, upgrading, maintenance and management of the built environment.
Blind and vision impaired people must advocate with a united voice for standards and strategies which meet their needs for equity of access by authorities at all levels and at all stages of the management of the built environment. When consulted blind and vision impaired people must give advice that is consistent and which conforms with relevant standards. Such advice must not compromise on equity of access. Advice must always be of "Best Practice" standard and based on extensive experience and sound research.
Blind Citizens Australia provides advice on equity of access for people who are blind and vision impaired throughout Australia, and advocates for the implementation of this advice. We must therefore give clear, consistent, unambiguous, and timely advice throughout the country. Our policies and advice must provide and enable "Best Practice" models.
Our newly formed Transport and Access Committee is chaired by Peter Johnson from Perth, with representation from each State and the ACT. The Committee will develop and review the access and transport policies of Blind Citizens Australia, and will co-ordinate input into the development of national standards.
To date the Committee has focused on Tactile Ground Surface Indicators and Audible Traffic Signals as part of a review of our Pedestrian Safety Policy, and has recently produced an interim position paper on the use of Tactile Ground Surface Indicators. The paper has been ratified by Council and is available from the National Office.
Whilst recognising that Australia is a country of immense regional variation, the Transport and Access Committee has called for an end to the provision of advice on an Ad Hoc basis, or of non-standardised singular responses to "unique" access issues. We consider that all advice, no matter how localised, must be seen as contributing towards an accessible national environment. Orientation cues to assist access to the environment must be consistent throughout the country. Travellers must get the same information from tactile indicators, kerb ramps and audible traffic signals wherever they are in Australia.
Access Standards
We point out that blind and vision impaired citizens have the same rights as all citizens to access the community.
Blind Citizens Australia holds that exercising those rights must no longer be reliant on advocacy or the goodwill of various authorities. Rights of equity of access must be guaranteed through their inclusion in national standards, building codes and federal legislation.
Blind Citizens Australia is working for that guarantee by co-ordinating input on the needs of people who are blind and vision impaired into the work of Standards Australia, the Australian Building Codes Board, and the DDA Standards Project.
Telstra
We have enjoyed a constructive working relationship with Telstra for more than ten years. During this last year we have worked through the Telstra Disability Services Consultative Committee, and through direct negotiation, to address a range of matters.
Much of this work is founded on recommendations contained in the report "Everybody's Business: Consumer Information Access for People who are Blind or Vision impaired". This report of research work undertaken on our behalf by Gunela Astbrink in 1996, and funded by Telstra, identifies information provision strategies that Telstra and other large commercial and government organisations should implement to address the information needs of people who are blind or vision impaired.
We are pleased that Telstra has taken action to address many of these recommendations over the last year. In particular, we welcomed Telstra's announcement in October 1997 that it was implementing a system to provide telephone bills in Braille for all blind customers requesting the service. While the trial phase of this initiative took longer than was anticipated, it is pleasing to note that Telstra's Braille Bill Service is now being used by a growing number of blind customers.
Telstra has also taken up other recommendations from the report, particularly relating to access to Directory Information and the provision of a Disability Hotline Service. We welcome these developments and look forward to working co-operatively towards the provision of accessible information relating to the prices, terms and conditions that attach to Telstra's many services.
One area of continuing frustration however relates to Telstra's introduction of the Calling Number Display (CND) Service in a form that is inaccessible to anyone in the community who cannot read the Liquid Crystal Display now incorporated into many telephones and stand-alone CND readers. We have alerted Telstra to the availability of audible output devices for this purpose, that are readily available in the United States, but so far we have not been able to achieve a commitment that Telstra will accept responsibility for assessing their compatibility with the Australian system and if appropriate making these devices available in Australia.
Optus
Early in 1998 John Simpson and Bill Jolley were invited to participate in a working party providing advice to Optus on its development of a Disability Action Plan to be lodged with HREOC and would underpin the company's commitment to address matters of access to its premises and services by people with disabilities.
We were invited subsequently to nominate a representative to the Optus Consumer Liaison Forum. Optus has an increasing role in the provision of information, entertainment and online services, and we are pleased that John Simpson is able to represent the interests of blind and vision impaired people through this Forum.
Australian Communications Industry Forum
The Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF) comprises telecommunications carriers, service providers and other organisations with an involvement in this industry. Its primary role is the development of Industry Codes of Practice in relation to both technical and customer service matters. In February 1998 ACIF held a Disability Forum to apprise itself of disability-related issues and as a forerunner to the establishment of a Disability Advisory Body. Blind Citizens Australia was represented at this forum by Bill Jolley and John Simpson, and since that time has worked directly with ACIF on the development of two Codes that have particular relevance to blind and vision impaired Australians.
The Customer Information on Prices Terms and Conditions Industry Code is now undergoing final review prior to its recommendation to Carriers and Service Provider Organisations. This Code represents a significant step forward in the process of addressing the information needs of particular customer groups such as those who are blind or otherwise print handicapped. We were pleased to contribute to this work in association with industry representatives, through the ACIF process. In particular, we welcome inclusion in the document of a commitment from all parties to the Code that they will develop a Disability Information Plan within twelve months, to be lodged as a DDA Action Plan with HREOC.
Similarly, John Simpson has provided important advocacy on our behalf as a member of the ACIF Working Party developing a Standard covering features that should be incorporated into the standard telephone to ensure maximum suability by people with disabilities. This process is of necessity much slower, as it may require amendment to International Standards and changes to design and manufacturing processes. The work is nonetheless proceeding satisfactorily.
Telecommunications and Disability
Traditionally our work in advocating to the communications and information technology industries on the needs of people who are blind or vision impaired has been undertaken without the benefit of specific funding support. However, as part of the broader shift to industry self-regulation, the Minister for Communications, the Information Economy and the Arts, Senator Richard Alston, announced early in 1998 the establishment of an industry funding pool to support consumer representation to the Telecommunications Industry.
Blind Citizens Australia saw this as an opportunity for better co-ordination and resourcing of disability representation to the Industry, and we developed a funding proposal in consultation with other peak disability consumer representative organisations. In June of this year we received advice that this application had been successful and the Telecommunications and Disability Consumer Representation project is currently being established as a cross-disability initiative, to be managed by Blind Citizens Australia.
Project work will be undertaken by a Telecommunications Policy Officer, who will work co-operatively with a Project Advisory Board and in liaison with various Disability Sector representatives to ACIF and the telecommunications providers.
Digital Radio and Television
In our last Annual Report we reported on research work being undertaken in co-operation with RPH Australia to look at the "Impact of Digital Radio Broadcasting on People with a Print Disability". In November 1997 this work, which was funded through the National Disability Research Grants Program, was formally acknowledged when the Hon Warrick Smith, Minister for Family Services, released a digest of the nine funded research projects. Throughout this year the report of our research, supplemented by the wealth of information collected throughout the project, has formed a valuable resource which has informed our continuing advocacy work in this area.
Following from the success of our first National Disability Research project, a proposal was developed for consideration as part of the 1998 funding round. This project draws on our policy work over several years, advocating for better practices in relation to the use of vision-only information on television, and the assessment of Audio Description Services undertaken by John Simpson over several years. We are pleased that our project "Improved Television Access for Blind Viewers in the Digital Era" has been approved for funding.
The project's objectives are to:
John Simpson is again leading this work and Stage One of the project is now well advanced.
AccessAbility Grants Program
Early in 1998, the Federal Government, through its National Office on the Information Economy, announced the establishment of a major grants program to fund research on matters of Online Access for People with Disabilities. Blind Citizens Australia welcomed this initiative and committed itself to the development of a range of funding applications for consideration in the first funding round. Eleven project ideas were considered from which the following five proposals were developed:
Preparation of these proposals required a concerted effort, as the AccessAbility funding guidelines required significant work to be completed in developing the project methodology and recruiting Industry Partners for the work.
We were successful in achieving funding for the project "Making E-Commerce Accessible to People With Disabilities". This project involves research and development of guidelines for E-Commerce applications to ensure accessibility by people with disabilities. There is an emphasis on investigating the use of smartcard technology and the primary target group of this research is people who are blind or vision impaired. At the time of writing, preparations for the conduct of this important research are underway with the appointment of a research consultant imminent.
Whilst the overall results of our efforts in developing these proposals were disappointing, we welcome the opportunity to complete important work in relation to access to E-Commerce and we congratulate all of the eighteen disability focused and broader community organisations that received funding.
We also take this opportunity to acknowledge with thanks the support we received from various government, commercial and community organisations in developing our research proposals. Blind Citizens Australia is committed to finding other ways to progress this work in the future, and greatly appreciates the guidance and ongoing support that was offered as part of the project development work.
Broader IT Developments
As part of its overall efforts to keep in touch with Information Technology developments and to influence their direction to the advantage of people with disabilities, Blind Citizens Australia has sought representation at major Industry conferences over this last year. In particular our involvements with the following events have added significantly to our knowledge base and have created important opportunities to advocate for the needs of people who are blind or vision impaired.
Editor's Note: My thanks to Karen Knight, Vice-President Membership & Communication, who contributed the following report.
Last year the vice-presidential portfolio of Membership and Development had a name change to become Membership and Communication. With this new name came a range of new responsibilities and challenges.
Membership
Membership of Blind Citizens Australia continues to grow steadily, as the following table for May 1995 to September 1998 shows.
State/Territory 1995 1996 1997 1998 Victoria 810 852 888 936 New South Wales 373 487 523 572 South Australia 126 131 420 408 Queensland 201 216 244 257 Western Australia 165 171 190 195 Tasmania 62 75 80 78 A.C.T. 44 40 39 40 Northern Territory 11 12 16 15 Overseas 6 7 7 8 TOTAL 1798 1991 2407 2509
Two new Organisational Members have joined this year: the Deaf-Blind Association in Victoria and the RP Association in South Australia. We continue to liaise with five class A, seven class B and five Class C organisational members.
Branches
An important initiative last year was the Branch Development Seminar. This was a two day seminar held to which all Branch Presidents and other delegates were invited. Many ideas, strategies and goals were noted. The outcome of the seminar was that a working party was formed to develop a future options discussion paper which is currently being circulated to Branches, Organisations and interested members. Our thanks to John Simpson as Vice-President for Planning & Development who convened the Future Development Working Party and drafted the Options for the Future discussion paper.
The Board has been requested to wind up the two RPH Supporters' Special Interest Branches in Melbourne and Adelaide. This is not a reflection of diminished interest in RPH services by our organisation, but rather a result of changing circumstances which will lead to new consultative arrangements being introduced in those States.
Whenever possible, our directors continue to visit Branches. Our President, particularly, has visited most Branches and has attended other Blind Citizens Australia-related functions in all States this year. In the coming year it will be important to maintain close links with Branches and to work towards fostering stronger links with Organisational Members. This year our relationship with Organisational Members has been strengthened through the work of Leighton Boyd as the member of our Board with specific responsibility for them.
Leighton's energy and diligence has brought the issues of concern to Organisational Members to the attention of Directors for their consideration and action.
Regional Development
Regional development of Blind Citizens Australia continues to be one of our priorities, although progress has been difficult this year. Co-ordinating committees have been active in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory. We have not been successful in obtaining recurrent funding to support our work in any State other than Victoria.
Forums have been held in New South Wales and Victoria. Some forums have focused on specific issues such as education or pedestrian safety while others such as the one held in Goulburn, had the aim of informing blind and vision impaired people of the services available in their area. It was also an opportunity for service providers to gain feedback about how services could be improved.
All States except Tasmania produce SoundAbout audio magazines regularly. Our thanks to the presenters and technical support people in each State for making these audio magazines such a success.
Awards
A highlight of the 1997 Convention was the presentation of awards to people who have made major contributions to Blind Citizens Australia and for the benefit of people who are blind or vision impaired. The NFBCA David Blyth Award recognises someone who has made an outstanding contribution for the benefit of blind and vision impaired people. The Certificates of Appreciation recognise people who have made particular contributions to the work of Blind Citizens Australia. This year's winners typify the talent and commitment among the rank and file membership of Blind Citizens Australia.
The NFBCA David Blyth Award was presented to Wal Bolin from Sydney: "In recognition of his leadership, compassion and inspiration to support people with Retinitis Pigmentosa, demonstrating that the challenges of sight loss can be overcome through a positive attitude and with nurturing, and that the future can be rich with achievement and fulfilment." Wal Bolin has been a leader in the RP Society of NSW for many years. He was also an NFBCA Councillor and Vice-President almost twenty years ago.
Barry Chapman received his Certificate of Appreciation for "... his long-term commitment and service to NFBCA, particularly his contribution to the Sydney Branch through his advocacy on accessible transport and premises." Barry is the administrator of our Web Page, and he is currently working hard to achieve audible announcements on Sydney trains and Braille and audio signage in lifts.
Dale Simpson, from Melbourne, received his Certificate of Appreciation for "... his commitment and service to NFBCA, through audio production for special events, magazines and other information, to a regular standard of excellence." Dale has been the head of audio production for the National Convention for the past ten years, including the RPH live and packaged broadcasts, and regularly produces Blind Citizens News, SoundAbout Victoria and other information on cassette.
Information Outlets
We have continued to produce Blind Citizens News this year, and the high standard has been maintained. Lynne Davis has carried the major editorial responsibility and she has worked hard to bring variety and balance to Blind Citizens News. Being produced in large print, Braille, audio and electronically, its regular production is a major logistical exercise. In electronic form Blind Citizens News is available on disk, by e-mail and from our Web Page.
Our Horizons radio program has continued to give up-to-date information to our members and other listeners to the RPH network on a weekly basis. Neville Kerr has continued to produce and present the program for us each week. Horizons is available to the RPH Stations and to Community Stations via the Community Radio Satellite (ComRadSat). To ensure that our radio program continues to provide the information that our members need, a survey was conducted in all States. Results showed that listeners valued the program as an important source of up-to-date information. Listeners rated it as interesting and relevant to them in their work on blindness issues in their local area. Horizons will soon be available over the Internet.
We have continued to develop our Web Page on the Internet, through the efforts of Barry Chapman. The Web Page has information about Blind Citizens Australia, including our policies and projects, and gives links to other web pages of interest to people who are blind or vision impaired. Although not all of our members can use the Internet, the number is growing rapidly and it is important for us to add the Internet to our list of Information Outlets.
We have added an Internet discussion list to our inventory of
information dissemination and peer support tools. The VIP-L
discussion list was started by Tim Noonan from Sydney. He
continues as the administrator of the list which is now sponsored
by Blind Citizens Australia. The list is targeted to blind and
vision impaired people in Australia and New Zealand. Admissible
topics are wide-ranging, although there is an emphasis on
assistive technology and information access tools and techniques.
The address for sending messages to the list is vip-l@softspeak.com.au:. To
subscribe to the list you should send
a message to majordomo@softspeak.com.au: with the subject field
blank and one line in the body of the message: subscribe vip-l
your e-mail address. You can then exchange messages with the
list by using the above e-mail address.
We continue to be active in outside organisations. Either we have had representation in our own right, or we have encouraged our members to take part in these various activities. We believe that it is necessary that we are vigilant, active and visible at all levels. 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 and Committee of Australian Blindness Agencies.
Our responsibility is to serve blind, vision impaired and print handicapped 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 policy on blindness or disability related matters they are in conformity 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. In particular, Blind Citizens Australia is a member of Australian Council of Social Service, ACROD, Consumers' Health Forum, Consumers' Telecommunications Network and National Caucus of Disability Consumer Organisations.
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 it is important that blind people in representative positions have strong links with other blind people, and we encourage our leaders to be involved in their own right in the wider community services sector.
Our President, Michael Simpson, has continued his strong and beneficial involvement as a Deputy Chair of the National Disability Advisory Council (NDAC). NDAC is the advisory council to the Commonwealth Minister for Family Services. Michael's major portfolio responsibility on NDAC has been liaison with the peak national disability organisations such as Blind Citizens Australia. This involvement has confirmed for him the strengths of Blind Citizens Australia, and has indicated some areas where challenges for us still lie ahead.
Editor's Note: Those members marked "*" are direct representatives or are nominees of Blind Citizens Australia chosen by the Board. Other people serve in their own right.
Australian Blindness Forum: Bill Jolley *(Secretary/Treasurer), David Blyth *, Michael Simpson * Australian Braille Authority: Joan Ledermann (Chairman) * Australian Communications Industry Forum: Bill Jolley *, John Simpson Australian Council for Radio for the Print Handicapped: John Simpson (Executive Officer), Stephen Jolley (President) Australian Council of Social Service: Bill Jolley * Australian and New Zealand Blindness Agencies: Bill Jolley * ACROD: Bill Jolley *, Michael Simpson * Committee of Australian Blindness Agencies: Bill Jolley * Consumers' Health Forum: Bill Jolley * and Lynne Davis Consumers' Telecommunications Network: Bill Jolley *
DDA Standards Working Parties
DDA Standards Project: Bill Jolley (Convenor) *
Attorney-General's DDA Standards Working Group: Bill Jolley *
Employment Standard Working Party: John Simpson *
Transport Standard Working Party: Kevin Murfitt *
Australian Building Codes Board Access Committee: Bill Jolley *
Commonwealth Communication and Information Standard Working
Party: Bill Jolley *
International Council on English Braille: Joan Ledermann (President)
National Caucus of Disability Consumer Organisations: Bill Jolley *
National Committee on Equality of Opportunity in Employment and
Occupation: John Simpson
National Disability Advisory Council: Michael Simpson (Deputy Chair),
Ros Sackley
Optus Consumer Liaison Forum: John Simpson *
Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities: Bill
Jolley (Convenor) * John Simpson (Administration Group) *, Bruce
Maguire (administration Goup)
Telstra Disability Services Consultative Committee: John Simpson *
Tertiary Education Disability Council (Australia): Gai Wibberley (Co-
President)
World Blind Union
David Blyth (Immediate Past President)
Australian Delegates: Bill Jolley (East Asia Pacific Regional Vice-
President and World Executive Member) *, June Ashmore *
Committee on Human Rights: Graeme Innes (Deputy Chair) *
East Asia Pacific Regional Women's Committee: Maryanne
Diamond *
DAISY Consortium
We have joined Australian and New Zealand Blindness Agencies. This is an unincorporated association made up of Blind Citizens Australia, Royal Blind Society (NSW), Royal Society for the Blind (SA), Association for the Blind (Victoria), Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind and Royal NZ Foundation for the Blind. This group has joined the DAISY Consortium.
DAISY means Digital Audio Information Systems, and the Consortium has come together to oversee the transfer from an analog to a digital platform for talking books. The Consortium is developing the Standards and commissioning the software development which will see the next generation of talking books accessible by CD or over the Internet. The very latest Standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium are being applied for file specification and integration, to give blind students and professionals access to the latest information systems, and text search and retrieval technologies.
In a related development Bill Jolley has been appointed to the International Review Board of Disability Information Resources (DINF), a non-profit organisation based in the United States.
The Japan Society for the Rehabilitation of People with Disabilities (JSRPD) has received a grant from the Japanese Government, Ministry of Health and Welfare, to carry out what is known as the DINF Project. It is being implemented over the next several years. The budget for the DINF Project is relatively large, millions of dollars.
The DINF Project will develop and maintain a comprehensive disability database on the Internet at www.dinf.ne.jp based in Japan with mirror sites in the United States and Switzerland. DINF will also develop and promulgate the tools that will give people with disabilities access to the Internet. The target group of users for the database is: researchers in disability, government officials and administrators of disability organisations, and disabled persons themselves.
The DINF Project operates with the support of a non-profit organisation set up in the United States. DINF has an International Review Board, composed of invited experts from around the world, one of whom is Bill Jolley.
World Blind Union
The focus of our international activities is World Blind Union, the body which unites organisations of blind people and the agencies providing services into a unified movement.
During the year Bill Jolley attended one world and two regional WBU events. The world one was the Executive Committee meeting held in Morocco. This was an important meeting, the first one under the leadership of Dr Euclid Herie as WBU President.
The Extended Executive Committee meeting for the East Asia Pacific Region was held in Ha Noi last December. It was hosted by the Viet Nam Blind Association, with sponsorship support from Blind Citizens Australia. Along with Bill Jolley, Michael Simpson and June Ashmore also attended this meeting, giving them the chance to review first hand our Braille Literacy Training Program in Viet Nam. Highlights of the meeting included a reception for delegates at the Australian Embassy in Ha Noi, national radio and television coverage of the event, participation by representatives from all Asian countries in the region and the opening of VBA's National Rehabilitation and Training Centre.
Holding the meeting in Ha Noi was an excellent opportunity for WBU leaders to visit one of the poorest but best organised countries in the region. We express our thanks to President Dinh Thuyen and other leaders of the Viet Nam Blind Association for hosting the meeting.
In June 1998 the Fourth East Asia Pacific Regional Assembly was held in Seoul, South Korea, hosted by the Korea Blind Union. We express thanks to the blindness agencies which contributed to the costs of the Australian delegation attending this event. The Assembly marked the retirement of June Ashmore as Australia's second WBU delegate and as Convenor of the Regional Blind Women's Action Group. June has made a very good contribution and is highly regarded and loved by many blind women in the region whom she both advised and inspired.
The WBU Executive meeting last November in Morocco deferred the
decision of which country would be invited to host the Fifth
General Assembly in the year 2000. The final contenders were
Australia and Morocco. The WBU Officers meeting in March of this
year decided by a clear majority to come to Australia. We are
taking up the challenge and looking forward to hosting an outstanding event in November 2000. The General Assembly will
be associated with the Second World Blind Women's Forum and a
Technology Exhibition. A General Assembly Planning Group,
chaired by WBU Immediate Past President David Blyth, has been
formed. It brings together the expertise and perspectives of the
Association for the Blind, Royal Victorian Institute for the
Blind and Blind Citizens Australia. We are planning for this to
be a special event, benefiting blind people throughout Australia
and involving all blindness agencies that wish to participate.
During the year we introduced changes in our terminology. We have recognised that our Council members have two distinct roles: to act as Directors of a company and to give leadership in policy and development for the organisation. We have therefore started to refer explicitly to the Board of Directors and to the National Policy and Development Council, although no formal constitutional changes have been made. The Board and the Council therefore consist of the same people, but we have separate meetings.
Blind Citizens Australia has been managed by a twelve-member Board of Directors, which was resourced by myself as Company Secretary and Executive Officer with support from other staff members. Michael Simpson led the Board as President, and Robert Altamore, June Ashmore, Karen Knight, and John Simpson held Vice-President positions with individual responsibility for Community Access, Disability Services, Membership & Communication and Planning & Development. Lynne Davis, Kym Hand, Peter Johnson, Joan Ledermann, Doug McGinn and Gai Wibberley were the Directors serving two-year terms. Leighton Boyd joined the Board as the Representative Member on behalf of Organisational Members. Members of the Board came from six States plus the ACT. Regrettably, June Ashmore and Doug McGinn found it necessary to resign during the year for personal reasons.
Quarterly face-to-face Board and Council meetings were held. These were two-day events, and some other meetings were held by telephone. The Executive has met regularly by telephone.
This year we have a fifteen month reporting period. We have changed our financial year from April-March to July-June, to comply with reporting requirements of the Department of Health and Family Services which provides our core funding through the National Advocacy Service.
I thank our Accounting Consultant, Mary Noy, for her assistance in preparing the accounts for audit. I also thank staff member, Robert Mascitti, for his careful bookkeeping throughout the year. This year we computerised our account keeping, and this has allowed us to keep better track of projects. Our accounts were audited by Brent Murphy, Registered Company Auditor, of McDonell Cunneen & Associates to whom we record our appreciation.
Balance Sheet
Our income for the 15-month period was $779,119 and expenditure was $800,232. This gave a deficit for the period of $21,113. Accumulated funds of $121,434 are made up of:
Current Assets $14,677 Investments $112,291 Fixed Assets $88,417 Less Current Liabilities $93,951Investments are made up of $72,291 with the National Australia Bank and $40,000 with the Trust Company of Australia.
Current liabilities are:
Unspent project grants $53,426 Creditors and accruals $17,245 Provision for annual leave $20,280 The Jeffrey Blyth Foundation $3,000Income
The following figures for income and expenditure relate to the fifteen months April 1997 to June 1998.
Income was $779,119 for the period. Income for the National Advocacy Service was consistent with last year's income. We received an extra $20,000 in advance from the Victorian Government for our State-based Advocacy and Information Service.
We received $62,500 from Blindness Agencies. They supported Blind Citizens Australia as follows:
Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind $20,000 Royal Blind Society of New South Wales $15,000 Villa Maria Society for the Blind $10,000 Royal Guide Dogs Associations of Australia $7,500 Association for the Blind $7,000 Royal Society for the Blind of South Australia $3,000We thank all of these agencies for their ongoing financial support. We also record appreciation to some of these and other organisations for their in-kind support.
We received $35,164 to off-set costs associated with last year's Convention. Sponsorship was led by Telstra which again contributed $7,000, largely to meet costs associated with audio production and program distribution for the coverage of the Convention on Radio for the Print Handicapped stations throughout Australia. We also received $6,000 from the Office of Disability, to defray costs associated with the Leadership 2000 program and the production of documents in accessible formats; and $3,000 from the Commonwealth Bank for production costs and general expenses. We thank these sponsors and appreciate the strong partnerships that we have developed with them.
Commercial fundraising programs assisted our work again. Income from flower sales has almost finished, and we record our deep appreciation to Aad Korteweg who supported us so strongly for many years. Geoff Anson continues to support us through flower sales, albeit at a reduced level, and we express appreciation to him for this ongoing contribution. We have also received strong support from John Marshall of Captain Cook Waste Industries, which we also appreciate.
We again received strong support from our members, $35,630 in donations through our Appeal to Members and the Pre-Authorised Credit Card (PACC) program. General donations were $4,968. We also made a profit of $10,000 from the National Lottery conducted earlier this year. We appreciate our members' contributions, which demonstrate strong commitment by our members in support of our endeavours.
Expenditure
Expenditure was $800,232 for the period. The major items were:
Communication with Members $21,413 Consultancy & Fundraising $30,497 Corporate, Legal and Accounting $4,044 Depreciation $20,633 Funded Projects $24,259 Insurance $2,790 Maintenance and Software $17,790 Management Meetings $21,480 Meetings and Conferences $25,244 Membership & Development $12,653 Membership and Subscriptions $14,759 Policy Implementation $10,401 Postage & Shipping $6,716 Printing and Stationery $12,355 Rent & Services $15,000 Project Costs $64,114 Salaries plus On-costs $271,407 Staff Amenities $2,843 Telephone $36,279 Travel $61,201It should be noted that some expenditure figures seem abnormally high, such as Meetings and Conferences of $25,000 and Travel of $61,200. This is because expenditure across all projects is counted. The DDA Standards project and the Viet Nam Literacy Training project both have high travel components.
Projects
We have changed our accounting practice during the period to keep better track of the funding of projects and services, in particular allowing for their separate audit as may be required by Government Departments which fund them. The major projects and services during the period are listed below. For projects funding is usually split over several years.
National Advocacy Service, for which we receive $162,000 per year from the Commonwealth Office of Disability. Victorian Advocacy and Information Service, for which we receive $64,000 per year from the Victorian Department of Human Services. This year we will receive another $20,000 to identify and address the particular needs of people in rural areas. DDA Standards Project, for which we received $84,000 in each of the past two years from the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department. A contract has been signed through to June 2000 which will provide $105,000 in each of the next two years to support this work. Braille Literacy Training in Viet Nam, For which we received $66,000 during the period from AusAID out of a total project budget of $168,000. This is a three-year project for 1997 through to 1999. The grant for the Computer Access in VET project from the Australian National Training Authority was $27,000. The grant for our latest Deafblind project from the Office of Disability was $14,905.
This year we will carry out an investigation into the impact of E-Commerce and Smart Cards for people who are blind or vision impaired with funding of $50,000 from the National Office of the Information Economy under the AccessAbility program. We have also received a grant of $100,000 from the Department of Communications and the Arts for the Telecommunications & Disability Consumer Representation project. Like the DDA Standard project, this is a cross-disability one, enabling Blind Citizens Australia to play a leading role and ensure that the interests of blind people are taken fully into account. We have received a grant from the Office of Disability of $37,800 for the Digital Television Access project. It will enable us to investigate new ways of providing audio enhancement of programs information and announcements on television by taking advantage of the new digital technology and transmission infrastructure.
The Jeffrey Blyth Foundation
The Jeffrey Blyth Foundation was an initiative of Hugh Jeffrey. With the support of David Blyth, he established "The Jeffrey Blyth Foundation", as a Charitable Trust to assist Blind Citizens Australia in perpetuity.
We thank Hugh Jeffrey and David Blyth for their contribution to
secure our future in this way. Their desire is to see the
capital fund grow through donations and bequests from our
Members, friends and associates, and through contributions from
members of the community. The corpus of the Foundation is
approximately $70,000 at year's end. We hope that a reliable
income stream from The Jeffrey Blyth Foundation will support the
work of Blind Citizens Australia into the next century. This
will reduce our reliance on Government funding and giving us the
capacity to grow.
Introduction
The National Advocacy Service is funded under the Disability Services Act (1986). The Service consults with and represents the collective interests of People with a Print Disability throughout Australia, and now incorporates individual advocacy to support people who are blind or print disabled to assert their rights under Disability Discrimination, Social Security and other laws. Its objective is to enhance the equality of opportunity for people who are blind or have other print disabilities by the removal of barriers to access by this group and through individual advocacy support.
We record our appreciation to staff of the Office of Disability in the Federal Department of Health and Family Services for their support and advice throughout the year.
The broad strategy of the Service is to use and promote tools, including the Commonwealth Disability Strategy and the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 to raise awareness, monitor change, and develop and promote policies on specific issues.
The work carried out under the Service is recorded throughout this Report.
Peak Body Representation
We have continued to discharge our responsibility as the peak body in the blindness field. We have been consulted on many questions and have been invited to make submissions to reviews of government programs and services.
There is a vast range of issues that we must involve ourselves
in: firstly, as the national voice of blind and vision impaired
Australians; and secondly, as the peak body in the blindness field. We have been an active member of the National Caucus of
Disability Consumer Organisations and have worked co-operatively
and beneficially with allied organisations of people with
disabilities. During the year, we have enjoyed good relations
with Departmental Officers and politicians of both parties, and
we thank all of them for their support and co-operation. Among
our fellow national organisations of people with disabilities,
we see a particular need to develop strong alliances and specific
partnerships with the Physical Disability Council of Australia
and the Australian Association of the Deaf. These two
organisations, like Blind Citizens Australia, are comprised of
and controlled by people with disabilities themselves.
Editor's Note: My thanks to Ivan Peterson, Victorian Advocacy & Information Officer, who contributed the following report.
Identified Priority
People attending Information Forums throughout Victoria identified pedestrian safety and independent mobility as their major concerns. These forums were held in Bendigo and Shepparton, and there were meetings at Wodonga, Wangaratta and Ballarat, as well as in Melbourne. Our Victorian Co-ordinating Committee made pedestrian safety our top priority for this year.
In July 1998 more than 70 people including the Minister for Roads, the Hon Geoff Craige, attended a pedestrian issues forum in Melbourne which considered the concerns raised by people attending the earlier meetings.
Street Hazards for Pedestrians
We have written to VicRoads, the Victorian Government road authority, and to local governments about more than 50 sites in Victoria which members regard as dangerous. We had these sites assessed by Orientation and Mobility Instructors and recommended appropriate strategies for reducing the danger at each location. The majority of our recommendations are for the installation of audible traffic signals, but we have also made recommendations about length of light cycle or design of intersections.
Although VicRoads engineers invariably agree with our assessments of sites as hazardous they apply "warrants" which are formulae based on measured vehicle and pedestrian traffic flow over a period, in deciding funding allocation to upgrade traffic control strategies across the State.
Whilst such strategies may be useful in developing state or national budget priorities for finite resources, we must never accept the use of statistics as rationale for not providing equitable and safe pedestrian access.
Safety and equity of access for pedestrians who are blind and vision impaired must be an integral aspect of streetscape design regardless of the number of blind or vision impaired people who use the location during a measured period. The issue is of rights and not of traffic flow.
Our success was mixed this year. We made excellent progress with some local governments, but have come up against brick walls with others.
Stonnington Hedges
In 1997 Disability Access and Information Service (DAIS) and Blind Citizens Australia requested that the City of Stonnington enforce Local Law 735 which prohibits foliage overhanging footpaths. Council advised property owners of their responsibilities in the matter but some hedge owners refused to comply, demanding a change to the law instead. The well organised Cypress Hedge Owners Support Group has asserted in the local and national media, to councillors and to state politicians, their right to continue to allow their hedges to overhang footpaths as they currently do. Council is undertaking resident and community consultation.
The matter of enforcement of the Local Laws regarding overhanging foliage was the subject of a complaint by DAIS against the City of Stonnington with the support of Blind Citizens Australia and some blindness agencies. It was heard by the Anti Discrimination Tribunal in January 1998. The tribunal found that there was a possible contravention of the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act 1995, and referred the matter for investigation by the Equal Opportunity Commission. The result is expected at the end of October.
To many people, particularly those who walk the streets with ease, the issue may seem trivial but we believe that an important principle is involved. All citizens have the right of access as pedestrians to roads, footpaths, reserves and public spaces. No one has the right to create hazards or barriers to public open space or to allow those hazards to remain.
City of Melbourne Access
The City of Melbourne is generally supportive of our Pedestrian Safety Policy requirement for clear walkways along the property alignment of major streets. A-boards and other signs, promotion materials or displays are adjacent to the kerb. Collins Street is now clear at the property alignment for its entire length. During 1998 major Collins Street hotels relocated planter boxes which were the last obstacles on the building alignment. We have yet to win the "Battle of the Buckets". Our next challenge is to change a different Local Law that deals with florist displays!
Together with the Physical Disability Council of Victoria we are consulting with Connell Wagner, the City of Melbourne's design consultants, on a model for safe pedestrian precincts in certain small streets and lanes. These are the ones which have become popular, but until now largely uncontrolled, outdoor dining areas.
Hardware Street will be the first to have a clear walkway in the middle of the street. Café and street furniture will be adjacent to the property alignment and the central walkway will be clearly defined using Tactile Ground Surface Directional Indicators along the middle of the walkway. Tactile Ground Surface Hazard Indicators to warn of the junction with cross streets will make the precinct "pedestrian friendly" for everyone.
Public Transport
We have advised the Public Transport Corporation and the Met on issues of safety and access to public transport in Victoria. There has been some progress but equity of access to public transport for blind and vision impaired people remains a goal in Victoria. There is apparent acceptance at some levels of the responsibility of addressing the needs of blind and vision impaired travellers, but progress is disappointing despite years of input by Blind Citizens Australia into the consultative processes.
Most train drivers announce "Junction" stations where services diverge but this is of no help to passengers on journeys between such stations. Tactile Ground Surface Indicators are installed at new stations but they are installed in a manner that is not according to the Australian Standard.
Use of contrasting colour on steps or fittings is rare, and we know of no strategies in place to improve access in existing work practices or facilities. Route numbers on trams remain too high to be of any use to people with vision impairment. After years of advocacy to the Public Transport Corporation on these and other issues with limited success, it may well be time for stronger action.
Good News Story
An interactive telephone information service, trialed this year in Melbourne, was initially accessed by dialling a code available only by reference to the Yellow Pages. In partnership with Martin Stewart of the Blind Workers Union we lobbied successfully for the service to be modified. It is now a service that is accessible to and valued by people who cannot access the printed Yellow Pages. Achieving access was a significant outcome, as we understand that this service will be available in all capital cities.
Appreciation
The Victorian Advocacy and Information Service has been advised this year by the Victorian Co-ordinating Committee. We thank committee members for their contributions and advice on priorities and strategies. The committee was well led by Maryanne Diamond, and we thank her for her advice and leadership for Blind Citizens Australia.
A number of people have contributed their time and skills to the
work of the Victorian Service this year. The professionalism of
Stephen Jolley as the voice of SoundAbout Victoria and Dale
Simpson's technical excellence have maintained SoundAbout's high
reputation. We continue to receive very positive feedback about
SoundAbout from our members and from staff of blindness agencies.
We are grateful to Kylie Partington who copies the SoundAbout
cassettes, as well as to our regular and guest contributors.
Editor's Note: My thanks to Rose Ross, our member of staff based in Canberra, who contributed this report.
Introduction
The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) allows for the making of Standards, approved by the Federal Parliament, in the areas of Transport, Employment, Education, Accommodation and Commonwealth Laws and Programs. The Attorney-General's Department has a budgetary allocation to support the development of DDA Standards, which includes funding for the DDA Standards Project.
Blind Citizens Australia has been the host organisation for the DDA Standards Project since July 1996, and has recently renegotiated a contract with the Attorney-General's Department until June 2000. Bill Jolley has been elected Convenor of the DDA Standards Project until the end of this time, and he chairs the DDA Standards Project Steering committee which is comprised of representatives of the national peak consumer disability organisations. Work on the development of Standards has continued in the areas of transport, employment, education, Commonwealth communication and information, and access to premises.
Papers concerning DDA Standards development are being issued regularly. There is also a newsletter which provides an update of developments in DDA Standards areas. Copies of most of the papers, reports and newsletters are available in accessible formats from Rose Ross who can be contacted through the National Office of Blind Citizens Australia, or by e-mail at ddasp@ozemail.com.au. The DDA Standards Project has recently started a discussion list on the Internet to promote discussion and distribute information. The address for sending messages is ddda-l@softspeak.com.au.
Transport
We have reached a particularly crucial point in the draft Transport Standard. A Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) on the social benefits and financial costs of implementing accessible public transport has recently been the subject of community based briefing sessions in all States and Territories.
One of the representatives of the community of people with disabilities who has been on the committee preparing the RIS is Kevin Murfitt. Kevin is an active member of Blind Citizens Australia, and has been a strong advocate for accessible public transport. He has been aware that discussion of accessible public transport often centres on wheelchair access, whereas there are many issues for blind people such as signage, safe pedestrian access, lighting, audible announcements and information which need to be addressed. The draft Transport Standard will enable people who are blind or vision impaired to use public transport with greater ease. It includes the introduction of better signage, clearer pathways, more information and audible announcements.
It is very important that we publicly support the implementation of the draft Transport Standard, because some transport operators are still lobbying Governments to reject the Draft Standard because they argue that the costs associated with the Standard are greater than the benefits. The RIS clearly indicates that the benefits which will accrue from more accessible public transport outweigh the costs. All people with disabilities are asked to contact local Commonwealth politicians and state their strong support for the Transport Standard.
Employment
Progress in this area has been disappointing. In January 1998 the Revised DDA Employment Standard - Second Draft for Public Comment was released. We are fortunate that another active member of Blind Citizens Australia represents people with disabilities on the Sub-committee which developed this draft Standard. John Simpson's administrative and negotiating abilities are well known, from his time as Executive Officer and as a current Vice-President of Blind Citizens Australia. John has worked tirelessly during the consultation on the draft Employment Standard. He organised and presented a video conference in March 1998 which included a presentation from Isobel Anton.
The response from the community of people with disabilities to this revised draft was mixed, and the draft itself is still the subject of much debate within the disability sector. Employer groups have also indicated that they do not support the introduction of DDA Employment Standards. The Employment Sub-Committee has yet to meet to discuss the outcome of this consultation.
The work of Blind Citizens Australia was very important here, and Isabel Anton's contribution including her written submission was extremely valuable.
Education
The Ministerial Council on Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) Task Force issued a Discussion Paper on DDA Education Standards in August 1997. The paper was available in print, large print, ASCII disc, Braille and audio formats. At the same time the DDA Standards Project circulated a questionnaire in which people with disabilities were asked about their experience of current educational practices and discrimination. The response was overwhelming. To date we have received close to 3000 responses and they continue to arrive. We have yet to produce a final analysis of the responses, but an interim report indicated that most people with disabilities had experienced some form of discrimination during their education, with most concern being expressed about the compulsory school age sector.
As a result of the consultations over the DDA Education Discussion Paper the MCEETYA Taskforce decided to develop a draft DDA Education Standard for further consultation with the disability sector. At the same time, in response to community concerns about DDA Standards, the DDA Standards Project will be issuing a paper canvassing alternative options. We expect the next consultation period for Education to be conducted in early 1999.
The DDA Standards Project has also established a small Reference Group to support the work of the two community representatives.
The DDA Education Standard is very important for people with disabilities generally and for people who are blind or vision impaired particularly. It brings with it major opportunities and threats. Blind Citizens Australia is committed to averting the threats and to seizing upon the opportunities to improve access to resources for blind and vision impaired school and post-secondary students. For example, Blind Citizens Australia is committed to a strong provision in any Education Standard to ensure that blind children who can benefit from Braille are taught Braille by people who are proficient in Braille and who are properly qualified to teach it. Blind Citizens Australia is developing a comprehensive policy statement on education which should be released later this year in time for the public consultation on the Draft DDA Education Standard.
Commonwealth Communication & Information
Bill Jolley is one of three representatives of people with disabilities on the Commonwealth Communication & Information Working Group. Progress towards a draft Standard on Accessible Commonwealth Communication and Information has been slow, partly because of the intense activity in other areas. Ausinfo (formerly the Australian Government Publishing Service) is developing standards for Commonwealth Information Published in Electronic Formats. Members of the working group welcome this document which provides a great deal of useful and philosophically sound information. If its recommendations are followed, many of the existing barriers to access will be removed and Commonwealth Government Internet sites will be much more accessible. We hope that the standards for Commonwealth Information Published in Electronic Formats will form the basis of a DDA Standard for Electronic Publishing by the Commonwealth.
Summary
The development of DDA Standards, like all Standards development
processes, is necessarily slow and tedious. This is because the
issues are technically complex, decision-making is by consensus
and stake-holders have a wide range of perspectives, priorities
and interests. Blind Citizens Australia believes that despite
the slow progress in DDA Standards development, a great deal has
been achieved through greater awareness of the DDA by industry
and the community and by wide-spread discussion of complex
concepts and provisions in the DDA and associated Human Rights
law. Blind Citizens Australia is prepared to play a leading role
in this cross-disability project, because of the fundamental
importance of strong DDA Standards to blind people in areas of
transport, premises, education, employment and Commonwealth laws
and programs. For example, we believe that a strong standard for
Commonwealth Electronic Publishing will create a bench-mark for
non-government organisations and will also eliminate many
barriers to accessible information which we currently face.
Introduction
In 1996 Blind Citizens Australia applied for a research grant to examine the threats and opportunities for students who are blind or vision impaired from the use of computers for teaching and learning in vocational education and training (VET). A grant of $27,000 was approved and work started in 1997, but there were some unexpected delays and a new research consultant was appointed six months ago. The research has now been completed, carried out by Anne Bradford from Canberra, whose knowledge and experience were very well suited to this project. The research examined the impact of the use of computers with multimedia and graphical user interfaces on access to instructional materials in vocational education and training courses.
The project was assisted by the Commonwealth Government thr