More than seventy BCA Members from across Victoria participated in the first BCA Victoria Convention, held over the weekend of 19 and 20 October 2002.

Convention was held at the Vision Australia complex at Kooyong as part of a three day program of events which included:

The Convention Opening included presentations from Doug Kent and Michael Lynch, (CEO’s of RVIB and Vision Australia) and Graeme Innes (President of the Royal Blind Society of NSW) who set the scene for our in-depth look at plans to merge the three major blindness agencies. We then returned to this topic on Sunday morning when a panel of senior agency representatives and experienced consumer advocates addressed the question of consumer input mechanisms for the newly created multi-state agency.

Our other feature session looked closely at matters relating to the Blind Pension with presentations about the recent Cost of Blindness research undertaken by BCA and discussion of BCA’s policy position in relation to the Commonwealth’s stated desire to restructure the Disability Support Pension.

The Honourable Bronwyn Pike, Victorian Minister for Community Services had originally agreed to open the event however, Labor Party Conference commitments meant that she could not join us at the start of the day so we welcomed the Minister later on Saturday afternoon when she told us something of her Government’s newly released Disability Strategy.

Through concurrent sessions, those present also had the opportunity to participate in interactive workshops. Two of which were designed to provide training, in the areas of Disability Discrimination Law and Working within a Self Help Organisation. The other two workshops examined issues of Employment and Local Government Services.

In addition to Convention, around 150 blind and vision impaired people, family members and professionals attended the Technology Expo held on the Friday. This project was organized as a successor to the annual technology exhibition previously organized by the Technical Aids Liaison Group. We were delighted to attract the involvement of eighteen exhibitors, ranging from commercial suppliers of adaptive technology to blindness service agencies, Government information services and Telstra’s Disability Services Unit. The new community Centre at Kooyong provided a great setting for the exhibition and the co-operation received from VAF staff in organising and hosting the Exhibition and other Convention activities was greatly appreciated.

Thanks to sponsorship support from Telstra, we were able to ensure that a wide cross-section of BCA members were at least able to listen to the various Convention sessions and the Annual General Meeting. Program packages were broadcast via RPH network stations in Victoria on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening and all Convention sessions and the Annual Meeting were streamed live to the Internet and available via the BCA Website.

The success of our first State Convention and associated activities was due to the contributions of many people and organizations. A special thank you to Telstra for their sponsorship and to Vision Australia Foundation and its staff for allowing BCA the opportunity to take over much of their building for the entire weekend. Finally, I want to add my personal thanks and appreciation to those who worked on our three project task groups to ensure the success of the event.

On 12 and 13 October, Blind Citizens Australia (BCA) held their first inaugural Queensland State Convention. This was held at the "Quest on North Quay" hotel, located in the CBD of Brisbane. At noon Saturday, the convention was opened. It was quite pleasing to see an average of 40 people attending most sessions. The Convention was opened by Kathy Dunning from Disability Services Queensland We had the pleasure of having some very well recognized BCA members present, including: Maryanne Diamond, David Blyth and Michael Simpson. We were introduced to BCA’s nominated Queensland Advocacy Project Officer, Julie Ford. Collette O’Neill, BCA’s National Policy Officer, was also able to present one session. It was felt that these participants gave the Convention a National Office presence.

Topics covered at our convention were:

Emerging Technologies for people with Disabilities were also discussed for a session in addition to a Pulse Data presentation.

I believe all these sessions made the Convention a success, due to the wide variety and the ability to provide members the Convention Program, in a draft form, on registration. The interest in this Convention Program extended to all parts of Queensland, having people as far as Cairns attend. It would have been amazing to know how many listened to the procedures via the Internet. It was organized that the entire State Convention be recorded and streamed over the Internet to the world audience. I would like to thank Geoff Shang for his assistance in making this possible.

The Convention aimed to have most elements of a National Convention. Social events such as a Convention Dinner and a National Women’s Branch Breakfast were held to momentarily take away the seriousness of the issues of the Convention.

Convention attendees commented that the hotel facilities were very satisfactory and mobility was not a real issue as the Planning Committee used braille signage in strategic locations, such as lifts.

The Convention Program ran to schedule with very little mishaps. I will admit to being on the Planning Committee for the Queensland State Convention, but the comments from participants, about the convention, were favourable. I felt that all participants of the Queensland State Convention planning committee were very committed to achieving a convention that was organized and accepting to attendees.

Members were given numerous occasions to talk and discuss issues. This was provided through group discussions, question and answer opportunities and resolutions. Feedback forms were also provided with convention materials to ensure that the next State Conventions take on board the comments given.

As a consequence of registrations being lower than practical to hold a full NSW-ACT Convention, a decision was taken to hold a number of one-day Forums. These Forums were held in Mudgee on 22 October, Canberra on 26 October and Sydney on 2 November. The Forums were well attended with around seventy people across the three.

Mudgee was of special interest as it also saw the formation of the Central Western Branch of BCA formed. There is a strong network of contact between blind people in the area and there was strong support for the formation of a local Branch.

Mary Lovett, who has been working to form the Branch and is a dedicated advocate for blind people, is the inaugural Branch President. We look forward to hearing more from the Central West in the future.

Two of the key issues discussed at the one-day Forums were the proposed amalgamation of blindness agencies and the cost of blindness - Disability Support Pension. Representatives from blindness agencies attended to talk about the proposed amalgamation and members had a good opportunity to think about and debate the possible benefits and risks.

It is fair to say that in general there is solid support for the amalgamation of agencies, however, members are keen to ensure that an amalgamated agency continues to focus on services for blind people and continues to have involvement at a senior level by people who are blind.

The cost of blindness sessions were extremely interesting with the discussion only reinforcing the fact that the issue is complex and will not be an easy one for the disability sector or Government to solve. Participants in the Forums were supportive of the notion of separating a disability allowance from income support but were emphatic that the level of a disability allowance should be at least that of the current rate of the Disability Support Pension.

Other issues on the Forum programs included employment reforms and access to education. Discussion and interest from participants was eager and it certainly demonstrated that BCA Members want to see positive change at a local level.

The Forums also gave members an opportunity to catch up with friends and to talk about issues of common interest. Sydney Branch took the opportunity to add value to the Sydney Forum by running a role play session on common discrimination that blind people face. This was followed by a social event.

I was born in 1961 in Perth Western Australia. My dad was in the army and so we moved around quite a bit during my school years, living in Victoria, New South Wales and then back to Western Australia.

When I was about 10 years old (in New South Wales) I was diagnosed with RP. I count myself lucky that I knew I was going to go blind before it happened. I was told that I would be blind at about 25 years of age, and so I left school as soon as I could, and worked hard for a few years, saving money along the way. After a few years of work, I bought a motorcycle and set off on a working holiday around Australia. I lived and worked in all Australian states(except for Tassie) I worked in a tuna factory in Port Lincoln, South Australia, in the snowfields of New South Wales for a season, in a Coles supermarket in Mackay, Queensland, fencing across the Nullabor in outback Western Australia and a gold mine in the desert of the Northern Territory. Eventually my sight deteriorated to a point where I had my driver's license revoked.

I then spent a few years of mobility training, learning braille and screen reading software techniques. One day someone suggested I should try tandem cycling. I did, and so another portion of my life starts.

In 1993, I became involved in a tandem cycling development program which was being supported by the Association for the blind of Western Australia. This program was developed to give people with a vision impairment a chance to participate in sport.

After a hard year of training with my steersmen, Paul Lamond, I competed in my first national championships, held in Darwin. At these championships my steersman and I won a bronze and four gold medals as well as the National Champion of Champions Trophy.

In 1995, I was teamed with a new steersman, Steve Gray. Steve and I competed in the National Championships winning one gold, one silver and two bronze medals and we were selected to represent Australia in the Tour of Singapore. Before competing in Singapore, we travelled to Kuala Lumpur to be involved in a development program to introduce tandem cycling to the blind of Malaysia. After several cycling clinics in the capitol, we embarked on a promotional ride from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. We received great support from service clubs of Malaysia and coverage in the National press. We arrived in Singapore and a few days later competed in the Tour of Singapore where we won the gold medal.

In 1996, at the National Championships, which were held in Perth, we won 1 gold and 4 silver medals. With this result, we were selected to represent Australia in the Paralympics, to be held in Atlanta USA. In Atlanta, we achieved personal best times breaking the Australian record for the flying 200-metre time trial and finished with a 6th place in the sprint event.

In 1997 I became involved in a junior development program to assist blind youth in the sport of tandem cycling. Also in that year, I teamed up with a new steersman, Tony Moore.

In 1998, at the National championships, again held in Perth, Tony and myself were able to win two gold, two silver and two bronze medals as well as receiving the National Champion of Champions Trophy. From the results at these championships we were selected to represent Australia at the World Disabled Cycling Championships to be held in Colorado Springs USA, in September 1998. We were also nominated for the WADSA Western Australian Sportsman of the Year Award presented by the Minister of Sport and Recreation on July 19.

In January 1999, Tony was unable to continue with his cycling. As a result, I teamed with Brett Russell, a young cyclist from Midland.

In Perth at the 1999 National Disabled Cycling Track Championships held in March, Brett and I received a silver medal in the 4km pursuit and a bronze medal in the 1km time trial event. With these results, we were selected to represent Western Australia at the Southern Cross Games to be held in Sydney from 27 to 31 October.

At the 1999 State Disabled Road Championships, held in July, Brett and I received the gold medal.

In Sydney at the Southern Cross Games held in October Brett and I won a gold medal in the road time trial. In 2000, I retired from competitive cycling and commenced assisting with administrative tasks. Also at this time, I had decided to get a guide dog and needed to stabilize my life to do the required training. I completed the training and was partnered with Pollock, a black Labrador.

While I was cycling, I was doing some courses in what spare time I could find. I attempted the Certificate 4 of Information Technology which I did not achieve, not because I could not understand it, but because the TAFE and lecturers could not fulfil any alternative information needs I had. Despite this, I learnt quite a lot, but just did not get the piece of paper at the end of the course. I did do the Certificate 3 of Business Administration and many certificates of competency with several operating systems and applications. My specialty is the BrailleNote.

I am currently President of Blind Citizens WA, President of the Western Australian Tandem Cycling Advisory Council, President of the Western Australian Braille Authority and am also involved on several committees.

I currently work at the University of Western Australia. I really enjoy the work and the University environment. I was employed under a new diversity scheme the University had set up. This diversity scheme recently won the 2001 Prime Minister’s Award of Excellence for Employment. I was asked to attend and represent the University at the presentation function at Parliament House, Canberra. It was an honour to meet the Prime Minister and help receive the award.

Members may have been asked recently to take part in a research project being conducted by the Centre for Eye Research (CERA) and Victorian Blindness Agencies. The Economic Evaluation of Rehabilitation Programs Project is trying to evaluate the benefits of services such as mobility training and library services.

This research is not the same as Blind Citizens Australia’s Non-Optional Costs of Blindness research. Our research focussed on ways that individuals who are blind could be assisted to meet their direct, indirect and opportunity costs of blindness. We did not look at the cost of providing blindness agency services.

In contrast, the CERA research is testing the assumption that increased funding to blindness rehabilitation services will lead to decreased costs for governments and people who are blind and their families.

Blind Citizens Australia has decided at this time not to endorse the research project or work with CERA on it.

People who are approached to take part in the research should read the material provided carefully and ask questions about the purpose of the research, what it is hoping to find and what the results will be used for.

Guide Dogs Victoria is best known for the provision of Guide Dog mobility. You may not have been aware of our range of specialist mobility services that are offered throughout metropolitan and regional Victoria. We are proud to provide all services totally free of charge. We can assist people who are living with low vision ranging through to total blindness.

GDV’s intensive Orientation & Mobility service can help you achieve your goals more quickly through group or individual programs. You may wish to travel to a new workplace, have more recreational opportunities with friends, gain confidence through refresher training or prepare for Guide Dog mobility. If you have just recently experienced difficulties with deteriorating vision, we can provide a comprehensive program to develop your skills and restore your independence. Training in managing environmental factors and training in the long cane, low vision aids and electronic aids are available. Programs may be provided through GDV’s Training Centre in Kew or your own home environments.

The Children’s Mobility Service is tailored to enhance the Orientation and Mobility skills of primary, secondary school and tertiary students. All programs are tailored to meet individual needs and we aim to help each student reach their potential. Orientation & Mobility training facilitates the ongoing development of skills and complements all other aspects of your child’s education. Camps provide the opportunity for children and teenagers to develop peer networks along with O&M skills and independent living skills.

The Neurological Mobility Service provides assessment and training for individuals whose vision loss has been caused by a stroke, head injury, brain tumour, post operative damage or other acquired brain injury - optimising the use of remaining vision and other senses. Our instructors have an in depth knowledge of the structure and functions of the brain and its relationship to the visual system.

As part of our mission to help clients enhance their personal freedom and confidence, GDV also offers Occupational Therapy. We can provide practical strategies for daily living activities including personal care, work, education and leisure. Occupational Therapy programs may be provided in the Training Centre in conjunction with our Mobility Services or as independent programs. Domiciliary programs can be offered for children and as follow-up after Training Centre programs.

There is no upper age limit and you don’t have to be totally blind to benefit from Guide Dog mobility. You may have low vision but fear it’s going to deteriorate further. In fact, it can be easier to train with a Guide Dog while you still have some remaining vision.

With forty years experience in providing world class Guide Dog mobility and 37 years breeding our own Guide Dogs, we have been able to develop a range of Guide Dog ‘types’ temperamentally and physically suited to meet the individual needs of all our clients. Guide Dogs Victoria has full membership of the International Federation of Guide Dog Schools and has recently been accredited with the internationally recognised standard in Quality Management and Systems.

For more information, or to apply for these free services, call Guide Dogs Victoria on 9854 4444

I was recently fortunate to gain sponsorship to attend the World Blind Union's (WBU) first Youth Seminar for the Asia-Pacific Region. I was one of five sponsored young blind and vision impaired Australians to attend this seminar. The other young Australians were Maree Brown, Jordie Howell, Darren Fittler and Theresa Smith. Maryanne Diamond who is an Australian Delegate for the WBU and Chair of the WBU Women's Committee also accompanied us. Johor Bahru, Malaysia, is located at the southern tip of the Peninsula, it is the state capital of Johor Darul Takzim. My time in Johor Bahru extended from 5^th October to 9 October. The Seminar was held from 6 to 8 October 2002.

Being my first time overseas and to be given the opportunity to attend this Seminar, made me very nervous and excited prior to leaving. If being scared after boarding wasn’t enough, my plane was on the tarmac ready to take off when next thing there was an announcement, "passengers we are dumping fuel, please don’t be alarmed as we have the fire engines outside as a precaution." Then the fire engines surrounded the plane and we were taken back to the terminal. After an 11 hour delay, I finally flew into Singapore.

When I came through Immigration, a volunteer greeted me; we made our way to Johor Bahru by car. What a journey this was through the Singapore and Malaysia checkpoints. These checkpoints were very crowded and motorbikes were going everywhere. I was informed later that motorbikes are very common in Malaysia as they are cheap to use and free to go through the checkpoints. We made it to the hotel about 45 minutes after leaving the airport.

The day I got there (Saturday) was our shopping day/tour in Malaysia. After settling in to the Hotel and meeting my roommate we all met up in the foyer to catch the bus to the shopping centre. We all got settled on the bus to travel to the shops, but we didn’t get too far as the bus broke down. So off the bus again and most of us got onto a small old school bus that offered to take us to the shops.

The whole group of us went on this shopping spree. We arrived at this 5 storey high shopping centre, we all then sat down together and had an Asian lunch, and then went off shopping.

Probably the most memorable thing about that afternoon was everyone’s journey to the toilet. We were surprised to find squat toilets, which the hotel did not have (thankfully)

The next 3 days were mainly taken up with the Seminar and a few dinners in the hotel. After the sessions each day we all took the opportunity to spend relaxing time together. The Hyatt Hotel where we stayed was quite nice. The water in the taps was brown, so I drank bottled water all the time. I really got tired of eating Asian food, as I am not a real fan of it. One night I took some people to the Italian restaurant and enjoyed some real "tucker."

On the aspects of the Seminar, I found it to be very professionally focused (a man from India presented it). During the Seminar, some of the topics that we concentrated on were the development of paradigms, personal skill coaching, team building and how to formulate the decision-making processes in a professional sense. The session on team building, which I found very useful, covered topics such as how to identify the team members within the team, how to develop Mission Statements, and, most important, Leadership Skills were discussed.

The structure of the WBU and who are the main stakeholders within the Union was also discussed. Present at the seminar was the President of the WBU, Kicki Nordstrum, Chair of the Asia-Pacific Region, Cheng Hock, who was also the Chair of the Organising Committee for the Seminar, Dr. Geoff Gibbs, Honourable Treasurer of the WBU and local representatives.

Representatives from fifteen countries, from the Asia-Pacific Region, attended the Seminar. They were all young people, but language was sometimes a problem as the Seminar was conducted in English. Some attendees were not confident with their English, so they tended to keep quiet. During the Seminar, we, as the World Youth, were given the opportunity to voice what was important to us. A WBU Youth Committee, for the Asia-Pacific Region, was formed during the Seminar, which gives us some future.

Tuesday evening everyone attended a closure dinner, where my newly developed "networking skills" were tested out, and, to my surprise, they worked quite well as I have made many new friends during my time at the Seminar.

Wednesday was checkout day. We went over the Malaysia and Singapore borders again. It is quite scary trying to hold your passports etc. At the Singapore checkpoint, they were ready to search the taxi; they let us through quicker with some negotiation. The taxi driver took us to Central Singapore where we caught a bus that we hired for 7 of us that were going home that day. I should say here how strange the taxis are in Malaysia. We came back from the shops, one night, and went to the top of the queue. The taxi driver accepted us only as we were going his way. He then said he wanted to go to the Service Station. He went in and filled up the tank. The only thing he forgot to do was to turn the engine off!!! We were ready for the big explosion then!

The last day in Singapore, we travelled in this small bus to the Money exchange. We needed to get rid of our Malaysian money as not many people exchange that. After this, we went to McDonalds (for a bit of relief) and then went to a few shopping centres. At the end of the day, we went to this centre next to the Marriott Hotel that sold electronics goods; some of the items there were amazing!

I got back to the Singapore Airport at around 5pm. My flight was due to leave at 10:20pm, but I was with others who had to leave a bit earlier to return to Australia. I left from Terminal 1, but some people I was with were leaving from Terminal 2 so this meant that I needed to go over to the other Terminal on the monorail, which has no driver to connect both terminals. They are also building a 3rd terminal. It is true when they say that Singapore is the most efficient airport as there were very little crowds and huge spaces.

One thing I should mention is the fact that these two countries were very hot and humid. They do not have winters there. Malaysia was also very clearly still a developing country. I have some souvenirs and my own memories to remember this trip that was a lifetime experience, and for this, I thank my sponsors for giving me this opportunity.

The travel plans that were made for us all assisted in alleviating any undue anxiety as it was very well organised and assisted us to be able to travel independently with little or no assistance.

I do believe that the knowledge that I gained from this opportunity is something that will assist me for the rest of my life. I intend to pass on this knowledge to who ever will benefit from my experience and I would not hesitate to support any person that wished to gain this level of experience.

Hello Everyone,

In October of this year I was extremely fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to attend the Asia Pacific leadership workshop in Malaysia thanks mainly to the Tasmanian Government who provided the funding.

The workshops were very interesting and provided us with a range of learning experiences. Although the actual program was obviously the reason why we were all brought together, for the purposes of this publication, I would like to focus more on my own personal experiences of travelling overseas for the first time and my perception of the cultural differences.

When I was firstly approached to attend the workshops I was very hesitant to say the least. It had never really been in my plan of the immediate future to travel overseas and I thought that travel within Australia would take precedence over any international travel. In addition to this I was very scared of the thought of travelling on my own, even though, realistically, I knew that there would be many people on the flight. And then there was the current state of international relations, which was in the back of my mind.

Anyway, after all the thoughts of what may or may not happen, the two week lead up became very exciting and hectic.

On arrival in Singapore, the heat was phenomenal, something I have never experienced before. I knew it was going to be hot, but never in my wildest dreams did I think it was going to be as hot as it was. I could hardly breathe!

In the taxi ride to Malaysia, it was really bizarre because although I knew I was in another country, the buildings and the lights did not appear to be any different than that of Hobart. I guess I was expecting something so very different that I would notice it instantaneously. My first cultural experience was when we arrived in Malaysia and were changing taxis. I was warned that spitting in public was not offensive to Malaysians but I did not really think that people would do this, well they do!! And not just one but all of them!

My second experience was the public toilets! Hmm well I can’t really tell you exactly what I was thinking and perhaps what I said but let me tell you it was a shock! I just naturally assumed that a toilet was a toilet, unless you were in the bush, and then even I could accept a little difference. I quickly became familiar with the squat toilets.

The shopping in both Malaysia and Singapore was great. Of course, like most women, I spent way too much but had a ball purchasing gifts to bring home to my family and friends. And it was great that they all liked what they got.

The Conference its self was a wonderful chance to meet some lovely people and learn about many different countries. The thing that I liked about it the most was the fact that we were all interacting and everyone met everyone.

I realized at the Conference that, although we do have problems here in Australia with access to materials for education and equipment and we need to pursue all aspects of our blindness to prevent discrimination etc, other people experience far worse situations than us and have much less in terms of equipment and advocacy.

It was great to listen to people talk about their home countries and what they do for a living. Basically I realized that it is just sheer luck where we are born and we are so very fortunate here in Australia.

I would just like to end by saying thank you to Maryanne, Craig, Jordie, Darren and Theresa for a wonderful trip and especially the Tasmanian government for giving me the opportunity to attend. My trip is something that will be remembered for life!

Telstra values its continuing relationship with Blind Citizens Australia. This year, we were pleased to be the major sponsor of BCA's State Conventions and Annual General Meeting, which was hosted in Melbourne at the Vision Australia Foundation.

Telstra also welcomed the opportunity to be actively involved in the BCA Victorian State Convention's 'technology expo' displaying Telstra's extensive range of products and services for people with a disability. Telstra's Manager of Disability Services, Bert Ciavarra, said it was great to meet with a large number of the blind and sighted people passing the Telstra display.

"Last year, Telstra established its Centre for Accessibility, with a key aim to make Telstra’s website more accessible for blind users. In the longer term, the Centre’s role will include evaluating the online accessibility of Telstra products, services and systems, and promoting compliance with Telstra’s corporate standard on Accessibility."

Telstra commends BCA for its innovative approach in enabling its members around Australia who would not otherwise have been able to participate in its Annual General Meeting to link in and participate via the Internet. Telstra welcomed the opportunity to observe this online participation.

Telstra's support, which enabled BCA to take its conventions to its members across Australia via the Internet and through some four hours of broadcasting and evening reports on the RPH network, reflects the value Telstra places on our continuing relationship with Blind Citizens Australia.

Telstra has a long record of consultation with disability and consumer organisations. We have been very fortunate to have the input and expertise of organisations such as Blind Citizens Australia, which continues to be a key contributor to the Telstra Disability Forum. Telstra’s consultative forums assist in improving the accessibility of our products and services, and give senior management key insights into the diverse needs and expectations of Telstra’s customers.

Visit Telstra's web site www.telstra.com.au/disability for information about our initiatives for people with a disability, or contact our Disability Enquiry Hotline on FREECALL* 1800 068 424 for information and advice about our specialised products.

* A free call from most Telstra fixed phones

Members of Blind Citizens Australia and generous members of the public have, for many years, partly funded the work of BCA through donations and lotteries. In recent times a number of friends and members have also shown their support by leaving a bequest or legacy from their estate in a Will.

This kind of support is vital for our ongoing work and we encourage all members and friends to ensure that BCA will be here to work for blind and vision impaired Australians in the future. BCA's advocacy to ensure that services and facilities do not discriminate against our members and other blind people has proved to be of enormous benefit to all blind Australians and we need to make sure that our work continues.

You can help by making a bequest in your Will. Please include Blind Citizens Australia in your Will by using the following wording:

"I give to Blind Citizens Australia the sum of (include sum both in words and figures) free from all duties or other taxes, whether State or Federal."

We would like to thank all members who have generously donated to BCA recently. If you would like to make a donation to BCA, but find it difficult filling out forms you may like to call the National Office on 1800 033 660 and donate over the phone using your credit card.

Blind Citizens News accepts material in the following categories:

• Information about new services, facilities or events of wide interest among blind and vision impaired people is accepted for inclusion within the news content.

• Announcements, for sale notices and other advertisements from individuals and small non-profit organisations may be included in a "Notice Board" section, provided that they do not exceed 25 words and are targeted to a national readership. A charge of $20 will apply for each notice.

• Advertising on behalf of government, commercial or community organisations that is considered to be relevant to the general readership will be included under the heading "Advertisements". Advertisers must provide a copy suitable for inclusion in all formats of the publication and the following rates will apply.

Full page (320 words large print) $375

Half page (150 words large print) $200

Quarter page (70 words large print) $105

For greatest impact, why not consider sponsorship of an entire issue of Blind Citizens News? For $800 you will obtain:

• a credit of up to 25 words on the front cover;
• 2 print pages for the sponsor’s message (equivalent space in other formats).

Blind Citizens News is published four times a year and is now read by more than 3000 people with a direct interest or involvement in the services and facilities available to Australia’s blind and vision impaired population. We circulate 800 large print, 1000 audio, 200 Braille and 50 electronic (computer disk and email) copies to members, libraries, service agencies, government departments and equipment suppliers throughout Australia. Blind Citizens News also appears in full on the internet website of Blind Citizens Australia.

The closing date for articles for the next issue of Blind Citizens News is Friday, February 14, 2003. Articles should be sent to Cheryl Gration at the Blind Citizens Australia Office, if possible in large print (16pt or larger) or preferably in electronic form (disk or email attachment). If you would like to discuss your ideas for a possible article please call Cheryl on 1800 033 660, or email her at cgration@bca.org.au.

For the latest information from Blind Citizens Australia tune in to Horizons on your RPH station, on a Community Station near you, or via the BCA website. Horizons is broadcast regularly on RPH stations. It is also becoming available on Community Stations, but you may need to contact your local station to ask it to receive Horizons by Satellite.

Canberra

1RPH 1125 Khz

11.15 am Tuesday;

repeated 8.00 pm Tuesday and 9.30am Saturday

Sydney

2RPH 1224 Khz

3.00 pm Wednesday;

repeated 8.15 pm Saturday

Melbourne

3RPH 1179 Khz

8.30 pm Wednesday;

repeated 6.30 pm Sunday

Brisbane

4RPH 1296 Khz

7.00 am Friday;

repeated 6.05 pm Monday

Adelaide

5RPH 1197 Khz

9.15 pm Wednesday,

repeated 6.00 pm Friday

Perth

6RPH 990 Khz

10.30 am Friday;

repeated 9.45 pm Saturday

Hobart

7RPH 864 Khz

1.30pm Friday;

repeated 5.15pm Saturday

Mildura

3MPH 107.5 Mhz

8.30 pm Wednesday,

repeated 6.30 pm Sunday

Bendigo

3BPH 88.7 Mhz (FM)

8.30pm Wednesday;

repeated 6.30pm Sunday

Geelong

3GPH 99.5 Mhz (FM)

8.30pm Wednesday;

repeated 6.30pm Sunday

Shepparton

3SPH 100.1 Mhz (FM)

8.30pm Wednesday;

repeated 6.30pm Sunday

Albury-Wodonga

101.7 Mhz (FM)

8.30pm Wednesday;

repeated 6.30pm Sunday