87 High Street Prahran

PO Box 229 Prahran

Victoria 3181 Australia

Telephone 03 9521 3433

Toll Free 1800 033 660

TTY 03 9521 1200

Welcome to the first issue of this newsletter for the year. Term one school holidays are upon us with Easter following closely behind.

The writing competition held last year for students to produce a short piece on "My Favourite Thing" was judged by Paul Jennings. The winning entries are on display at the Statewide Vision Resource Centre. Paul Jennings has agreed to judge the competition again this year. Watch out for the topic and further details in the next issue of this newsletter.

In this issue we have tried to provide information about camps, courses, useful information and experiences of blind people. There is some information on the World Blind Union general assembly and associated events that will be held in Melbourne during November this year. This is a significant event for our country, one that most likely will not occur again. All are invited to take part.

Christian Services for the Blind are again running their very popular New Vision Camp at Camp Howqua near Mansfield from 11-14 April this year. Bus transport is provided from the SDA Conference Office in Nunawading.

• Who: legally visually impaired children from 9 to 17 years
• Accommodation: comfortable heated cabins
• Activities: water sports, nature activities, go karts, water sports, canoeing, horse riding etc
• Leadership: one youth counsellor will be assigned to each vision impaired student
• Cost: $45

For further details and an application form, contact Deb Lewis (9841 0242) or Cveta Bakof (9259 2100) for your copy.

The following report was written by year 10 student Cherie, a participant in last years GVBR. This appeared in the Statewide Vision Resource Centre Bulletin.

On 27th November I left with a group of teachers and students to travel to Echuca. This was the starting point for the GVBR, which is a bike ride from Echuca to Melbourne that takes nine days.

We travelled from 40 to 103 kilometres per day. But if you are feeling tired you can catch the SAG wagon that travels behind the bike riders.

The best part was meeting the other riders and making friends with the organisers. The most annoying part was arriving at a town after riding all day and having to pitch your tent and set up camp knowing that the next day you needed to be up at 5.00 am to begin again.

The highlight for me was winning the U16 girls Roller Derby. My speed was 43 km/hour - just one kilometre less than Brett Mackay - who is a champion bike rider.

It really was a great experience. So if the opportunity comes along you should try it.

From the Statewide Vision Resource Centre Bulletin

By popular request we will again be running our driving camp at the Driver Education Centre in Charlton. We have chosen the second last week of term 2. Again, there will be a maximum of 12 participants with places going to the first in (with payment!!!). This year we will have Auswim accredited Visiting Teacher Marg Moloney with us so bring your togs!!! The cost is around $140. Please call Deb Lewis to express interest.

The camp is an opportunity for students to drive a car in near real-life conditions (ie private road system); learn the importance of safety and road rules; and also to network and have fun.

Please note that the vast majority of students on Visiting Teacher Service (Vision Impairment) will not be eligible to gain their drivers licence.

Thanks to Karen Goodall for sending the following information:

According to VicRoads Registration and Licensing Rules

• For a car, motorcycle or light truck licence, the applicant must be able to read the 6/12 line (corrected or uncorrected)
• For all buses and trucks (excluding light trucks), the applicant must be able to read 6/9 in the best eye and up to 6/18 in the worst eye and must not have a protan colour vision impairment.

This astonishing site will braille a letter for you and send it to your friend! You e-mail your letter to hotbraille.com and within about 10 days, your friend will receive the letter in braille. Apparently the size of the letter is limited to 4 pages of braille. The best part is that even though this service operates from the USA it is absolutely free, relying on donations for operating costs and on Freepost for the Blind for the postage. You can find this site at hotbraille.com or send questions and make comments at info@hotbraille.com.

From Statewide Visiting Teacher Bulletin

It appears that there will be an intrepid group of Visiting Teachers and students trekking to the USA for the chance of a lifetime again this year lucky things!!!!!

Inaugural Intrepid Space Camp organiser Jeni Blake has again been looking into funding etc and would like to conduct an information night for interested Visiting Teachers, parents and students (Department of Education and Catholic Education) this term. Please contact Deb Lewis to express your interest in this meeting and to nominate interested students.

The Guide Dog Association will again be conducting programs during the school holidays this year. These programs are free of charge.

10 - 14 April (ages 10-12 years)

10 - 12 April (ages 5-9 years)

This program, designed for primary school children who are enthusiastic about developing independent mobility skills and understanding their environment better, will be conducted at the GDAV Centre in Kew.

3 - 7 July (secondary aged students)

This program will be conducted in Halls Gap and the Grampians area in order to provide an opportunity to develop and extend the students mobility skills in unfamiliar environments.

Further details are available by contacting Shelley Pannier at GDAV on (03) 9854 4444.

Blind and vision impaired students who are integrated into mainstream schools are invited to attend the following programs (see attached) being offered this year. The focus of these programs is to develop skills and knowledge in a variety of curriculum areas unique to the needs of vision impaired students. It also provides an opportunity for students to interact and network with their peers in a positive environment. The cost is $80. Details are available from Garry Stinchcombe on (03) 9808 6422.

Junior programs: year 4 - 8: March 7 - 10; August 8 - 11

Senior programs: year 7 - 12: April 17 - 20; September 26 - 29

The Vision Australia Foundation Member Newsletter of Autumn 2000 notes that Swanston Trams have produced large print timetables for people who travel to Melbourne University, the City, Prahran, St Kilda Beach and Footscray from the following areas: Malvern, East Malvern, Glen Iris, Toorak, St Kilda Beach, North and West Coburg, West Maribyrnong, Airport West, East Brighton, Carnegie, Camberwell, North Richmond and Moonee Ponds. The timetables are available from the Council office at Kooyong. Phone 9864 9271.

Here is a Voice Chat group which appeared on the vision impaired persons list (VIP-L) recently people may wish to try. It is necessary to have a microphone, I do not, so unfortunately was unable to try it myself. I would appreciate it if anyone who tries the chat group write a short piece about how they found it and I will include it in a future issue of this newsletter.

There is a new and very easy to use voice chat facility at http://www.outofsight.org.nz.

Just choose the voice chat link, enter the name that will be displayed on the screen to identify you, press the Chat button, and you're in a voice chat with blind people from all around the world.

You just hold down the F9 key to talk. The first time you visit the page, you will automatically download a small applet, but apart from that there is no special software to launch or anything like that. The chat is proving remarkably popular, particularly in the American evenings although it would be nice to see a few people in the southern hemisphere evenings to liven it up at that time.

Jonathan Mosen

mailto:jonathan@mosen.org

ICQ: 32257076

Phone: +64-21-4Mosen

Diabetic Retinopathy is what it is called what a stupid way to go blind, as it is not necessary for it to happen.

My name is Tania and I went blind two years ago through my diabetes and my life has not been the same since. It is not better, but not worse either, it is very different to my life and a lot more difficult, but this has made me see a lot more clearly than previously.

I went blind over a period of three months, very gradually and it was the hardest thing I have ever had to cope with. I was living with my boyfriend at the time and I withdrew into myself and did not even talk to him. I didn’t want him to touch me or even look at me, I had lost all self-confidence and all self-respect, and I was in a very dark hole.

I could not see past my own misery and anger, not see how much my boyfriend and my Mother were hurting as well.

This is a very hard time and it is extremely difficult to help other people when you are so consumed with anger and pain yourself, but I think the people that are closest to you hurt the most. My mother and boyfriend had to watch me go through eleven operations and had to sit by and watch it all happen, they couldn’t do anything except feel helpless. These two people that were the closest people in my life at the time copped it all from me, my anger, hurt, pain and hatred of what had happened to me. I can look back now and honestly say if it wasn’t for the support of Meryl, Adam, and my sister Chelsea I don’t think I would be here today. I really found out who my friends were, it upset me so much to find out that I didn’t have as many great friends as I thought I had, but that’s life I guess.

When something this tragic happens you have to go inside yourself and find the good that has come from the bad, I now know who loves and likes me truthfully. I have learnt many lessons that I would not have learnt, and so many new skills that I would not have otherwise learnt, I have stopped and smelt the roses and am thankful for everyday.

I believe that one day I will see again, it is just a matter of time. I will see you on the other side.

Tania May Withers

The World Blind Union (WBU) is the international voice of over 50-million blind and vision impaired people.

It has member organisations in virtually every country of the world. These members have their own regional groups for Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and the Caribbean, and East Asia and the Pacific.

Formed in 1984 through the union of the International Federation of the Blind and the World Council for the Welfare of the Blind, the WBU represents over a century of global cooperation on blindness issues - dating back to the first international conference on the subject in 1873 in Vienna.

Fundamental to all activities, is the commitment to securing equality of opportunity and full participation in society for all blind and vision impaired people

Over 80% of blind and visually impaired people live in developing countries - often in poverty, with little access to education and support services. Members of the WBU have an extensive range of international programs in these countries, covering rehabilitation, education, training, health care and income-generation.

The WBU's General Assembly meets every four years. Between Assemblies, its elected Officers are responsible for the direction of its international activities. The 5^th General Assembly is to be held in the Melbourne Town Hall during November this year. A series of events have been planned for this time, which include:

2^nd World Blind Women’s Forum Nov 16- 18

Management Symposium Nov 16 – 17

Technology Expo Nov 19 – 23

General Assembly Nov 20 – 24

It is expected that approx 350 will attend the Women’s forum and 800 to the General assembly. All Australians are most welcome. With the May issue of Blind Citizens News, information and registration forms will be distributed.