Blind Citizens Australia

Parent News December 2000

Editorial

Hello Everyone,

It only seemed like yesterday that we were all celebrating the arrival of the year 2000, and worrying about how our electronic devices could cope with the change of date. Another school year is almost at an end. I’m sure that students, their families and teachers are looking forward to a break after so much hard work during the year.

This issue of Parent News contains some important dates of activities happening over the school holidays, as well as some interesting things happening next year. Just to keep you thinking about the coming school year ahead, I have included articles about changes to some blindness services, and possible ways in which you as families can become better informed about issues of education. I always welcome any suggestions, comments and contributions for this newsletter, whether favourable or critical. This newsletter is your forum to share information and ideas about issues concerning families of children who are blind or vision-impaired. The more ideas and contributions I receive, the more useful and representative this newsletter can be for you.

Blind Citizens Australia A.C.N. 006 985 226 Donations are Tax Deductible

I wish all of you the best for the coming festive season and New Year, and I look forward to communicating with you through Parent News again in 2001.

Helen Freris

Victorian Information and Advocacy Officer

Blind Citizens Australia

What’s Happening

BRAILLE GAMES NIGHT

Please join us for nibbles, drink and a game of braille scrabble, card games or perhaps braille monopoly. Most braille games also have print, so you do not need to be a braille user to play.

Please come and socialise with other ABA members and others.

WHEN: 14^TH December 2000

TIME: 6 pm

WHERE: BCA Meeting Room 87 High Street Prahran

WHY: good company, fun and a chance to brush up on your braille skills and besides, Christmas won't be far off by then either.

(SVRC Bulletin, 19-2000)

Audio Descriptions: Melbourne Theatre Company Productions

On the following dates performances will provide audio descriptions:

‘Man the Balloon’ – Saturday 20^th January 4 pm and Monday 22^nd January 6.30 pm

‘Art’ – Saturday 17^th February 4 pm and Monday 19^th February 6.30 pm

‘Betrayal’ – Saturday 17^th March 4 pm and Monday 19^th March 6.30 pm

‘Design for Living’ – Saturday 7^th April 4 pm and Monday 9^th April 6.30pm

‘The Tempest’ – Saturday 26^th May 4pm and Monday 28^th May 6.30pm

‘Three Days of Rain’ – Saturday 23^rd June 4pm and Monday 18^th June 6.30pm

The SVRC (State Vision Resource Centre) has an EASE membership which is available for use by Visiting Teachers and their students – contact Deb Lewis. Book through the EASE ticket service on 9699 8497 and notify EASE staff of any particular seating requirements at the time of booking. Book early to avoid missing out.

(SVRC Bulletin, 18-2000)

‘In the Drivers’ Seat’

Does your legally blind student want the opportunity to drive a car at Sandown Motor Circuit? The annual ‘In the Drivers’ Seat’ event, sponsored by Lions Club will again be held on Sunday March 18, 2001. It sounds like it will be quite a day with a free BBQ all day, free tea and coffee, vintage cars, motor bikes and the Royal Australian Army Band.

Call Peter Watts on 9844 3903 and listen to the recorded message. You will be asked to nominate a preferred time and leave your details including:

• name
• address and postcode
• phone number

If there are no times available when you call, you may be put on a waiting list and notified at a later date.

You can come for a while or all day – participants can also take a motorbike ride (pillion) from 12 noon.

NILS: the new Library Service for Blind and Vision-Impaired Consumers

By Helen Freris

You may have heard about new developments in library services at the RVIB in the last few months, and in particular, the creation of NILS. The issue of library services touches the lives of most vision-impaired people and their families, because libraries are the means by which most of us access information at some time in our lives. For this reason, I interviewed, Jane Evans, the General Manager of NILS, or the National Information and Library Service, and asked her about issues especially relevant to students and families.

Editor: What is NILS?

Jane: NILS is a joint venture not-for-profit company, set up by RVIB in Victoria and RBS in New South Wales to merge their library and transcription functions to create a national service. The bulk of NILS’ clients would come from Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

Editor: What will this mean for users?

Jane: Immediately, the joint venture will mean no change, other than the lending library selection being much larger. There will be an additional 3000 talking books available after the coming together of the two collections, and obviously there will be an increase in the size of the braille collection as well.

Editor: What can families expect from the service?

Jane: Regarding families, we are aware that there are different client groups which we serve in our client base. In the New Year, we intend to start a process of segmenting the different groups, and gathering information as to their particular needs. Perhaps the important thing to underline is that NILS certainly appreciates the importance of braille as a literacy medium for children in primary and secondary education, and the RVIB collection has quite a good collection for the younger reader which obviously is already available. We need to understand how we can expand on the services we provide for the younger reader, and to do that in an economic way as well as in a way that services clients. We have an interesting management task to satisfy the needs of different groups with limited resources.

Editor: Is there a collection development policy regarding material for young people?

Jane: There is not a specific policy about material for young people. We are developing a new collection development policy now, and injecting the needs of young people will be part of that process. One of the other challenges we face is not necessarily seeing ourselves as the producer of all this library material, and one of the goals NILS has is to become a gateway to electronic access to material. This will be established over some years, but particularly for our young people who have grown up with computers and adaptive technology, more material will become available digitally. One of the things NILS can do is to source and provide a gateway to that information.

Editor: How will requests for new production for young people be made?

Jane: The Same process for requesting still applies, through visiting teachers or the client liaison team at the library. The request for material will be processed, and passed to the materials production department. A process is followed to produce the material in the format requested. If we can find ways to produce braille on delivery, rather than the resource-using way of producing braille at the library itself, this will also be explored. For example, material might be able to be sent to schools, so that production work can be transferred to the school in a feasible and economic way. This saves time. This is a concept which needs to be tested, and will entail cooperative work with schools, because we don’t have the resources to produce all the material requested at the times it is required. Exploring other options may mean that NILS can assist students to get more of their requests when they want them. The demand for service will grow rather than decline, and unless we can find ways of being economic of cost, labour and time, we will not be able to meet that increasing demand.

Editor: How will priorities for the production of materials for young people be set?

Jane: I can’t give you a real policy statement on priority setting now, but it is one of the things we need to review. It will always be a balancing act. We will do our best to meet the priorities as much as we are able to do. An advantage of segmenting the client base and getting to understand their requirements is that we open up a dialogue, for people to understand our situation as well. If we have understanding on both sides, we can work together towards outcomes that everyone is comfortable with. It may not be the ideal, but we can work towards the most achievable situation.

Editor: what guarantees exist to ensure that student productions meet recognised standards, and are produced in a timely manner?

Jane: In terms of resource management, we need to maintain the recognised production standards to ensure that our product is of a high standard. We must be constantly monitoring developments in software which will help us to produce more quickly, and accurately what is required. We may arrive at a situation where a transcriber’s work is of a high enough standard for example, that proof-reading can be avoided due to a recognised low record of inaccuracy. If we can produce something more quickly without proof-reading, and the reputation of the transcriber is high, there may be an understanding within the client group that this is acceptable. We don’t have to do the same thing in every instance. Certainly the Round Table Standards are being used now, and we don’t want to see a diminution in those levels of standards in terms of our productions. For Example, we have collaborated with Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind to partner with them as a best practice partner, so we can learn from each other across the library function. We are looking to see that production facilities in both sites (Melbourne and Sydney) are of a high standard. People need to be aware that time will be needed to work through these developments.

Editor: What systems are in place for parents and young people to have input into library services?

Jane: One of the things I would like to set up in the New Year is a special interest group. While we’re calling it a group, I want to ensure that the group is representative of all the constituencies the library services. We will invite people to participate in that group to provide us with the feedback that we need. We are on a learning curve, so we will learn as we go in terms of how effective we can be in providing this feedback mechanism. We have called one of our departments Customer Relations Management. This was deliberate in that we want to manage that relationship with clients, learn about their needs and requirements over time and respond as far as we are able. In the New Year, I will produce information and advertise the proposed interest group extensively through available media to advise clients that this is being established, and invite people to become members. We need to set up infrastructure so this can progress, and that the process is ready, for example, meeting arrangements, communication means, and ideas of issues to be covered.

Editor: Where can families direct any questions about NILS?

Jane: The best thing to do is to call the Reader Services staff in Prahran on the current library number, or the reader advisors at RBS. Telephone numbers for both sites will change in time, but we will advise clients of this in the New Year.

(Editor’s Note: The telephone number for the library in Victoria is 9521-3400 or 1800-33-55-88.)

By Helen Freris

During my time at BCA, I have had several discussions with parents of vision-impaired children who have expressed concerns about such issues as: the need for parent advocacy, confusion about the different services available to children, and the best way in which parents and children can represent their views to service providers. With this in mind, I am proposing to hold a forum for parents in the New Year, depending on how much interest and response I receive from families. Possible sessions at this forum could include:

• Getting the most from a PSG meeting;
• The Role of Parent Advocacy;
• What services can families of blind children access?

I would like to hear from any interested parents or others who would be interested in such a forum. Please feel free to contact me with suggestions for topics which could be covered, or even if you are just interested in coming along. Any feedback or comments are welcome. My contact details appear at the front of this newsletter.

As you can imagine, the time and effort needed to organise an effective forum is considerable, and this event can only be run if there is sufficient interest from families and others wishing to attend/contribute. For this reason, I have set a cut-off date of 1 March 2001 to receive expressions of interest or comments and ideas. If, by this date, I have not received sufficient indications of interest, a Families Forum will not be run. So, please get in touch with me at BCA if you have any interest in either attending, or contributing to a forum for families of children who are blind/vision-impaired, and I will take your suggestions on board.

New E-mail List

Editor’s Note:

Recently, the following message appeared on VIP-L, the BCA-sponsored e-mail list on blindness and vision-impairment issues. Please direct all enquiries to the moderator of the new list.

Welcome to home-world, a list for people with autism, autistic spectrum disorders plus visual impairments. This is a place for relatives, friends, care-givers, professionals and anyone interested in the subject. It shall be a safe place where confidences will be respected and nothing dealing with autism is off limits. No pictures or attachments please.

Mariano and Maria.

Reply-To: "Richelle, Maria" < rishie@ozemail.com.au. If anyone is interested. send a blank e-mail to

Editor’s Note: This announcement came to BCA regarding a web-site which may be of interest. Much of the information it contains pertains to American resources and services, but it has some relevant information for blind people and families everywhere.

Vision World Wide, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, announces its newly redesigned web site at: http://www.visionww.org/

Vision World Wide serves the blind and visually impaired through:

1. its quarterly magazine "Vision Enhancement" available in Large Print, 2-track audio cassette, and floppy disk with both plain text and braille output files. Subscription: $20/year US.

2. its telephone helpline at 317-254-1332

3. its website with:

1. Links to the major suppliers of aids and technology to people with partial or total vision loss.
2. Library with links to free on-line audio books, on-line radio stations, newspapers, and e-texts.
3. Bookstore with links to large print, braille, and audio publications, plus books for sighted care providers.
4. Tips for everyday living with vision loss.
5. Samples of the journal on-line.
6. Medical articles on diseases, conditions and treatments.

Vision World Wide serves:

*Vision Impaired Consumers & Their Family *Administrative Heads of Agencies & Schools Serving *Blind and Visually Impaired Persons *Rehabilitation Teachers and Counsellors *Teachers in the Public & Private Sector Social Workers *Orientation & Mobility Specialists *Legislators *Corporate Affirmative Action and Personnel Managers *Researchers *Ophthalmologists *Optometrists *Hospitals, General Medical Clinics, Low Vision Clinics *Occupational Therapists *University Professors *Libraries - Private, Public and National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped *Architects *Students *Technology Specialists *Free Software

Editor’s Note:

The following message came to BCA via Vip-L. Please direct all enquiries to Pulse-Data.

Zoomtext v.7.05 has recently been released and it is free to registered users of v.7.x.

Download your update today from: www.aisquared.com

Registered users of Zoomtext v.6.x or earlier can contact me for upgrade pricing.

Best regards

Anthony Kirk Solutions/Sales Pulse Data Australia Ph: (020 9686 2600

Access to Free Information from the Yellow Pages

Editor’s Note: The following announcement has been sent to our office by Telstra, outlining their new service to provide free access to the Yellow Pages. This is a great way for people with vision-impairments to independently access information without running up the phone bill. Please direct any questions to Telstra on the telephone number provided at the end of the message.

As of 20 November 2000, registered users of the Directory Assistance help-Line will also now have free connection to a Yellow Pages® Connect Consumer Adviser when required. This free service provides specific information only found in the Yellow Pages® directory. The adviser will be able to provide a business referral service for Helpline users wishing to find a supplier or service whenever they do not have a specific business in mind. A consumer can, for instance, request a florist in Clifton Hill that delivers and takes VISA. They can also enquire about the business’s hours of operation. The information provided by Yellow Pages® Connect service will be free of charge to Helpline users. However, this free service will not include connection of callers to relevant businesses, and will focus on the search and number provision only. Customers wishing to use the standard Yellow Pages® Connect service (to be connected through to the business of their choice) should call Yellow Pages Connect (12451) directly. A standard Yellow Pages ® Connect surcharge will apply.

If you require further information about the operation of the Helpline, please telephone

• Telstra Consumer Relations: FREECALL*Ô 1800 804 591 (TTY only: 1800 671 880).
• Telstra Disability Enquiry Hotline: FREECALL*Ô 1800 068 424 (TTY only: 1800 808 981)

There are many ways that Windows operating software can be altered to improve visibility for people with a visual impairment.

Ensuring that your screen resolution is no higher than 800x600 is a good starting point - at this setting, text and pictures will be larger than at higher resolutions. You should probably not select a lower resolution than this, however - with versions of Windows any later than 3.x, choosing 640x480 resolution for example can cause problems with portions of more complex screens disappearing off the side of the screen.

To change the display settings, pull up the Windows ‘Start’ menu and select Settings and then Control Panel. Next double-click on the Display icon and find the Settings tab to make the necessary changes.

It is also possible to increase the size, and change the colour, of the mouse pointer icon, or change the shape of the icon from the standard arrow to various other shapes.

Go to the control panel window as above, then open the Mouse box by double clicking on the Mouse icon or moving to the icon with the arrow keys and pressing Enter. Bring the Pointers page to the front by clicking on the tab or pressing Control+Tab.

You can now use the arrow keys to move up and down through the standard pointer schemes. There is one called ‘Windows Standard Large’. You may or may not see ‘Windows Standard Extra Large’ depending on your installation. If you do not, AbilityNet can supply the necessary software (see contact details at the end).

The ‘Windows Standard Inverted’ schemes make the pointer white over a black background and black over a white background.

The mouse pointer changes shape when it is over different objects. For example, when it is over the document window it is a thin ‘I-beam’ that might be difficult to see. It is possible to assign a more visible shape, such as the arrow, to make the pointer easier to see at these times. The Large and Extra Large pointer schemes have the larger arrow assigned to all instances where pointers are more difficult to see.

Another visibility enhancement option is to change the colour schemes used within Windows. Open the Control Panel as before and then open the Accessibility panel by double clicking or moving the highlight with the arrow keys and pressing Enter. Bring the Display page to the front by clicking on the tab or pressing Control+Tab twice.

Now click the check box next to "Use high contrast" or tab once and press the spacebar for the same result.

Click on the High Contrast Settings button or tab again and press spacebar.  A dialog box appears that allows you to choose the high contrast colour scheme of your choice. These are predominantly white text on a black background or black text on a white background. Click on your choice or tab once and arrow up and down.

To increase the sizes of fonts used by Windows 95 or later versions in menus, buttons and some dialogue and message boxes choose the Custom option and tab again to the box in which you can arrow through schemes that include the words ‘large’ or ‘extra large’ next to them which indicate that they will affect the size of the text.

The one that might be considered to offer the best support for many visually impaired people is ‘High Contrast Black Extra Large’. These colour schemes can also be used as a starting point for your preferred combination of colours and text sizes. Each screen element may be changed and the new colour scheme saved under a new name.

To customise the colour schemes, open the Control Panel as before and then open the Display item by double clicking or moving the highlight with the arrow keys and pressing Enter. Bring the Appearance page to the front by clicking on the tab or pressing Control+Tab twice.

To change to a new pre-set scheme, click the mouse on the ‘colour scheme’ box and press the up and down arrow keys. When the snapshot looks good press the enter key to select it. Some of these ‘High Contrast’ schemes include contrasting colours and larger fonts.

To create an entirely new colour scheme, first select one of the pre-defined schemes as a basis for your own as above. Choose the item you wish to change by clicking on a particular element in the snapshot window or by Tabbing three times to and moving up and down through the ‘Item’ box below it with the arrow keys.

You can change the foreground (text) and background colours of each item by clicking on the coloured block (bottom right) or pressing Tab until highlighted the block is highlighted and pressing Enter. A colour palette will appear and you can click on or arrow around and press Enter on the desired colour.

To save changes click or Tab to and press Enter on the ‘Save As’ button, give it a name and press Enter.

Windows 98 also has a utility that can enlarge part of the screen. If it is not to be found in the Start menu, under Programs, ‘Accessories’, ‘Accessibility’ and ‘Magnifier’ then it will need to be installed from your Windows CD.

When running there appears at the top of the screen a window that shows a magnified area of the lower screen. It will follow whatever is moving (although there are bugs that mean that it won’t track as you type in Word 97 and perhaps other packages too). Whenever the mouse is moved it will follow the pointer to include that part of the screen in the magnified window.

Microsoft’s magnifier is really only useful as a backup for those who can see the larger of the fonts in the ‘High Contrast’ colour schemes but who have difficulty reading certain dialogue boxes that are unaffected by the larger font changes.

Accessing ‘The Age’ newspaper on the Web

(SVRC Bulletin, 19-2000)

(SVRC Bulletin - 18-2000)

• Conductive Education Website

(SVRC Bulletin, 19-2000)

Special School Kits.

Editor’s Note: The following item has been copied from the State Vision Resource Centre’s No. 19 Bulletin. Please contact them directly for further information.)

VT’s in the Eastern Region have put together a number of kits of items designed to catch the interest of multi-impaired students. They have added a range of information leaflets in a display book to have on hand visiting specialist school. Topics such as tactile defensiveness, the use of meletonin to aid sleep, Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) and age appropriate activities are just some of those easily at hand.

(SVRC Bulletin, 19-2000)

School Holiday Fun Ideas

Internet Audio

The Radio Information Service of Pittsburgh has netcast its programming for nearly a year and has recently installed a DSL connection. Shows are digitally recorded and we have converted many shows to mp3 format and are making archives available on our web page.

Many shows are available prior to being broadcast so maybe these should be called advanced archives.

Presently 135 shows are available and these cover a wide range of subjects. We plan to add even more material and will include recorded books.

We invite you to visit http://www.ReadingService.org/shows/ and give

RIS distributes its program guide and other program updates via an e-mail list. You may join with a message to ris-on-mic-subscribe@egroups.com

Some RIS netcast will be limited to the blind and print impaired and will require a password. You may phone or e-mail RIS to get a user name and password.

RIS 2100 Wharton Street Pittsburgh, PA 15203

Web Sites that Suck!

Here is a typically colourful quote from Ten-20.com: "Business is not all about profit and loss, business is all about people, and people matter. Get the people factor right and you are half way to a successful business. What really gets my goat is when this profit factor is disguised and commercial companies try to give the impression they are just there for the greater good of mankind".

(SVRC Bulletin, 18-2000)

However, life isn’t all computers.

Many of you may know that most local Councils run activity programs for children during school holidays. These programs can be a great way for children with and without disabilities to enjoy a range of indoor and outdoor recreational activities. Often, councils provide specific support to children with disabilities to ensure their equal participation and enjoyment of the activities. Councils can sometimes also make support arrangements if families contact them a few weeks before the commencement of the program, stating the support needs of their children.

Local councils vary in the types of holiday programs they run, and the arrangements for booking. If your family are interested in accessing a local holiday program, the best thing to do is to make contact with the Children’s Services Resource and Development Officer at your local council. They can provide you with information relevant to your local area, and explain the booking process to you. Feel free to discuss any support needs your child may have. In this way, you will be ensuring your child gets the best from the program, and raising awareness of the needs of children with vision and/or other disabilities.

Summer Holiday O&M Program: ‘City Limits’

When: 8 - 12 January 2001

The Guide Dog Association of Victoria (GDAV) is offering a program exclusively for secondary school students with a vision impairment. The program for January 2001 has been designed for students who are keen to extend their independent mobility goals to the city of Melbourne.

Program Content:

This one week program will combine Orientation & Mobility sessions in the Melbourne Central Business District with fun recreational afternoons and evenings. The program will focus on learning to find your way around the CBD, recognising major landmarks, using public transport, and gaining road crossing tips for busy city streets.  This week would be particularly beneficial for those students considering employment or tertiary education (eg RMIT or Melbourne University) based in the city.

Closing Date for referrals is 8th December 2000

If you require further information or would like to make a referral then please do not hesitate to contact Shelley Pannier on 03 9854 4439.(SVRC Bulletin, 18-2000)

Basketball - Buy a mini basketball ring with suction cups from a $2 shop. Securely tie bells to the edge and / or the net. Students need to locate the ball visually before reaching for it. Modify the game according to disabilities and the level of vision.

Balloons - Suspend a balloon of an appropriate colour and size from the ceiling or from a tree branch. Students can hit the balloon with a newspaper rolled up and placed inside an old stocking.

Modified Ball Games - Many ball games can be modified. Practice tennis balls with a bell can be suspended and hit. Some students can enjoy bats with balls attached with elastic.

Board Games - Make an individual board game using commands relevant to the student (See example). Use Velcro to attach the counters. Use an extra large dice with high contrast dots.

Dominoes - Use the photocopier to enlarge dominoes. Mount on cardboard and attach Velcro so that the game can be used on a felt board and / or a slant board to bring the game up close.

Playing Cards - Purchase 2 packs of large print playing cards. Keep 1 pack for regular games. Place tiny pieces of Velcro on the other set so they can be used on a felt board.

More Products to Catch the Attention of Multi-impaired Students

(svrc Bulletin, 19-2000)

Good News for the New Year

Editor’s Note: Here is an announcement we have received at BCA. More information will be presented in Parent News as it arrives.

"Ministers (for Transport) endorsed the implementation of national reciprocal arrangements for use of the Blind Travel Pass in all States and Territories from 1 January 2001, including the introduction of a uniform card.

These arrangements will entitle all holders of the Blind Travel Pass to all benefits that would normally apply to residents of the host jurisdiction, thereby providing opportunities for enhancing the mobility of vision impaired persons."

Additional information should become available through the transport authorities in the States and Territories.