Welcome to Parent News for May 2001. The year seems to be rushing by, and families with students taking exams will be right in the swing of study and time-tables.

In this issue of Parent News, I have collected some information about events that you might like to put on your calendar, as well as information helpful to those wanting to stay in touch with current events in education. There are also articles about tertiary education for blind students, and the experiences of parents with vision-impairments.

As always, your comments and contributions are welcome. It’s been quite a while since I received any ideas or articles for this newsletter from children family members. Why not take some time to write about experiences of anything that might entertain or assist other families. Call me if you have any ideas for the newsletter that you would like to discuss. My contact details appear on the front page of this newsletter.

Remember, too, that Parent News is available in large print, e-mail, or on the web-page of Blind Citizens Australia. Let me know if you would like to receive it in any of these formats.

Happy Reading and Best Regards,

Helen Freris

Blind Citizens Australia

(Editor’s Note: The following information has been reprinted from the Bulletin 7, 2001, from the State Vision Resource Centre (SVRC)

Teaching Microsoft Word to Blind Students

From the Editor: We recently received the following announcement at BCA. Please contact the telephone number provided for more information. This sounds like a great activity for families.

THE ART OF DIFFERENCE FESTIVAL

A Celebration of Diversity

at

Gasworks Arts Park on 2 June 2001

A new arts event with a difference will showcase the visual and performing arts and celebrate the creativity of people with and without disabilities

The Festival will involve people with disabilities in:

• new works in music, dance, drama and visual arts,

• ongoing work by groups and organisations that support arts programs;

• audience participation;

• information about arts and disability.

Leading up to the festival there will also be:

• Arts Workshops and a Backstage Training Program for people with disabilities;

• a seminar for artists, recreation and disability workers who want to develop arts initiatives that involve people with disabilities.

There are opportunities for individuals and organisations to participate in the Festival in a number of ways. If you would like to be involved please contact Carey Lai on 9682 7290.

Please spread the word and make this festival a great day.

The Art of Difference Festival has been developed through extensive consultation with people with disabilities, recreation and arts organisations and artists, with continued input from: Gasworks Arts Inc.; City of Port Phillip Special Needs Art and Recreation Services; Joint Councils Access For All Abilities Program; Community Music Victoria; Club Wild; Leisure Action South East; Arts Access; Yooralla Society of Vic; Prahran Mission and VICSRAPID.

From the Editor: Here is some information regarding deaf-blindness in children, taken from the Bulletin.

Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children's website

From the Editor: Recently, the following message about a new web-site containing audio and on-line information links came to our office, from its creator, Bill Sparks. (Note: Where the term "adult" is used, it refers to music etc. appealing to an older age group.) Announcing a new database of audio links, newspapers and blindness related links. http://www.billsparks.org/

I've created a searchable LINKS database of over 2500 links. Included are over 2000 direct links to the audio files (also known as the "LISTEN" link) of on line radio stations and other audio sources. This saves time from having to search the station's home page to find the LISTEN link. My database contains the added value of being searchable by call letters, format, city, state, or search phrase. The database lets anyone submit a link for review. Another feature is the ability to rate links and see the ratings. You can also check to see which are the most popular (cool) links.

My main categories are:

Adult Contemporary

Adult Standards

Alternative Rock

Free Audio Players

Blindness related talk.

On line Resources for the Blind

Business Talk

Christian Music and Talk

Classic Rock

Classical Music

College Sports

College Stations

Country

Country Classics

Easy Listening Music

Jazz Stations

Miscellaneous Audio

News Talk

On line Newspapers

Oldies

Old time Radio Theatre

Police Scanner

Rock Top 40

Search Engines

Spanish stations

Sports Talk

Sports Web-sites

TV Stations

Travel

Urban Dance

Useful Links

Please visit www.billsparks.org and let me know what you think. (Vip-L, mailing list for blind/vision-impaired people, sponsored by Blind Citizens Australia)

In December 2000, the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs announced the Book Industry Assistance Plan for Grants to Primary School Libraries Program. The Program aims to provide financial assistance to libraries of Australian primary schools to assist with the acquisition of books of Australian authors or books produced in Australia. As it is a per capita program with no application process, the funds will be distributed on a school by school basis. The categories of books covered are

* printed and bound books, including large print

*audio books

* e-books

*braille books

(Braille update, March 2001: Australian Blindness Forum)

There is often discussion within families, schools and the media about the reading habits of children and young people. Recently, the Australian Centre for Youth Literature has produced a research report examining this issue. The key findings below are taken from their web-site Australian Centre for Youth Literature

YOUNG AUSTRALIANS READING:

From keen to reluctant readers a major new report from the Australian Centre for Youth Literature and the Australia Council

• Do keen readers in primary school become increasingly reluctant to read as they progress through secondary school?

• Is the media correct in its assumptions that most teenagers don't want to read - and that 'the book is dead'?

• What are the barriers that prevent young people from reading?

• Does our culture, with its emphasis on new technology, sport and entertainment, contribute to perceptions among young people, particularly males, that it is 'uncool' to be a reader?

These are some of the questions addressed in a national research project that investigated the reading habits and preferences of young Australians between the ages of ten and eighteen. The project was undertaken in 2000 by the Australian Centre for Youth Literature and the Australia Council's Audience and Market Development Division, and the research was carried out by Sydney based Woolcott Research Pty Ltd. Some key findings from the research were:

• 74% of all 10-18 year olds claim to like reading to some extent

• 76% of primary and 46% of secondary students read 'every few days'

• 64% would like to read more

• 56% of primary and 78% of secondary students found required reading at school 'boring'

• girls are more likely to say they enjoy reading than boys (86% vs 70%)

• fewer than 20% of the target group consider their school or public libraries inviting or able to meet their recreational reading needs

The research, findings and recommendations detailed in the Young Australians Reading report will be of interest and benefit to a wide range of people, particularly

policy makers, teachers, school and public librarians, parents, publishers and booksellers.

The full report is available on line at

or can be purchased in hard copy from the ACYL at the State Library of Victoria.

Australian Centre for Youth Literature, State Library of Victoria, 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne 3000

Telephone (03) 9669 9796 Facsimile (03) 9669 9995

Note: This web-site, and the web-site where the report is contained are both accessible to anyone using a screen-reader. The report is in PDF format, which means that Adobe Acrobat Reader is required in order to access it, as well as the accessibility plug-in if you are using a screen-reader. Please follow the down-load instructions on the Australia Council web-site.

Currently, the order Form to purchase the report from the Australian Council for Youth Literature appears as a printable image, rather than text which can be accessed by a screen-reader.)

Of course, for children with vision-impairments, the issue is not just whether they enjoy reading, but whether there is enough interesting and challenging reading material in accessible formats. I would be interested gearing from parents and children about their experiences of reading, and the availability of suitable reading material.

From the Editor:

The Victorian state budget was handed down on 15 May 2001. The budget contains details of recurrent funding to various services to assist people with disabilities and their families, as well as a few increases in funding to expand programs such as the Futures for Young Adults Program. There are also initiatives to boost learning outcomes for school-age children. There is considerable information about the State Budget available from government departments and on Victorian Government web-sites. Families may be interested in obtaining budget overviews from the Department of Human Services and the Departments of Employment Education and Training. Budget papers on the web are only available in PDF format.

From the Editor:

School life for children and families is filled with challenges and situations that force us to confront difficult issues. Unfortunately, not all these challenges are positive experiences built in to the curriculum. In particular, bullying in schools has received much attention as a factor contributing to children’s unhappiness at school, and feelings of low self-esteem.

Vision-impairment is not, on its own, a predictor of a Child’s being bullied. However, it can mean that a child has attention drawn to any differences they have in participation in school life.

The Royal National Institute for the Blind in the United Kingdom has developed a new web-site aimed at young people from 10 to 18 years. This site provides extensive information about bullying, with the needs of vision-impaired people in mind. It is written in a style that is straightforward and child-focused, and gives helpful information about:

What is bullying;

Why does bullying happen;

What can be done about it;

Who can offer help and support.

Importantly, the site talks about ways in which children can be active in their attempts to minimise the impact of bullying, and stop the behaviour. Although the support organisations mentioned are based in the United Kingdom, the web addresses given provide information that can be used internationally. Children are encouraged to access these web-sites themselves or with parents or teachers, and they all work well with assistive technology.

There has been considerable attention given to bullying within Australian schools, and various resources exist to provide information to children, parents and school communities grappling with this issue. Here are a few Australian web-sites which families and schools might find useful. Web-site resources have been chosen due to their accessibility to both blind and sighted individuals.

This is the web-site of a group of educational consultants specialising in the delivering of anti-bullying training programs for children, parents and schools. It also contains useful strategies for families and schools in the identification and management of bullying behaviour.

This American web-site promotes a self-help book written by the web-site owners, as well as providing articles giving advice to children and families experiencing school bullying. Statistics and statements reflect situations in American schools.

This is a site from the UK, taking a long-term view of anti-bullying solutions, and critiqueing traditional responses in UK schools. It also prides links to information and support resources.

This is a site from New Zealand offering information and guidelines to parents, children and schools. The telephone number given is a New Zealand number.

This is a site promoting the anti-bullying multimedia products of a Canadian company, as well as providing basic information and strategies.

By Sean Tyrell

(Editor’s Note: Sean Tyrell is the Tertiary Education Consultant at the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind. In the article below, he shares some useful advice for children and families who are thinking about accessing tertiary education.

The transition from school to University or TAFE is an exciting and challenging time for anyone, but there are some issues peculiar to tertiary study as a vision impaired person that schoolies should be thinking about now.

Success at tertiary level is a function of careful planning, and unlike secondary school the responsibility falls to the student to get everything organised. This is not to say that support is not available; it is, but in order to access it a student needs to take the initiative. Any vision impaired first year who simply turns up to class thinking that all will be prepared is in for a rude shock, and can expect to have a miserable time of it until he or she has done the work to get the support and accommodations needed in place.

Part of the problem is that offers for a place in a course come out in mid-January, which doesn't leave enough time to choose subjects, organise readings in alternative formats, do O&M training, and negotiate agreements with teaching staff that will enable full participation in class.

There are a number of simple steps that a student, his or her family, and VTs can take to avoid problems, and to help make the University or TAFE experience what it really ought to be - namely, a better time than anyone stuck in high school could ever imagine having. First, a student can make contact with me in my role as Education Consultant at RVIB. It’s my job to explain what tertiary study viewed from a vision impaired perspective is like, and to give information to students about what they need to do in order to make the experience a positive one.

Each summer we run Kickstart, an intensive program that aims to provide the skills, information and resources that can assist school leavers to make a success of further education. Many of the 2001 participants have identified this program as the most valuable part of their preparations.

Second, students can get in touch with the Disability Liaison Officer at their preferred tertiary institution well before they receive an offer in January. All TAFEs and Universities have a person like this, and their role is to coordinate the support that a student needs in order to participate fully in their chosen course.

Third, a schoolie can ask their VT or RVIB Education Consultant to put them in touch with someone who has been through the experience of commencing tertiary study in 2001. There is no real substitute for experience for most things in life, and the lessons learned by those that have gone before ought to be treated as a valuable resource that can and should be exploited.

None of this is intended to put anyone off further education; indeed, since the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act in March 1993 and the emergence of the new information technologies the lot of the blind University student has improved beyond belief. But having noted this, the most important point to drive home is, as a tertiary student a person is viewed as an adult, and as such will be expected to assume responsibility for making the most of his or her opportunity.

In between classes at Melbourne Uni Sean Tyrell works three days a week as RVIB Education Consultant. He can be contacted by phone on 9520 5532 or by e-mail to tyrelse@rvib.org.au

(Editor’s Note: The article below has been reprinted from Blind Citizens News February 2001, with the permission of its author, Lynne Davis. It describes the issues confronting parents with disabilities as they deal with a school system geared to non-disabled parents, and the impact this has on families. As Lynne states in her article, the intention of her story is not to discourage parenting by anyone with a disability, but to generate discussion about the way schools cater to a diverse community of families and students.)

BLIND PARENTS AND SCHOOLING

Lynne Davis

My career as a parent has closely parallelled my career as a blind person. When my son was born, 22 years ago, my only vision problem was slight night blindness. By the time my daughter was born eight years later, things had changed a little on the vision front and I was experiencing problems with my peripheral vision. These days, I'm almost totally blind. Interesting, you might say, but what exactly does all this have to do with schooling?

Looking back over my career as a parent, I can identify many instances of frustration and sadness that are associated in my mind with the fact of my increasing blindness. And possibly none are more central to my feelings about myself as a parent than those which concern my children's schooling. I write these words knowing that there will be many blind parents who do not share these feelings. I write from the perspective of one whose journey into blindness has taken a long time, involved a great amount of new learning and redefinition of the self, and who for a long time lacked the confidence to 'come out' as a blind person and simply get on with living. I think that at least a part of the reason may lie in the fact that I never saw other people addressing these issues, nor did I hear any discussion about them. When people talk about schooling and disability, almost without exception they are talking about schooling for children with disabilities. And when parents come into this discussion (as they do), it is always as the parents OF children with disabilities. No one talks about parents WITH disabilities, and the challenges which schooling poses for them. So, by describing a few of the issues which I've found difficult as a blind parent, I hope to open up this topic as an area for discussion, advocacy and peer support.

Under this heading I put all the formal aspects of classroom learning, including homework. Much of this is highly visual. My daughter's secondary schooling has coincided with my own loss of reading vision, and this has been very problematic. I can't, for example, read the texts she is studying in English (as I did with my son) in order to discuss them with her - should she ever be interested in hearing my views! Some of these texts might be available from blindness agencies, if they've been transcribed for other students or as part of the general collection. So maybe what I'll need to do is contact her school before the year begins, make contact with her teachers (identity as yet unknown), and get from them a list of the texts they intend to use. Then I might be able to obtain readable copies from one of the blindness agencies. Perhaps the English problem will be solved in part - with the application of some time and organisation. Some of the other subjects pose more intractable problems. Maths, for instance. It's very difficult to read and work on maths problems, especially when trying to show someone else what to do, without access to the textbooks, or in an entirely aural medium.

I could go on, but I think I've made the point. I know (from earlier work done by BCA on the cost of blindness) that some blind parents have attempted to solve these problems by employing tutors for specific subjects, or by hiring someone to supervise their children's homework. I don't know whether people using these strategies have found them satisfactory, but it does seem to me that they leave the parents relatively uninformed about and uninvolved in their children's schooling, as well as being expensive to implement.

Most schools rely on a level of parental input in the form of voluntary labour. The precise form which this takes varies from system to system, and from school to school, but includes such activities as working in school canteens, classroom assistance with reading programmes, publication of school newsletters, working bees of various kinds, fundraising activities, and participating in P & C committees and school councils. Most activities are advertised in print - usually small print on coloured paper, often with busy illustrations. P & C meetings are held at night, usually on school premises. Getting there, getting around, and getting away are difficult without a car. Taking on office-bearer roles such as Secretary and Treasurer is difficult in an unfunded body dealing largely with printed communications.

I couldn't volunteer to work in the school canteens because my employment prevented me from taking on this commitment - much to my relief! I wasn't sure what useful tasks I would be able to perform there. At the stage where I still had some reading vision, I volunteered for work repairing books in the school library and hearing children's reading. These tasks could be done in a predictable environment, without high noise and movement levels, and they worked well. But at times I yearned for the kinds of contact that I saw other parents making - with the school, with their children's peers, and with each other. Possibly the activity which symbolised this contact most potently was 'the school excursion'. Every now and then, a note would come home requesting volunteers to help the teacher with an excursion. The help required was mostly of two kinds: driving groups of children to various locations, and assisting the teacher to supervise them in their exploration of these locations. This, I perceived, was an excellent way of making all the contacts referred to above - but I never felt confident that I could contribute in these ways.

I also envied the ease and apparent casualness with which other parents drove their offspring around - to and from school, to extracurricular activities after school and on the weekends, to their classmates' birthday parties, or just to visit school friends at home. And I felt that my children were constrained by my inability to do these things.

My children attended after-school care in the early years of their schooling. On the days when it was my turn to collect them I would leave work in the late afternoon, catch a bus and then walk about a mile to the after-school centre. There I would gather up a motley collection of school books, bits of clothing, the day's artwork, and so on, pack it, and set off for home - another mile on foot, with a tired and hungry child. I did really envy the parents who drove up to collect their kids, promising them a trip to the swimming pool, a visit to Gran's, or a quick pizza on the way home.

I'm extremely conscious, as I write this, that there are ways of doing almost everything I've described as a problem, and that some people will have done most of them. I suppose what emerges from this story are two principal points. The first concerns the particular needs of parents who experience vision loss later in life, and who lack both specific blindness skills and the confidence that they can perform most of the requisite activities of daily life, albeit in a different way. Often, people in this situation are both reluctant to acknowledge their vision impaired status and are not perceived as such by others - which has the effect of furthering their isolation and lack of confidence. I think my story illustrates this point.

The second point is that there is a lot of extra work and planning involved in being a blind parent who wants to participate in their children's schooling - something, incidentally, which is taken for granted by most parents. Some of this extra load is probably inevitable. A great deal, though, could be alleviated - by more disability-aware schools, by peer support and advocacy, and by blindness services more attuned to the needs of blind and vision impaired parents.