It gives us great pleasure to let you know that our President, John Simpson has today been appointed as a member of the Order of Australia (AM.) The award recognises John’s outstanding service to Australians who are blind or vision impaired. Many of you will already be aware of the extraordinary contribution John continues to make to our organisation as President and previously as Vice-President, as a Director and as a volunteer in a broad range of capacities.

Beyond BCA, John’s commitment to ensuring people who are blind or vision impaired have information in accessible formats has been relentless and unwavering. John has devoted much of his life to information access, prosecuting the case that blindness is primarily an information disability.

Through his family business, Information Alternatives, John, his wife Christine and his son Dale, have been at the forefront of audio production and braille transcription for over 35 years, setting a consistently high standard for others to follow. His work with the RPH network over many years has brought information to life for people with print disability through radio. A passionate advocate for Audio Description, John has trained audio describers, authored research reports and met with countless theatre producers and politicians to convince them of the importance of Audio Description to make television, cinema and live theatre accessible.

Beyond information access, John has demonstrated a strong commitment to identifying and supporting people who are blind or vision impaired to take on leadership roles within BCA and beyond. You can hear more about John’s achievements on this episode of New Horizons.

John, on behalf of Blind Citizens Australia members, board and staff, congratulations on this well-deserved recognition and thank you for all you have done and continue to do to improve the lives of Australians who are blind or vision impaired.

2020 Australian Honours and Awards