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Member Update

Wednesday 13th October 

BCA Announcements

CEO Update 

This week Emma Bennison thanks the BCA community for the well wishes after her resignation, and gives a reminder to all about our upcoming AGM and the current positions available on the board. Also a reminder that Friday is White Cane Day as well as the BCA Awards night.  

View the video on: 

Policy and Advocacy Update

Thank you to all members who attended our BCA Happy Hour last Thursday, we discussed feedback from a number of members in relation to Covid-19 vaccinations, QR codes, information access and vaccine appointments. If you didn’t get a chance to make the event but still have feedback on these issues please email: jackson.reynolds-ryan@bca.org.au
 

BCA Happy Hour 
Thursday 14th October 7:30pm AEDT 

Matthew Clayton CEO of Blind Sports Australia joins Tim Haggis to highlight the accomplishments of our blind and vision impaired athletes who took part in the recent Tokyo Paralympic Games. We will also talk about upcoming activities in Blind Sports around Australia. 

Thursday 21st October 7.30pm AEDT

Join Tim Haggis and Martin Stewart as they explore life coming to terms with acquired sight loss. We would like to seek members’ views about the important topics which need to be addressed to provide support to anyone experiencing sight loss. 


BCA Trivia
Saturday 16th October 8.00pm AEDT

Hosted by John Danesh Krishman, the theme is general knowledge.  

Saturday 23rd October 8.00pm AEDT

This week’s trivia is hosted by Ramona Mandy, her trivia sessions have been very popular, are highly interactive and a lot of fun! 

To join a Happy Hour or Trivia: 

To join via computer, laptop or tablet, use this link: https://us02web.zoom.
us/j/88937210004?pwd=alhZczdLbUt5V29wNFU4RGY2K0pzUT09  

  • To join via a smart phone, use this link: +61370182005,,88937210004# 
  • To join via a landline telephone, dial 03 7018 2005, then enter the Meeting ID: 889 3721 0004 
  • The passcode for the meeting is: 698021 


BCA Inform – Employment
Tuesday, 2nd November 7:15pm – 9:00pm AEDT


Please join us as we talk all things employment! This BCA Inform session will be hosted by Angela from BCA. You will hear from Nicole Willing, Eye to the Future Project Manager, about the Eye to the Future 2.0 Project and also the work that BCA has been doing with Disability Employment Services. It will be a great informative night and we’d love to have you there. Register via events.humanitix.com/bca-inform-employment or more information visit www.bca.org.au or call 1800 033 660.
 

Aboriginal Blind Peoples Forum
Wednesday, 20th October 2:00pm – 3:30pm AEDT


BCA is teaming up with the First People Disability Network to co-facilitate this event and we would like to hear from First Nation’s people who are blind or vision impaired about matters that are important to them, and their perspective on where BCA could focus its work in 2022 and beyond. All First Nation’s people who are blind or vision impaired are invited to join the event and contribute to the discussion.
To join visit: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87034627107 

  • Meeting ID: 870 3462 7107 
  • One tap mobile: +61861193900,,87034627107#  

If you have questions or would like more information, please contact BCA on events@bca.org.au or call 1800 033 660. 

BCA Sydney Branch

The Sydney Branch is meeting at the Croydon Park RSL tomorrow, Thursday 14 October from 10.30am AEST. While in person RSVP’s have already lapsed, members can also attend via zoom. 

To join via Computer or tablet: 

  • Or via mobile: +61861193900,,92397331022#,,,,,,0#,,057688# Australia. 
  • If you are on a landline, dial 8015 6011.  Then, enter the Meeting ID:923 9733 1022 followed by the passcode: 057688. 

Nominations Open for BCA positions 

All members of BCA should have now received notice of BCA’s 46th AGM, in their preferred format. All information can be accessed https://www.bca.org.au/2020/09/28/2021agm/. Nominations are now open for the positions of President, Director, National Policy Council in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Australian Capital Territory, and NSW/ACT State Division Committee. Nominations close on Monday 25th October. 

If you have any further questions after reading the information on BCA’s website, please contact BCA on 1800 033 660, or email bca@bca.org.au. To register to attend the AGM visit: events.humanitix.com/bca-s-46th-annual-general-meeting. 

Career Opportunities  

BCA has recently advertised a number of new positions including two, Youth Project Officer Positions and a Business Project Officer position. If you are interested in applying for these positions please send your resume and a cover letter, addressing the selection criteria to Sally Aurisch, General Manager of Projects and Engagement at recruitment@bca.org.au. More information can be found on our website via the following link: bca.org.au/employment  

New Horizons

This week we speak with Emma Bennison, whose resignation as CEO of Blind Citizens Australia was announced last week. Emma discusses her time with BCA and what this means for the future of the organisation. Listen to this and other episodes here: new-horizons.pinecast.co
 

External announcements 

Accessible Technology Users Group

The next Zoom meeting of the Accessible Technology Users group will be on Wednesday 13 October at 7:30pm AEDT, with guest speaker David Woodbridge. David will be speaking about a number of new updates from Apple. 

To join the meeting visit the link below: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/814228683?pwd=bkFKWHNsSDV5YkFML1c5cjZQckN6UT09

For further information about this meeting please email adam@damorris.com. 

Department of Social Services (DSS) Research

DSS is looking for feedback to improve Disability Employment Services to develop better supports for people with disability to find and keep a job. DSS has contracted Price Waterhouse Coopers, an independent consulting group to consult with people with disability as well as employers and employment service providers. 

BCA would like to invite you to participate in this research and consultation. You can participate in this research via a Microsoft teams online discussion on Friday 22nd October at 2:00pm AEDT of via a online survey.  

If you are interested in participating please complete this Expression of Interest form 
Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LG6YGFC 

If you cannot access Survey Monkey, please call BCA on 1800 033 660 or email bca@bca.org.au and we can email you a Microsoft Word version of the EOI. 

World Blind Union seeking CEO 

The World Blind Union is looking for a new Chief Executive Officer. Reporting to the President of the World Blind Union, the CEO manages the operations of the WBU Office, provides support to the Offices of the Secretary General and Treasurer, manages WBU communications and fund development programs, and provides Senior level support to the WBU Officers, the Executive and the Assembly. More information can be found via this link: worldblindunion.org/about/careers applications close October 29.

AIRA October Conference Call 

AIRA’s monthly conference call for the region is scheduled for Monday October 18 at 7:00pm AEDT and will highlight any changes to our smart phone apps or service and address any current issues in the area. 

To join the meeting via zoom, follow the below link: https://aira.zoom.us/j/99235045012 


Recommendations
 

Technology guides

Vision Australia has just released their newest technology guides for beginners. They cover a wide range of technology topics including using JAWS on Outlook to an iPhone and Google docs guide. These can be found via the links below:
 

  1. Using Outlook with JAWS screen reader 
  1. Introduction to screen readers 
  1. Beginners guide to Google Docs 
  1. iPhone guide 
  1. Using Windows Mail 
  1. Top apps 

For a full list of Vision Australia’s previous guides visit: visionaustralia.org/information/adaptive-technology/technology-beginner-guides   

NDIS participant newsletter

NDIS participants and their families and friends are encouraged to sign up to SAFEGuard, a quarterly newsletter published by the NDIS Commission. This resource aims to inform participants of what the NDIS Commission and others are doing to make sure disability supports and services are safe and of good quality. Subscribe here: ndiscommission.gov.au/news-media/safeguard-newsletter  


Have you got something to contribute?  

If you’ve got something you’d like included in the Member Update, please send it to memberupdate@bca.org.au or call us on 1800 033 660. Items received by 12:00pm Monday will be published in the Wednesday update.