The following issue of The Bulletin was prepared by Deb Lewis (Co-ordinator, Statewide Vision Resource Centre).
For the complete list of activities for 2004 go to: http://www.svrc.vic.edu.au/PD2004.html
All activities are open to subject teachers, integration teachers and aides, careers teachers, therapists, parents, VTs, students etc. Please remember to register: tel (03) 9841 0242, fax (03) 9841 0878 or email svrc@svrc.vic.edu.au
What’ll Annette think of next???
With 60 teachers, aides, therapists, O&M instructors and an assistant principal coming to our ‘Educational Support for Vision Impaired Students with Additional Impairments’ day, Annette wanted a way for participants to feel the lack of control experienced at times by their students. What better way??? Yes – blindfold them and feed them yoghurt!!! Added to that, she held up printed instructions for the sighted people in the room to follow including: “laugh loudly”, “be silent”, “talk about your weekend to another sighted person” and the participants began to get the picture!
Comments from the blindfolded folk included:
The discussion which followed was lively and thought provoking.
Meanwhile the lovely ladies from Guide Dogs Victoria were wandering round in the fog with their groups and Robert was offering participants the opportunity to have low vision for a short time.
Our speakers were knowledgeable, generous, creative, skilled, resourceful and inspiring. And the day was a great success. Some of their comments included:
So thanks to the Visiting Teachers for encouraging their teachers, aides etc to come and thanks to the participants for coming along!
Thanks to the long-suffering staff of the SVRC for their humour and hard work on the day!
The following articles appear in the April edition of JVIB:
The Coordinators and Coaches of Malvern District Auskick (MDA) are creating a specially modified AFL Auskick junior football program catering for the specific needs of vision impaired primary age children (boys and girls). MDA is delighted to extend an invitation to your family to participate in this extraordinary program.
Entirely operated by parent volunteers, MDA is widely hailed as the largest and best run Auskick clinic in Australia (the World!). The aim of the AFL Auskick program is to encourage safe, fun sporting activity and the development of community. At MDA there are currently some 430 children enjoying the 2004 season with at last count, more than 30 parents now participating as coaches.
The MDA program operates from the 27th of March 2004 and will conclude in early September. Clinics are conducted at DW Lucas Oval (Darling Park) Moira Street East Malvern (Melway Ref: 60 A11), spanning across 2 ovals with ample space. Clinics start at 9.00 am and conclude at 10.30 am (10.00 am preps). Steaming cuppa’s and light refreshments are always available.
MDA’s commitment to you is that your child WILL have an extraordinary experience! The AFL enthusiastically endorsed MDA’s request for an extra special needs Auskick grid-game to be played at the MCG. With your permission YOUR CHILD WILL PLAY AT THE MCG at half time of an AFL game during the 2004 season. Your child will have the opportunity to touch, move and inspire 50,000+ fans and to demonstrate that young people with disabilities can make an awesome contribution to the community.
To find out more about Malvern District Auskick you can visit their website at http://www.auskickmalvern.com and to discuss details of registration into the special needs program, you can contact Andrew Lockwood on 0417 600777.
The Southern Cross Games will, this year, be held in Sydney from 27 June to 2 July. Students can stay onsite at St Edmunds School for $400 per student.
For further details, contact Uli Pristerer on (03) 9808 6422.
Source: E-Access Bulletin, March 2003
Many museums and galleries are seeking to enhance access to exhibitions for vision impaired visitors by combining tactile experience with use of technologies such as web sites and audio guides.
The UK National Gallery web site for example, since January 2003, has featured an online zooming system whereby users can enlarge details of paintings such as Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ (http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/collection/news/newsitems/zoom.htm). And recent exhibitions at Newcastle’s Laing Art Gallery have incorporated relief versions of paintings by artists such as Stanley Spencer with accompanying audio descriptions, some of which remain as permanent exhibits.
The British Museum’s Compass project (http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass), a web site containing images of and information about 5,000 key artefacts, has also been made accessible for visually impaired people. Users can change the text size, style and colour through browser settings and view a text only version of the service (see http://fastlink.headstar.com/museum1).
Have you visited a museum which caters for the needs of visitors with vision impairments in Australia? How about writing a review and submitting it to The Bulletin…?
See the VTAC website for information about open days including contact information for Victorian universities, TAFEs and independent tertiary colleges.
Go to: http://www.vtac.edu.au/common/opendays.html
Source: BCA Parent News March 2004
NICAN Information Service: http://www.nican.com.au/NICAN.html
NICAN’s database has information on recreation, tourism, sport and the arts for people with disabilities. The information service is free and can be accessed by freecall 1800 806 769 from within Australia, mail, fax, email and even in person. Each entry contains contact details, opening hours, fees, age groups served, facilities, resources available and activities offered.
Careers website: http://www.emad.asn.au
Employers Making A Difference (EMAD) provides information, advice, and support to organisations to assist them in recruiting people with a disability. EMAD makes it easier for organisations to employ people with a disability by advertising vacancies on the website, offering a national pool of over 20,000 jobseekers with a disability. The website also provides people with a disability an opportunity to view positions with employers who promote diversity in their workforce.
Cooking in the Dark: You don’t need sight to make dinner tonight!By Dale Campbell and Phil Parr
Here it is! The list for people who want to be cooks. It doesn't matter if you are a gourmet chef or just learning to boil water, this list is perfect for you.
To join send a blank e-mail to: Cookinginthedark-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Stacy Shafer and Ann Adkins of Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired Outreach have written an article summarising some of the techniques of Dr Lilli Nielsen’s Active Learning Theory, including the importance of using real objects. Some of the active learning equipment and materials that are described in the article include: the Little Room, the Position Board, the Scratching Board, the Tipping Board, Vest with Objects, the Resonance Board.
To read the entire article, go to the Winter 2004 edition of See/Hear: http://www.tsbvi.edu/Outreach/seehear/
Excerpts from an article in Pacesetter, Summer, 2001, reprinted in See/Hear, Winter 2004. To view the entire article, go to: http://www.tsbvi.edu/Outreach/seehear/
Below are eleven practical and effective strategies parents can do to help their child develop the skills they will need to be successful in the world of work. Although the article was written for children with a range of disabilities, the strategies listed are relevant for any child.
Parents may feel mixed emotions about the child with disabilities growing up and going to work. They may share the child’s excitement about future possibilities, but they may also worry about the child’s vulnerability of possible failure at a job. Helping children develop job skills is one of the biggest gifts parents can give because it enriches children’s sense of self and builds potential for their future.
How can parents assist their young children to become ready for work? Here are some helpful ideas:
Starting early in preparing children for work will ensure they have better opportunities to be successful in their employment. Most importantly, parents can expect that their children will grow up to work, and they can help their children build dreams.
Source: Victorian ABA Minutes, December 2003
At the December ABA meeting, several samples of braille on cardboard drug packaging made by different companies were examined. Much of the braille was very flat (to avoid cracking the cardboard) and therefore difficult to read, and it was also difficult to read on the shiny cardboards as the surface was quite sticky. The general feeling was that more information than the brand name and dosage would also be preferred.
A plastic Sanex container made overseas with the brand name and ‘press’ in braille was also discussed. The braille was excellent quality but the product name was not included.
The VAPVI hotmail address is vapvi@hotmail.com - Please note the small letters for everything. The AGM will be later in the year, possibly around August. Keep a look out for the date.
Next meeting will be held at the Bowen home. Email VAPVI for the details if you wish to attend.
Source: http://www.brps.org.uk
Author: George W Jones
Order from: George W. Jones, The Green Cottage, 3 Minton, Church Stretton, Shropshire
SY6 6PS, United Kingdom
Price: 10 pounds sterling + postage (profits go to the British RP Society)
Comments: George has RP, with very limited tunnel vision. In 1991, at the age
of 65, he walked Britain from North to South - 900 miles in 30 days - to raise
funds for the ‘Fight for Sight’ campaign. The book tells the story
of this walk, and is packed with comments and anecdotes that will sound familiar
to anyone with RP!
Author: Pauline Sear
Order from: Mrs P Sear, 25 Bersted Green Court, Bognor Regis, Sussex, United
Kingdom
Price: 4 pounds sterling (profits go to the British RP Society)
Author: Helen Harris
Order from: RP International, PO Box 900, Woodlands Hills CA 91365, USA
Phone: 800-FIGHTRP is the toll-free number in the US
Price: US$11.95 for the tape, $9.95 for the book, both for $16.95; add $3.95
for P&H
Comments: a book by a woman who is a carrier of RP, and whose two sons are affected.
Author: Mr Mattheson
Publisher: Retinitis Pigmentosa Ireland Fighting Blindness, 60 Eccles Street,
Dublin 7, Ireland
Phone: +353 1 8307 955
Fax: +353 1 8307 135
Comments: a very good booklet based on a conference given at the last Visions
Conference in San Francisco. The author is a psychologist and RP sufferer himself.
Author: Dorothy H Stiefel
Publisher: The Business of Living Publications - First Person Books
Price: bold print US$4.50, tape US$6.00 + postage (US$2 US, US$5.50 non-US)
Order: Business of Living Publications, PO Box 8388, Corpus Christi, Texas 78468-8388,
USA
Phone/Fax: +1 512 852-8515
Comments: This booklet is a primer for the newly diagnosed patient. The author
captures the ‘day of diagnosis’ and ultimate emotional issues and
imparts a blend of personal philosophy with a hearty sense of wit and humour.
Author: Dorothy H Stiefel
Publisher: The Business of Living Publications - First Person Books
Price: bold print US$4.50, tape US$6.00 + postage (US$2 US, US$5.50 non-US)
Order: Business of Living Publications, PO Box 8388, Corpus Christi, Texas 78468-8388,
USA
Phone/Fax: +1 512 852-8515
Comments: This booklet is about stress management and family interactions. The
author touches on the powerful dynamics of family relationships and imparts
ways to increase personal communication skills, and how to alleviate unwanted
stress.
Author: Dorothy H Stiefel
Publisher: The Business of Living Publications - First Person Books
Price: bold print US$7.50 or Tape US$12.50 + postage (US$2 US, US$5.50 non-US)
Order: Business of Living Publications, PO Box 8388, Corpus Christi, Texas 78468-8388,
USA
Phone/Fax: +1 512 852-8515
Comments: This book is about a lifetime of ongoing personal adjustments and
functional adaptation. The author explores the fear induced by a dual-sensory
loss, and presents graphic insight into her personal ‘madness’.
Author: Dorothy H. Stiefel
Publisher: The Business of Living Publications -- First Person Books
Price: bold print US$12.95, tape US$17.95 + postage (US$2 US, US$5.50 non-US)
Pages: 214, or three 90-minute tapes
Order: Business of Living Publications, PO Box 8388, Corpus Christi, Texas 78468-8388,
USA
Phone/Fax: +1 512 852-8515
Comments: This is an autobiographical through the coping mechanism of journal
writing. The author indulges and captivates the reading audience with the story
of her passage into adulthood and toward a spiritual awakening and a sense of
belonging. The cassette version offers delightful listening pleasure by an Australian
narrator who takes the author’s impassioned poetry, humorous prose, and
her poignant journal entries through questioning youth, the tribulations of
motherhood, and a lifetime of overcoming adversity to finally realising the
true meaning of life.
Author: Andrew Whitehouse
ISBN: 1 85291 078x
Year: 1990
Comments: Carolyn James is that rare but not unique person, a successful blind
artist. Diagnosed at the age of nine as a case (sic) of Retinitis Pigmentosa,
she was never clearly told about the condition or its inevitable result. During
her late childhood and teens, she experienced the quite devastating withdrawal
of her sight, and with it a growing awareness of her isolation from society.
Grasping for an explanation of what seemed to her merely her own dimwittedness,
she clung desperately to the memories imprinted in her brain by her failing
visual sense.
Dear Carly
I went to the RVIB on Friday.
At 9am it was a whole group discussion about what you do when you hear a siren. Three short beeps then silence repeated means stay inside, because there might be a threat outside. A mad dangerous person around outside. One long siren repeated means get out, because there might be a fire. At 9.30 we had drama. We had to pretend we were going to Antarctica. There were divers, scientists and the captain of the ship, which was me. The interviewer was the teacher. A white parachute was the icy cold water and a CD made sound effects. We acted out what we would be doing there.
Library was ok. We all had a model to describe and give information about.
At lunch I played Swish with Brendon, Kimberley and Jake.
After lunch we had art and it was great!!! We all made our own collage, mine was a dragon, Kimberley’s was someone eating meat pie and Ben made a collage of space with cds as the planets.
Then it was time for afternoon tea and I played footy with Kimberley and Brendon. Even though they are blind they kick the ball their own way and are good at it.
O & M was next and it was ok and we had to figure out some sounds.
In PE we focused on just soccer. Great Fun!!
Friday was one of the best days I have ever had!!From Dan
by Denise Probert:
Please make sure to check the new displays in the foyer of the SVRC for games and toys that can be used with your low vision students. These games and toys will be available for loan at the end of the display period or they might give you ideas that you can buy or develop yourselves!
Thanks to Meredith Walsh for her contribution to this issue of The Bulletin and to everyone for support while we are short of a few staff members in here! Thanks also to my fabulous proof-reader Dianne Skillern.
Deb Lewis (who can be emailed at deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au).