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The following issue of The Bulletin was prepared by Deb Lewis (Co-ordinator, Statewide Vision Resource Centre).
Professional Development and Workshop Program - O&M, ZoomText,
Mountbatten, VT Day
Blind Cricket
Literacy Tool - PowerPoint
Technology – Word Prediction, XP Compatibility,
Speech Output, Handy Steno Offer # 2
Guide Dogs News and Programs
WordWeb – Free English Thesaurus and Dictionary
Statistics on Eye Health in Australia
Benalla Technology Day Report
Comment on Braille
Art Competition for Kids
Students in the News
“Welcome to Holland”
Please call 9841 0242 or email deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au for your copies of the programs for the Professional development activities this term.
| Term |
Professional
Development Event |
Date |
| 3 |
O&M Workshop - Guide Dogs (starts 9.30am) | Thursday 14 August |
| 3 |
Workshop: ZoomText (starts 1pm) |
Monday 18 August |
| 3 |
Workshop: Mountbatten Day (Beginners in the morning and ‘Users’ in the afternoon – come for the morning or the afternoon or stay all day) |
Thursday 4 September |
| 3 |
SVRC Visiting Teacher PD Day |
Monday 15 September |
| 4 |
SPEVI Combined Agencies Day |
Monday 6 October |
| 4 |
O&M Workshop - Guide Dogs | Tuesday 28 August |
| 4 |
SVRC EXPO/Technology Seminars |
Tuesday 2 December |
There will be three workshops offered in this term’s program. These are open to Visiting Teachers, students, parents, and teaching and integration staff.
When: Thursday 14th August from 9.30am to 1.30pm
Where: Guide Dogs Victoria and the Heidelberg area
Who: Integration and teaching staff, parents, Visiting Teachers
Cost: Free
For further details, see below for details or contact Rachel Morgan on 9854 4469..
The ever patient Trevor Boyd from Quantum Technology will lead you through the magic and mystery of this popular enlarging and voice output program.
When: Monday 18th August from 1.00pm (please arrive at 12.30 pm if you need
to install the ZoomText demo software)
Where: Statewide Vision Resource Centre (parking next door)
Who: Integration and teaching staff, parents, Visiting Teachers
Cost: Free
Please call 9841 0242 or email deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au for further details.
We have quite a number of students who have been funded for a Mountbatten and quite a community of users including integration aides, Visiting Teachers and parents. This workshop is always well-attended and is a great way to get your questions answered, learn stacks and meet other members of the Mountbatten community.
When: Thursday 4th September from 9.30am to 3.30pm - beginners in the morning
and users in the afternoon - come for half or a full day
Where: Statewide Vision Resource Centre (parking next door)
Who: Integration and teaching staff, parents, Visiting Teachers
Cost: Free
Please call 9841 0242 or email deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au for further details.
When: Monday 15th September
Where: Statewide Vision Resource Centre (parking next door)
Who: Visiting Teachers - others welcome
Cost: DE&T Visiting Teachers $20; Others $30; Individual sessions - please
call us.
Speakers will include lawyer Elly Gay, Associate Professor Jill Keeffe, and manager of Student Wellbeing Karen Underwood. It looks like an exciting program so if you are interested, please contact us on 9841 0242 or deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au
Blind Cricket is a great social activity and a fun way to stay fit. It is open to people with vision impairments of all ages and there are six Victorian teams that play between the months of September and April each year on a Saturday or occasionally a Sunday. The Kooyong team is looking for new members – training will commence in about a month.
If you are interested or need more details, please call Ben Peacock on 0422 045156.
Abridged from: OnLine Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 5, article entitled ‘Keeping the baby and recycling the bath water’ by Leanne Rawlings
There are many benefits in ‘stretching’ a mainstream software program, such as PowerPoint, to support a range of students’ literacy and access needs. PowerPoint has been used (and still is used) as a presentation tool for occasions such as professional development, executive meetings, and lectures. However, a growing number of educational and support personnel are realising its potential in providing the medium for creating virtual literacies that are interactive learning resources. Individualised interactive texts can empower students (with physical and intellectual impairments) to gain control and ownership in accessing age appropriate literacy materials.
Any type of resource design is going to have its ‘pros and cons’, but the benefits of producing appropriate educational resources that all students can access, far outweigh the ‘cons’. Some of the benefits are listed below:
Availability - PowerPoint is included with the suite of software
in Microsoft Office
Accessible - While the creating of resources may require keyboard
and/or mouse operations, the finished product (for example - virtual book) could
be accessed via standard or assistive technologies such as a touch-screen or
switch
Customisable - The PowerPoint program accommodates graphics
(photos, diagram, clipart – still & animated, symbols), video images,
sound (recorded voice, music, sound effects) and text, all of which can be hyperlinked
adding another dimension to the literacy experience
Printable - The ‘slides’ (pages) can be printed
for personal use, sharing in the library, or for displays (posters, story boards,
story web.)
Sharing resources - Most schools have access to a copy of the
PowerPoint program, therefore resources can be shared. PowerPoint also offers
a Viewer facility enabling a presentation to run on a computer that does not
have the same program installed
Ease of use - The program is quite user friendly and offers
a ‘Wizard’ to guide you through the setting up of slides
Students can be part of the process - Students can be involved in the design
by contributing graphics, making sound file (record their reading of text or
creating sound effects) or design the resource themselves.
1. Several tutorials produced by Adaptive Technology Services (Disability Services
Support Unit) eg
- PowerPoint Activities: Part 1 Basic Activities – see OnLine Issue 3,
2000
- PowerPoint: Using the Action Settings to create games, quizzes and other activities
– see OnLine Issue 4, 2000
2. How to Create Talking Books in PowerPoint by Richard Walter from the ACE
Centre at: http://www.ace-centre.org.uk/download/tbookppoint.pdf
(or ask Dianne for a copy)
Note: Lyn has a number of examples of Talking Books created with PowerPoint which will be available for perusal on the SVRC network in the near future!
This article compares Co:Writer 4000, KeyREP 2.5, Penfriend xp, Soothsayer 3.0, Read&Write textHeELP-6 and Read&Write textHELP-gold.
This article discusses compatibility issues with Windows XP and includes software
products like JAWS, ZoomText, MAGic, BigShot, Clicker 4, Window-Eyes etc.
Please contact us if you would like a copy of these articles!
Source: OnLine Newsletter, September 2002
Looking for ‘text-to-speech’ support? There are some excellent
programmes that provide voice output options for your classroom computer. TextHelp,
CoWriter and Intellitalk are just a few of the popular options available.
However, you don’t need to spend lots of money to get voice output. There’s
plenty of shareware and freeware options available that may be exactly what
you are looking for. While not all of these programs have the polish and sophistication
of their commercial counterparts they are a great place to start and the price
is right. We’ve listed some of our favourites below. They’ll all
work in conjunction with your word processor such as Microsoft Word or Word
Pad on your Windows computer or Notepad if you are using a Macintosh. Some of
them even work well with your browser reading out the screens as you browse
the internet.
They are all free to download and try.
HelpRead (Freeware) at: www.helpread.com
ReadPlease (Demo) at: http://readplease.com
Cool Speech (Shareware) at: www.bytecool.com/
Key2Speak (Freeware) at: http://www.madoogali.com/
Speak Lite (Demo) at: http://www.ShadiSoft.com
Talking Clipboard (Freeware) at: http://www.4talking.com/
WinSpeech (Shareware) Talking word processor based on WordPad
at: http://www.pcww.com/web_mat/wspeech.html
TypeTalker at: http://www.kohshin-graphic-sys.com/e_version/product.html
Talking Keyboard at: http://paulbaxter.com/
Tex-Edit Plus at: http://www.nearside.com/trans-tex/
Source: Email via Edumail, 23 July 2003
HandySteno Gold 2.0 drives are a little USB storage device that plugs into your Notebook, Mac or PC for transferring or backing up your reports, documents, presentations and other files. IMCS have a second round offer including reasonably priced products from Apacer, Maxtor, Acer, Aopen and Kingmax etc.
For information, pricing and order form see the IMCS website www.imcs.com.au/education.htm
The offer closing date for all orders is at 5.00pm on Friday August 15, 2003.
For further enquiries, please contact David Craker, IM Consulting Services on (03) 98930877 or david@imcs.com.au
In the last school holidays Guide Dogs conducted their 11th camp program for children with vision impairments since we began early in 2001. This includes programs based at the Guide Dogs centre in Kew as well as camps in Halls Gap, Bright, Echuca and Sydney. We have had over 120 students fill the places on these programs and hopefully benefit from the Orientation and Mobility based activities run during the programs. Whilst our programs have general themes our underlying aim is to encourage and develop the skills and confidence required for independent living. This includes not only Orientation and Mobility but also daily living skills and social skills. On our camps we have Orientation and Mobility instructors and an Occupational therapist.
A senior program for 13 students with vision impairments was held in Echuca
from 30 June to 4 July 2003, with much fun had by all. The program was aimed
at developing independent travel and daily living skills in a supportive yet
completely unknown environment. Great emphasis was placed on students taking
responsibility for themselves and organising and planning activities. Students
were required to plan a day at the Old Port of Echuca, taking into account travel
arrangements and budget. The students did an excellent job of organising activities
such as a paddlesteamer ride on the Murray River courtesy of Canberra P.S, fun
and games in the Penny Arcade, tastings of fudge and horse and cart rides, as
well as leading us there and back safely!
All students were given opportunity to practice their “travel guide”
entrepreneurial skills in several small towns in the Murray-Echuca region. Small
groups of students went to different towns in the region (Tongala, Mathoura,
Elmore and Rochester) and were required to find out points of interest, day
activities, amenities, history of the town and a place for afternoon tea. After
a delicious lunch at the famous Beechworth Bakery, each group were presented
their travel guide for another group to use and explore a town. Many groups
even constructed maps and found out lots of interesting history behind the towns.
A focal part of the program was encouraging students to practice and expand upon their daily living skills, with the students preparing and cooking three evening meals for students and staff. Well done everyone for their contribution to these meals – the results were fantastic. The remainder of the program was spent doing activities such as a bushwalk along a river, exploring shops in Echuca, bowling, eating out at restaurants, and socialising. Despite the rather cold and miserable weather, students did their best to participate in all activities enthusiastically, creating an action packed week. Thanks to all students and staff and sincere apologies for the slight delay in return time to Kew.
Junior Program – ‘Shop ‘til you drop’ theme
When: 22-25 September 2003
Location: Guide Dogs Victoria, Kew
The aim of this camp is to promote an understanding of the mobility, social and daily living skills necessary for successful shopping. This includes developing the basic concepts involved with shopping and the interaction between a customer and shop attendants. This program will assist in making travel easier and safer for the student in the community. The program activities are designed to make students more aware of environmental information in a variety of fun and stimulating environments.
Some of the activities will include:
- Visiting corner stores, local shops, shopping centres and Melbourne CBD
- Using public transport
- Money handling
- Eating out at restaurants
- Role playing shopping situations
- Social skills sessions relating to shopping, communication, assertiveness
and seeking assistance
There is always a great demand for places on our programs. For further information and application forms please do not hesitate to contact Rachel Morgan on 9854 4469 by Monday 25 August 2003.
When: Thursday 14 July 2003
Location: Guide Dogs Victoria, Kew
The Children’s Mobility Service at Guide Dogs Victoria, in conjunction with the Statewide Vision Resource Centre (SVRC) is running an Orientation and Mobility morning on Thursday 14 July. This program is designed to increase awareness of the issues that students with a vision impairment experience when travelling within the community.
Participants will work in pairs, taking turns to wear simulators and follow
a set route around a dynamic, suburban area. They will be directed around the
route using written directions, with a number of questions to answer along the
way. The questions serve to highlight areas of difficulty that we would probably
not even consider when working with students with a vision loss.
This program is designed for visiting teachers and teacher’s aides, however
parents and family members are welcome to join in. For further details, please
call Rachel Morgan on 03 9854 4469 or Deb Lewis on 9841 0242.
Samantha Kidston has recently left the Children’s Mobility Service and moved to the Intensive Orientation & Mobility department. Lil Deverell has joined the team on a part time basis, taking Sam’s place. Lil has been with Guide Dogs Victoria for many years in various roles, including O&M Instructor, and is looking forward to the challenge of working with the younger clients.
Source: OnLine Newsletter Volume 1, Issue 3, 2003 by Tom Macmahon
The free version of the WordWeb program has proven very popular and invaluable to many. Once downloaded (as a 5 MB file), WordWeb can be installed with a link to Microsoft Word, but if this option has not been chosen, or if you do not have Word on your PC, the program is still very useful for quickly finding concise definitions or helpful thesaurus entries. For US$18, the Pro 2 version can be purchased, offering enhanced search capabilities, expanded database, cross-referencing and access from most Windows programs.
The following information is designed to assist non-mouse users, but will undoubtedly make good sense to (and even prove edifying for) all the ‘point-and-click’ readers out there!
To open WordWeb at any time, either:
1. Go to the shortcut via Start, Programs, or locate it in the Start Menu if
a shortcut has been placed there, and press Enter. (Remember, pressing the letter
w repeatedly will bring you to the WordWeb shortcut).
or:
2. Press Control plus w if this shortcut key combination is active. (If you
want to create your own shortcut, simply:
- Locate the WordWeb shortcut as described above;
- Press the Applications key (next to the right Control key) or Shift plus F10;
- Press up arrow and Enter or letter r to open the Properties dialogue;
- You will be in the Shortcut page or tab. Press the Tab key twice;
- Press your desired shortcut or hot key combination and then press Enter to
accept and close the - - Properties dialogue.
or:
3. From within Word:
- Select the word you want to look up if already present;
- Press Alt plus t to open the Tools menu;
- Arrow down to WordWeb and press Enter;
- The Edit field will either display your selected word or be blank, ready for
you to type in a word;
Proceed as described below.
When you have opened WordWeb:
- You are in the Edit field;
- Type or paste in the word. (Selecting and copying a long or difficult word
to the Windows Clipboard, then pasting it, can be easier than typing it in);
- Press Shift plus Tab to the Search button and press Enter, or press Alt plus
s to activate Search;
- Tab to the definition;
- Tab again (twice) to reach the list of synonym or similar word entries;
- To begin another search, tab to the Edit field, press delete, type in a new
word and activate search;
To close WordWeb, tab again to the Close button and press Enter, or simply press Escape.
Tip: To select a single word when within Microsoft Word, either:
1. Place the cursor at the beginning of the word and hold down Shift and Control
and press the Right Arrow key; or:
2. With the cursor placed anywhere in the word, press F8 to turn on the Extended
Selection Mode. Press F8 again to select the word. Press Escape twice to turn
Extended Selection Mode off.
To find out more or to download your copy of WordWeb, go to: http://wordweb.info/free/
Source: Vision Australia Foundation website www.visionaustralia.org.au
- It is estimated that there are currently approximately 380,000 people living
in Australia with legal blindness or low vision. This number is expected to
double in the next 20 years, as a result of the ageing population.
- More than 80 per cent of vision loss in Australia is caused by just five conditions:
refractive error (53 per cent), age-related macular degeneration (13 per cent),
cataract (9 per cent), glaucoma (5 per cent) and diabetic retinopathy (3 per
cent).
- Almost 50 per cent of blindness and 70 per cent of vision impairment in this
country are caused by conditions that are preventable or treatable.
- Of the preventable or treatable conditions, over 50 per cent is caused by
refractive error which has affordable, cost effective and simple interventions.
The remaining 30 per cent are eye diseases for which early detection, treatment
and rehabilitation can significantly reduce vision loss and/or the impact of
vision loss.
- Approximately 212,000 Australians have visual impairment due to under-corrected
refractive error, which can be eliminated with glasses.
- Approximately 120,000 cataract operations are performed each year; the surgery
is effective. There are approximately 36,000 people with visual impairment due
to cataract; the need for surgery will double in 20 years. High UV exposure
and smoking increases the risk.
- Approximately 450,000 Australians have diagnosed diabetes and an equal number
have undiagnosed diabetes; all are at risk of developing diabetic eye disease.
With early diagnoses and treatment, up to 98 percent of severe vision loss can
be prevented.
- Approximately 210,000 Australians have glaucoma; half of those with glaucoma
have not been diagnosed. A family history of glaucoma increases the risk of
glaucoma at least four times and some glaucoma genes have been found. If detected
early and treated effectively, the loss of vision from glaucoma can be prevented
or delayed.
- There are more than 50,000 people in Australia who have been diagnosed with
some form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Two out of three people
will develop AMD and one person in four will lose sight because of AMD; there
could be a genetic basis for AMD and smoking has been proven as a risk factor.
There is no effective prevention or treatment for AMD. - Of those who are legally
blind in Australia, 28 per cent have AMD.
For further information visit the Centre for Eye Research Australia report “Eye Care for the Community” - http://cera.unimelb.edu.au
Source: John Simpson, Program Co-Ordinator, Lions Eye Health Program, Centre for Eye Research Australia
The second Technology Information Day held in Benalla recently was another great success.
Overall, more than 140 people attended the day to view the seven exhibits and to listen to at least some of the information sessions. This number included 75-80 individuals (people with low vision and family members; eyecare professionals; health and community service providers; and people involved with employment and education provision), plus a large group of local school children who spent time viewing the exhibits and speaking with exhibitors and presenters.
John Simpson plans to continue the series of Information Technology Days and hope that other organisations with an involvement in the provision of low vision services will join us in addressing the service and information barriers that confront people with low vision in country Victoria.
The next Technology Day will be held in the Cobram area – please contact John Simpson for further details: j.simpson@unimelb.edu.au
Source: www.nfb.org
There are thousands of blind adults today (and the numbers are growing) who deeply regret that no one required them to learn braille at a period in their lives when mastering it would have been relatively easy. Jody Ianuzzi is active in the National Federation of the Blind of New Hampshire and is a Silver Life Member of the United States Judo Association. She knows firsthand about limited opportunities and disappointed expectations. She is articulate and outspoken, and her message is compelling. Here is what she has to say:
I consider myself to have been functionally illiterate for most of my life! When I was growing up as a blind child in the public school system in Connecticut, I didn’t have to learn braille; I could read print. I had a little eyesight, and with my nose in the book I could read my first grade primer. It was work, but I could make out the letters.
By the fourth grade the print began to get smaller, so I had to try even harder. In the seventh grade I was assigned to remedial reading classes because my reading speed was still at the third grade level. In high school I got all my work done; it just took me four times as long as my classmates. I loved learning, and I wove wonderful dreams for myself of academic success after high school.
I went off to college, but instead of succeeding, I fell flat on my face! There was no way I could keep up with the work load using the reading skills I had been taught. My totally blind friends had little trouble taking notes, reading, organizing their readers, etc. I told myself that I should have done better than they; after all I had some sight. But the fact was that I couldn’t study as a sighted student, and I didn’t have the skills to study as a blind one.
I am thirty-eight years old, and I am now learning braille. It isn’t a difficult task. I love braille! My reading time and speed are not limited as they are in print. I find Braille to be a refreshing experience with endless possibilities.
Reading print has always been like trying to listen to music on a distant radio station: the sound is so faint and there is so much static that it is hard to appreciate the music itself because listening is so much work. Reading braille is more like sitting in a symphony hall. The music fills you without your even having to work. My well-meaning teachers thought they had made the right decision for me. Oh, how I wish I had learned braille as a child.
My story is not unique or exceptional. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of blind adults now recognize that they missed out on a proper education. And the sad thing is that not much has changed. There are blind children today with less sight than I have who are being taught print only. Why can’t teachers make braille special in a positive way?
Braille was originally based on a system devised by the French army to send secret messages at night. The night writing was later perfected by Louis Braille for use by the blind. Why not give children the feeling that they are learning a secret code?
The blind child can read in many places where his or her sighted friends can’t—such as under the covers without the use of a flashlight. You can even read your braille book in your desk without your teacher’s knowing it. Why not make braille fun!
If I could speak directly to today’s teachers of blind children, I would say to them, “Ask yourselves this question: in twenty years will your students be grateful to you for teaching them the skills they needed, or will they be learning them on their own and trying to make up for lost time?”
Source: The Association for Retinopathy of Prematurity and Related Diseases website - http://www.ropard.org
ROPARD is looking for a piece of original artwork made by one of Dr. Trese’s or Dr. Capone’s patients to be used for ROPARD’s Christmas greeting card cover.
Children from three years of age to fourteen years of age are asked to submit their artwork with their name, age, address and phone number on the reverse side or attached on a separate piece of paper. All artwork will remain the property of ROPARD.
Send art work to:
ROPARD
PO BOX 250425, Franklin, MI, USA 48025
Source: EducationEast, July 2003
Michael (former Space Camper) has again graced our mass media, this time in an article about VCAL.
“Michael … took the VCAL option and is looking forward to a new career. Michael is a visually impaired student at Maroondah Secondary College who wants to break into the music industry. The Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) is a program for senior secondary school students. Students participate in a hands-on course aimed at developing their skills in an area of interest. “The aim of VCAL is to develop a pathway to further education training or employment,” Rachael Dalgleish, industry liaison project officer from Outer Eastern Local Learning and Employment Network (OELLEN), said… After completing a work experience placement with Vision Australia’s radio station 3RPH, Michael went on to do VCAL studies… He is interested in pursuing a career in the music industry as a sound engineer and said VCAL was preparing him for the workforce. “In the music industry, where working with the public is essential for business, VCAL has helped me to build up my experience and confidence.” Students develop a learning program with their teachers and select units of study including literacy and numeracy, industry specific skills, work related skills and personal development skills. Michael said his experience working with Radio 3RPH has been a valuable one, where he experienced various responsibilities and learned about production, sound engineering and how the radio industry worked. “At 3RPH, I speak to a lot of radio presenters and visitors who come in and do interviews for the station, which has built up my confidence,” he said. “I am really looking forward to completing my VCAL studies because I think they will assist me a lot in achieving my goals.”
Incidentally, Michael will be working at the Statewide Vision Resource Centre in term three to assist in the transition from provision of materials in alternative format on audio tape to another format eg CD-ROM.
Source: Education Times, 17 July 2003
“The recently opened Challenge Playground at Bulleen Heights School may look like a whimsical setting taken straight from the pages of a Dr Seuss picture book. But is has been painstakingly designed and built with the serious aim of developing the social and physical skills of students.”
The article features a lovely photograph of Lea Nagel’s student Ian showing “Education Services Minister, Jacinta Allen, just how much fun the challenge playground can be.”
by Emily Perl Kimgsley
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability-to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel.
It’s like this...
When you’re going to have a baby. It’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip-to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, The Michelangelo David, The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation. the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, ‘Welcome to Holland.’ ‘Holland?!?!’, you say. ‘What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy.’ All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy. But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath you look around and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they’re
all bragging about what wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your
life, you will say. ‘Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s
what I had planned.’
And the pain of that will never ever, ever go away, because the loss of that
dream is a very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact
that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very
special, the lovely things about Holland.
Braille Transcriber Toni Chilton is going to the Gold Coast for a week for a well-earned holiday and also to watch her daughter Alice compete in the National Karate Titles.
Di Skillern will be going on holidays for two weeks, taking the caravan to Lakes Entrance.
Come to the SVRC and check out the baby photo competition – ok it is a pretty daggy thing to do, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. The collection will also feature some best loved toys from the SVRC staff (and any brave VTs who would like to join in). Your $1.00 donation to participate will help pay for some kitchen appliance or other eg juicer, coffee maker etc etc.
A recent article in the Centrelink publication, Disability & Carer Connections (Volume 2, 2003) featured an article about the National Relay Service for DEAF people with a photo of a Mountbatten Brailler! Close, but no cigar!
Thanks to Sue Sharp, Lillian Adler, Meredith Walsh, Janie McLeod and Jeni Blake for their contributions to this edition of The Bulletin. Proofreading thanks to Dianne Skillern and Lea Nagel.
Deb Lewis (who can be emailed at deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au).