You may use the VTAC S Form if you believe your educational background has been affected by circumstances such as illness, financial hardship or trauma, you have paid or voluntary work experience relevant to the course you are applying to, or you would like to outline your reasons for wishing to undertake a particular course. Information on the form is treated confidentially and only circulated to those courses listed on your preferences after Change of Preference.
You are strongly advised to inform your Year 12 coordinator of any problems or issues you are experiencing at the time they occur. Teachers may take this into account in their assessment of your work and advise you to apply for C of D (through the Board of Studies). If you have applied for C of D the VTAC S Form provides you with the opportunity to tell selection officers what has happened to you and how it has affected your study.
The VTAC S Form is available from schools and VTAC, and should be returned to VTAC (40 Park Street, South Melbourne 3205) before 24 November. Alternatively, you can view, download and print the VTAC S Form in PDF format (Adobe Acrobat Reader required) from the VTAC website at www.vtac.edu.au/.
Gillian Gale presented a Report at the Heads of Educational Services Meeting in Brisbane on 4 August 2000 outlining the issues related to the education of students with vision impairments.
Heads of Educational Services Meeting – Brisbane 4 August 2000
Braille Literacy
· Standards in teaching braille literacy
· Teachers may not be aware of the real meaning of ‘literacy’.
· Teachers need to understand the development of literacy skills
· SPEVI needs to re-establish certification of competencies in braille
codes and the teaching of braille to students.
· Use of Grade 1 or Grade 2 braille – Who decides? Is some statement
necessary?
· Documentation on how to teach braille required. Refer to Dianne Wormsley’s
new publication.
· Renwick College providing ‘Sunset Schools’ on braille issues.
Tactile Graphics
· Gillian is currently writing standards for the ‘teaching’ of tactile
graphics
· Still lack of documentation about what happens nationally and internationally.
· Guidelines needed about how people are producing tactile diagrams.
· 2001 National Conference that addresses braille literacy and numeracy
and tactile graphics.
Resources
· Royal Blind Society – Low Vision Module
· Royal Society for the Blind – 3VI
· Quantum – Switchedon Braille
· Vic. Statewide Vision Resource Centre – Website, Bulletin
· NSW – It’s Vision Time – no longer running
· Publications on Braille Literacy – Gillian has lists.
Teacher Training
· Increase in availability of Distance Education Courses
· QLD, NSW and SA only have training programs
· Overseas courses still used
· Decrease in government support for inservice programs. Suggest establish
cadetships
Students With Multiple Disabilities
· Numbers continuing to increase
· Lack of professional developments and pres-service training
· Lilli Nielsen Conference SA well attended/excellent networking
· ‘Active Learning’ Association has started.
· Emphasis on multiple disability mainly on physical/intellectual aspects
not on hearing/vision.
· Testing of multiple disability
· Needs to be represented at SPEVI conferences
Round Table
· Meeting May 200 included restructure, unified English Braille Code
(should be up and running by 2003
· Australian Braille Authority – need for braille certification for teachers
National Information and Library Services Organisation
· National Information and Library Services Organisation – not fully
operational yet
· Web accessibility
· NFB have withdrawn lawsuit against AOL (America online)
· Suitable Software – Listening to Windows 98
Blind Citizens Australia
· World Blind Union meeting Melbourne Nov 2000
· Bill Jolly has left
· Parent Newsletter-mostly Victorian but would appreciate other state’s
contributions
FACS Review
· Review of Print Disability Services and Blind Postal Concession programs
· Forthcoming survey of alternate format production in Education Departments
Cross Fertilization
· Need for more teacher movement and exchange
· More networking necessary
SPEVI
· Conference 2001 need registration details (Coming soon)
· New Journal – some members did not receive this. Important that we
have a professional journal but people need to contribute
· Newsletter – isolated colleagues require this support. Articles and
items needed.
· Lack of research in Australia
· Our responsibility in South Pacific.
· Name change brings with it added responsibility to smaller nations
in the area. Funds to attend conferences?
· NZ are investigating SPEVI obtaining funds from the Minister to allow
representatives from South Pacific countries to attend
· Principles need to be completed to be confirmed at AGM 2001 (Completed
on Saturday)
Chris comments: ‘It’s about time we got some real games for visually impaired people! .... If people don’t buy this sort of product, then they won’t develop it anymore.’
PC to PC internet phoning has been available for some time now. However, it is now possible to phone from your PC to a regular phone. PhoneFree offers this service free of charge to or within the US, Canada, China or the UK. All it costs you is the cost of dialling your Internet Service Provider. You talk via the internet which connects to a regular phone thereby eliminating the majority of the cost of the phone call. All that is charged is the cost of the destination of the call. This cost is paid by companies who display advertisements via a banner while you talk. For more info, visit www.phonefree.com and get connected!
Find out more about the revolutionary talking GPS navigational system designed for the visually impaired. The device uses a GPS in conjunction with a laptop computer, map software and a screenreader to guide VIP’s through cities and some points of interest. This currently only available in the US and Canada, but is worth noting as they plan to roll out the system throughout the world in the near future.
‘In a landmark decision, handed down last Thursday and released to the public on Monday 28th August, Australia’s Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) found that the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) have unlawfully discriminated against me as a blind person, because of their failure and refusal to make the official Olympics website (www.olympics.com) fully accessible to me. The complete text of the decision is available at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/decisions/comdec/Maguire_v_SOCOG2.htm
In June 1999, I lodged a complaint against SOCOG alleging discrimination
under Australia’s Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). In addition to highlighting
SOCOG’s failure and refusal to
provide full and independent access to the Olympics website for me
as a blind person, the complaint also alleged that SOCOG had discriminated
against me by failing and refusing to provide the official Olympics Ticket
Book in braille. That aspect of the complaint was adjudicated by the Human
Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in September 1999, and resulted
in a finding of unlawful discrimination against SOCOG. SOCOG continued
in their refusal to provide ticketing information in braille. The main
reason for the delay in dealing with the website issue is a series of delaying
tactics used by SOCOG and their legal advisors, which are detailed in the
Commission’s decision. SOCOG
stated before the Commission on July 3 that they were aware that their
tactics were doing ‘irreparable damage’ to my right to have the complaint
dealt with in a timely and effective manner.’
For those who would like further details, call the SVRC to request a print or email copy of Bruce’s entire email.
The ever-popular Support Skills Program will be holding a ‘Try Day’ on Friday 3rd November. Groupings for 2001 will be finalised in late November this year so you will need to notify RVIB of your intention to enrol your student/son/daughter/self by then. RSVP for the ‘Try Day’ by Friday 20th October 2000 on 9808 6422.
‘Monash University is committed to promoting access and equity for students who have a disability enabling them to participate as independently as possible in its educational activities. The Monash University Disability Support Program provides a range of services to assist students who have a disability or long-term medical condition…. If you have support requirements which take time to organise eg require material in braille or use Auslan interpreters, it is essential to make early contact with the university to ensure support requirements can be met and put in place.’
A copy of this pamphlet is included with The Bulletin for Visiting Teachers
or you can contact the Disability Liaison Office on:
Tel: 9905 5704
Email: dlo@adm.monash.edu.au
Web: www.adm.monash.edu.au/ssd/seab/dlo
This is a wonderful story, admittedly not all that original: an unwanted toy, the one child who wants and loves it... But, the touching and special twist in this book is the presentation of the story in both print and braille. Combined with the fact that the little girl in the story is blind, it really brings home the “beauty is in the ‘eye’ of the beholder” lesson. A treasure. Plus, the illustrations are excellent. A treat for multiple senses!
It is available for US$17.56 plus p&h from: www.amazon.com
To receive your monthly copy simply email eab-subs@headstar.com with ‘subscribe EAB’ as your message subject.
Access-USA/Braille Factory will be exhibiting at the World Blind Union Conference in Melbourne this November and also hope to develop an Australian distributor for their products.
Be careful not to get the wrong idea if Denise Lasprogata invites you to run your fingers across her shirt. “It’s great for literacy,” joked Lasprogata, the 26-year-old founder of DEEDEE, a fledgling clothing company that makes fashionable apparel for blind and partially sighted women. Her designs come with braille tags describing garment colour and care instructions. Many even have braille words sewn with sequins on the chest and around the midriff. “They really invite the touch, so I have to be careful where I put them,” said Lasprogata, whose friends call her Dee Dee. A full DEEDEE line of separates and dresses is still in development, but T-shirts are already available online at www.deedeedot.com Fifty other pieces should be available in stores, via audio catalogues for the sight impaired and on the company’s Web site next year.
Rachel Graff, a blind East Village resident who is one of Lasprogata’s consultants, said, “Clothing has always been a problem for me. First you have to have someone tell you the colour, then you have to manually make your own labels.” Graff said she’s tried everything from Teflon tape to punched metal tags. But the tape came off in the wash and the metal tags were unwieldy and uncomfortable. “Nothing beats having a washable tag already sewn on the clothes,” she said of Lasprogata’s line, of which she owns several samples. Lasprogata said her $500,000 start-up, funded by private investors, grew out of her interests in the fashion industry and helping disabled people lead independent lives. She learned how to sew from her grandmother, who ran a sewing business near Lasprogata’s Philadelphia home, and she became aware of the challenges blind people face after a close friend was blinded in a car accident during high school. After Lasprogata graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1995, she moved back home and began experimenting with her idea for a braille tagging system. She wasn’t yet thinking of launching her own clothing line, but her work as a personal shopper for visually impaired women convinced her of the need for a more practical label solution. “I started hanging out in hardware stores a lot, playing with all the plastics,” she said. In 1997, Lasprogata went to a trade show and discovered a soft plastic paper used for relief maps. It could withstand the heat of clothing dryers, and she quickly contracted with the New Jersey company to design her braille label.
Please note: I could not access the website today – perhaps you will have more success when you try!
Blind Citizens Australia will hold its 26th Annual General Meeting in Melbourne
at the Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins Street Melbourne from 10am to 12 noon
on Sunday 19 November 2000. Call Maryanne Diamond on 9521 3433 for further information.
Student Adventure Camp Newsletter
Included with this edition of The Bulletin is the Adventure Camp Newsletter,
produced by camp attendees, Jeni Blake and myself. It is available in large
print, braille and audio tape on request and you’ll be able to view it on our
website in the next few weeks.
And Finally
Have great holidays!!!
Regards from Deb Lewis deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au