The following issue of The Bulletin was prepared by Deb Lewis (Co-ordinator, Statewide Vision Resource Centre).
Ok… it finally happened… the cyber gremlins got into my computer and ate up my email address book… This is a pity because I no longer have my list of people who receive The Bulletin via email. So if you know of someone (yourself or someone else) who used to receive OR would like to receive The Bulletin via email, please call me on 9841 0242 or email the information to me at deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au … sigh …
Please call or email for your copies of the programs for the Professional development activities this term.
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
SVRC Visiting Teacher PD Day – Monday 15 September
SPEVI Combined Agencies Day - Monday 6 October
Workshop: O&M - Tuesday 28 October
SVRC EXPO/Technology Semoinars - Tuesday 2 December
When: Saturday 13th September 2003 at 2.00pm
Where: Statewide Vision Resource Centre, 370-380 Springvale
Rd Donvale (Melway ref 48 F4)
Please register your interest to: Judy & John Bowen on
9842 5103 or Annette Godfrey-Magee at annetteg@svrc.vic.edu.au
The event: Panel discussion topic – ‘Vision
Impairment in the Workforce’ – a panel of interesting and entertaining
people with vision impairments will share their experiences, knowledge and thoughts
on working towards a career with a vision impairment.
From: Annette Godfrey-Magee
Tuesday, October 21st is the date for the assessment for the Eccentric Viewing Program. Kerry Fitzmaurice will be at the SVRC from 9:30am. Each assessment will take approximately 30-40 minutes. Kerry’s assessment will consist of a field assessment and then identification of the most appropriate viewing position for each student. Please discuss this date with your families and on our PD day, Friday 15th of September, the appointment times will be finalized. If you have a preferred time please ring Annette on 0419 157 748 or 9841 0807 and I will try and accommodate every one. (I’m open to graft and corruption!)
Source: http://www.svrc.vic.edu.au/visionrelated.html
The Statewide Vision Resource Centre’s website is just a mine of information to browse, to search and to study. One very useful page is the ‘Vision Related Websites’ page which lists links with brief summaries under the following headings:
For example, the medical section contains the following:
Bardet Biedl Syndrome (BBS) Website from Guy’s Hospital in London http://www.isgrd.umds.ac.uk/laurence
Blindness/Visual Impairment Links to over 700 sites on blindness and vision impairment. http://blindness.about.com/health/blindness/mbody.htm
Center for Study of Autism http://www.autism.org
Eye Care Information http://www.eyecareinfo.com
Eye World Week Recent most up to date journal and research articles on eye care. http://www.eyeworld.org
Eyeatlas An online atlas of Ophthalmology - descriptions and slides of eye diseases. http://www.eyeatlas.com
Galaxy A resource with eye disease and abnormalities. Go to the medical directories to link to the eye page. http://www.galaxy.com
HON Vision and Eye Care General information on optics of the eye and eye care. http://www.hon.ch
Macular Degeneration http://www.maculardegeneration.org
National Eye Institute Eye diseases, disorders, vision care, and resources. http://www.nei.nih.gov
National Keratoconus Foundation Current information and research on keratoconus. http://www.nkcf.org
NORD (National Organization for Rare Disorders Inc.) NORD is the only organization of its kind. A unique federation of more than 140 not-for-profit voluntary health organizations serving people with rare disorders and disabilities. http://www.rarediseases.org
Retinoblastoma This site has a parent’s guide to retinoblastoma written by an oncologist. http://www.retinoblastoma.com
Selected Anomalies and Diseases of the Eye Compiled by Virginia Bishop. Good place to start with short descriptions of the eye condition, implications, and related websites for further information. http://www.tsbvi.edu/Education/anomalies/index.htm
The Family Village-Library http://www.familyvillage.wisc.edu/library.htm
The Karolinka Institute, University of Medicine, Sweden Diseases/Disorders: http://www.mic.ki.se/Diseases/alphalist.html
Eye Diseases: http://www.mic.ki.se/Diseases/c11.html
University of Florida Assorted slides of eye diseases and anomalies. http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/year2/ophthal
VI Guide Medical Resources Excellent list of sites on the internet, which have medical references about vision impairment. A good starting point if you are not sure where to start. http://www.viguide.com/medi.htm
Need to know the term dates for Victoria and the other states, try this groovy website: http://www.dest.gov.au/schools/dates.htm
In tabular form, this website offers the term dates for 2003, 2004 and 2005 by state – here is the information for Victoria:
Term 1 - 29 January to 11 April
Term 2 - 28 April to 27 June
Term 3 - 14 July to 19 September
Term 4 - 6 October to 19 December
Term 1 - 29 January to 2 April
Term 2 - 19 April to 25 June
Term 3 - 12 July to 17 September
Term 4 - 4 October to 17 December
Term 1 - 27 January to 1 April
Term 2 - 18 April to 24 June
Term 3 - 11 July to 16 September
Term 4 - 3 October to 21 December
For those of you with absolutely nothing else to do, perhaps you’d like
to check out the ‘buzzosity’ of a website…
Apparently, it’s the ultimate tool for scoring and ranking web pages by
their buzzword density. Buzzwordometer will examine any page you submit, and
give it a score on the industry-standard Buzzosity index! If you suspect a website
is full of waffle, meaningless techno-babble, marketing drivel and other such
nonsense, you can check it with the Buzzwordometer.
Just for fun, I checked a few pages of the technology website for example the
‘Braille Access’ page (http://www.visiontech.svrc.vic.edu.au/brailleaccess.htm)
rates as follows:
Geek factor: 11
Total buzzosity: 46
I am not sure how to interpret this since the website is about technology (kind of geekish I guess) – but compared to the Microsoft website (total buzzosity: 999) it isn’t too high…
You’ll find this useless stupidity at: http://www.buzzwordometer.com
Source: Online Newsletter Volume 2 Issue 3, 2003 by Tom Macmahon
Jackie Cairns - Technology Reviews:
http://www.cairnsplace.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
technology%20reviews.htm
Blind Citizens Australia:
http://www.bca.org.au/
e-bility Disability Information Resources:
http://www.e-bility.com/index.php
RNIB - Royal National Institute of the Blind, UK:
http://www.rnib.org.uk/
RNIB Technology Factsheets:
http://www.rnib.org.uk/technology/factsheets/
factsheets.htm
Tech Assist Online (Tasmania):
http://www.techassist.org.au/
VisionTechnology – Statewide Vision Resource Centre (SVRC) Victoria:
http://www.visiontech.svrc.vic.edu.au/
Disability Services Support Unit (DSSU):
http://education.qld.gov.au/curriculum/learning/students/disabilities/resources/publications/
publications.html
From: Sally Mangold smangold@earthlink.net
Sent: Wednesday, 6 August 2003 7:38 AM
Students from the Contra Costa VI Resource Center have written a website for other students with vision impairments. To see this site, go to: http://www.cccoe.net/vi/ - the password and username is the same: perkins
There are links to:
Student Home Pages - read home pages created by students with
vision impairments
How We Started - read how this web site originally started
Links - to websites of interest to students with vision impairments
VI Statement - (for parents and teachers) about the VIRC and
its teachers and volunteers
Getting in Contact - different ways for students with vision
impairments to keep in contact
Project Internet Aware - information for parents of students
with vision impairments about the internet and why blind kids should have access
to it (including tutorials)
Interviews with VI Students - read Caitlin’s interviews
with students with vision impairments.
Downloads - software that you may find helpful
For example, the ‘getting in contact’ link has the following information:
Do you want to make new friends, as well as contact old friends? Well, the VIRC web team has arranged several ways for this to be done (here are two).
A mailing list is a means of emailing several people at once. People can join or leave a mailing list whenever they want. The VIRC has a mailing list of its own, the VI students list. This list was arranged so that students with vision impairments from all over the county can communicate with one another. To subscribe, send an email to maiser@littleblind.dyndns.org and in the body of the message, type "subscribe vistudents" without the quotation marks. After you send the message, you will receive a confirmation message. Follow the instructions in this message, and you will be subscribed to the list. You can then send email to the list at vistudents@littleblind.dyndns.org
There are two popular instant messaging programs that we recommend. MSN Messenger, and AOL Instant Messenger. Both are accessible, and both are free. An advantage of using one of these services is that not only can you communicate with students with vision impairments, you can, if you wish, communicate with your sighted peers. Please note that you must register with a screen name and/or a Microsoft Passport, both free, depending on the program you use. Go to the AOL Instant Messenger Home Page at http://www.aim.com, or go to the MSN Messenger Home Page http://messenger.msn.com
Source: ozbrl listserve
Looking for someone to repair your tired or busted Perkins Brailler? Ken from RVIB (201 High Street, Prahran, Victoria) is probably your man. Ken spent time at the factory in the USA learning all there is to know about these tricky little machines!!! Bookings can be made through VisEquip on (03) 9520 5588 or if you’re interstate or from country Victoria call 1800 458555.
From: Wilkinson-Mark, 23 November 1999
The Iowa Low Vision Service team, in its research in the early 1990s, notes that large print has a number of distinct disadvantages versus other learning modalities.
Some thoughts regarding large print:
The decision to provide large print to a student should be made by the child’s
educational team, following an appropriate learning media assessment.
It should be noted that large print might be helpful for selected activities.
Such as:
The Australian Braille Authority invites applications for the 2003 Test of Proficiency in English Literary Braille
A sample test paper (including answers) will be provided to candidates prior
to the exam to assist them in their preparation.
For further information or application form, please contact Frances Gentle:
tel (02) 9487 1044 fax (02) 9489 0069 email vision@stedmunds.nsw.edu.au
Christina, a student on DE&T Visiting Teacher Service wrote this in year 8:
My one wish would be to improve my vision and to overcome the eye condition of Aniridia and Nystagmus. Aniridia means that the iris of my eye didn’t form properly. As a result I have a reduced ability see detail. My eyes have problems with glare and they sometimes flicker if I am tired or stressed. This is called nystagmus.
To have normal vision, would mean that I would be able to see what most other people can see clearly. I would be able to easily find my friends and read signs.
It would also mean that I would have less glare in my eyes from the sun. This would help stop headaches that I sometimes get. It would stop people from teasing me about my limited vision or thinking that I am on drugs. It would also stop me feeling like the odd one out.
It would be much easier to play sports that I enjoy such as soccer. I would have less trouble knowing where the ball is and getting it from my opponent. There would be less chance of being hit in the face.
It is hard for me to meet new people because they assume that I am on drugs.
The writing is too small in magazines and when I am in class and am asked to
read a passage, I am embarrassed because it takes longer for me to read. It
is even difficult to go to some functions because the security guards think
that I’m on drugs.
It is very frustrating when I drop something and have great difficulty finding
it again. I have often been called a snob because people wave to me in the distance
or call out my name and I can’t see them.
At the moment, people are talking about the cars that they would like to drive but I know that I won’t be eligible to drive. I am upset about this because it will restrict my freedom to go to places whenever I like.
I have trouble seeing the mobile phone numbers, numbers in the phone book, writing in newspapers. I also dislike having to carry heavy large print books around. They don’t fit in the locker properly. I don’t like having enlarged photocopies of worksheets because it is embarrassing.
People are always asking me why I don’t wear glasses but with my condition they don’t improve my vision anyway. People think that I am faking my vision impairment.
I am also scared of passing on my condition to any children that I may have one day because Aniridia is genetic.
If this wish came true it would bring great happiness to my life as I’d feel more like a normal person.
Excerpt from: A World of Science, Vol.1, No.3, April June 2003
The first e-learning centre for the blind in India opened its doors on 22 November last year at the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) in New Delhi, India. The centre is the first in a series of institutions which will ultimately bring distance learning to more than 2 million blind children. Ten braille terminals have been installed in the centre with ZoomText software and a braille printer.
The Asia-Pacific region has by far the largest number of children with special education needs worldwide. Poverty, accident and malnutrition are some of the causes. Owing to the large numbers, the region has been slow in providing quality education to all children and young persons with special needs.
One in five Indians are school-age children. And one in ten of these 200 million children has special needs. It is estimated that there are more than 2 million blind children in India. It is thus crucial for the country’s socio-economic development to introduce more efficient educational and training methods.
One of the obstacles delaying introduction of braille technology into India until now has been the cost of the technology. By designing a low-cost technology that can be manufactured within India, this difficulty is being overcome.
Since 1996, UNESCO has implemented other projects using braille technologies in Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and, most recently, Qatar.
For further information, contact: m.miloudi@unesco.org or newdelhi@unesco.org
The parent of a student with a vision impairment in the Bendigo area is looking to establish a social Swish competition in the area. She has the use of a Swish table but just needs some more players…
So contact Pam Hyden (mother of Sam) on 5444 4259 or email pls@impulse.net.au
Source: Artiste Toni Chilton
The response to our request for materials that could be used in the production of tactual books and games has been UNDERWHELMING!
I’m sure that some of you out there must have drawers and cupboards full of bits and pieces that could be put to good use at the SVRC.
At the VT PD day on 15th September, I will have a box in the foyer for any donations - you know the sort of thing - scraps of fake fur, felt, beads, string, heavy paper, cardboard, etc etc (see Bulletin 12 for the complete list). So start collecting!
You can also see the collection that is being developed by the ‘Department of Creativity’, SVRC.
Thanks to Jeni Blake, Sue Sharp and Trevor Boyd for contributions to this edition of The Bulletin. Thanks to Lea Nagel for her thorough proof-reading.
Deb Lewis (who can be emailed at deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au).