This issue was edited by Deb Lewis, Co-ordinator, Statewide Vision Resource Centre.
To see the annual program and to download programs for professional development activities, go to: http://www.visiontech.svrc.vic.edu.au/pd2007.htm
This day is designed for teachers, aides and parents involved in travel training. It is an opportunity to share your ideas and experience, learn some new strategies and experience travel under low vision simulators. We will discuss travel training for children with a range of disabilities, with a particular focus on vision impairment.
Training is provided by the Children’s Mobility Service from Guide Dogs Victoria.
When: Tuesday 13 November 2007, 10.00am – 3.00pm
Where: Statewide Vision Resource Centre, 370 Springvale Rd,
Donvale (park behind the sports centre next door)
Cost: No charge
Lunch: Bring some lunch money – we will eat out locally,
wearing low vision simulators
RSVP: Contact Deb Lewis at SVRC on 9841 0242 by Friday 9 November
What to bring: Ideas for travel training & resources which
have worked well
For downloadable program visit: http://www.visiontech.svrc.vic.edu.au/PDTravel.doc.
The next ABA meeting will take place on Tuesday 11th December at 10.00am in the Training Room at Vision Australia, Kooyong. The topic will be Visiting Teacher support to students in primary and secondary settings – so come along and enjoy the Christmas nibblies with your colleagues.
Yes, there are a couple of places remaining in the camp highlight of the term
… DRIVING CAMP … where students learn to DRIVE. As in gears, parking,
round abouts, traffic lights, hill starts, reversing etc etc etc.
When: Thursday 6th and Friday 7th December Where: Charlton
(transport provided)
Cost: $145
Contact: Helen Caldow via email caldow.helen.f@edumail.vic.gov.au
The next Vision Australia Try Day will be on Friday 23rd of November and the closing date for applications is the 2nd of November, though late applications will be considered. The Try Day goes from 9.00am to 1.00pm.
You can visit Try Day at Vision Australia and then head over to the Statewide Vision Resource Centre for a look at our EXPO!!!
Students with vision impairments are invited to participate in the Swimming Carnival.
When: Friday 7th December
Time: 9.00am to 1.00pm
Where: Presbyterian Ladies College Aquatic Centre, 141 Burwood
Hwy, Burwood 3125
Melway Ref: 60 K5
For further information and the application form, contact Charlie on (03) 9808
6422.
Application forms must be returned by Friday 16th November.
Source: Press Release, Disability No Barrier To Film Release, October 2007
On 3 December, a fully accessible Australian debut of award-winning drama Who Loves the Sun is being screened at the Possible Worlds Canadian Film Festival, in the Chauvel Cinema, to celebrate International Day of People with a Disability.
“At this screening, the cinema is being adapted so the whole audience can savor the experience regardless of disability,” said Minister for Disability Services Kristina Keneally.
“On-screen captions will be displayed for people with a hearing impairment, while audio description is available for people with a vision impairment and seats are removed for wheelchair access. Discussions will also take place before the movie focusing on film and disability.”
Guest speakers include cast members from Who Loves the Sun; Sydney actor and director Alex Jones who is Deaf; and Minister for Disability Services Kristina Keneally. Festival Artistic Director Mathieu Ravier believes film should be accessible to everyone. He is keen to stress the film premiere tickets are available to people of all abilities. Mr Ravier said, “I am proud to include the inclusive screening at the Possible Worlds Film Festival. Accessibility can express itself in many ways, starting with reaching out to all Australians traditionally ignored by the entertainment industry. “Who Loves the Sun features perfectly pitched performances and gorgeous Canadian locations. It’s a delightfully witty adult drama, a smart and funny new take on the love triangle.”
Tickets cost $15.50 adults, $12.50 concessions and $9 pensioners. They are available online at http://www.chauvelcinema.net.au or in person from the Chauvel box-office Paddington Town Hall, Cnr Oxford Street and Oatley Road.
Need a couple of free computer games that can be operated via a switch? You’ll find:
on the Assist-IT website: http://www.assist-it.org.uk/assets/content/downloads_links.htm
iZoom, the first free full-screen magnifier/reader is now available from Assist-IT and contains the following features:
This is a great utility particularly as it is free! It also has speech output
support which makes it a great all rounder!
Download here: http://www.assist-it.org.uk/assets/downloads/iZoomSetup-11.exe
The Virtual Magnifying Glass is a magnifying glass lens that follows the mouse movement. You can move the lens around the screen to view magnification of any screen area. To close the lens, click the left mouse button. Virtual Magnifying Glass also adds its own taskbar icon. Left-click on the icon offers a shortcut for launching the lens again.
Download here: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/magnifier/Mg235_install.exe?download
The closing date for the JAWS & WYNN scholarships program for 2008 have been extended to Friday 16 November 2007! Go to the Quantum Technology website for information on this scholarship program, download an application form or read some stories from our previous winners.
JAWS: http://www.quantumtechnology.com.au/scholarshipprogram?q=node/151
WYNN: http://www.quantumtechnology.com.au/scholarshipprogram?q=wynnscholarship
There is now a large range of laptop backpacks to choose from – but here is one that is little bit special – it includes solar panels which recharge your laptop battery!
Adapted from a review found at http://www.infosyncworld.com/reviews/n/8350.html:
Available from http://www.rushfaster.com.au for approximately US$250.
Source: http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=40277&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
In a signing ceremony in Paris the US Library of Congress and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO announced that they have joined forces to build a library that will store “unique and rare materials” from archives and libraries from all over the world.
According to UNESCO – The World Digital Library initiative will digitize unique and rare materials from libraries and other cultural institutions around the world and make them available free of charge on the Internet. These materials include manuscripts, maps, books, musical scores, sound recordings, films, prints and photographs. It is great because:
Visit the World Digital Library: http://www.worlddigitallibrary.org/project/english/index.html
Guide Dogs Victoria is pleased to announce a new program called Confidence with K9’s. This program will be aimed at children who feel they need to increase their confidence with dogs. Some children or adults may feel anxious or fearful near dogs. The confidence with K9’s program will aim to reduce anxieties and introduce basic dog handling skills in a safe and comfortable environment.
The first program to run will be aimed at primary school children with a secondary school program to run later in the year. Parents and guardians are welcome to attend the program. For more information or to register your interest in this program please contact: Erin Galloway on (03) 9854 4521
We have 8 students and 3 staff travelling to Sydney for the program 3-8 December. Students have a number of O&M challenges to meet as part of the program, all with minimal Instructor input.
Challenges include -
Prior to travelling to Sydney, the students and their parents will attend a meeting with the O&M Instructors to clarify any questions or issues.
The CMS team, led by O&M team member Lil Deverell, has published a new book titled “Look Out, Marcus! Growing up with low vision”. The book is a story about a boy who has low vision and contains information and activities about blindness and low vision. It is available free of charge and has been sent to all Primary Schools in Victoria. If you would like a copy or require extra copies please contact Lisa Brown at lisa.b@guidedogsvictoria.com.au
For further information about any aspect of the Children’s Mobility Service
please contact any member of the team –
Dean Johnson 9854 4506
Rachel Morgan 9854 4469
Sharon Taylor 9854 4496
Lil Deverell 9854 4542 Alicia Madden 9854 4493
Janelle O’Loughlin 9854 4520
Erin Galloway 9854 4521
Source: Article by Tim Evans in RT Newsletter, September 2007
In May 2006, Vision Australia (VA), in collaboration with Blind Citizens Australia and the Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities, forwarded a submission to the Federal Attorney Generals Copyright Law Branch in support of amendments to Australian Copyright law as it relates to people with a print disability.
In our submission we proposed an open-ended, fair dealing exception. This means that a fair dealing or copying of a work by an individual or organization should not be an infringement of copyright as long as certain conditions were met. In our submission the principle condition was that the fair dealing was in relation to people with a perceptual disability. This definition covers print disability. In recognition of the rights of the creators of copyright materials and in recognition of the needs of decision makers to have some guidelines we proposed that there be tests that should be applied before making copies under any open ended fair dealing. In addition to the fair dealings provision and the special conditions we made specific recommendations to the AG in respect of the proposed amendments to the effect that:
We believe that the Copyright Amendment Bill 2006 works to put into law important new exceptions in line with the RT submission in relation to new personal use exceptions and for institutions helping people with print disabilities:
The “personal use” exceptions ensure that members of our community can “format shift” to make accessible copies for private use and can with other sectors of the community “time-shift” – recording TV and radio programs, and can “space-shift” recording from a CD to play on your CD players without fear of breaching copyright.
The Copyright Amendment Bill 2006 addressed our submission and greatly reduced the restrictions that the preceding copyright law placed on Roundtable member organisations making copies without needing prior permissions:
The legislation establishes an exception to infringement for people with a disability individuals and individuals assisting them under certain conditions without prior approval and confirms our ability to communicate works in accessible formats. It should be noted that this provision is broad in scope as it does not refer to particular disabilities.
The legislation establishes an exception to infringement for organizations
assisting people with a print disability to reproduce copies under certain conditions
without prior approval and confirms our ability to communicate works in accessible
formats. The legislation also allows the creation of masters from which copies
can be made for individuals. It should be noted that a remuneration notice is
still required.
The amendment is not format-specific. This allows our organisations and our
clients to fully utilise the many and varied technological advances that are
being made in the fields of media, information delivery and accessibility.
Finally, the amendment has broadened the definition of a perceptual disability to more accurately reflect the needs and circumstances of the community.
Our now quite famous (because of all the yummy food provided) Christmas ‘thank you’ morning tea will be held at 11.00am on Wednesday 5 December 2007. If you have people you’d like to thank, call or email to add them to our invites list.
The SVRC would like to use a student’s art work for Christmas cards and invitations this year. Any student with a vision impairment can submit a Christmas illustration and the winning entry will receive a prize and the ‘honour’ of having their art work on our cards. Please send in your students' work, clearly marked with contact details, by October 31 (no, you don't have long to think about it!) to Deb Lewis, SVRC, PO Box 20, Nunawading 3131.
We have at least five children starting Prep next year who will be braille users and their schools are looking for any braille competent aides. The schools in need are in the Geelong, Mornington and Caroline Springs (western) areas. If you know of any interested aides, please be in touch.
An indigenous boy, aged 8 years, would like to correspond with a Victorian boy in braille (and perhaps later, email). This boy reads and writes braille at about a Year 1 level, and lives on the outskirts of Darwin. Please contact Marion Blazé on 03 9841 0807 if you have an interested student.
Thanks to Marion Blazé, Andrew Galati, Arlene Pachino and Lyn Robinson for contributing to this edition of The Bulletin. Thanks also to our fabulous proof-readers, stuffers and mailers.
Deb Lewis (who can be emailed at deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au).