The Bulletin

Statewide Vision Resource Centre

Number 20, Friday 14th December 2000

Inside This Issue

PD 2001
SVRC Mini Expo – Report
WBU Report
Bibles for free
SVRC Writing Competition
Paul Jennings
Christmas Presents for Vision Impaired Children
Toys and Play
Lilli Nielsen’s Little Room Review on the Web
RVIB Watersports Camp Cancelled
Challenge Camp Diary
Learning Indonesian by Correspondence - Letter from a Student
Clever Kids
Build your own Website
For Sale
JVIB – Oct 2000
Blind Man Walking to South Pole
SVRC Technology Book
SVRC Learning Media Assessment
Returns
Staff and Student News
Student Results
VCE 2001
Special Thanks

SVRC PD Program for 2001

While you are sitting at your desks sorting out your paperwork, you could put these dates in your brand new diaries and plan to join us!

Term	Professional Development 2001	Date
1	Visiting Teacher – VI PD Day	Monday 19 February
1	New Visiting Teacher Induction Day	Tuesday 20 February
1	Braille Day (Supporting Brailling Students in the Classroom)	Monday 12 March
1	AM: Mountbatten Users’ Discussion Group	Tuesday 13 March
1	PM: O&M for Integration Aides and Parents – exciting new program being conducted in conjunction with Guide Dogs Association	Tuesday 13 March
1	Low Vision Day (Supporting Low Vision Students in the Classroom)	Friday 23 March
2	Supporting Vision Impaired Students with Additional Impairments in the Classroom	Friday 8 June (to be confirmed)
2	Visiting Teacher – VI PD Day	Friday 22 June
3	Visiting Teacher – VI PD Day	Monday 13 August
4	Combined Agencies Day (St Paul’s School)	Monday 8 October
4	Visiting Teacher – VI PD Day	Friday 7 December

SVRC Mini EXPO - Report

Last Monday, the staff of the SVRC ran a very successful inaugural Mini Expo! We had distributors from European Eyewear, Haines Educational, Horizon Software, Micro Marvellous, Quantum Technologies, Robotron, Spectronics and VisTech, all of whom were very generous with their time and information. Participants including Visiting Teachers, school personnel, parents and students seemed very pleased with the format of the day and equally satisfied with the luncheon, again provided by the staff and students of Heatherwood School.
The staff of the SVRC will hold another Mini Expo next year if TALG or another organization does not – we believe they are a great way of seeing the amazing array of devices which make life easier for people with vision impairments.

WBU – General Assembly and World Blind Women’s Forum – Report

The following report was kindly provided by Janie McLeod, Visiting Teacher, Northern Region:
It was a privilege to attend the Fifth General Assembly and at first hand to gain a greater understanding of what it is like to be blind and to obtain a world perspective on issues important to people with impaired vision. Most of the delegates, two from each of 115 countries and 44% of them women, were totally blind and represented the 40 million blind and 120 million visually impaired people in the world today. The theme was “Changing What it Means to be Blind” and sessions covered topics such as technology development, blindness prevention, literacy and braille, human rights, resource mobilization techniques (fund-raising), economic empowerment and vocational rehabilitation. 1000 volunteers helped the delegates to the displays of the latest equipment around Melbourne Town Hall and to their hotels. Following are some points that interested me:

The major problem being faced is not blindness but public misunderstanding about blindness, so the major struggle is to change the concept of blindness in the community.
The World Health Organisation asserts that the number of blind people in the world will double in the next 25 years unless some decisive public health action is taken.
80% of the world’s blindness is avoidable.
In South Africa a set percentage of government contracts goes to groups with disabilities and there is constitutional protection against discrimination.
In the USA 70% of those with vision impairment who are able to work are unemployed. Those who do work may be underemployed or kept at entry level standard.
France has 150 blind teachers in regular schools.
9 countries have 72% of the illiteracy in the world.
The proposal to restrict free postal services for the blind was defeated in 1999 despite pressure to eliminate government subsidies.
Technology will open up the world of communication for people with low vision, said Dr Raymond Kurzweil by video link, and machines will be developed that describe real world scenes, pictures in books, diagrams and graphs. Direct communication from the brain to the internet and brain to brain will become possible. The danger will be hackers who interfere with one’s thinking processes.
There is one more blind child in the world in every minute.
In Portugal the blind are prohibited from studying some university courses.
The suggestion was made that all countries dedicate a percentage of their Gross Domestic Product to children with disabilities.
Braille skills and travel skills are the most important ones to be learnt. New technologies do not take the place of braille.
A definition of Disability: People are disabled when opportunities are denied them.
The Microsoft company trial some of their software using people with disabilities and has 40 people working in the Accessible Technology section to ensure that equipment is available and affordable. They obtain feedback from the Lighthouse for the Blind in USA and have a policy of employing some people with disabilities.
In Australia the number of people with eye problems triples in each decade after the age of 40.
The 3 main causes of low vision are: uncorrected refractive error, Glaucoma and Macular Degeneration (where central vision is lost). 2/3 of all people will develop MD after the age of 70.
At the Australiana Night a Samoan man was fascinated to feel the fleece of a sheep and to feel the shorn sheep itself as he previously did not understand the concept of a sheep. Trying to play a didgeridoo was also popular.
Vision 2020 is a new global initiative for the elimination of avoidable blindness. In Australia its goals are to provide eye care to aborigines, to publicize prevention and early detection of blindness and to assist the international community in these. There is now one ophthalmologist for 1 billion people. By 2020 they aim to have one per 250,000 people.
Sightsavers International encourage the design of programs in developing countries around discreet areas in defined populations eg establish a rehabilitation program using one officer with specialized training and a number of volunteers who provide training in orientation and mobility, daily living skills and employment skills.
It is important to organise the parents of students with low vision to work on their behalf.
In the USA a court case, University of Alabama v. Garrett, is trying to abolish the discrimination act.
On a Qantas plane recently a blind woman with a guide dog was told she would have to be the last person to leave the plane in an emergency.

Janie also brought back a show bag of goodies for us too. They include:

AFB Magazine: AccessWorld – Technology for Consumers with Visual Impairments
Audio Tape and Large Print: Age Related Macular Degeneration
Audio Tape: Access World May 2000
Braille Calendar
CD-ROM: APH PC Software Demos
CD-ROM: Microsoft Accessibility
CD-ROM: Playback 2000 – Daisy Consortium Demo Disk
CNIB Magazine: Vision
Disk and LP: What Braille Means to Me (Braille Essay Contest)
Disk: Duxbury
LP Book: ‘Oh Wow!’ (short stories)
Report: CERA – Eye Care for the Community
Video: Young Heroes: Louis Braille

Bibles for Free

Aurora Ministries provide audio cassette copies of The Bible for free. You can secure yours by contacting them at:
PO Box 621
Bradenton, Florida
Tel: (941) 748 3031
http://auroraministries.org/

SVRC Writing Competition

Thanks for all your entries to the SVRC writing completion – overall the standard was very good indeed- it will be a challenge for our judge to decide on the winners for the four categories. Entries are currently with Paul Jennings who kindly agreed to judge the entries again this year. We’ll let you know as the results come to hand.

And Speaking of Paul Jennings…

We sent an email to Paul recently to let him know that there seemed to be a problem with one story on his website. Here is his reply:
Thank you for your email, and for pointing out the potential problem with the Web page in regard to your blind students. Having worked in the field, I am aware of the obstacles that may hinder their enjoyment of books. As our web page is fairly new, we are still getting on top of the audio/visual aspects - we are slowly getting there. I would however, like to draw your attention to some of my work that has already been produced on audio cassettes. At present there are quite a few that you may be able to obtain (listed below):

Sink the Gizmo - Louis Braille Audio
Undone - Louis Braille
Uncovered - Louis Braille
Uncanny - Louis Braille
Unreal - Louis Braille
Unreal - Chivers Children's Audio Books
The Gizmo - Louis Braille Books
Grandad's Gifts - Louis Braille Books

If you would like to email me your postal address, I would be delighted to send you a copy of Unseen (Puffin Audiobooks), for the children to enjoy.
Thanks again for your comments,
Cheers
Paul
So we now have a lovely copy of Unseen on tape which is available for you to borrow! These tapes would make a great Christmas gift!

And Speaking of Christmas…

Some ideas submitted by VTs include:

fingerless gloves for braille readers
smelly crayons and pens
Woolly Pen from Quantum Technologies – 9585 3277
Wikki Stix from Co-ordinates Occupational Therapy Services – 9380 1127

Perhaps the gift for the brailling adult could be a bottle of Goulburn Valley Riesling or Victorian Cabernet Sauvignon with braille embossed on the wine’s label. This is thanks to The Wine Society!
Attached to the print copy of The Bulletin is a list of interesting and suitable presents for students with vision impairments, compiled by RVIB Early Childhood Services.

Toys and Play

Sherry Cunningham kindly sent me a web address for The Association for Retinopathy of Prematurity and Related Diseases (www.ropard.org) which has a very extensive section on toys and play for students with vision impairments. In addition to the information below, there are links to suitable toys by the child’s ‘age and stage’ including:

Heads-up
Creeper crawler
Careful explorer
Independent explorer

All the toys are beautifully illustrated and there are links to online suppliers.
Not all toys need to be purchased. In fact, many household objects will provide hours of appropriate stimulation for young children who are visually impaired, blind, or children with multiple impairments. The diversity of household items in terms of their tactile qualities often make them more suitable, since most toys today are made of plastic and have the same ‘feel’ regardless of shape or purpose.

Examples of Household Items to be Used:

Alarm clock
Aluminum plates
Bags made of cloth, strong canvas, leather
Balloons - Mylar
Balls of all sizes and materials
Battery operated toothbrush
Bells
Belt with buckle
Blocks (wooden, metal, plastic, foam)
Boxes of all sizes and shapes
Brushes, all sizes and shapes (vegetable, nail, tooth, hair, shoe, scrubbing, clothes)
Buttons
Bicycle pump
Cardboard and wooden boxes with round hole in the top
Carpet scraps
Castanets
Christmas lights
Cloth bag 8x4 inches, containing dried peas, rice, small pebbles
Cloth with one button and button hole
Cloth with zipper
Clothes pins (wooden and plastic)
Combs
Curtain rings
Door hinge
Doorlock with key
Drinking straws
Ear syringe
Egg beater
Fabric scraps
Facial Massager
Feather Duster
Flashlights
Foot Massager
Furniture castors
Glass cases with plastic sunglasses
Harmonica
Hot water bottle
Kitchen spoons (wood, plastic)
Kitchen timer
Large bolts with wing nuts
Magnets
Marbles
Measuring spoons bound together
Mugs (plastic, metal)
Non-breakable bottles and jar
Old clothes for dress-up and just learning dressing skills
Old shoes for dress-up
Paper – variety of types
Pencil cases (leather, wood with sliding lid)
Pepper mill
Plastic and metal containers with a round hole in the lid
Plastic container (with buttons or poker chips with a slit in top like a piggy bank)
Plastic cups and saucers
Plastic plates (dinner, soup)
Pots and pans
Plastic pot scrubbers
Purses with different kinds of fasteners
Rattles
Rolling pin
Round toothbrush container (with a marble inside)
Rubber bands (small, large, thin, thick)
Safety Scissors
Set of playing cards (well used)
Sliding door lock
Soap boxes, with soap
Soap savers
Sponges
Spoons
Spray bottles
Squirt bottles
Steel Springs, screws, hooks
String with beads to be drawn up and down
Tea leaf holder with marble inside
Tiddleywinks
Tinkertoys
Tins (screw top, press-on) of various sizes
Triangles
Vacuum cleaner hose
Velcro
Whistle
Wire whisk
Wrapping paper
Yarn
Zippers

Things to Keep in Mind:

BE CAUTIOUS ABOUT TOYS THAT HAVE FLICKERING LIGHTS FOR ANY CHILD WHO MAY HAVE SEIZURES.
Have your play area as free from distractions as possible (no TV or radio going while you play).
Make certain your child is positioned properly. Check with your child's teacher or therapist if you need assistance.
Not every toy is for every child. Try and determine the type of toys that fascinate your child.
Try to arrange your play time when your child is most alert and happy.
Provide time for your child to explore by himself. While adult-directed play can be necessary at times, self-directed play allows your child the freedom to explore in ways you may not think about!
Don't put all your toys out at one time. Play with a few toys, and then put them away for a period of time, and play with some others.
Remember, even the safest toy can be used in an unsafe manner.
The attached lists are not meant to be exhaustive. Ages have intentionally not been used. It is more important to judge the stage your child is at, rather than his chronological age, in determining appropriate toys. Look for toys that will be challenging, but not frustrating.
Some wonderful early manipulatives can be found in pet stores in the dog toy department. These toys tend to have highly textured vinyl or rubber surfaces, which can be easily cleaned when mouthed. They also tend to have squeakers which give them an added auditory factor.

Lilli Nielsen’s Little Room

Dr Nielsen is an internationally recognized expert on the education of blind infants and preschoolers, and especially for her creative approach and specialized equipment for blind children with additional impairments. To see the website written by a mother of a student using the Little Room, go to: http://ropard.org/bulletin.html

Children's Watersports Camp - Cancelled

Unfortunately due to lack of interest, the RVIB Children's Watersports Camp has been cancelled. What a shame – it looked like heaps of fun!

Challenge Camp Diary

One of the delightful students, who came on Challenge Camp with us last year, recently sent us a copy of his camp diary. It makes an interesting and amusing read – please call in to see it! His observations include: ‘The cabins were made of wood with simple driftwood doors…None of the cabins had electric or gas heating. Instead, (we’re going back to the 19th century) yes! There were wood fires!’

Learning Indonesian by Correspondence

The following article was written by brailling student Dean, who completed his studies at Brandon Park Secondary College this year:
Like all of the readers of this magazine, I have an interest in languages. Along with my friend Daniel, we study Indonesian by correspondence, which we have undertaken for the past three years. We had studied Indonesian from Year 7 to Year 9 through school, but as a result of lack of interest, this subject was no longer offered.
Learning by correspondence, can have its advantages and some disadvantages. These advantages include working at your own pace. If you have work to complete in your other subjects, then this work could be temporarily put on hold. Therefore your time management skills need to be looked at, and as a result of this, could be improved.
Some disadvantages of studying in this way, include having to become more organised to complete all tasks. Not having the assistance of a classroom teacher forces you to become self-sufficient. This could be an advantage for some, but when you are studying VCE it’s appreciated getting as much support as you can.
Daniel and myself are fortunate to have a teacher Brooke who comes and visits us twice a week. She assists us in any way she can with our work.
As I am blind, my work is transcribed into braille for me to read comfortably.
I have found the staff at the Distance Education Centre most understanding of my needs and thank them for allowing me the opportunity to participate equally.
Daniel and I are achieving excellent results and are heading towards completing Year 12 Indonesian. In the future, we hope to travel to Indonesia and make use of what we have learned.
I would strongly recommend studying by correspondence, as it is a great way to learn and with a lot of effort, you can achieve great results.
If anyone has any thoughts on studying in this way, I would be interesting in hearing them. Email deanoc@unite.com.au/

Clever Kids

One of Kay’s students, Tracey wins the inaugural ‘Clever Kid’ award. She and her friend decided to complete their geography project by writing a webpage! So Tracey worked at her home and Ashleigh worked at her home and together they produced a very interesting website which includes pictures, information, animation, links to other sites and some very interesting effects.

Build Your Own Website!

Just like Tracey and Ashleigh, you can build your own website by going to http://geocities.yahoo.com/home/ and clicking the link to ‘Build Your Website’. They promise ‘great tools for both beginners and experts and cool add-ons to spice up your pages’! You just need to register and you’re away!

For Sale

Stand Magnifier with Light

Jimmy would like to sell this Eschenbach +1,0/4D stand magnifier with additional clip-on magnifying glass and light (240V) in brand new condition. Ideally it would probably live at home as the light requires power. Jimmy bought it for $240 and wishes to sell for $200 or near offer. Contact Deb Lewis on 9841 0242 for details.

JVIB – October 2000

The following articles appear in the October edition of JVIB:

New Age Levels of the Reynell-Zinkin Development Scales for Young Children with Visual Impairments
The Psychosocial Well-Being of Finnish Adolescents with Visual Impairments Versus Those with Chronic Conditions and Those with No Disabilities
Interactive Factors in the Reading Rehabilitation of Elderly Persons with Low Vision in Sweden
Effects of Background Noise on the Perception of Speech by Sighted Older Adults and Older Adults with Severe Low Vision

Blind Man Walking to the South Pole

A British adventurer has begun a 688 mile trek from the Atlantic Ocean, near the tip of South America, to the South Pole in an effort to become the first blind person to do so. In the process, Miles Hilton-Barber hopes to raise more than $3.75 million for Britain's Royal National Institute for the Blind, and to provide inspiration for other blind people. Hilton-Barber, a 52-year-old father of three, started his 688-mile journey November 20, and hopes to reach the South Pole by Jan. 5, 2001. The extremely cold temperatures, which would be a challenge to anyone, will be particularly difficult for Hilton-Barber. ‘My hands act as my eyes. I recognize objects by touch, and the gloves will present a further obstacle to me handling equipment, with frostbite an ever-present risk," he said.
Hilton-Barber began losing his vision in his late-20s as a result of retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative hereditary eye condition. He eventually lost all sight about 10 years ago.
‘Sight loss needn't stop me making choices about the way I live,’ he said. ‘If I can show that trekking to the South Pole is possible for a blind man, then, maybe, I can inspire someone who's just lost their sight to pick up a white cane and take the first step across the road into the future.

SVRC Technology Book – Ready in the New Year

I have been working hard on the 2001 edition of the ‘Adaptive Technology and Equipment’ booklet which will be ready for you all early in the new year. Visiting Teachers will receive a free copy while everyone else will need to pay $12 to receive their copy.

Learning Media Assessment

The promised Learning Media Assessment kit is now available FOR DEET VISITING TEACHERS – it will set you back $20 but should be a valuable resource! It includes 13 reading activities including passages from novels, reference material, maths activities, mapping, tables etc. It also includes taped passages and the original of one of the novels. Please call if you would like your copy before the end of the year. Otherwise it will be available from the beginning of term one.

Returns

Keep those returns coming in! If you would like an updated borrowing list, please call and we’ll fax it out immediately!

Staff and Student News

Wendy, Integration Aide from Golden Square Secondary College, has recently completed the Correspondence Literary Braille Course offered by the Statewide Vision Resource Centre. Excellent work!
We have had a few staff changes with the latest round of job interviews

Denise Probert will now work full time in Northern Region
Meredith Walsh’s time fraction in Northern Region was increased to .6
We hope that Julie Robottom, formerly of Northern Region, will pick up work in a school
Leanne Philp has picked up .4 in Northern Region
Sue Fraser from Warrnambool is leaving VT to go back to a school
We are hoping that Louise Cooper (formerly Southern Region) will pick up VT work in the Warrnambool area – where she is moving to live with her future husband
Leanne van der Nagel will be working .5 in Eastern Region
Lee Clarke will be working full time in Southern Region
Neil Barrington will be retiring at the end of the year – we wish him all the best!
Apart from those changes, as far as we know, VTs are as they were. We are still awaiting the outcome of some positions and please let me know if I have forgotten someone!

Student Results

Please let us know how your students went this year – we love to find out!

VCE 2001

Please let us know the names and details of your students who are studying units 3 and 4 subjects next year. We can fax you a form if you need one. Remember that Lyn and I are available to attend VCE meetings to discuss Special Arrangements.

Special Thanks

We have a number of Visiting Teachers who deserve a special mention for their tremendous help to the staff of the SVRC:

Helen Caldow
Kay McQualter
Pam Smedley
Robert Aaltonen

They contribute by doing jobs around the place like binding and taping, booking items in and out of the borrowing system, putting things away. They even write articles for The Bulletin and baby-sit the SVRC when we are out at lunch time. We appreciate their cheerful help very much. Thanks heaps!

And Finally…

As this is the last edition of The Bulletin for 2000, I would like to take the opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas and summer holiday (6 weeks – what a bonus!!!!!). A ‘skeleton staff’ will be working at the SVRC over summer, but if you plan to pop in, please call first!

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Web page editor Lyn Robinson. Last updated December 2000
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