+++AUSTRALIAN BLINDNESS FORUM ABN 47 125 036 857.
++ABF UPDATE – DECEMBER 2007.
[Contents begin]
+01. More about the ABF.
+02. National Unified Lifeskills Model (NULM).
+03. People.
+04. Information, Publications.
+05. National Conferences.
+06. World Blind Union.
+07. Other International Items.
+08. National Disability Services (NDS).
ABF Background and Contact.
[Contents end]

[Update begins]
+01. MORE ABOUT THE ABF.
At its meeting on 10 December, the Board of Directors determined that the election of the new Labor Government provides a significant but time-limited opportunity for the ABF to take the initiative on behalf of the blindness sector and make a difference for people who are blind or vision impaired. To achieve that the ABF will develop written policies to present to the relevant Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries, in conjunction with National Disability Services, by early February 2008 at the latest. To assist with this process, the Board set up the following Policy Subcommittees:
- Education and Children’s Services including National Unified Lifeskills Model (NULM), Chair Tony Wright.
- Information and Library Services (including Broadband), Chair Andrew Daly.
- National Equipment Subsidy Scheme (including a focus on students), Chair David Blyth.
- National Vision Loss Rehabilitation Strategy (in collaboration with Vision 2020 Australia), Chair Tony Wright.
- Braille Literacy and Numeracy, Chair Michael Simpson.
- Employment, Chair Tim Evans.

+02. NATIONAL UNIFIED LIFESKILLS MODEL (NULM).
A national parent summit is planned for April 2008. For more information, email Errol Ingram at errol@nulm.org or go to http://www.nulm.org.

+03. PEOPLE.
Graeme Innes, Human Rights Commissioner, delivered his address ‘Making Rights Relevant’ to the NDS CEO Meeting in Canberra on 28 November – to read it, go to http://www.humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/speeches/2007/nds.htm. 
The winners of the five categories of the inaugural National Disability Awards were announced on 3 December, International Day of People with Disability. Michael Curran, who has been blind since the age of 15, won the Young Community Contribution Award. Keith Hayes, blind from the age of 9, won the Community Contribution Award. To read more, go to http://www.idpwd.com.au/awards.asp. 

+04. INFORMATION, PUBLICATIONS.
- Blind Citizens Australia provides more information about the BCA Obstacle Notice on the website under Access to Transport and the Built Environment at http://www.bca.org.au/natpol/travel_built_enviro/index.php#obnt. 
- Labor’s Plan for Early Childhood, released in November, can be accessed at http://www.alp.org.au/download/early_childhood_policy.pdf. 
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare publication ‘Australia’s Welfare 2007’ has been released and includes a focus on ageing and disability (Introduction) and disability and disability services (section 4) – to read the report go to http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10527. 
- Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission: While HREOC has welcomed low-floor accessible buses, it points out that they are of little benefit if bus stops are not also accessible. HREOC is launching a public awareness project, ‘Getting everybody on the bus’ to encourage schools, universities and other community sectors to start auditing their local bus stops and drawing non-compliance to the attention of the local council responsible. Comments on the way the project should be designed and developed and suggestions, particularly from teachers, can be emailed to education@humanrights.gov.au. 
- UN Convention of the Rights of People with Disability: The Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) is part of a coalition of peak disability advisory and advocacy groups that is calling on State and Territory governments to support the Commonwealth as it pursues swift ratification of the new UN Convention. The coalition’s goal is for Australian ratification by 3 December 2008. The Australian Government will soon ask people with disability what they think the impact of ratification will be. A website http://www.disabilityrightsnow.org.au has been set up to inform people of the process. 
- National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Disability Network issued ‘The Brisbane Statement’ on 8 December calling for action by the Australian Government to support the establishment of an independent national secretariat, among other things. For more information, contact the Network’s Gayle Rankine (Chair) on 0423 063 713 or Ros Sackley (Deputy Chair) on 0417 494 237.
- Women With Disabilities Australia has a new accessible Resource Manual on Violence Against Women with Disabilities at http://www.wwda.org.au/vrm2007.htm. 
- Bankers’ Guiding Principles were launched on International Day of People with Disability. Adoption of the guiding principles by Australian banks and other financial institutions aims to promote the confidence of users in online banking services. The guiding principles were developed with the assistance of HREOC, Blind Citizens Australia, Physical Disability Council of Australia and member banks. To read the principles, go to http://www.bankers.asn.au/default.aspx?ArticleID=1133.
- Westpac is offering Deaf customers in NSW and Queensland access to a free interpreting service by appointment through the Deaf Society. The bank has also employed an Auslan interpreter who will be available to assist its employees working in Sydney – the interpreter will translate English to Auslan and Auslan to English to allow communication between a Deaf and a hearing person. For more information, go to http://www.westpac.com.au/internet/publish.nsf/content/wicrcuas%20people%20with%20disabilities. 
- Australian Sports Commission (ASC) has issued a media release highlighting two of its programs. Sports CONNECT program provides funding, consultancy and education support to 25 national sports in Australia to help them develop a Disability Action Plan. The Sports Ability program includes resources, equipment and training to provide sporting opportunities for young people with disability, particularly those with high support needs. For more information on the ASC’s Disability Support Unit, go to http://www.ausport.gov.au/dsu. 
- i-access Online is a new and innovative suite of services from Vision Australia’s Information Library Service that delivers audio DAISY books and magazines, Braille books, newspapers and other publications to portable handheld devices. i-access Online provides access to online content when a Library member installs the Vision Australia i-access Downloader. For more information phone 1800 00 59 65, email i-access.online@visionaustralia.org or visit http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/info.aspx?page=823&news=494. 
-accessED (http://www.educationau.edu.au/jahia/Jahia/home/accessED/cache/bypass) is a tool that allows a website to be tested for conformance to W3C accessibility guidelines. accessED claims to be different because it features plain English descriptions of the guidelines and, while many other checkers can test publicly available sites, accessED’s built-in validation engine allows it to test private websites like university courses, intranets, or any other pages that require secure access. To download accessED go to http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/course/view.php?id=1593. 
- PhilanthropyWiki is a new online encyclopaedia on philanthropy in Australia. It provides a first port of call for not-for-profit organisations, foundations and others involved in the sector to source information on philanthropy, donors and grantmaking. PhilanthropyWiki is publicly available at http://www.philanthropywiki.org.au. 
- Sydney Festival 2008: The audio version of the Sydney Festival program – January Five to Twenty Six – is now available free of charge to anyone with a print disability by phoning Vision Australia’s Accessible Information Solutions on 02 9334 3333.

+05. NATIONAL CONFERENCES.
- Alternate Format Conference ‘Who? What? How?’ hosted by La Trobe University in Melbourne will be held over the weekend of 21-23 January 2008. The conference aims to provide a picture of what information and technology is available for students; increase the ability of universities and students to access diverse learning resources; and help them to understand changing technology and how they can use it to their advantage. For more information, visit http://www.latrobe.edu.au/afc2008 or contact Darren Britten on 03 9479 5279 or afs@latrobe.edu.au. 
- 2008 National Conference of the Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities will be held in Melbourne on 11 to 14 April, immediately after the Fourth General Assembly of the International Council on English Braille on 6 to 10 April. More information and the call for papers (closing date for submission of abstracts was 5 October 2007) are available at http://www.e-bility.com/roundtable/. 
- SPEVI Biennial Conference: The 2009 Biennial Conference of the South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment will be from on 6-9 January 2009 in Adelaide. The theme of Challenges and Choices will focus on vision impairment, adaptive technology, early intervention and partnerships. For more information, contact Jessica Bosnakis of All Occasions Management on phone 08 8354 2285 or email Jessica@aomevents.com. 

+06. WORLD BLIND UNION (WBU).
- WBU General Assembly 2008: The Swiss Federation of the Blind and Visually Impaired will host the Seventh WBU General Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland from 15 to 23 August. More information about the General Assembly and the Women’s Forum is available at http://www.wbu2008.ch/e/ or by emailing wbu2008@kuoni.ch.
- International Children’s Congress 2008: The WBU Children’s Committee and the Spanish National Organisation of the Blind (ONCE), in partnership with UNICEF, ICEVI and Save the Children, will host ‘Listening to the Children’, the first International Congress for Blind and Partially Sighted Children, from 25 to 29 March 2008 in Pontevedra, Spain. The congress aims to provide a forum for a group of teenagers who are blind or partially sighted from around the world to reflect on their current status and to make their demands and needs known to decision and policy makers. For more information, go to http://www.worldblindunion.org/appdocumentos/ingles/Listening%20to%20the%20Children%20article.doc. 

+07. OTHER INTERNATIONAL ITEMS.
- New Zealand wins international award: New Zealand has been awarded The Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Disability Award in recognition of the work of government and non-government organisations in developing a national disability strategy. For more information about the award, go to http://www.feri.org/awards/disability.cfm. 
- Special education assignment in Vietnam: Australian Volunteers International is looking for a person with skills/experience in developing material for a 12-month assignment with Loreto Vietnam – Australia Program (LVAP), based in Ho Chi Minh City. LVAP promotes education for disadvantaged children and children with disability by training teachers in special education and developing English books in Braille. For more information, visit http://www.australianvolunteers.com/work or contact Erika Drury on 03 9279 1729 or edrury@australianvolunteers.com. 
- 24th Annual Pacific Rim Conference on Disabilities has been rescheduled to 14 and 15 April 2008 in Honolulu, Hawaii – go to http://www.pacrim.hawaii.edu/ for more information.
- Australian Disability and Development Consortium (ADDC) will host its 2008 international conference, ‘Disability, Disadvantage and Development’ in Canberra on 29-30 September. The themes to be explored include social impact (education, access to services, gender); economic impacts (work opportunities); international conventions and other legal instruments and the relationship between disability, disadvantage and poverty. Visit http://www.addc.org.au for updates or email Paul Deany, ADDC Convenor at pdeany@cbmi.org.au or Neva Wendt of Australian Council for International Development at nwendt@acfid.asn.au. 
- Braille 1809-2009 – the writing with 6 dots and its future: Under the sponsorship of UNESCO, World Blind Union, French National Committee for the Social Promotion of Blind and Partially Sighted People, this international conference will be held in Paris from 4-8 January 2009 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Louis Braille’s birth. A call for papers has been issued and closes on 31 January 2008. For more information, email ch.coudert@avh.asso.fr or Catherine Munoz-Smith at the WBU office at caterine.munoz-smith@wbuoffice.org.

+08. NATIONAL DISABILITY SERVICES (NDS).
- National Disability Workforce Project: NDS will conduct a two-year national project to establish a clear picture of the workforce capacity challenges the non-government disability sector faces and to trial a range of employee retention strategies with nominated pilot services in every State and Territory. For more information, read NDS News Update of 12 November.
- Inaugural Children’s Conference: The first national conference on children and young people with disability and their families, ‘Every Child Matters’, will be co-hosted by NDS and Families Australia in Melbourne next year. It will identify issues, share solutions, celebrate successes and help services to better respond to needs across four themes: family wellbeing; one community; our voice – listen, strengthen, share; policy, practice and priorities. The conference on 14-15 May 2008 falls within National Families Week and ends on International Day of Families. The Call for Papers closed on 26 October 2007. As more detail is finalised, it will be posted to http://www.nds.org.au/conferences/CYF2008/home.htm. 
The NDS office will be closed from midday on Friday 21 December, reopening on Wednesday 2 January.
Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year!

ABF BACKGROUND AND CONTACT.
The Australian Blindness Forum (ABF) was first formed as an unincorporated body in 1992, funded only by its members. On 23 April 2007, the ABF became an Australian public company limited by guarantee, funded by its members and governed by a board of directors. The purpose of the ABF is to operate as a peak body representing the blindness sector for the benefit of people who are blind or vision impaired. The Project Officer (Australian Blindness Forum) is located at the ABF’s registered office, 33 Thesiger Court, Deakin ACT 2600. Contact Margaret Verick, phone 02 6283 3214, email margaret.verick@nds.org.au. 
[Update ends]