+++AUSTRALIAN BLINDNESS FORUM andNATIONAL DISABILITY SERVICES 
++ABF UPDATE JUNE 2008
[Contents begin]
+01. ABF Policies.
+02. ABF Recycled Equipment Website.
+03. ABF Members’ Forum.
+04. Aussie Blind Kids Network.
+05. CSTDA and Aids and Equipment.
+06. Investigation into Access to Electronic Media.
+07. Information, Publications.
+08. Continuing Professional Education Events.
+09. Web Accessibility Workshops.
+10. National Conferences.
+11. NDS Events.
+12. World Blind Union.
+13. Other International Items.
- Getting More Information on Issues in this Update
- Reproducing Information from this Update
- About Australian Blindness Forum 
- About National Disability Services
[Contents end]

[Update begins]
+01. ABF POLICIES.
Recently adopted ABF policies are now available on the ABF website at http://www.australianblindnessforum.org.au/Policy.html.

+02. ABF RECYCLED EQUIPMENT WEBSITE.
Kevin Murfitt, Chair of the WBU Pacific-Oceania Sub-region, reports that the project is progressing well. Donated equipment has already been sent to Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Timor L’Este. A paper written by Kevin Murfitt and Andrew Daly on the pilot project will be included in the Best Practice Examples program of the WBU General Assembly in August 2008. In the meantime, the ABF urges all blindness organisations in Australia and New Zealand to help make the pilot scheme a success by adding their lists of available equipment to those already on the Equipment Register at http://www.rsb.org.au/wbu/index.html.

+03. ABF MEMBERS’ FORUM.
Originally planned for Brisbane on 3 October, the 2008 Members’ Forum is now scheduled for Thursday 16 October in Melbourne, immediately prior to the BCA Victoria Convention in Bendigo on 17 and 18 October. The Forum will include the ABF Annual General meeting and a program based on ABF members’ presentations of papers, submissions or reports on service development, the World Blind Union and ICEVI. Members have been invited to submit ideas for the program.

+04. AUSSIE BLIND KIDS NETWORK.
The Aussie Blind Kids Network, (http://abk.guidedogstas.com.au/index.php), part of the National Unified Lifeskills Model (NULM), established in October 2003 as an initiative of the ABF, will soon be launched for access by participating members. The central aim of the comprehensive network created for families is to maximise the age appropriate participation in the community of children and adolescents who are blind or vision impaired. The network will also be useful for educators, therapists, service providers and anyone else wishing to gain an understanding of how the lifeskills of child who is blind or vision impaired should be developed in order for them to live a successful, rewarding and age appropriate life.

+05. CSTDA AND AIDS AND EQUIPMENT.
Disability Ministers, meeting in Sydney on 30 May to further negotiations towards a new Disability Agreement, confirmed that new funding will begin flowing immediately to ease the nationwide demand for disability services. State and Territory Ministers have agreed to provide $900 million, on top of the Australian Government’s $1 billion, and in addition to indexation. This reflects an election promise made by Federal Labor – although some of the States’ ‘new’ money has already been announced and/or built into budget forward estimates. 
Ministers also agreed to deliver national consistency for the provision of aids and equipment, a commitment that NDS and the ABF have sought for some time. Currently aids and equipment schemes sit outside the CSTDA and are fragmented, with large gaps and inequities.
NDS News Update of 30 May provides more information for NDS members at http://www.nds.org.au/national/default.htm. 

+06. INVESTIGATION INTO ACCESS TO ELECTRONIC MEDIA.
By the due date of 13 June, the ABF in conjunction with NDS lodged a submission to the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy on its Access to Electronic Media for the Hearing and Vision Impaired Discussion Paper. The submission has been emailed to ABF members.

+07. INFORMATION, PUBLICATIONS.
- Vision Australia and Guide Dogs Tasmania have established a five-year agreement to enhance and deliver services in Tasmania, including: equipment solution products and training; employment; education; children’s services. Guide Dogs Tasmania will continue to be the major provider of Guide Dog Services and manage all fundraising activities in Tasmania. To find out more, go to http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/info.aspx?page=823&news=653. 
- Guide to community grants: Organisations seeking supplementary financial assistance are advised to check the guide which provides links to sources of Commonwealth, State and Territory financial assistance to community groups, as well as links to non-government and commercial organisations that provide grants – go to the Parliament of Australia Parliamentary Library website at http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/sp/spgrants.htm. 
- Australia 2020 Summit: The final report of the Summit is now available at http://www.australia2020.gov.au/final_report/index.cfm. This report is intended to provide a record of the Summit and recommendations on each of the discussion areas for consideration by the Australian Government. It is based on ideas put forward by participants during the Summit discussion sessions, outcomes from preliminary Summit events and ideas generated from public submissions received prior to the Summit.
- Superannuation: The Australian Taxation Office, in conjunction with Vision Australia, has released the publication ‘Super – what you need to know’ in a number of alternative formats. The publication contains a broad overview of superannuation and information on the steps needed to make the most of superannuation at different life stages. You can phone 1300 720 092 to order the publication as an audio CD, e-text on CD or Brailled version. Or you can visit the ATO website at http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.asp?doc=/content/00113198.htm for an MP3 audio file, e-text file or HTML version.  
- Building access resources: The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) is currently working with the Australian Building Codes Board (and with a range of industry, community and government bodies) to develop a Disability Discrimination Act Disability Standard on Access to Premises. HREOC has published two new resources on its website – ‘The Good, the bad and the ugly’ (updated version at http://www.hreoc.gov.au/disability_rights/buildings/good.htm) and ‘Guidelines on access to buildings and services’ (http://www.hreoc.gov.au/disability_rights/buildings/guidelines.htm). 

+08. CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION EVENTS.
For information about CPE events, including the following, visit http://www.ridbc.org.au/renwick/courses/continuinged_calendar.asp.
Supporting Children with Vision Impairment, A Pathway Analysis Approach: 11 November 2008: Aimed at parents and professionals alike, this workshop will use the experience of Scotland to identify the multiple agencies involved with children with visual impairment and how a single source of information could be developed in Australia (as is now the case in Scotland). Participants will be able to draw and produce a pathway analysis for their own service delivery context through an understanding of how agencies collaborate to provide single shared assessments. There will be ample opportunities for discussion with colleagues and the presenter.

+9. WEB ACCESSIBILITY WORKSHOPS.
- Web Accessibility Benefits and Issues: Canberra 30 July.
This half-day workshop is targeted at policy makers, business managers and corporate communications or web-development professionals who want an overview of why web accessibility is important. For more information, go to http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/info.aspx?page=1653&event=129.  
- Web Accessibility Techniques: Canberra 31 July. 
This full-day workshop is targeted at web development team leaders, corporate communications professionals along with content authors, web programmers and designers and web contract managers. A basic knowledge of HTML is helpful. The workshop provides a thorough overview of accessibility issues and techniques to address them, covering the World Wide Web’s Consortium’s Content Accessibility Guidelines and their implementation. For more information, go to http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/info.aspx?page=1653&event=128. 
For up-to-date information on the workshops run across Australia on Web Accessibility Benefits and Issues, Web Accessibility Techniques and Writing for the Web, visit Vision Australia’s website at http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/info.aspx?page=519. 

+10. NATIONAL CONFERENCES.
- ARATA National Conference: Australian Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology 
Association will hold its 2008 conference in Adelaide from 22 to 24 September. The conference will explore some of the challenges faced with getting assistive technology to the people who need it and demonstrating its value to the community at large. To register, go to http://www.e-bility.com/arata/conf.php#register. 
- Australian Federation of Disability Organisations: AFDO’s first national conference, ‘Policy About Us, For Us! A Practical Revolution in the Lives of People with Disabilities’ will be held in Melbourne on 9 and 10 October this year – more information at http://www.afdo.org.au/node/229. 

+11. NDS EVENTS.
- Every Child Matters: The inaugural national conference focusing on children and young people with disability and their families, co-hosted by NDS and Families Australia, attracted around 430 participants. Many of the presentations made to the conference on 14 and 15 May are available at http://www.nds.org.au/conferences/CYF2008/presentations.htm. 
- Employment Forum: NDS announces that ACTU President Sharan Burrow will deliver a keynote speech on Disability and the Unions to the national Employment Forum. ‘Principles, Practice and the Pitfalls in Between’ will be held in Brisbane on 21 and 22 July 2008. For more information, go to http://www.nds.org.au/national/default.htm. 
- Accommodation and Social Participation Conference: ‘Home & Community: Overcoming Exclusion’, focusing on policy and service delivery issues, will be held on 25 and 26 September 2008 at the Hilton Sydney. A Call for Papers closed on 28 April. For more information, contact Philippa Angley, phone 03 8341 4302, email philippa.angley@nds.org.au. 

+12. WORLD BLIND UNION (WBU).
- Universal Postal Union’s Convention: The Australian Government is currently considering its position on the entire range of issues that will be discussed at the UPU Congress in August, including the changes that aim to improve the Convention put forward by NDS in conjunction with the ABF.
- 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. Registration for the General Assembly and Women’s Forum will now close on 31 May. If you decide to register after that date, the WBU may be unable to obtain hotel accommodation or guarantee the availability of Assembly materials. 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.
Australia will submit a country report for the WBU Asia-Pacific Regional meeting that will be held during the General Assembly. 
- International Congress for Blind and Partially Sighted Children – new date: The conference, ‘Listening to Children’, will now be held from 16 to 20 June 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.europeanchildrensnetwork.org/euronet/resources/infodetail.asp?id=14507 (although you’ll notice that the old March date is still shown there).

+13. OTHER INTERNATIONAL ITEMS.
- AFDO and DPI: The Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) has formally accepted membership of Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI) and agreed to join the Asia Pacific Disability Forum, the Pacific Disability Forum and the Australian Disability in Development Consortium. Expressions of interest for nominations for an International Representative and an Alternative closed on 20 June. For more information, contact Jeremy Muir at jeremy.muir@afdo.org.au. 
- UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: On 4 June, the Australian Government tabled in Parliament a National Interest Analysis which proposes that Australia ratify the Convention. The National Interest Analysis examines the impact ratification would have on Australia and Australians with disability. It confirms that Australia complies with the Convention and already substantially implements its obligations. The proposal to ratify the Convention will now be considered by Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties.
- Equalise It! is a manifesto for disability quality being developed by the UNCRPD International Committee. To read the document, go to http://www.bcodp.org.uk/campaigns/Equalise%20It%20final.doc. 
- DAISY Consortium: International Telecommunications (ITU), the leading UN agency for information and communication technology issues, awarded its World Telecommunications and Information Society Award 2008 to the DAISY Consortium for its ongoing efforts to implement the principles of the World Summit on the Information Society – for more information, go to http://www.daisy.org/news/news_detail.shtml?NewsId=398.
A new version of the DAISY Pipeline has been released. The DAISY Pipeline is an open source collaborative software development project hosted by the DAISY Consortium. For more information, go to http://www.daisy.org/news/news_detail.shtml?NewsId=392. 
- Journal of the South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment: Original manuscripts and news items are sought for the Journal’s fourth issue (2009). The Journal presents essays, quantitative and qualitative research articles and analyses, conceptual papers, comprehensive reviews, case studies, policy analyses and innovative practice descriptions and evaluations as well as perspectives and opinions on a wide variety of issues and topics. Manuscripts in print and on disk should be presented for review no later than 30 August 2008 by sending them to Dr Mike Steer, mike.steer@ridbc.org.au. Notes for contributors can also be obtained from Dr Steer.
- Art Beyond Sight Awareness, October 2008, celebrates an international initiative that calls public attention to the need for and benefits of making art and visual culture accessible to people with vision loss and other disabilities. Art Education for the Blind coordinates this annual awareness month (http://www.artbeyondsight.org). 
- Vision 2008, the 9th international conference on low vision, will be held in Montreal, Canada from 7 to 11 July 2008 – go to http://www.vision2008.ca. 
- International Conference on Diverse Abilities & Innovative Supports, ‘Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Community’, will be held in Hawaii on 11 to 13 August 2008. Registrations are now open – for more information, go to http://www.lifelibertyandthepursuitof.com/. 
- ADDC will host its 2008 international conference, ‘Disability, Disadvantage and Development in the Pacific and Asia’ in Canberra on 29 and 30 September. 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. Participant numbers are capped, so register early. For the latest information, go to http://www.addc.org.au/webdocs/addc%20international%20conference/080429%20addc_international%20conference%202nd%20announcement.pdf, 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. 
- World Sight Day: The theme of the 2008 day on Thursday 9 October is ‘Eyes on the future – vision and ageing’. Planning is well underway and the Vision 2020 Australia website http://www.vision2020australia.org.au/news-events-world-sight-day.cfm will be updated as activities develop.
- Braille 1809 to 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 to 8 January 2009 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Louis Braille’s birth. A call for papers closed 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.
A list of ideas for promoting the bicentenary throughout the coming months in Australia is available from the RIDBC Renwick Centre by emailing mike.steer@ridbc.org.au.
National Braille Press, a non-profit printing house in the US, has secured the domain name http://www.louisbraillebicentennial.com for 2008 and 2009. 
- SPEVI Biennial Conference: The 2009 Biennial Conference of the South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment will be held from 6 to 9 January 2009 in Adelaide. The theme of Challenges and Choices will focus on vision impairment, adaptive technology, early intervention and partnerships. The Call for Papers closed on 29 February 2008. For more information, phone Jessica Bosnakis of All Occasions Management on 08 8354 2285 or email Jessica@aomevents.com.

-Getting more information on issues in this Update: Unless otherwise stated, please contact Margaret Verick at margaret.verick@nds.org.au, phone 02 6283 3214.
- Reproducing information from this Update: Anyone may reproduce any of the information contained in this Update – just acknowledge this source.
ABOUT AUSTRALIAN BLINDNESS FORUM ABN 47 125 036 857
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 registered office, 33 Thesiger Court, Deakin ACT 2600 – contact Margaret Verick, email margaret.verick@nds.org.au, phone 02 6283 3214. 
ABOUT NATIONAL DISABILTY SERVICES ABN 52 008 445 485
National Disability Services (NDS) is the national industry association for disability services, representing over 600 not-for-profit organisations. Collectively, NDS’s members operate several thousand services for Australians with all types of disability. NDS’s members range in size from small support groups to large multi-service organisations, and are located in every State and Territory across Australia.
[Update ends]