+++AUSTRALIAN BLINDNESS FORUM and NATIONAL DISABILITY SERVICES ++ABF/NDS UPDATE NOVEMBER 2009 [Contents begin] +01: News from ABF Members and Associates. +02: Access to Information. +03: National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). +04: National Disability Awards. +05: Social Inclusion. +06: National Disability Parking Permit. +07: National Dialogue on Universal Design. +08: Disability Employers and a Single Federal Award. +09: Interim National Quality Framework. +10: Draft Model OHS Act. +11: Other Information, Publications. +12: NDS Events. +13: Other National Events. +14: Continuing Professional Education. +15: International: World Blind Union. +16: International: Louis Braille Bicentenary. +17: International: Other Items. - End Notes. [Contents end] [Update begins] +01: NEWS FROM ABF MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES. - BCA National Convention: Immediately after the ABF Members’ Forum, Blind Citizens Australia held their biennial event on 17 and 18 October in Brisbane. It was preceded by a Technology Expo which allowed people to check out the latest technology and speak to service providers. The Convention, ‘Strengthening Our Voice’, was officially opened by Parliamentary Secretary Bill Shorten. Dr Mark Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind in the US, was the keynote speaker and the WBU’s President Maryanne Diamond participated in the session on capacity building at a local, Asia Pacific regional and international level. BCA Women’s Branch presented the Aspirations Award to Christine Simpson for being an outstanding role model. The David Blyth Award for Outstanding Service to the Community was presented to Barry Chapman. Certificates of appreciation were presented to Erika Webb and Lee Smith. Congratulations to all! For more information, contact BCA through http://www.bca.org.au/. - David Blunkett address: Former UK Minister and current Backbencher, the Right Hon David Blunkett, gave an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on 12 November. Sponsored to visit Australia by Vision Australia (http://www.visionaustralia.org/info.aspx?page=823&news=1424), Mr Blunkett spoke about the impact that globalisation, the internet and the blogosphere has on the ability of political democracy to meet the challenges of economic turmoil, rising expectations and the inter-connectivity and complexity of modern society. He contrasted the role that lifelong learning can play (including the development of citizenship and active, participative politics) with the dangers posed by an un-moderated and un-edited presentation of information or opinion – which might otherwise be described as ‘information anarchy’. Mr Blunkett also addressed The Sydney Institute on ‘The Unfettered Free Market Bad, Public Interest Good? Why hasn’t the global meltdown led to a resurgence of left of centre politics across the world? Is greater insecurity a benefit to right-wing politicians and to reinforcing selfishness and individualism?’ To find out more about Mr Blunkett’s visit, go to http://www.visionaustralia.org/info.aspx?page=823&news=1433. - New Centre: Vision Australia began operating from a new purpose-built centre at 346 Macaulay Road, Kensington in Melbourne on Monday 9 November. The phone number 1300 84 74 66 remains the same; the fax number is 03 8378 1202. - New Braille Music Library: With the creation of a national music braille library, registered users of Vision Australia’s Information Library Service will be able to access a wide range of music braille titles, including copies to borrow and downloading of titles to your computer. Working in stages, the music braille library will be created over the next twelve months. The first stage has been to catalogue more than five hundred RNIB titles available for borrowing; this is almost completed and will be available from this month. The second stage will encompass both cataloguing of in-house produced titles including the ability to download files where there is an electronic version available. Finally, scanning of older copies of in-house produced materials and cataloguing of any physical items leftover will achieve the creation of a collection of two thousand titles. For more information, phone 1300 65 46 56 or email library@visionaustralia.org. (Source: Statewide Vision Resource Centre) - New state-of-the-art eye-health centre: Thousands of people at risk of developing eye diseases are expected to attend the Centre for Eye Health every year at the Kensington campus of the University of NSW, a joint initiative between the university and Guide Dogs NSW/ACT. Opened by Governor Marie Bashir on 4 November, the centre aims to reduce preventable blindness and vision impairment through early detection of eye diseases such as macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. Guide Dogs plans to spend $40 million over ten years to provide a comprehensive range of world-class eye imaging and vision diagnosis services at no charge to anyone referred there by a general practitioner, ophthalmologist or optometrist. For more information, go to http://www.guidedogs.com.au/Content.aspx?PageID=51&ItemID=129. +02: ACCESS TO INFORMATION. - Access to Electronic Media In releasing the discussion report ‘Access to Electronic Media for the Hearing and Vision Impaired: Approaches for Consideration’, Senator Stephen Conroy and Parliamentary Secretary Bill Shorten encouraged the media industry, people with vision or hearing impairment and representative groups to continue to actively participate in this investigation on ways to improve access to television, cinema and other electronic media. The PDF version of the discussion report can be accessed via http://www.dbcde.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/123187/Media_Access_Review_Discussion_Report.pdf. The RTF version can be downloaded from http://www.dbcde.gov.au/__data/assets/rtf_file/0005/123188/Media_Access_Review_Discussion_Report.rtf. HTML, audio and braille formats can be ordered by emailing mediaaccessreview@dbcde.gov.au. There’s just a month to prepare submissions during the most difficult time of the year, the holiday season. Submissions close at 4.00pm on Friday 29 January 2010. By way of background, in June 2008 in conjunction with NDS, the ABF made a submission on Access to Electronic Media for the Hearing and Vision Impaired (available at http://www.australianblindnessforum.org.au/Resources.html), and in November 2009, on the Application for Exemption under DDA Section 55: Cinema captioning and audio description. - Application for Temporary Exemption: The Australian Human Rights Commission has received an application for a temporary exemption on behalf of Hoyts Corporation, Greater Union Organisation, Village Cinemas and Reading Cinemas to apply for a Temporary Exemption under section 55 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) from complaints in relation to the cinemas they operate. The application and a notice inviting submissions on the application to be lodged by Monday 7 December 2009 are on the AHRC website at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/exemptions/cinema/notice.htm. In summary, the proposal would increase the number of screens in cinemas operated by the applicants capable of delivery captions to 35 over the next two and a half years; provide audio description capability in all those 35 screens, including a retro-fit of the current 12 cinemas offering captioning; commit to a review of the current program in consultation with representatives from key stakeholders starting nine months before the end of the Temporary Exemption period; and ensure accessible information on captioned and audio described film schedules. - Audio Description Campaign: Media Access Australia (MAA) has launched an information campaign to increase awareness of and demand for audio description (AD). The campaign includes a new recorded information line, large print information brochures and audio CD brochures which will be distributed to community groups, not-for-profits and their members. There’s more information at http://www.audiodescription.com.au/equipment/equipment-news/824-media-access-australia-spreads-the-word-about-audio-description or through MAA’s infoline 1300 165 642 (local call cost, landlines only). For copies of the large print AD brochure or the audio brochure on CD, phone 02 9212 6242 or email info@mediaccess.org.au. - Using media access for mainstream teaching: American literacy organisation Read Write Think has taken disability access features and adapted them for mainstream teaching. In the first example, audio description on a DVD is used as a method of teaching students how to observe what is going on in a scene. The lesson asks students to watch a few minutes of a scene from a described movie and then write their description of what is happening. The audio description track is then enabled and the class compares a professional AD description for the same scene with the students’ vision. More information about AD in mainstream teaching can be found at http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=1116. (Source: Media Access Australia) - Using audio description in education website: The US accessible education organisation the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) has joined with the American Council of the Blind in developing a special website to promote the use of audio description (known as ‘video description’ in North America) in education. The Listening is Learning website http://www.listeningislearning.org/ is a campaign to encourage the use of audio description by both students who are vision impaired and other students. The DCMP provides both captioned and audio described education resources across America. Media Access Australia’s Accessible Education Database (http://www.accessibleeducationdvds.mediaaccess.org.au/) is based on the DCMP concept and provides a comprehensive listing of captioned education materials. The database also allows users to add content, tags and other information. (Source: Media Access Australia) - Review of captioning and audio description: The Canadian Government has commissioned Media Access Canada to undertake a series of access reviews of captioning and audio description. This will include the development of standards for captioning and AD. For more information, go to http://www.mediac.ca/default.asp. (Source: Media Access Australia). +03: NATIONAL DISABILITY INSURANCE SCHEME (NDIS). At the National Disability Awards ceremony in Parliament House on 23 November, the Prime Minister announced that the Productivity Commission will investigate the feasibility of new approaches for funding and delivering long-term disability care and support. The Productivity Commission will examine the feasibility, costs and benefits of replacing the current system of disability services with a new approach that provides long-term essential care and support for people with severe or profound disabilities however acquired. The inquiry will examine a range of options for long-term care and support including consideration of whether a no-fault social insurance approach to disability is appropriate in Australia. It will also examine if a scheme would fit with Australia’s health, aged care, income support and injury insurance schemes. The inquiry’s Terms of Reference (http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/disability/progserv/govtint/Pages/tor.aspx) are detailed and raise complex and far-reaching matters that will need to be resolved before the Government agrees to proceed with a national social insurance scheme – matters that have been raised by NDS and the National Disability and Carers Alliance over recent months. For more information, read the Prime Minister’s speech at http://www.pm.gov.au/node/6349, FaHCSIA information at http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/disability/progserv/govtint/Pages/feasibility_study.aspx and NDS members can read the NDS News Update of 24 November at http://www.nds.org.au/national/default.htm. An NDIS Toolkit for Service Providers in PDF and RTF provides resources for organisations looking for ways to build support for an NDIS. For more information and to contact NDIS, go to http://www.ndis.org.au/. +04: NATIONAL DISABILITY AWARDS. Recipients of the 2009 Awards were announced at the ceremony in the Great Hall of Parliament House on 23 November. The Minister’s Lifelong Achievement Award was shared by Robert Strike, Chairperson of NSW Council for Intellectual Disability who has been fighting for the rights of people with intellectual disability for most of his life, and Sue Gordon, a parent of person with disability who works with The Advocacy and Support Centre (TASC) in Queensland where she assisted in the instigation of Australia's only dedicated criminal law service for defendants with disability. Other recipients were Dudley Afford, Disability Rights Young Leader Award; Tina Zeleznik, Business Award; Michael Taggart, Local Government Award; and Melissa Noonan, Social Inclusion Award. There’s more detail at http://www.idpwd.com.au/awards.asp. - International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD): On 3 December, the IDPwD is celebrated worldwide in recognition of the achievements and contributions of people with disability. For more information about events in Australia, go to http://www.idpwd.com.au/. +05: SOCIAL INCLUSION. The Australian Human Rights Commission launched Social Inclusion Week on 23 November. AHRC President Cathy Branson said the Social Inclusion Agenda focused attention on key human rights such as the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living and to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; the provision of the widest possible protection and assistance to the family; and the right to live free from discrimination. Social inclusion is also about ensuring that every child has access to an education that will develop the child’s abilities to their fullest potential. For more information, go to http://www.socialinclusionweek.com/. +06: NATIONAL DISABILITY PARKING PERMIT. Disability Ministers and Roads/Transport Ministers have endorsed a consistent national permit design for Disability Parking Schemes (http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/disability/progserv/people/disability_parking_scheme/parking_scheme_discussion_paper/Documents/disability_parking_scheme/sec2.htm#t3). The new Australian Disability Parking Permit will be rolled out nationwide from 2010 to 900,000 current permit holders. Work will continue on the development of national minimum standards for parking concessions and the eligibility criteria under the Australian Disability Parking Scheme, which is expected to be implemented by 2012. For more information, NDS members can read the NDS News Update of 13 November at http://www.nds.org.au/national/default.htm. +07: NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON UNIVERSAL DESIGN. Participants in a National Dialogue on Universal Design in October agreed to work together towards a national approach to promote Universal Design and provide Australians with a greater range of homes. In convening the dialogue, Parliamentary Secretary Bill Shorten said ‘Universally Designed homes, which are built for the whole of the population to live in for their whole lives, give people with disability greater independence and choice about where they live’. Representatives at the forum included those from disability organisations, as well as representatives from the building industry. They unanimously agreed on the need to codify a national approach to Universal Design that would incorporate its value to the community; a definition and set of principles; and what its features are in relation to housing. A commitment was given to form a high-level working party to achieve substantial progress within six months and, as an aspirational goal, for all new homes to be of agreed Universal Design standards by 2020. +08: DISABILITY EMPLOYERS AND A SINGLE FEDERAL AWARD. The Australian Services Union (ASU) and the Australian Government have lodged a Heads of Agreement in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) that will mean disability service employers and employees will be covered by the Federal Fair Work Act and by a single national award (excluding those covered by the proposed Supported Employment Services Award 2010). The parties also agreed to support a pay equity claim, based on a Queensland SACS Award decision earlier this year that delivered wage rises of between 18 per cent and 37 per cent. For more information, NDS members can read the NDS News Update of 5 November at http://www.nds.org.au/national/default.htm. +09: INTERIM NATIONAL QUALITY FRAMEWORK. Following agreement by Disability Services Ministers, an Interim National Quality Framework for Disability Services in Australia (PDF 53KB) has been released. The Interim Framework is an initial response to the commitment in the National Disability Agreement to develop a national approach to quality assurance and the continuous improvement of disability services by mid 2010. The first public presentation of the Interim Framework was made at the end of October to a combined meeting of NDS’s National Committees on Accommodation and Social Participation held in Melbourne. For more information, NDS members can read the NDS News Update of 30 October at http://www.nds.org.au/national/default.htm. +10: DRAFT MODEL OHS ACT. NDS’s response to the draft model OHS Act seeks recognition of other relevant and potentially competing legislation, in particular disability legislation, when determining what is ‘reasonably practicable’ in relation to OHS compliance. If, for example, a client’s home is unsafe, but a refusal to provide a service in the client’s home on OHS ground would leave the client unsupported and at risk of harm, then the service provider is placed in a difficult position. There’s more information for NDS members in the NDS News Update of 17 November at http://www.nds.org.au/national/default.htm. +11: OTHER INFORMATION, PUBLICATIONS. - 2010 Vancouver Winter Paralympic Team Unveiled: The Australian team includes 11 athletes, three of whom are skiers, and their three guides. Bart Bunting (NSW) is blind and a dual 2002 Paralympic gold medalist; Jessica Gallagher (Victoria) and Melissa Perrine (NSW) are vision impaired and will become the second and third Australian female Winter Games representatives after Emily Jansen became the first in Torino in 2006. For more information, go to http://www.paralympic.org.au/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=6153e86a-6d98-4f5b-bc14-7d1bf5c71c1d - DonorTec: Nonprofit community organisations can join DonorTec (http://www.donortec.com.au) to receive free and discounted products and services, donated and discounted by companies like Microsoft, Symantec, Cisco and Sophos. The DonorTec program is run by Connecting Up Australia (http://www.connectingup.org/), a community based not-for-profit organisation that is part of the TechSoup Global program operating in over twenty countries, that has been serving the Australian community for nearly thirty years. +12: NDS EVENTS. - CareCareers: NDS NSW has announced the launch of http://www.carecareers.com.au and its telephone based Careers Centre on 1300 637 637. Together these services support candidates, existing employees and hiring managers in the search for talent, career opportunities and peer support. They also provide a range of resources including a fun career quiz, job seeker guide and hiring best practice tips and recruitment case studies. A multimedia attraction campaign launches in January 2010, and targeted experimental marketing initiatives will follow. - Outcomes from the National Workforce Project: NDS’s two-year National Workforce Project has ended, resulting in a range of outcomes (http://www.ndsqldprojects.net/nwp/index.htm) including the final National Workforce Project Team Report; the most Significant Change Reports; project reports from each of the services involved; an overview of the pilot sites; information about the briefing debriefing workshops undertaken by the services involved; and project planning and reporting templates. For more background, NDS members can read NDS News Update of 26 November at http://www.nds.org.au/national/default.htm. - Accommodation & Social Participation Conference 2010 ‘Moving On: Supporting People with Disability to Manage Change’ will be held on 6 and 7 May 2010 at Conrad Jupiters on the Gold Coast. The Call for Papers has just been announced and will close on 20 November 2009. For more information, please visit http://www.nds.org.au/national/default.htm. +13: OTHER NATIONAL EVENTS. - Are artists with disability capable of excellence? Registrations are open for Accessible Arts’ Arts-Activated Conference at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney on 25 and 26 March 2010. A range of national and international speakers from the arts and disability sectors will come together to explore the themes of Arts – Access – Excellence through a series of workshops, panels and performances. The conference is intended for artists with and without disability, arts workers, disability service providers, policy makers, funding bodies, festival organisers and volunteers, cultural institutions, venues and anyone else interested in arts and disability. Early-bird registrations are open until 18 December. For more information, visit http://www.aarts.net.au. - The Eighth National DeafBlind Conference will be held in Melbourne on 28 to 30 April 2010. The call for papers closed on 7 August. For more information about the conference, go to http://www.ableaustralia.org.au/8th-national-deafblind-conference-2010.asp. - Round Table 2010 Annual Conference, Think Globally, Act Locally, will be held in Auckland New Zealand for the first time in May 2010 (date to be confirmed). The conference will explore the role of both global and local achievements and their impact on the lives of people with print disabilities. Submission of extracts should be made by 27 November. For more information, go to http://www.e-bility.com/roundtable/downloads/conf10/callforpapers-rtconf2010.doc. +14: CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. The calendar for Professional Education Courses in 2010 is still being compiled by RIDBC Renwick Centre. Keep checking for updates at http://www.ridbc.org.au/renwick/courses/continuinged_calendar.asp, +15: INTERNATIONAL: WORLD BLIND UNION (WBU). The most recent WBU E-Bulletin can be read at http://www.worldblindunion.org/en/documents/e-bulletin/WBU-E-Bulletin-0909-September-09.doc. - Young Australian wins Braille Prize: The World Blind Union Asia-Pacific Region judged young Australian Ria Andriani’s entry worthy of winning the Excellent Prize in Category A (ages from 14 to 25 years old) of the 2009 WBUAP Onkyo Braille Essay Contest. Ria, a student at Canterbury Girls’ High School in Sydney was awarded the prize because her essay ‘Some Things Are Meant To Be True’ gave out a clear message of hope concerning the role of braille in helping her to appreciate music and achieve success as well as depicting her determined struggle and positive outlook despite great odds to fulfill her goal in the field of music. Ria will receive her award on 24 November at presentations for the annual Braille Writing Competition held by the NSW Subcommittee of the Australian Braille Authority and attended by a large group of students, teachers, families and extended families. The ABF congratulates Ria on her win during the Bicentenary of Louis Braille’s birth, and wishes her success and happiness in her pursuit of music through the use of braille. - WBU Asia-Pacific: In the most recent update, Dr Kevin Murfitt reports that the Danish Government and Danish Association of the Blind funded WBU-AP Board and Policy Council to attend a three-day evaluation workshop in September to look at projects in Mongolia and Lao. These included leadership and advocacy training workshops for citizens who are blind or have low vision in both countries. In 2008, a celebration parade through Vientiane, the capital of Laos, attracted national television coverage and donations to the Laos Association of the Blind. The establishment of an alternative format library in remote Mongolia has enabled people who are blind or have low vision to mix in the community and listen to accessible books for the first time in many cases. In the two countries, networks for women who are blind or have low vision have been set up. - Equipment Recycling Website Update: Kevin Murfitt also reported that this lowtech project in the Asia-Pacific region has been moving slowly since the pilot phase conducted prior to the WBU general assembly in Geneva last year. The project is now region-wide but not many people or organisations are proactively visiting the site and requesting products. Through the ABF service agencies will be approached again to encourage donations of surplus or obsolete equipment such as white canes, digital watches and kitchen or other lowtech equipment. The website is maintained by the Royal Society for the Blind of SA at http://www.rsb.org.au/wbu. +16: INTERNATIONAL: LOUIS BRAILLE BICENTENARY. - Australian Braille Book of the Year Award: Vision Australia has announced the re-establishment of this award. Through the sponsorship of Copyright Agency Limited (CAL), Vision Australia has produced eighty Australian adult titles in braille, which are available to be borrowed from the Vision Australia Information Library Service’s general collection. The Australian Braille Book of the Year Award aims to encourage and develop braille literacy among people with print disability; promote understanding of alternative format needs within the Australian publishing industry; and increase dissemination and reading of Australian content by transcribing Australian literature into formats accessible to people with print disability. All braille users registered with the library service are encouraged to vote for one of the 80 titles in the running. The winning book will be the one with the highest numbers of votes, culminating in an awards event in 2010. For more information, go to http://www.visionaustralia.org/info.aspx?page=2172. - Gillian Gale Award for Braille Literacy 2010: This Quantum Scholarship honours the remarkable contribution of Gillian Gale to the education of students who are blind in Australia and internationally. A Mountbatten Learning System and all associated software and accessories will be awarded to one child in both Australia and New Zealand. The award is open to applications on behalf of children between the ages of three and eight years who are learning braille or are assessed as a future braille learner. In one thousand (1000) words or less, applications signed by an Early Childhood or Early Intervention professional and/or parent, should tell ‘why you feel braille literacy will be essential to your child’s success and describe the role you envisage the Mountbatten Learning System will play in your child’s future’. For more information, go to http://www.quantumtechnology.com.au/brailleliteracyscholarshipprogram. - Braille on Manly Beach took place on 20 September. Dot-making began shortly after 9.00am, and thanks to an overwhelming local community support, the message was completed just before the helicopter fly-over took panoramic aerial photos at around 3.30pm. The 23-dot message read ‘brl rocks’ (‘brl’ being the contracted form of braille). At the unveiling, Graeme Innes and Bruce Maguire talked about their lifelong adventure with braille. Throughout the day, about 15 people who are blind or vision impaired (some with guide dogs) participated in helping to make the message, providing customised braille messages for children and adults and experienced the 50-metre message once it was complete. An article about the event appeared in the Manly Daily and can be read at http://www.disabilitycouncil.nsw.gov.au/bulletin/09/03.html#5. - Louis Braille Bicentenary Website: The Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC), in creating a website to mark the bicentenary of Louis Braille’s birth, has produced and collected a range of resources about Braille facts, info, videos, trivia, games and quizzes, links to Braille events and workshops and some reading lists. The information is geared towards the general public to provide an overview of the history of Braille and an introduction to the Braille code. To find out more, go to http://www.cubicconsulting.com.au/ridbc/index.cfm?skinname=content&page=43984. - Braille Bug: The American Federation for the Blind’s Braille Bug website http://www.afb.org/braillebug/ provides information for sighted students. +17: INTERNATIONAL: OTHER ITEMS. - UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: The twentieth anniversary of the Convention occurred on 20 November. Australia was among the first nations to become a party to the Convention in December 1990, which has now been ratified by over 190 countries. In adhering to the Convention, the Australian Government has endorsed the first-ever National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009-2020 (http://www.familiesaustralia.org.au/publications/pubs/child_protection_framework.pdf) and is exploring the potential role of a National Children’s Commissioner. Australia is also party to the Convention’s Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict and the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. For more information, go to http://www.unicef.org/rightsite/. - UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD): The second meeting of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was held in Geneva in October. The Committee adopted its working methods, rules of procedures and reporting guidelines. Also in October, an open-ended consultation on national implementation and monitoring frameworks under the CRPD was held. A November meeting discussed good practices, challenges and opportunities to support the CRPD’s implementation. Participants also shared experiences on mainstreaming disability issues in displacement, as well as work to develop guiding principles to include disability in the work of UN country teams. The Employment Sector’s Disability Team of the International Labour Organization held a panel presentation and discussion on ‘People with Disabilities in Times of Economic Crisis’. For more information, go to http://www.ilo.org/skills/what/events/lang--en/WCMS_115119/index.htm. For more information about the CRPD, go to http://www.un.org/disabilities/. - 'Podcasts From Past' On Cultural Access Prize Shortlist: A Museum of London project recruiting and training unemployed people to describe objects in its collections and relay historical information into a series of podcasts, opening up some of the museum's collections to visually impaired visitors, is among short-listed nominees for the 2009 Jodi Awards, which recognise best use of digital technology for disabled people in the arts, cultural and heritage sectors. The annual awards are named in honour of Jodi Mattes, who worked at the British Museum and the Royal National Institute of Blind People, championing wider cultural access for disabled people. The 2009 Jodi Awards will be presented by Martha Lane Fox, the government's champion for digital inclusion, on 2 December at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. - Annual Pacific Rim International Conference: The Centre on Disability Studies at the University of Hawaii is calling for submission of proposals to the 2010 Pac Rim Conference on Disabilities that will be held in Honolulu on 12 and 13 April 2010. The conference will explore new directions through scholarship, best practice and international networking, as well as include an International Forum on the Rights of People with Disability, an international film festival and more. More information is at http://www.pacrim.hawaii.edu. - ICEVI 13th World Conference: The Call for Abstracts for this conference, to be held in Thailand in August 2010, is open and will close on 31 October 2009. The overall conference theme is ‘Achieving Education for All Children with Visual Impairment: Strategies and Challenges’. There’s more information at http://www.icevi.org/13thWC/call_for_papers.html. ICEVI’s journal, The Educator, is also available on the ICEVI website at http://www.icevi.org/pdf/educator_january_2009.pdf. - Twelfth International Conference on Mobility and Transport will be held in Hong Kong from 2 to 4 June 2010. The conference theme is ‘Sustainable Transport and Travel for All’. Deadline for submitting abstracts is 31 August 2009. For further information, visit http://www.transed2010.hk. - SPEVI Conference 2011 will be held in Sydney from 16 to 21 January 2011. The call for papers will go out later this year. In the meantime, for more information, contact Tricia d’Apice at the RIDBC Teleschool by phoning 02 9872 0332 or emailing tricia.dapice@ridbc.org.au. [Update ends] - End Notes Getting more information on issues in the ABF/NDS Update: Unless otherwise stated, please contact Margaret Verick at margaret.verick@nds.org.au, phone 02 6283 3214. Reproducing information from the ABF/NDS Update: Anyone may reproduce any of the information in this Update – just acknowledge this source. About AUSTRALIAN BLINDNESS FORUM http://www.australianblindnessforum.org.au Australian Blindness Forum (ABF) was first formed as an unincorporated body in 1992, funded only by its members. In 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 http://www.nds.org.au National Disability Services (NDS) is the national industry association for disability services, representing over 650 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.