+++AUSTRALIAN BLINDNESS FORUM and NATIONAL DISABILITY SERVICES.
++ABF/NDS UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2009.

[Contents begin]
+01. What the ABF is Doing.
+02. News from ABF Members and Associates.
+03. Access to Aviation.
+04. Access to Information.
+05. Employment.
+06. Access to Premises.
+07. Independent Voting.
+08. Pension Changes.
+09. Inquiry into Hearing Health in Australia.
+10. Non Profit Sector.
+11. Other Information, Publications.
+12. NDS Events.
+13. Other National Conferences.
+14. Continuing Professional Education.
+15. International: World Blind Union.
+16. International: AMD Alliance International.
+17. International: Louis Braille Bicentenary.
+18. International: Other Items.
- End Notes.
[Contents end]

[Update begins]

+01. WHAT THE ABF IS DOING.
Over the last month, the ABF has:
- held an Access to Premises Subcommittee meeting
- lodged a submission on the Draft Guideline for Accessing Compliance of Bus Stops with the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport 2002
- held an Access to Information Subcommittee meeting
- attended a meeting of the Access to Aviation Working Group at the Department of Infrastructure
- met with Helen Daniels of Attorney-General’s about copyright and the WIPO Treaty
- participated in the first NDS Sensory Disability Forum
- participated in a meeting with the Australian Electoral Commission about independent voting
- held a meeting of the ABF Board of Directors
- held the first Workshop on Wayfinding in Adelaide, hosted by Royal Society for the Blind
- received a letter from Senator the Hon Ursula Stephens, Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector in response to an ABF request for information on job placement and participation rates for people with vision impairment

+02. NEWS FROM ABF MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES.
- ABF Members’ Forum: The 2009 Forum will be held at the Brisbane Polo Club on Thursday 15 October from 9.00am to 4.00pm. This immediately precedes the BCA Convention on 16, 17 and 18 October at the Royal on the Park. The Forum program is now available on the ABF website at http://www.australianblindnessforum.org.au/.
- Vision Australia Further Education Bursaries: Each year Vision Australia awards financial bursaries to tertiary students who are blind or have low vision for the purchase of adaptive technology such as CCTVs, laptops, screen reading and magnification software. Recipients are selected in December, equipment is purchased and delivered after proof of enrolment has been provided (around March) and the Bursaries presented at ceremonies in May 2010. Visit http://www.visionaustralia.org/bursary for the application form and more information. Applications close at the end of October 2009.
- Vision Australia people receive awards: Isabel Baker, a Paediatric Physiotherapist, has recently been honoured as a recipient of the Dr Dorothea Sandars Churchill Fellowship 2009. This will enable Isabel to investigate innovation in physiotherapy for children while visiting facilities in the UK, Canada and USA and attending conferences in Italy and USA.
Lorin Nicholson of Brisbane received the Individual Community Services Award from Minister for Disability Services Annastacia Palaszczuk in Queensland’s Disability Action Week Awards 2009 for his volunteer work with Vision Australia and as an advocate for people with disability. 
- ADBC: This month the Australian DeafBlind Council (ADBC) was welcomed to the ABF as an Associate. Alisa Wills has taken over the role of ADBC Administrative Officer from John Finch, who tirelessly carried that position for many years. Both Alisa and John will work together for a while so that the handover is as easy as possible. Alisa will be working at the offices of Able Australia Monday, Tuesday and Friday from 9.30am to 2.30pm. Her direct contact number is (03) 9882 8596.  

+03. ACCESS TO AVIATION.
Following its decision to make it easier for people with disability to fly without a carer, Virgin Blue updated its independent travel criteria (ITC)—go to http://www.virginblue.com.au/Personal/Flightinfo/SpecialNeedsandAssistance/IndependentTravelCriteria/index.htm. Virgin Blue will now allow people with ‘impaired mobility’ to travel on their aircraft unaccompanied, provided they are able to understand and respond to briefings about emergency procedures and do not require personal assistance during the flight.

+04. ACCESS TO INFORMATION.
- Australian Web Accessibility Reviews open to all: An online forum allowing anyone to become involved in accessibility reviews of major government and corporate websites has been launched. No technical or specialist knowledge is needed to participate in the Australian Web Access Review (AWARe http://www.mediaaccess.org.au/) which asks volunteers to evaluate the accessibility of prominent Australian websites by answering thirteen questions based around WCAG 2.0.
Set up by Media Access Australia, a non profit organisation that provides information on technology access issues, AWARe posts review results on its website, which will be used to drive change within industry and government. MAA says it will ‘actively pursue websites highlighted as inaccessible by AWARe reviews’.  AWARe has already reviewed five government websites, including a disability services site, at http://www.aware.org.au/index.php?option=com_webrate&view=results&layout=results&Itemid=105. 
- Vision Australia RAFT Project: The Regional Alternate Format (RAFT) project aims to assist people who are blind or have low vision living in regional areas of NSW, Victoria and Queensland to access print information. This brand new service means that people who are blind or have low vision can now receive Vision Australia’s information such as appointment cards, correspondence, instruction sheets and meeting notes in their preferred format at the time of their appointment. For more complicated documents such as school texts or instruction manuals, Vision Australia’s Information and Library Service offers a specialist transcription service – phone 1300 84 74 66.
- ReadHowYouWant partners with Allen & Unwin: Digital publishing innovator ReadHowYouWant has begun partnering with Allen & Unwin—the largest fully Australian owned publisher—to create accessible formats of the publisher’s best-selling titles. Their award-winning conversion technology will repurpose the books into high-quality alternative formats, including 16 to 24 point EasyRead large print, braille, synthesized audio MP3, and DAISY. The new editions will be available at http://www.readhowyouwant.com on or near the time of publication and should be a welcome response to the growing demand from the disability community for accessible format books. 
The collaboration will initially publish accessible editions of fifty of the publisher’s most popular books, including ‘Landscape of Farewell’ by Miles-Franklin award-winning author Alex Miller; Kate Morton’s romance/mystery ‘Forgotten Garden’ and international bestseller ‘Shifting Fog’; and Paul Carter’s ‘This is Not a Drill’ and ‘Don’t Tell Mum I work on the Rigs, She Thinks I’m a Piano Player in a Whorehouse’.

+05. EMPLOYMENT.
- Businesses sign up to promoting disability employment: More than 20 large Australian businesses and peak associations have signed a commitment to work with the Australian Government to improve employment opportunities for people with disability. Parliamentary Secretary Bill Shorten’s statement ‘Working Together for Ability: A New Commitment from Australian Business, Community and Government Leaders’ (http://www.nds.org.au/National/Other/Shorten-21sep09.pdf) says that “building long-term employment for people with disability goes hand-in-hand with boosting productivity and strengthening our community for all Australians. Ultimately, this will help to build a more robust and inclusive society.” Among the signatories are several banks, Coles and Woolworths, Wesfarmers, Visy, Grocon, Crown, Woodside Energy, Ernst and Yong, ACCI and the ACTU. There’s more detail for NDS members in NDS News Update of 21 September at http://www.nds.org.au/national/default.htm. 
- Fair Work: The Australian Government introduced the new Fair Work national workplace relations system on 1 July 2009 – a new national workplace relations system covering the majority of workplaces in Australia, including many disability services. The new system is underpinned by the ‘Fair Work Act 2009’ (http://www.workplace.gov.au/workplace/Publications/Legislation/FairWorkBill.htm). 

+06. ACCESS TO PREMISES.
- ABF Workshop on Wayfinding was hosted by the Royal Society for the Blind in Adelaide on 25 September. This first event of its kind was well-attended by members of the ABF Access to Premises Subcommittee and other experts in orientation and mobility and wayfinding from around Australia. A representative of Standards Australia and Transport SA also attended. Discussion focused on wayfinding priorities in relation to building standards and identified six: continuous accessible detectible path of travel; signage; lighting; luminance contrast; accessible information; education. A summary of the day will be available shortly.

+07. INDEPENDENT VOTING.
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is seeking solutions that will allow voters who are blind or have low vision to be able to cast their vote at the next and future federal elections. In order to facilitate this, the AEC reconvened a reference group of service providers and representatives of these voters (which includes the ABF, Blind Citizens Australia, Vision Australia plus the Australian Human Rights Commission). The preferred models—in the short term, call centre facilitated voting from an AEC divisional office; in the longer term, call centre facilitated voting from home—as selected by the reference group at its first meeting on 11 August were further explored at the second meeting in Sydney on 18 September. The reference group acknowledges the shortness of time available to the AEC in implementing a solution for the 2010 election, expected at the end of that year. It also acknowledged that, if an early election was announced, then the status quo of assisted voting as currently prescribed in the Commonwealth Electoral Act (CEA) under Section 234 would prevail (go to http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/cea1918233/s234.html). NDS members can also read the NDS News Update of 25 August at http://www.nds.org.au/national/default.htm. 

+08. PENSION CHANGES.
The changes announced in the May Federal Budget as part of the Australian Government’s ‘Secure and Sustainable Pension Reform’ plus indexation, took effect from 20 September 2009. A single pensioner on the maximum rate of the pension will receive:
- an increase of $60.00 per fortnight in the base pension;
- an increase of $5.00 per fortnight in the new Pension Supplement; and
- indexation increases of $5.50 per fortnight in the base pension and $0.33 per fortnight in the Pension Supplement. 
This is a total increase for single pensioners on the maximum rate of $70.83 per fortnight, bringing total pension payments to $671.90 a fortnight.
Couple pensioners combined on the maximum rate of the pension will receive:
- an increase of $20.30 per fortnight in the new Pension Supplement; and
- indexation increases of $9.20 per fortnight in the base pension and $0.43 per fortnight in the Pension Supplement.
This is a total increase for couple pensioners combined on the maximum rate of $29.33 per fortnight, bringing total pension payments to $1,013 per fortnight.
For more information, go to http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/individuals/ssp_pension_increase.htm. 

+09. INQUIRY INTO HEARING HEALTH IN AUSTRALIA.
The Senate Community Affairs References Committee will inquire into hearing health in Australia, particularly:
a) the extent, causes and costs of hearing impairment in Australia; 
b) the implications of hearing impairment for individuals and the community;
c) the adequacy of access to hearing services, including assessment and support services, and hearing technologies;
d) the adequacy of current hearing health and research programs, including education and awareness programs; and
e) specific issues affecting Indigenous communities.
Submissions should be emailed by 9 October 2009 to community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au. The Committee will report by the last Parliamnet sitting day in February 2010. For more information about the inquiry and about making a submission, go to http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/clac_ctte/hearing_health/index.htm. 

+10. NON PROFIT SECTOR.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released data on the non profit sector that highlights the enormous contribution of non profit organisations to Australian life. Non profit organisations contributed close to $43 billion (or 4.1 per cent) to Australia’s economy in 2006-2007. The ABS also found that, in that period, volunteers contributed over 600 million hours to non profit organisations, equivalent to 317,200 full-time jobs worth over $14 billion. To read the media release, go to http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/A9567441208D43B3CA257634001BFA54?Opendocument. 

+11. OTHER INFORMATION, PUBLICATIONS.
- 2010 Australian Youth Representative: Each year since 1999, the United Nations Youth Association of Australia and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have chosen one young Australian to be the Youth Representative in Australia’s delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The Australian Youth Representative is responsible for representing the views and interests of young Australians to the United Nations. Those between the age of 15 and 24 are encouraged to apply for this position. Applications close on 2 November 2009. For more information and to apply, go to http://www.unya.org.au/youthrep, or contact Honeylyn Lisson on 0418 536 543 or honeylynlisson@hotmail.com. 
- Report on multiple disabilities in Australia: A new report from AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare), ‘Disability in Australia: multiple disabilities and need for assistance’, examines the severity of disability and complex support needs of people with different combinations of disabilities in Australia. One in ten Australians have a combination of two or more disabilities, translating to over half of all people with disability living with multiple disabilities. In addition, people with multiple disabilities are affected by an average of three to six long-term health conditions, including dementia, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, speech problems and stroke. There’s more detail for NDS members in the NDS News Update of 10 September at http://www.nds.org.au/national/default.htm, or to access the report, go to http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10788. 
- RPH broadcasting in Wagga Wagga: Last month’s item incorrectly gave RPH Australia as the contact. However, as Radio 1RPH in Canberra provides the broadcast service to Wagga Wagga, for more information, please contact Radio 1RPH by phoning 02 6241 4076 or emailing radio1rph@bigpond.com. 

+12. NDS EVENTS.
- Sensory Disability Forum on 16 September for the first time brought together representatives of major organisations providing supports to people with vision, hearing and speech impairments to discuss broad national issues that affect them all. A summary of the outcomes will be available shortly.
- CEO Meeting – Policy and Management Advice for Decision Makers: This annual event, to be held in Canberra on 30 November and 1 December, is for CEOs, senior managers and board members from NDS member organisations. The brochure and preliminary program are available 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 CONFERENCES.
- Making Links 2009, to be held in Melbourne on 17 and 18 November, will provide a forum on information and communications technology (ICT) for the not-for-profit sector. This year’s theme of ‘Sustaining Communities in Tough Times’ will address the twin challenges of the global economic crisis and environmental sustainability. For more information, go to http://www.makinglinks.org.au/.
- 2009 National Ushers and DeafBlind Camp: Able Australia Recreation Program and Victorian Usher and DeafBlind Club and the Vision and Hearing Support Club are hosting this camp on Phillip Island for people with deafblindness from 20 to 22 November. Places are limited, so people wishing to attend the camp should contact Emely McCord at Able Australia as soon as possible – voice phone 1300 225 369, TTY 03 9882 6786, email emely.mccord@ableaustralia.org.au. Volunteers are needed so people wishing to assist, please contact John Finch to request an application form by emailing jfinch2@vtown.com.au, phoning 03 9439 2570 or by posting to PO Box 1213 Camberwell VIC 3124. 
- 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. 

+14. CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION.
There is a comprehensive 2009 program on offer from RIDBC Renwick Centre. To find out more about courses in hearing impairment, Braille, vision impairment, multiple disability and special offers, go to http://www.ridbc.org.au/renwick/courses/continuinged_calendar.asp. 

+15. INTERNATIONAL: WORLD BLIND UNION (WBU).
Keep up to date about the World Blind Union—visit http://www.worldblindunion.org/en/. 

+16. INTERNATIONAL: AMD ALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL (AMDAI).  
- Artificial Retina Project: The US Department of Energy (DOE) through its national laboratories is partnering with leading research universities and the private sector in the DOE Artificial Retina Project. It has already achieved important practical progress by enabling direct communication between an implanted retinal prosthesis and neural cells that carry visual information to the brain. The project’s collaborators are working to develop the world’s most advanced retinal prosthesis. This high-density microelectronic-tissue hybrid aims to restore sight to people blinded by retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. However, considerable research remains in order to fully benefit from the investments made thus far. For more information, go to http://artificialretina.energy.gov/. 
- Living with AMD: Many people diagnosed with the AMD often experience varying degrees of depression – they are two to three times more likely to experience moderate to severe symptoms of depression than others in their age group. Two years ago a study on preventing depression in patients with AMD was conducted to help determine whether problem-solving treatment can prevent depressive disorders in people with recent vision loss. To read more, go to http://www.amdalliance.org/resources/news_amdanddepression.php. 
- Laser Therapy: Very early results from a study on a new laser technique being tested at Kings College London are suggesting a new approach for future AMD treatment. This particular laser method, which experts believe is at least five to ten years away if all goes well, revitalizes a certain component in the retina that will hopefully preserve useful function in the light-sensitive cells that normally die as a result of ageing and from the dry form of AMD. For more information, visit http://www.amdalliance.org/resources/news_laser.php. 

+17. INTERNATIONAL: LOUIS BRAILLE BICENTENARY. 
- 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.

+18. INTERNATIONAL: OTHER ITEMS.
- World Sight Day ‘Gender and Eye Health’ on 8 October this year is when Vision 2020 members work together to raise public awareness, influence governments and education target audiences about blindness prevention programs and generate support. To find out more, visit Vision 2020 at http://www.v2020.org/page.asp?section=0001000100070013 and Vision 2020 Australia at http://www.vision2020australia.org.au/news-events-world-sight-day.cfm.
- International White Cane Safety Day will be held on Thursday 15 October – for more information, go to http://www.vision2020australia.org.au/news-events-events.cfm?id=2814&t=/international-white-cane-day/. 
- Australian appointed by IFLA: Julie Rae, General Manager, Community Information Access with Vision Australia, has been appointed by IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations) as Chair of the Libraries Serving Persons with Print Disabilities (LPD) Section for two years. The LPD Section concerns itself with library services for people who are blind or have other print disabilities. The main purposes of the Section are to promote national and international cooperation in this field, and to encourage research and development in all aspects of this area, thus improving the access of information for people who are blind or have other print disabilities. 
The Section is currently working on the Global Library project and development of a database of key performance indicators for LPD libraries enabling benchmarking and promotion of print disability issues. The LPD Section is actively involved with the WBU and the IFLA Section on Copyright with relation to the current WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) Treaty.
- UNICEF—Education is a right for all: Under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (http://www.un.org/disabilities/), all children have the right to go to school and cannot be excluded from education because of a disability. However, globally fewer than five per cent of children with disability are attending school and, in some cases, the figure is less than one per cent. With Australia’s support, UNICEF will revise its Child Friendly Schools toolkit and develop an additional module for education providers in developing countries to integrate components to make education inclusive and accessible for children with disability. 
- New Publication from AFB Press: ‘Everyday Activities to Promote Visual Efficiency: A Handbook for Working with Young Children with Visual Impairments’ by Rona Shaw, Ed.D and Ellen Trief has been released. It is a user-friendly, comprehensive handbook that provides simple activities that can be incorporated easily by families and service providers into the everyday routines of a baby or child to facilitate early visual development and use of functional vision. For more information, contact AFB Press at afbpress@afb.net.  
- DAISY 2009 Conference will be held in Leipzig, Germany from 27 to 29 September. Registration is open until 31 August at http://www.daisy2009.de. 
- 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 begin]
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.
[End Notes end]