DbI Review 35 - Deafblind International

R egional N ew sCanadaCDBRA Elects New PresidentPatrickPetersonPatrick Peterson was electedPresident of the CanadianDeafblind and RubellaAssociation at its AnnualGeneral Meeting in NewWe s t m i n s t e r, British Columbia,September 2004. Pa t r i c kreplaced Linda Mamer whowas DbI 2003 ConferenceChair and President of CDBRAsince 1995.Patrick has been involved asa volunteer with CDBRA since1991. He was President of theNew Brunswick Chapter andVice President of the NationalBoard of Directors from 1993through 2004. Patrick wasChair of the 5th CanadianConference on Deafblindness(1993) and a member of theManagement Committee ofthe 13th DbI Wo r l dConference held inMississauga, Canada 2003.He is a retired Senior PublicServant, having worked in anexecutive function with theProvince of New Brunswick’sSystem of Provincial Pa r k s ,Historic Resources &A r c h a e o l o g y. Outside hisvolunteer career, Patrick iscurrently working as a ProjectManagement Consultant. Healso is the Project Coordinatorfor the establishment ofCurtis Complex, a tenapartmentfacility to housedeafblind adults inFredericton, New Brunswick.AustraliaEvents and policy change affectingAustralians who are deafblindMike Steerreports:Australian DeafBlindCouncil (ADBC) researchproject: One of the mostimportant and exciting thingsto have happened for peoplewith deafblindness, theircarers and support agenciesin Australia for some time,reports ADBC ExecutiveOfficer John Finch, is thereceipt of a $15,000 grantfrom the CommonwealthGovernment’s Office ofDisability to undertake areview of the Mary Wa r d(1994) report Deafblindnessin Australia. Someinformation on the newproject appeared in the lastissue of DbI Review.“While in the short termservices hardly, if ever, seemto improve and ADBCmembers often feel they arehitting their heads against abrick wall”, says Finch, “If westand back, especially in someStates over a period of 20 to25 years, the improvement inservices has been dramatic.Often these improvementsresult from a report thatservice providers are able touse as a weapon to persuadeGovernment Departments toimprove services. I sincerelyhope we are going to makethe most of this latestopportunity without thinkingit will provide anything likewhat is actually needed”.The research grant resultedfrom the ADBC Committeetaking the case toGovernment and pushingvery hard to the effect thatnothing positive hadhappened as an outcome ofthe National Forum held inSydney in 2001. A reportfrom this meeting had beensent to the National AdvisoryCouncil on Disability and aftera meeting withrepresentatives of ADBC’ scommittee its membersagreed that the deafblindnesssituation in Australiawarranted furtherinvestigation. The grant wasan outcome of this decision.Since notification at the endof June 2004, ADBC hasprepared a Brief on the waythe Council plans toundertake its research. Thenational Office of Disabilityhas since approved this Brief.A Project Steering Committeehas been organized,comprising a person withdeafblindness, a parent, anorganisational representativeand a person to coordinateand act as secretary to themeeting. A Reference Groupof eight people was alsoinitiated, providing Australiawiderepresentation.A project consultant hassince been appointed andcommenced working on theproject in mid-December last.The Project Consultant isMeredith Prain, who is wellknown to many Australianswith deafblindness, theirfamilies and professionals inthe field. Terms of referencehave now been formulatedand since her appointment,Meredith has designed theproject methodology,4 0 • DbI Review • JA N UA R Y – JU N E 2 0 0 5