DbI Review 35 - Deafblind International

More documents

Recommendations

Info

R egional N ew sAustralia(continued)The new EducationStandards will covergovernment and nongovernmentproviders in allsectors: pre-school, school,vocational education andtraining, higher educationand adult and communitye d u c a t i o n .Web Site Discrimination. I na recent article in‘Computerworld’, Australiancommunity activist, BruceMaguire states that theC o m m o n w e a l t hGovernment’s trend towardsusing online PDF documentswas attracting ‘a growingnumber of DisabilityDiscrimination Actcomplaints’. Adobe’s portabledocument format (PDF)remains relatively inaccessibleto people who are blind,vision impaired or deafblind.Although software exists touse these formats, thetraining required and thefinancial freedom of the$1000 to upgrade to readdocuments is beyond mostpeople with a disability. Thisis despite a directive from anAustralian Council ofGovernment Ministers that allgovernment web sites beaccessible to people with ad i s a b i l i t y. To read the article,go tohttp://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;973165449;fp;16;fpid;0Airline Policy on GuideDogs. Australian domesticcarrier Virgin Blue hasreversed its policy of notproviding mats to peoplewith guide dogs after ‘The(Melbourne) Age’ newspaperrevealed the airline refused toallow a blind woman to flybecause she did not have amat for her dog. The airlineadmitted that it put KatrinaStewart ‘through hell’ andapologised to her and herf a m i l y. The Age’ article can beread athttp://theage.com.au/articles/2004/11/16/1100574464664.html?oneclick=true.Blind Citizens Australia (BCA)has published on its web siteat http://www.bca.org.au/airlinepolicy.htm, anairline policy for Qantas,J e t s t a r, Singapore Airlines,Virgin Blue and Pacific Blue.BCA advises its members andthose who are deafblind, tocall the relevant carrier priorto purchasing a ticket onorder to clarify their policy onfares and guide dogsAccessible Telephones. T h eAustralian CommunicationsIndustry Forum (ACIF) hasrecently developed a DraftIndustry Code on AccessibilityFeature Information forTelephone Equipment. TheDraft Code enhances thecurrent regulatoryarrangements by providinginformation about keyfeatures on handsets. Thisinformation is not currentlyprovided and will enableconsumers to make moreeffective choices about theproducts that best meet theirneeds. Public comment onthe Draft Code has beeninvited. For more information,go tohttp://www.acif.org.au/current_activities/public_commentUniversities: Provision ofCourse Materials. The Fe d e r a lMagistrates Court recentlyconsidered the issue ofdisability discrimination inrelation to higher educationin its decision Hinchliffe v.University of Sydney.Hinchliffe had a ‘visiondisability’ that requiredspecial assistance in theprovision of course materials.Her argument was that theUniversity of Sydneydiscriminated against her byfailing to provide her, in atimely way, with coursematerials in the form ofnatural voice audio tapes or,a l t e r n a t i v e l y, in written formin 24 point Arial font on lightgreen paper, together withenlarged diagrams. TheUniversity of Sydney deniedthe claim.The Court ultimatelyconcluded that Hinchliffefailed to establish a case ofindirect disabilitydiscrimination. The case sets aclear precedent for otherinstitutions to follow. For acopy of the case go tohttp://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/disp.pl/au/cases/cth/FMCA/2004/85.html?query=university+and+2004Copyright and PrintDisability. The Human Rightsand Equal OpportunityCommission has compiled alist of Frequently AskedQuestions about how thecopyright legislative andadministrative regime affectsproducers and users ofaccessible-format material(audio, Braille, e-text andlarge print) in Australia. Toaccess the list, go tohttp://www.hreoc.gov.au/disability_rights/education/copyfaq.htm4 2 • DbI Review • JA N UA R Y – JU N E 2 0 0 5
R eg ional N e wsThe Norwegian Association of the Deafblind NADBNorwayThe Norwegian Association ofthe deafblind (NADB) is theoldest organization of and fordeafblind people in theNorthern hemisphere, maybein the whole world. Since1957, we have worked for thegood of Norwegian deafblindpeople. In about two yearstime, we will look back on 50years of providinginformation, cultural andsocial activities to supportdeafblind people in thisc o u n t r y.In 2005, and in thefollowing years, we willcontinue this work. We willalso participate in the Nordic,European and internationaldeafblind work. But all theactivities in the associationmust, now as before, be donewithin our economic limits!!ArendalThe Summer gathering hasbeen, and still is, the mostimportant meeting place forthe members of NADB. In2005, the summer gatheringwill be held for the 50th time.This anniversary-gatheringwill take place in Arendal.One of the reasons for this isthat at the end of this year,the present editors of NADBare celebrating their 25-yeara n n i v e r s a r y. Thus, the boardthinks there should be anopportunity for the deafblindpeople to get together witht h e m .There is a main task forNADB and that is to offer themembers courses that lead toqualification andarrangements that give themthe opportunity to meetothers, get new informationand have a good time.M o r e o v e r, by arranginggatherings for the membersin the local clubs of NADB, wecompleted the project “Abetter everyday”. Theactivities are social andprovide an importantmeeting place, wheredeafblind people meet eacho t h e r. In this way, we helpmany deafblind people tobreak out of daily isolation.Among the new governmentactions to support deafblindpeople in 2004, we have tomention the print-out service.NADB fought for this foryears, and we finallysucceeded to get it on thegovernment budget for 2003.N o w, the Norwegian Soundand Braille library has put theservice to action and thisservice is an important steptowards equal opportunitiesregarding deafblind people’saccess to information.We have been activelyinvolved with many partnerorganisations in Europe tocampaign for equality issuesfor deafblind peopleincluding EDU, EdbU and DbI.The day the EuropeanParliament passed adeclaration which states thatdeafblindness is a uniquedisability was a great day forus. As a consequence of theEØS cooperation, thisdeclaration will also beimportant in Norwegiandeafblind work.We are also involved incampaigning for improvedservices at home and wesupport our members withtheir individual requests. Weenjoy two publications,Dovblines Ukebad andPunktnytt. Also, to increaseand improve the informationto the members about theassociation, the NADB publishits own member’s magazine.This magazine is publishedtwice a year, and we know itis well received.Fo r t u n a t e l y, a number ofgovernment departmentsunderstand our needs andsupport us financially and wethank them for it!Geir JensenThe School and the Super Bowl!USAThis year, the Florida Schoolfor the Deaf and the Blind iscelebrating 120 years ofsuccessfully developingchildren's potential. With acurrent enrollment of 750students from kindergartenthrough 12th grade, theschool provides outreachservices to an additional 116infants and pre-schoolchildren throughout Floridawith sensory impairments.The Education services areprovided free to eligiblechildren in the state ofFlorida, USA. It’s a schoolwith an extensive campus andan enviable record for pupils’achievement: in theclassroom, on the sports fieldand in the community!To celebrate this wonderfulanniversary the school wasrecognised at one of the mostprestigious sporting eventsheld in the USA – the SuperBowl. Grammy Award winnerAlicia Keys sang “America theBeautiful” to honour theschool and its achievements!JA N UA R Y – JU N E 2 0 0 5 • DbI Review • 4 3
Page 1: Focus on Latin AmericaNumber 35 •
Page 7 and 8: Social-Haptic Communicat ionRuss co
Page 9 and 10: K a t h m a n d uKathmandu, Nepal
Page 11 and 12: M an is man’s joy…Baumgarten in
Page 13 and 14: M an is man’s joy…“The aesthe
Page 15 and 16: Dea fb lind Per sons in Croat iaPer
Page 17 and 18: C E S S AC E SSA - Special Educatio
Page 19 and 20: C E S S A- Symbol objects- Visual o
Page 21 and 22: Ge netic r esearchchild with CHARGE
Page 23 and 24: East Africasome medical centres or
Page 25 and 26: Helen Ke ller Award“It’s a true
Page 27 and 28: N etwork N e wsE d b NUrsula Heinem
Page 29 and 30: N etwork N e wsCHARGE NetworkDavid
Page 31 and 32: CHARGE Artic le Conf head er enc he
Page 33 and 34: Foc us on Latin AmericaDeveloping t
Page 35 and 36: Foc us Artic on Latin le head Ameri
Page 37 and 38: Foc us on Latin AmericaVenezuela -
Page 39 and 40: R eg ional N e wsDeveloping service
Page 41: R eg ional N e wsreviewed literatur
Page 45 and 46: Artic le C head a m p a here i g n
Page 47 and 48: C o n f e r e n c eDeafblind Intern
Page 49 and 50: Artic le C head o n f e r e here n
Page 51 and 52: DbI memb er shipDeafblind Internati

DbI Review 35 - Deafblind International

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?