Opinion pieces

We were devastated to hear the news of Terry Gill's passing. His contribution to Vision Australia’s Carols by Candlelight across four decades was immeasurable and he leaves big boots to fill.

Charlestown teenager Connor Wink has released his first single on iTunes.

To make television broadcasts more accessible for the more than 350,000 Australians who are blind or have low vision, Vision Australia is taking action in the Australian Human Rights Commission against Seven, Nine, Ten, SBS and Foxtel.

This week we hear an interview Peter Greco conducted with Jonathon Groelach, a member of the Australian paratriathlon team and recipient of the University of Canberra's 2014 Athlete of The Year, and we also hear from Susie Barrington, a recipient of one of Vision Australia's Further Education Bursaries who tells Peter Greco about her experience with higher education.

Education is essential to improving opportunities and choices for people who are blind or have low vision. With official figures released this month by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, showing a decline in workforce participation among people with disability, and a strong link between education as a pathway to employment – support for education is vital.

The South Australia Government has announced that new legislation will be debated to allow people of all ages to ride bicycles on the footpath. We will be writing to all South Australian politicians this week asking them to vote against this Bill.

Vision Australia is reaching out to NSW election candidates to ask for their commitment on six key election priorities: education, employment, getting around, access to information, service continuity and accessible voting through iVote.

Vision Australia applauds the Reserve Bank of Australia, who today announced that the next generation of Australian banknotes will include a tactile feature to assist people who are blind or have low vision.

This week we hear an interview Stephen Jolley conducted with Patrick Moore - the President of the Macular Vision Loss Support Society about the work of the society and their 20 year anniversary.

This week in the final program presented by Stephen Jolley, we talk education. A number of prominent blind Australians and New Zealanders reflect on special learning in their formative years.