Ferntree Gully resident David Pocock, who is blind, was housebound and unable to walk down the street when he first lost his sight. Now, two years later, with the help of Vision Australia, he has learned to use a handheld talking GPS device.
Like many of us, 65-year-old William Koh doesn’t leave home without his iPhone. He also doesn’t leave home without his talking GPS and talking barcode reader.
Up until five years ago, Mark Res was working as a labourer until decreasing vision meant he could no longer continue.
On Thursday September 18, a team from Vision Australia visited Parliament House Melbourne. To raise awareness of living with blindness and low vision amongst Victorian State Parliamentarians, we set up a number of displays and invited MPs to drop-by and learn about Vision Australia’s services to the blind and low vision community.
Vision Australia has advocated in support of audio description on Australian television on behalf of our community for many years. In late August, Minister Turnbull wrote to Vision Australia advising us that there will be a trial Audio Description service introduced on the ABC’s iView service starting from April 2015.
In this program, following the recent Apple announcements, we explore the benefits of these developments for people who are blind or have low vision. Also the Premier of Victoria is part of the program.
Janine Plummer, who runs a garden maintenance company with her husband Ian, has Retinitis Pigmentosa an hereditary condition that causes a degeneration of the light sensitive cells and pigment layer of the retina. Janine has no vision in her left eye and only tunnel vision with no colour perception in her right.
When Patricia Ross lost her sight to Macular Degeneration, it knocked her flat. She felt she had lost her independence. But now, thanks to expert training from Vision Australia, this 76 year old Great Grandmother from Colyton is right up to speed with the very latest accessible technology.
Forty-four year old, Laurinda Martin, from Mount Warrigal is legally blind, but thanks to the latest technology, and expert training from Vision Australia, she doesn’t let her vision impairment slow her down.
Vision Australia supports valuable research into the social inclusion of people with a disability. This research is being carried out by Scope Victoria, who provide a range of disability services, including accommodation and respite care, across Victoria.