Blind Citizens Australia

This week, we meet Marie Bampton, Project Manager of the Blind Australian of the Year awards. Hear about Link Vision, the organisation auspicing the award, and the awards themselves and the concept behind them.

Sally Aurisch, CEO of Blind Citizens Australia, was recently involved in an interesting summit held in Canberra. This week, she joins us to discuss the summit, and employment for people who are blind or vision impaired.

We go back to the archives for this week's episode. Emma Bennison, former CEO of Blind Citizens Australia, spoke at a conference some years ago, about artificial intelligence and its impact on people with disability. Also, a brief reminder about some upcoming BCA events.

In this week’s episode of New Horizons we speak with Deb Deshays, Manager of Projects and Engagement with Blind Citizens Australia. Deb outlines plans for the upcoming BCA Connect, to be held on the 17th of September. We also hear about the latest recipients of the Hugh Jeffrey scholarships, for people studying higher education.

This week, BCA president, Fiona Woods, describes the board meeting schedule, and discusses some of the issues with which the board has been dealing this year. Also, and update on the reception of Blind Citizens Australia's strategic plan.

This special episode pays tribute to Ivan Molloy, who died on the 20th of July. We featured Ivan on New Horizons back in 2016, at the closure of the Overseas Cultural Branch of Blind Citizens Australia. We replay that fascinating interview, along with some comments from NFBCA founding-member and president, David Blyth, which featured on a subsequent episode. Also, a tribute compiled by John Simpson, himself a former president of BCA.

In this week's program, we're joined by CEO, Sally Aurisch, and Project Assistant, Joelene Scott, to discuss the upcoming Executive Leadership Program. Applications are now open for the program, so if you're blind or vision impaired and interested in furthering your leadership journey, you'll find more information on the BCA website.

This week, the second in our two-part series from the session held at the 2019 Blind Citizens Australia Convention, on the Future Of Work.

We bring you, this week, a programme from 2019, featuring the first in a two-part series on the Future Of Work, as it relates to people who are blind or vision impaired. This programme came from the 2019 Convention of Blind Citizens Australia, held in Hobart.

In this week's episode, we touch upon employment for people who are blind or vision impaired. Dr. Melissa Fanshawe discusses a really interesting program to assist senior high school students to develop the skills they need to be ready for work. Also, a reminder about the Hugh Jeffrey scholarship program which closes on the 17th of July.

This week, we go back into the New Horizons archive. Specifically, to the Blind Citizens Australia convention, held in Hobart in March 2019. The Legacy Project celebrates the history of the Association of Blind Citizens of New South Wales, which merged with BCA a few years ago. Hear from Graeme Innes, Jennifer Parry and Susan Thompson. They discuss the importance of this series, and their experiences in putting the programmes together.

This week we hear about Blind Citizens Australia's new strategic plan. We're joined by Fiona Woods, BCA President, and CEO, Sally Aurisch. They discuss the strategic planning process, and the vision, purpose and values of the organisation.

This week we speak with Julee-Anne Bell, CEO of World Access for the Blind Australia. Her company is involved in a very interesting project which seeks to leverage augmented reality to provide greater object awareness for people who are blind or vision impaired.

This week, a follow-up to our programme on Blind Citizens Australia's asks for the 2022 federal election. We're joined by Jackson Reynolds-Ryan, policy officer with BCA, to discuss responses from the various political parties, and commitments given to support the needs of people in Australia who are blind or vision impaired.

In this week's program, we fittingly pay tribute to Neville Kerr, who died recently. Neville produced and presented over 1100 radio programs on behalf of BCA and was a pioneering contributor to RPH broadcasting and the RPH movement generally. We hear from Neville himself as well as some key people who worked with, and knew Neville as the talented and creative broadcaster he was. We're interested in hearing your memories of Neville, whether you worked with him or fondly remember listening to his broadcasts. Please send an audio clip to new.horizons@bca.org.au, telling us of your memories of Neville. If you are unable to send an audio clip, please E-mail your comments. Find out more at https://new-horizons.pinecast.co This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

In this week's program, we fittingly pay tribute to Neville Kerr, who died recently. Neville produced and presented over 1100 radio programs on behalf of BCA and was a pioneering contributor to RPH broadcasting and the RPH movement generally. We hear from Neville himself as well as some key people who worked with, and knew Neville, as the talented and creative broadcaster he was. We're interested in hearing your memories of Neville, whether you worked with him or fondly remember listening to his broadcasts. Please send an audio clip to new.horizons@bca.org.au, telling us of your memories of Neville. If you are unable to send an audio clip, please E-mail your comments. We may use them on a future program. Find out more at https://new-horizons.pinecast.co This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

In this week's programme we revisit the BCA convention of 2019. Speciffically, we bring you an edited version of the session held at that convention where several people with multiple disabilities outline the issues they face, as blindness or vision impairment is not their only disability.

This week we speak with Annette Ferguson from Dog Guide Handlers Australia. DGHA has become concerned about the increasing instances of Dog Guide refusals, which have significant affects on handlers who are simply trying to go about their daily business. DGHA has established a "Dog Guide Refusal Register" to try to understand the nature of this issue. Please see http://www.dgha.org.au for more information.

We return to the upcoming Federal Election this week, with a discussion on voting in Australia for people who are blind or vision impaired. Susan Thompson, long-time advocate for accessible, independent and verifiable voting, joins Sally Aurisch, CEO of Blind Citizens Australia. Hear about how you can vote at the upcoming election and some disappointing news relating to the future of accessible voting in New South Wales with the State Government's recent announcement of the decommissioning of the I-Vote system.

This week, we bring you a repeat of our 500th episode. First broadcast this week five years ago, John Simpson and I discuss the history of the programme and its importance in the work of BCA and providing a voice for the Blind and Vision Impaired Community.