Beacon The newsletter of the Australian DeafBlind Council No. 20 April 2002 In This Issue National Forum Important People President's Report Coming Events ADBC News ADBC Contacts State Reports Call for Contributors WFDB Report The Australian National Deafblindness Forum Sydney, 5-6 July, 2001 In Australia, our disability policy framework is grounded in our Commonwealth and state Disability Services Acts. The National Deaf-Blind Forum was held at the Royal Blind Society (RBS) in Sydney in July 2001. The event was chaired by Michael Simpson, RBS Client Services Manager, with some 40 representatives of Deafblindness agencies and special interest groups, as well as Commonwealth and State public servants in attendance. The National Forum resulted from letters written by ADBC to the Minister for Family and Community Services, who provided $5,000 towards the costs of organising it. The purpose of the event was to prepare recommendations that would be brought to the attention of the National Disability Advisory Committee (NDAC) and through that Committee, brought to the table during negotiations over the Commonwealth-States Disability Agreement (CSDA). It was clear from results of the forum that no Australian state or territory is close to meeting the needs of its citizens who are deafblind. This is just as evident in areas covered by the CSDA as it is in such areas as education, transport, health, or housing Based on the Report on Investigation Into the needs of and services for people In Australia who are deaf-blind (Ward,1994), the estimated number of Australians who are deafblind under the age of 65 years is as follows: State/Territory Estimated Number (< 65 years old) State/Territory Estimated Number (< 65 years old) NSW 514 WA 149 VIC 396 TAS 46 QLD 264 ACT 27 SA 126 NT 15 NATIONAL ESTIMATED TOTAL 1,537 There has been no adequate national or international research to estimate the number of people who are deafblind over the age of 65 years. However, the nature of sensory disability is such that more people over 65 will be affected than those under 65. ALL STATES REPORTED: * No coherent national or state policies regarding services to people who are deafblind. * No coherent national or state planning around services for people who are deafblind. * No real policy level recognition that deafblindness is more than "the sum of its parts" and requires real additional focus and support. * Major gaps in service provision in ALL of the CSDA areas in each state and territory. * No funded individual, group or systemic advocacy services in any state or territory focused on the needs of people who are deafblind. * Lack of any appropriate levels of training in the area of deafblindness to ensure quality of staff and services. * Lack of consistency between states in service responses. * No recognition of the communication needs of deafblind people or their right to participate in the community. * No recognition of the increasing incidence of deafblindness as the population ages or the associated issues. * No research into specific areas of deafblindness including training of staff, interpreters, families and advocates. A Summary Picture of Deafblindness Issues related to CSDA: 1. Accommodation Support Services: Critical issues including but not limited to: * Lack of choice in housing, and limited information of what is available; * Lack of assistive technology to support truly independent living; * Lack of adequately trained staff, particularly in relation to communication; * Lack of flexibility in service delivery in both in house and outreach service delivery; * Limited focus on the needs of the individual; * Lack of a national mechanism that guarantees a minimum level of support; * Issues around safety in homes from o other residents o staff; * Lack of appropriate services for young people who are deafblind; * Lack of awareness of the negative effects of the interaction of the person's condition and an unsympathetic environment; * Lack of awareness about deafblindness and the needs of deafblind people by staff and accommodation settings; * Limited available services result in the young being placed in nursing homes and psychiatric institutions or institutions for people with an intellectual disability. and * An overall lack of funding to provide appropriate accommodation options. 2. Advocacy Services: These are not funded in the area of deafblindness. Critical issues are: * A poor awareness of the concept and use of advocacy for people who are deafblind; * No independent deafblind advocacy service in all areas; * No group and systemic advocacy structures, alongside training and support for people who are deafblind to manage advocacy; * Lack of information about advocacy services to community; * Confusion over where the responsibility for advocacy lies, i.e. Commonwealth or States; * No structured mentor and peer programs for people who are deafblind: and * No funding (e.g. HREOC, Legal Services) to support access to rights. 3. Community Support Services: Community support services are integral to the ability of people who are deafblind to function in the community. Critical issues are: * Lack of appropriately trained staff; * Lack of individually focussed and gender and age appropriate programs; * A lack of information, literature and correspondence in the format of individual choice; * Inadequate availability of one on one support hours; * Inequitable access to services that exist for other people including general community services; * A lack of adaptive technology and maintenance; * Inadequate transport assistance; and * A lack of essential broad services, such as therapy, case management etc. 4. Community Access Services: Most people who are deafblind face real isolation from the community, as a result of communication and mobility issues. Critical issues include: * Severely limited staffing and interpreting hours; * Lack of programs which meet the needs of people who are deafblind who require more one on one support; * Lack of creative programming which addresses individual communication needs and continued development; * A poor range of choices; * Limited staff/workers/etc with appropriate knowledge and training; * Poor transport access; * Information not in accessible formats; * Services inflexible and unable to adapt to consumer timetables and needs; and * Lack of services or focus on meeting needs of age and ageing population. 5. Employment Services: Employment services do not meet the needs of people who are deafblind. Critical issues include: * Absence of pre-vocational experiences to assist in making choices; * WAT tables that may not rate needs as high as they are: * Lack of funded training options, especially with some experience of deafblindness; * Lack of trained workers with appropriate communication skills to ensure safety and understanding of work; * Lack of longer term support once placed on work; * Lack of resources for adaptive technology and training for fellow workers; * Lack of additional support for employers (e.g. extended post placement support etc); * Lack of awareness programs for employers and managers; * Lack of capacity to adapt and modify workplaces; and * Lack of alternatives to employment. 6. Information Services: Information is critical to people who are deafblind. Critical issues include: * Information needs are broad and diverse and information is rarely freely available in appropriate formats; * Governments and others do not take responsibility for providing their information in accessible formats increasing the burden for information services; * Need for all Governments to provide for all information inaccessible formats; * Need for all agencies, instrumentalities, utilities, businesses, etc to provide for all information inaccessible formats; and * Need for legal guidelines/standards to support these last two points. 7. Print Disability Services: Access to printed information is a critical issue and it is an under serviced area. Issues are: * Inability for services to provide information in appropriate formats; * Information available to the general public should be available on request in appropriate formats for people who are deafblind; * Need for availability of adaptive technology to provide access to information. * Absence of one to one support to access information; and * Lack of access to qualified interpreters. 8. Respite Services: Respite is a critical need for people who are deafblind and their families. There is a: * Lack of acceptance that respite need not be centred based; * Lack of acceptance that the prime focus of respite is the deafblind person, even though both the person and the family benefit; * Absence of choices, which should include other options, such as: o in-home respite o holiday programs o centre based setting o interstate; * Need for respite to be located within a reasonable distance, even in regional areas. * Need for respite care which is based on individual needs but also coordinated and consistent with other services; * Lack of options with trained workers; and * Respite and shared or substitute care need to be defined in terms of time and needs to be coordinated. The following Recommendations were made by those who attended 1. That a coherent, combined National/States deafblindness policy be prepared and implemented. This should include the following: a. recognition of the isolation of Australians with deafblindness and the associated deprivation (deafblindness is more than just "the sum of the parts) b. An assertion that people with deafblindness have complex needs over and above those of the majority of people with a disability (there is specific legislation in the UK covering this issue) . c. That there is added isolation for those who are deafblind in rural populations and a lack of staff trained in communication methods, . d. There is lack of a cohesive structure in some States and Territories to provide required specialised services . 2. There must be recognition by Australian governments of the grossly inadequate provision of services for people with deafblindness in most States and Territories. This is an imbalance that must be rectified. 3. That an independent advocacy service for people with deafblindness needs to be established as the uniqueness of deafblindness restricts access to generic advocacy. 4. A funded National Training Program needs to be established to provide training courses for staff employed in the deafblindness field at certificate diploma and tertiary levels and should include distance education (the embryo of such a concept already exists). 5. Services in Australia should be funded to provide Australia-wide information and advice on deafblindness. 6. Interpreter/communication services must be included in CSDA categories and an adequate level of funding be provided for this service. 7. A service should be funded in all States to enable people with deafblindness to better participate in community activities. 8. A policy should be established that people with common forms of communication, where desired, be grouped together and staff with appropriate communication skills be employed and funded 9. There should be wide recognition that people with deafblindness need flexible respite and accommodation options that cater for their specific requirements. 10. That issues associated with aging and deafblindness (including acquired vision and hearing loss) be the subject of a major Government review. The million dollar question Are Australians who are deafblind being well-served by their governments? Read on--- The following lists present the critical issues affecting Australians who are deafblind in each of the states and territories as presented by Forum participants Australian Capital Territory * Lack of third party case management services * Lack of information re services, options, etc. * Need for separate/specific advocacy service/focus * Need to ensure services are equally available in ACT as other areas. * Lack of accommodation and peer support programs. * Lack of community integration programs. New South Wales Deafblindness not recognized as a separate and unique disability. * Services are fragmented, non systemic and uncoordinated. * No central point of contact re deafblindness and services. * No coordinated assessment and referral process * No programming with an emphasis on communication * Need for individual and systemic advocacy focus * Residential care sparse, isolating, poorly funded and generally inappropriate. * No suitable individually focussed and specific respite services. * Lack of ongoing training for staff, families and advocates. * Lack of information re deafblindness available to the community. * No interdepartmental approach. Queensland * Need for one on one support services. * Need for separate/specific advocacy service/focus * Lack of resources for ongoing staff training in the sector * Needs to be recognized as a unique disability. * Lack of flexible and appropriate respite and accommodation programs. * Inadequate quality services around therapy and interpreting. * Deafblind population dispersed across the state. South Australia * Lack of clarity of potential consumer numbers, and reluctance to create services because of this. * People isolated in inappropriate services (especially accommodation). * Concern that some consumers may have some disability (i.e. intellectual) needs met, but not all (i.e. deafblindness). * Lack of skilled/trained supported to access community activities. * Lack of employment training/support programs for people who are deafblind and have high training needs, e.g. pre vocational experimentation, full time interpreters, etc. * Lack of long-term post placement support if people placed in employment. * Lack of: o skilled individual advocates o skilled group/systems advocates * Absence of any organized consumer group for advise, etc. Victoria * People isolated in inappropriate services, e.g. aged care homes (especially accommodation) * Inappropriate 'mix' (age, gender, disability) in services (especially accommodation) * Need for services where activities can be organized and supported * Lack of resources to provide accessible information in Victoria and nationally * Lack of adequate resources to appropriately service rural/remote clients * Lack of services/resources specifically for aged Deafblind * Need for separate/specific advocacy service/focus * Inadequate resources for interpreting/communication/Link programs * Lack of resources for ongoing staff training in the sector Western Australia * Need to legislatively identify deafblindness as a specific disability. * Lack of consistency in respite services. * Lack of adequate individual supports based on individual needs. * Lack of adequate staff training across the sector. * Need for separate/specific advocacy service/focus * Need for an holistic approach to individuals Reference: Ward, M. (1994). Report on investigation into the needs of and services for people In Australia who are deaf-blind. Melbourne, VIC: Mary Ward Associates PRESIDENT'S REPORT Hi Everyone It is good to be writing a President's Report again after such a long time since the last issue of Beacon. ADBC has been through a difficult time following Bob's retirement and not very much has been happening.. Thanks to Bob offering some of his retirement time to help out ADBC is up and running well again. Our committee meetings are now being held by e-mail, doing away with the need for Interpreters. This is helping those of us who are Deafblind to have a lot more input into the meetings without the difficulty of having to find the extra pair of hands. ADBC is once again trying to get funding and we are currently seeking help from Deafness Forum and BCA to guide us in what is the best way to go about approaching both Federal and State Governments. Lets all hope and pray that we can get some funding from somewhere to help cover the costs of running ADBC. Our next National Conference is being held in Sydney during July this year. We have some great speakers coming, some from the USA and plenty of Deafblind presenters as well. There will be some marvellous Social Day activities to choose from, so get your registration forms in as soon as possible to make sure you can get your first choice of the activities. Deafblind Awareness Week is from Sunday 23rd June to Saturday 29th June this year and we are hosting the national launch of here in Sydney as a lead up to the National Conference. We are planning some interesting events for the week. What are you planning to do in your State? Please consider this question carefully and see what you can do to improve awareness within your community. Deafblind Awareness Week is celebrated at the same time in many parts of the world and it is up to each one of us to do our best during our special week I have written a report (that appears later in this issue) about the HELEN KELLER WORLD CONFERENCE that was held in New Zealand last October. I was fortunate enough to get some funding from the NSW. Government to attend the conference as the Australian Delegate. Your representative on the World Federation of the DeafBlind International Committee is Mr Sven Topp and we must all do our best to support him in this position. There is still a vacant position on the ADBC Committee for a parent of a congenitally deafblind person (child or adult). If you know of anyone who would be willing to fill this important national-level role, please let your ADBC state representative know, so that we can fill the vacancy. Your state representative's name appears later in this newsletter. I hope to see you all at the conference. Irene McMinn President, ADBC ADBC News Office-bearers for 2002 Irene McMinn has again been elected President of ADBC by the committee. Other office-bearers for 2002 are Michelle Stevens (Vice-President), Sharon Barrey Grassick (Secretary) and John Finch (Treasurer). Contact information for each is presented later in the newsletter New meeting arrangements The ADBC committee is now meeting over the Internet rather than by phone as it has done in the past. For the first time, all committee members now have email accounts, so meeting agendas and comments are circulated by email. This has a number of advantages. There is no longer the expense of interpreters and telephone links and committee members can reply in their own time. Bob Segrave, who retired in July of 2001, is now back as part-time administration officer of ADBC. Bob's mobile phone number is 0427 435 243 and his email address is: segrave@connexus.net.au ADBC Website More than 11,500 visits have been made to the ADBC Web site since it was set up in 1999. The site is at http://internex.net.au/dba. If you have any suggestions about the site, please contact Bob Segrave. ADBC Committee agenda Some of the topics being considered at current Committee meetings are ADBC funding, differences in service, provision between the states, the cost of adaptive technology and aids, the National Forum recommendations and Deafblindness Awareness Week. Email addresses Anyone interested in receiving news about ADBC through email should send a message to Bob Segrave at: bob@segrave.net asking to be put on the list. The committee would like to tell people what it is doing and it would also like people to send in their comments. Parent member There is a vacancy on the committee for a parent of a congenitally deafblind person. Anyone wanting more details should contact Bob Segrave. AGM arrangements The 2002 ADBC Annual General Meeting will be held on the morning of Sunday 14 July in Sydney as part of the National Deafblindness Conference. Notices will go out to financial members of ADBC shortly. Membership details Reminders of membership fees will be sent out shortly. The committee has decided that most fees should stay the same for 2002, although the fees for organisations are being looked at. T-Shirts for Sale Victorian Ushers Club is very pleased to send you a friendly message that we are selling a T-shirt with a special design printed on it of Deafblind communication which is called tactile sign. It will be a navy blue T-shirt with white printing on the back. The small logo on the front (left side chest) is DEAFBLIND COMMUNITY. They cost $20 each and the postage is free! The size is small, medium, large and extra large. If anyone is interested to order or for more information, please do not hesitate to contact Heather Lawson on TTY (03) 9898 7077 email: lawsohe@rvib2.rvib.org.au or Richard Howell TTY (03) 9870 5733, Fax 9870 4170. E-mail: rmhowell@ozemail.com.au Thank you for your interest and supporting us to improve awareness to give people a better understanding of what we use for good communication. Kind regards, Victorian Ushers Club Committee State Reports NSW Janne Bidenko It is great to be able to contribute to Beacon once again. Many thanks Bob and welcome back to ADBC and to Mike for getting Beacon started again. NSW is currently working on organising the 6th National DeafBlind Conference for July this year and the launch of DeafBlind Awareness Week at the end of June. As it is NSW's turn to launch Awareness Week, we want to make this a big lead up to the Conference, two to three weeks later. We would welcome any suggestions to help make this a great success. NSW members are looking forward to meeting with Beacon readers from all over Australia, and hope that many will be able to come to the conference. The program is looking very interesting and it should be an exciting time. We believe that the venue is excellent, as the Francis Lloyd Function Centre at Lidcombe is the whole of the first floor, with both lift and stair access, which means we will not be interrupted by other people and all rooms, amenities and dining area are close and easily accessible. We are also anxiously awaiting news of the success or otherwise of our Advocacy submission to the NSW Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care and also have a submission into the Paul Newman Foundation for funding for software to set up "The Link" here in NSW. There are a few interesting things starting to happen in NSW, that we will hopefully be able to tell you more about them in the future. Western Australia Sharon Barrey Grassick SENSES Foundation Officially launched in December 2001, the merger of WA Deafblind Association and Royal WA Institute for Blind has created a new organisation, SENSES Foundation, to focus on services for people who are blind, deafblind or multisensory impaired. A Department of Deafblind Specialist Services (DBSS) will continue to focus on the unique needs of people with deafblindness. Sharon Barrey Grassick is the Senior Officer of DBSS. All contact details are the same as previously for WA Deafblind Association. The department's email address is: Sharon's direct email address is: DBSS STAFF Three new staff have recently joined DBSS. Robin Hamilton is the new Communication Officer and will be working closely with Sharon to assist people in developing effective communication programs. Robin has a background in Speech Therapy and has many years of experience working with people with a range of disabilities and conditions. She brings a wealth of expertise to DBSS. Danielle (Danni) Ralph is the new Support Officer, taking over from Jenny Reid who is now teaching full-time in Bunbury as a Visiting Teacher in Deaf Education. Ruth Nangle has taken over from Shirley Zaknich, who is now working in Human Resources with SENSES Foundation. We thank Jenny and Shirley for their wonderful work with us, and wish them all the best in their future endeavours! Our part-time/casual Recreation and Respite support staff include the following: Steve Smith, Sheila Lapping, Emma Cipriani, Angela Chamberlain, Donna Stevens, Camila Rasiden, Lisa Whyte, Christie Fillipich, Brian Atkins, Stephanie Clift and Sonia Pertersen. INDIVIDUAL COMMUNICATION GUIDES Individual Communication Guides are professionally produced videos demonstrating the personalised communication system of a particular child. Developed to promote consistency of approach and interactions with the child, these videos are child-centred and family-focused. The filming is done within the natural setting of the home and is then edited to capture all of the key touch cues, object-symbols and other signals that are used to communicate with the child, as well as interpreting the child's behaviour and movements as communication efforts. All people in direct contact with the child receive a copy of the video, ideally BEFORE having any direct contact, to familiarise themselves with the child's communication system and also to build confidence in communicating and interacting. This confidence in turn makes initial interactions more comfortable which helps to establish a trusting relationship with the child. This bonding and trust is crucial to effective communication. Feedback from these Individual Communication Guides has been extremely positive and we are now producing a more generic training video, which will be a compilation of various clips from actual communication guides. This new training video, "We have contact!" is intended to give a foundation of information and strategies to help others develop their own Individual Communication Guides. VIDEOS Another new training video and cd-rom, 'Deafblind Communication Methods' is due to be released soon. This training resource demonstrates various communication methods used by people who are deafblind and will focus on tactile fingerspelling and short-cut signs. Our first 2 training videos, ASSUME NOTHING, and "Where do I begin?" have received national and international acclaim, with copies now on every continent, except for Antarctica (and we plan to send a copy there as soon as we locate an agency somewhere! : ) PAUL NEWMAN FOUNDATION GRANT Radio 94.5 in Perth recently announced that DBSS has been successful in receiving a $3000 grant from the Paul Newman Foundation which will go toward the production of more Individual Communication Guides. So, support Paul Newman products and have some pasta and salad tonight, with Paul Newman sauce and salad dressing! (It's actually VERY good!) RESPITE FUNDING SENSES Foundation has been successful in receiving a recurrent $28,000 grant from Disability Services Commission to provide a much needed Specialist Family Respite Service to a number of families with children who are deafblind. Respite carers are carefully selected and trained in the child's personalised communication system. Individual Communication Guides have been instrumental and invaluable in this process. RECREATION FUNDING DBSS has again received funding through the Gordon Reid Foundation of Lotteries Commission to provide a Specialist Recreation Program to enable people who are deafblind to access recreational activities of their choice in the community. TERESA WAY AWARD The innaugural Teresa Way Award will be the major celebration during this year's Deafblind Awareness Week. The next training video, "We have contact!" will be dedicated to Teresa, and will be launched during the week, prior to the announcement of the winner of the Teresa Way Award. For those new to Beacon, Teresa was the Clerical Officer for WA Deafblind Association for many years, a position she loved. Teresa's sunny disposition, generosity and positive attitude to life affected everyone who knew her. She passed away in 2000 and is greatly missed by us all. The Teresa Way Award will honour her memory, and will go to someone who has made a contribution to the deafblind community. ASSOCIATION SCHOLARSHIP AWARD Sharon has won the Perth Convention Bureau's Association Scholarship Award, which is a significant monetary award which will enable her to attend the13th Deafblind International World Conference to be held in Canada in 2003. As Sharon has been invited to be a member of the Scientific (program) Committee for this Conference, the award will also enable her to attend the pre-conference meetings to be held in Canada later this year. An aspect of this award is to encourage and assist in a bid for a future World Conference to be held in Western Australia. WFDB REPORT UNDER THE LONG WHITE CLOUD by Irene McMinn As well as being deafblind I also have Cerebral Palsy and I am president of the DeafBlind Association of NSW and the Australian DeafBlind Council. Four years ago I was invited to join the steering committee for the World Federation of the DeafBlind (WFDB). In October 2001, the WFDB held its first general assembly in association with the international Helen Keller Conference in Auckland, New Zealand. I very much wanted to attend and was able to obtain a government sponsorship to help cover the expenses of myself and a carer. It was the first time I had ever contemplated the possibility of going overseas. So it was necessary for me to obtain a passport. It was all very exciting. Finally Saturday sixth of October arrived and the real excitement started. From the time the nurses got me up and until the wheelchair taxi arrived I had difficulty realising the journey was actually happening. Once Nick arrived, however, it was really happening and the excitement increased until we arrived at the airport and met up the other people who were travelling with us. Everything was a new experience for me although I had flown a few times within Australia. We visited duty free on the way to the plane and had to have our passports processed. There were 21 of us, eight deafblind people with our Guide Interpreters. I took my Olympic Torch with me to share with all the deafblind people who were attending. This caused some excitement on the plane as some of the staff had not had a close look at one before. When we arrived in Auckland a whole new experience awaited me going through Customs and changing our money. We were met by members of the Lions club who did a wonderful job of getting all the overseas delegates to their hotels. There were about 400 people there from many different countries and about 250 were deafblind to some degree. I think one of the most exciting times for me was on the Saturday night when Jerry took me down to dinner and we met and talked to many people from different countries. We used a variety of modes of communication including Auslan, Tactile Finger Spelling and Tadoma, my favorite because it does not make my hands so tired and painful.I think I could have stayed there all night only Jerry like all good carers reminded me of the time and the problems I would have the next day if I did not get enough sleep. The conference itself was so wonderful. Most of the speakers and workshop coordinators were deafblind and we discussed many areas of interest to people who have deafblindness. WFGB held its first general assembly and is now an established organization with the responsibility to care for deafblind people all over the world and to force governments to recognize the needs of people who are deafblind. The other wonderful experience for me was on the Wednesday night at the conference dinner when I had the opportunity to share my experience of the Olympic Torch Relay. That had turned out to be a bit of a disaster for me because SOCOG did not tell people that I was deafblind or let my interpreter walk with me. Most people who are deafblind never get the opportunity to experience anything like carrying an Olympic Torch and there was great excitement and interest in feeling it and many people took photos. I had many other wonderful experiences during the week and would love to share them with you at some future time. The has wetted my apetite to attend other conferences but whether or not I have the opportunity to do so depends on many things. But I will remain positive and believe that God and people are very willing to help those who help themselves. One problem we have in NSW. is in getting our government to recognize deafblindness as a unique disability. DeafBlind Association NSW has been trying for 10 years to set up services for our members, but we can not get any funding. The Hon Faye-Lo-Po just does not want to know what life is like for us. Many people who are deafblind do not have even the most basic communication skills and are just ignored or classed as unable to learn, which is not true. Although the conference was very good for people who are deafblind the facilities were not very good for people with physical disabilities. The venue was not really wheelchair friendly and I came home with both my catheter and colostomy infected. I wonder if people will ever realize that there are many of us who have more than one disability and we need to be able to still live our lives to the best of our ability. IMPORTANT PEOPLE He's ba-ack Back from a huge transcontinental motorhome trip and so-called retirement, and welcomed with open arms, even with tears of joy is ADBC's own highly esteemed Executive Officer, Bob Segrave. Bob's relatively short absence was felt by all to have created a void in ADBC organisational activities that almost propelled it into retirement. Welcome back Bob. For some months you held a high position among Australia's most wanted. Response from Bob: Thanks Mike, and it is good to be back even if it wasn't quite what I expected in my retirement. Fortunately modern technology means I can still travel around the countryside while looking after ADBC's administration using my mobile phone and modem. I look forward to catching up with everyone at the Sydney conference - and showing off my new home. She's arrived Sandy Joint one of the mainstays of Deafblind services in Queensland, and her husband have a brand new baby daughter, Ainsley Rubyrose. We send that happy family our love and congratulations. In for repairs NSW wonderwoman and deafblindness policy dynamo Trish James is back in hospital for another series of adjustments. Trish has for many years brought enormous energy, knowledge and experience as well as a sparkling personality to ADBC's on-going struggle for better quality service provision to Australians who are deafblind and we all miss her strong hand at the wheel. At the time of publication Trish is at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Misssenden Rd, Camperdown, NSW 2020 Tel 02 9515 6111 Cards, flowers, anything made of gold or silver would be well received. Get well soon Trish. COMING EVENTS Renwick College Implementing Curriculum for Students with Sensory & Multiple Disabilities July 16 - 19 4-day Seminar June Downing - Associate Professor - Department of Special Education, California State University, Northridge In this four-day seminar, June Downing will outline important aspects of the transdisciplinary approach to implementing curriculum for students with multiple disabilities. Content will include prerequisites to teaching, for example, positioning and handling; materials adaptations to account for sensory and physical disabilities; curricular needs; the meaning of "functional"; determining individual strengths and needs; access to literacy for children who are deafblind; and person-centred approaches to assessment and instructional strategies. Fee $400 Communication Strategies for Students with Sensory & Multiple Disabilities September 30 - October 2 3-day Seminar Therese Rafalowski-Welch, M.Ed., University of Rochester. A national consultant in education of children with multiple disabilities and deafblindness. The course will help participants define communication in comprehensive terms and understand its basic and essential components. You will identify barriers to communication and which service providers inadvertently construct; recognise and respond to prelinguistic and unconventional communication. You will understand the sequence of earliest communication skills development and match levels to communication options. You will recognise behaviour--especially negative behaviours--as communication and the ways to provide students with other communicative options. You will develop strategies for increasing the communicative content of daily activities; You will adopt an ecological approach to communication assessment. You will view the student, the communication partner, and the environment; become familiar with formal and informal communication assessment tools--assessing the student, the communication partner, and the communication environment; support development of emergent literacy skills. Fee $300 Please rsvp to Colleen Smith or Christine Grimmer on tel/tty (02) 9872 0207/0302 fax (02) 9873 1614 email: colleen.smith@ridbc.org.au 6th National DeafBlind Conference "Touching the World" Francis Lloyd Function Centre Lidcombe Catholic Workmen's Club 24 John Street, Lidcombe Friday 12 to Monday 15 July 2002 For more information and registration form contact DeafBlind Association (NSW) Inc. PO Box 1295, STRATHFIELD NSW 2135 Fax (02) 9745 6714 or 9642 7734 Email DBConference@gpo.com.au or visit our website at www.dbansw.au.com ADBC Contacts Western Australia Sharon Barrey Grassick wadba@nw.com.au (ADBC Secretary) Sven Topp stopp@echidna.stu.cowan.edu.au Queensland Brendan Borellini PO Box 165, St Lucia, Qld 4069 brendenborellini@powerup.com.au NSW Ms Irene McMinn 5 Kitchener Road, Cherrybrook, NSW 2126 (ADBC President) irenemc@acay.com.au Mike Steer rcms@cc.newcastle.edu.au (Beacon Editor) Victoria John Finch j.finch@dba.asn.au (ADBC Treasurer) Michelle Stevens (ADBC Vice President) msteven5@bigpond.net.au ADBC Executive Officer Bob Segrave segrave@connexus.net.au Tel 0427 435 243 About Beacon Beacon is edited by Mike Steer (RIDBC, NSW) and published by the Australian DeafBlind Council, PO Box 267, Clifton Hill Vic. 3068. Tel. (03) 9482 1155 (voice), (03) 9489 3091 (TTY), (03) 9486 2092 (fax). Email: segrave@connexus.net.au Web: http://internex.net.au/~dba CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS Reports, original manuscripts and news items are sought for the next and subsequent issues of ADBC Beacon. The newsletter presents articles and reports on: A wide variety of issues and topics related to children, youth and adults in Australia and overseas who are deafblind It is intended that the newsletter will be a vehicle for informing interested persons, including Australians who are deafblind, researchers, educational administrators, Commonwealth and State personnel and service providers, as well as others in our communities about issues affecting people who are deafblind in Australia and overseas. Authors can submit reports or articles by email, in print or on disk for review at any time Submissions should be sent to:Mike Steer Renwick College Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children Private Bag 29 Parramatta NSW 2124 email: rcms@cc.newcastle.edu.au Fax: 02 9873 1614