Wednesday 5 November 2008
Our guest speaker was Nick Gleeson the Community Development Officer at Vision Australia, Enfield. Nick was introduced by David Croft.
Nick became permanently blind at age seven following an accident with an automatic door at a supermarket. Despite this Nick has taken part in many adventurous activities around the world and is known at Vision Australia as “our global adventurer”
Nick advised us that four years ago the Royal Blind Society merged with a number of other organisations to become Vision Australia. Administration costs were greatly reduced following the merger. It has been possible to improve the quality of services and to still deliver them at a local level.
Where a young child is involved, Vision Australia works closely with the child’s family. It is important that they know where to turn for assistance. It is also important for them to realise that these young people will grow up to be outstanding people and to realise their dreams.
At Enfield people requiring assistance are taught computing. If a person has low vision large lettering can be used. If a person is blind, software is available enabling the operator to listen to the information on the screen.
Brail is still in use. This enables children to “read” a book for themselves and develop literacy skills.
Talking books are still used though new technology called “Daisy Discs” is now employed. These facilitate precise location of passages of text and are very useful for students.
A “Low Vision Clinic” is often the first point of contact for people requiring assistance with Vision Australia. They discover that the Vision Australia staff, equipment and counselling services can make their life a great deal better.
The philosophy of Vision Australia is to take away the barriers that prevent people with low vision or no vision from doing things that they want to do and to establish partnerships to facilitate these endeavours.
Nick told us of his involvement with cricket which he played for eighteen seasons. A bell is placed in the ball and a low vision person acts as a runner when batting.
Nick also told us of his day of driving at Eastern Creek where he reached the magic ton and left his passenger a little shaken.
Nick has also climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and spoke of his vivid recollections from that great adventure. This included the view from the summit of a glacier and the plains of Africa far below as described by his sighted fellow climber.
In conclusion Nick reminded us that Vision Australia is reliant on community support from organisations such as Rotary to meet its financial needs. Nick was thanked by Roger Vince.
