Newsletter July 2007 Edited on 19 August 2007

New advocate for Ararat office

The GdAA committee of management is pleased to announce the appointment of another advocate for the Ararat office.

Judi Smith will join co-ordinator Debbie Verdon in providing advocacy services in Ararat Rural City, Northern Grampians Shire and the Pyrenees Shire as of 2 August 2007.

Judi hails from the Seymour area and has been a secondary school teacher since 1974. Since becoming vision impaired 10 years ago she has developed a keen interest in disability issues from a human rights perspective, performing the role of equal opportunity co-ordinator at several schools.

Judi will be working on Thursdays at the Ararat office. Judi can be contacted on 5352 2722.

Communication Rights Australia (CAUS) has a new service

Communication Support Workers service (CSW) is now fully operational with five trained staff waiting to be utilised by people who experience communication or speech difficulties. People can use this service for meetings, doctor or legal appointments or at schools / TAFE. The model is similar to that of deaf interpreters with clearly defined roles for CSWs. Payment for the service is covered by the organisation booking the service not the individual who requires the person to relay a message.

Phone 9557 5551 for more information.

TELSTRA - directory assistance

Telstra is changing their directory assistance number from 12456 to 1234, only this time there are costs involved. It will cost you 40c to call the number, then 4c per second after that.

By law, Telstra has to provide a free directory assistance number, because they are still majority owned by the government. It is not always passed onto the public.

The number to call is 1223. Please pass this on to your family, friends, and business acquaintances - in fact tell everyone!

VicRoads - signal failures

To report audible signal failures, phone VicRoads on 13 11 70 with the location of the intersection or pedestrian lights and which particular signal is not working.

It is not always easy to find out how to do this. Apparently this information is written on the metal box at all intersections, VicRoads assumes you can read it and get to it.

Using a mobile in an emergency

I've heard that I can dial 112 in emergency situations from my mobile phone. What sort of a number is it and how does it work?

112 is the GSM international standard emergency number, manufactured specifically for GSM mobile phones, and to be dialled in an urgent life-threatening situations. Provided there is GSM coverage, 112 can be dialled anywhere in the world and automatically translated to that country's particular emergency number.

While 000 should be dialled in the first instance, 112 may be a helpful secondary resource if you are out of your network operator's coverage area but within the coverage area of another network.

112 is not accessible from a fixed-line network (i.e. from your home phone).

Do Not Call Register

The Do Not Call Register has been set up in response to increasing community concern about the growth in unsolicited telemarketing calls.

You can list your fixed line or mobile number to the Do Not Call Register, provided that the numbers are used for private or domestic purposes.

Registering your telephone on the Do Not Call Register will not stop all telemarketing calls to your number. There are some exemptions which enable certain public interest organisations to make telemarketing calls. These include charities, religious organisations and registered political parties. You can also still receive calls from market researchers.

It may take up to 30 days for telemarketing agencies to stop calling your number.

There are three ways to register. It's free, quick and easy.

On line at DoNotCall.gov.au (external link)

Phone - 1300 792 958

Post - download a postal application (external link) and send it to:

Do Not Call Register
PO Box 42
North Melbourne
VIC 3051

No Limits!

No Limits is a community television show that looks at living life to the fullest with a disability. It has been on air on C31 in Melbourne since June 2003 and is now also broadcast in Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane. For people outside these broadcast areas, a catalogue of past and current episodes are for sale in the online store - everyone can have access to the series, with more than 60 episodes to choose from.

The show is a panel chat show and includes location stories from around Australia. It is presented by people with disabilities for the enjoyment of anyone who wants to know more about disability. Many people with disabilities are involved in the production of No Limits and more are being trained all the time.

Visit the No Limits website (external link)

Online classroom to help rural blind and /or deaf students.

Blind and deaf children living in regional Australia will now be able to communicate with specialized teachers in online video classrooms.

The "teleschool" was developed by the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC) after widespread reports that children with those disabilities in regional Australia were not getting enough support.

It will be open to high school students as well as young children. Parents and children in rural and remote areas will be able to communicate from their family home directly with expert teachers. The new program combines existing Remote Early Learning Programs for vision impairment and hearing impairment. The Institute hopes to roll out the service to 120 families by the end of the year.

You can find out more about the teleschool by contacting RIDBC on 1300 131 923 or visit the RIDBC website (external link).

Disability Act 2006

The Disability Act 2006 came in force in Victoria on 1 July, 2007. Under the Act a new Victorian Disability Advisory Council has been formed. Another part of the Act is about Disability Action Plans.

Victorian Disability Advisory Council

The Council provides advice to the Minister for Community Services on issues that affect people with a disability across all government services.

The Council is a way for people with a disability to have a say in decision making on whole-of-government policy issues. Most Council members must be people with a disability and they must come from a range of different backgrounds. Rhonda Galbally has been appointed Chair of the Victorian Disability Advisory Council.

Disability Action Plans

A Disability Action plan is a plan to:

• Reduce barriers for people with a disability as community members
• Make it easier for people with a disability to use services available to all Victorians.

The Act says that all public services - government departments, statutory authorities and statutory corporations - must have a Disability Action Plan. Statutory authorities and statutory corporations will be identified before the act commences.

Public services must report on their Disability Action Plan every year, to make sure the plans are put into practice.