Deafblind Victoria in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | Community

Deafblind Victoria

Locality: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Phone: +61 3 9639 6856

Address: Ross House Association, Level 3, 247 Flinder Lane, 3000 Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Website: https://deafblindvictoria.com/

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25.01.2022 Auslan The Deafblind community and the Deaf community have a shared culture with a few differences. Both communities mingle together as they both share the same language which is Auslan.... We are proud to see that Auslan is being used in the wider community and the awareness of sign language is being spread around the world. Happy Auslan sign language day!

24.01.2022 Deafblind Awareness Week - 3 of 7 DBV are a strong grassroots organisation, we are run by Deafblind people FOR Deaflbind people. Most of you know, DBV and DBA share the same office building which is at Ross House Association and has helped build a strong relationship between the two organisations....Continue reading

24.01.2022 Another inspirational Deafblind woman in Victoria. Some of you may or may not be aware that there are many inspirational people with Deafblindness in the world. What a pleasure to see another inspirational story about a Deafblind woman in Victoria who is one of our DBV members, Maree Heenan. She is well known in the Deafblind community. ... Here is an amazing interview about her sharing her life and her love of swimming at the local Peninsula Aquatic Recreation Centre. Such an amazing story about her passion for sport and her family as well. Click on this link to read the full interview below: https://parcfrankston.com.au//inspiring-women-of-parc-me/

23.01.2022 Do you have difficulty navigating information on websites on your laptop, iPad or computer? For many Deafblind people with Ushers, it can be challenge finding information on a bigger screen compared to your phone. Some Deafblind people’s vision is the same as looking through the world through a straw, so you can imagine how it takes more time to navigating screens. With mobiles it can be a bit easier because the screen is smaller. ... Some great news to share is that there is another alternative if you like the smaller screen mode. So if you open any website like Facebook or the Deafblind Victoria website, you can open these in small view modes - you can just type the name of website but remove www and replace with m for example you would type "https://deafblindvictoria.com and you just remove https or www so you just need to replace with m as m.deafblindvictoria.com. It will appear as a small screen like how you view on your mobile. It would be worthwhile for you to practice on your laptop or computer even with your iPad. You can adjust the screen with the arrow on the left side until you find the size of screen you want. Then it will stay that way. Please remember that it won’t work for all websites but most of it are working. Firefox is more accessible than chrome but we can still use both on main internet search engines as well. Happy practising.

22.01.2022 3rd newsletter Third DBV newsletter - October Our third DBV newsletter is on the DBV website, click on the link... https://deafblindvictoria.com///newsletter-3-october-2020/ The third monthly DBV newsletter is out now! There is another Deafblind tip from Heather Lawson about cartons and how she uses the flaps to work out what drink is inside. And some interesting information from Michelle Stevens about an APP for iPhone users specially for people with no sight called Seeing A.I." Also another interesting personal story about a deafblind man, Robert Toseland from Perth sharing his experience with the radio and others. The last message from our project officer Ntennis, DBV talks about what DBV does for the Deafblind community in regards to self advocacy. If you have any articles, photos, videos or even stories that you would like to share with us, you can email to Trudy Ryall who is the editor for the newsletter we would love to hear from you and gather your information too to share with everyone.Articles are due by tomorrow - Friday, 20th November 2020. [email protected] The newsletter is designed for anyone and is accessible via our website or posted here on Facebook. Enjoy reading and viewing.

21.01.2022 Are you tired of lipreading? This APP might be your new best friend?! Many of us who are Deafblind may have difficulty lip reading in the community or with friends and family.... Of course our Commguide or interpreters cannot be with us 24/7 to interpret for us at any time we need. So this APP could be used to assist with communicating with people. Your text will be appear on your mobile to anyone to read or to listen. And then they can just speak to you while your phone is transplanting into text or words on your screen. You can use this APP at anytime even communicating with anyone or watching any show or zoom meeting if you have difficulty seeing the interpreter. Even you could listen to anyone’s conversation. It is not a free APP but it’s a 5 stars that would be worth fir you to use it and pay fir about $14.99. Click on this link for more information. https://apps.apple.com/au/app/app-myear/id1299527104

21.01.2022 International White Cane Day When: Thursday 15th October, 2020 Known in America as White Cane Safety Day, it has been observed every year since 1964. The date is set aside to celebrate the achievements of people who are blind or visually impaired, and to note the importance of the white cane as a symbol of independence.... Although canes have been used as mobility aids for centuries, it wasn't until after WW1 that the white cane was introduced. Whilst the white cane allows the user to scan their surroundings for obstacles or orientation marks, it also has another advantage of alerting people nearby that the user is blind or visually impaired and so to give them some extra room to pass by. It is also becoming more widely recognised around the world that a cane that has red stripes around the white indicates that the person using it is Deafblind. The red and white striped cane is recognised as a symbol of deafblindness by the World Federation of the Deafblind. For more details see the link https://www.wfdb.eu/deafblind-awareness-red-and-white-canes/ In Australia, it is recognised by the Queensland Blind Association https://qldblind.org.au/living-with-blindness/mobility/. Kind Regards David Murray Executive Officer/ Company Secretary Deafblind Australia Ltd

21.01.2022 Today, after the National Cabinet met, the Prime Minister announced that they have approved a national vaccination policy. NAIDOC week 2020 wraps up this weeken...d. A known member of Victoria’s Deaf community, Ramas McRae, will be running in the Clothing The Gap’s ‘Connect to Country’ virtual marathon on Saturday 21st November. Today Victoria celebrates 2 weeks with no new COVID 19 cases and no new deaths. The Premier has announced that the upcoming state budget will include a $155 million contribution towards an Australian Institute of Infectious Disease. Yesterday morning in South Hobart, a 40-year-old man was found dead at his home in Livingston Street. The Philippines has been hit by typhoon Vamco, which is the third typhoon to hit the region in the past weeks. To read the full English transcript and see our sources, go to: https://bit.ly/3iSyOQU

18.01.2022 Exciting news from Deafblind Victoria Ablelink has been important to the Deafblind community in Victoria for many years. When Able announced they were leaving Ross House, DBV members told us how saddened they were. ... DBV have decided they want to continue having the space at Ross House as many Deafblind people are familiar with the area. We do not have all the details yet, but wanted to share this exciting news with you. DBV will move into the smaller half of the old Ablelink rooms - the old craft room. We will be open to members on Thursdays once we set up and when lockdown rules allow. At the moment, the name we are thinking to call our Thursday drop-in will be, "DBV Connect." But it is not yet confirmed. It will be similar to Ablelink but smaller at the start. DBV Connect is run by DBV not Able Australia. Able fully support this plan and we hope to work with them in the future. Having the service in the hands of the Deafblind community is a big improvement towards independence for us. We want some Deafblind people to work, sharing their skills in braille, tactile Auslan and learning from each other. This is called "peer training." Ntennis will also be available to help support and train members. Able will take all the Ablelink equipment to Northcote, so we will have to start with few items of equipment and build up from there. We want DBV Connect to be a place to: - chat with friends, having lunch or a cuppa together - use accessible computers and other devices - get help with devices, forms and phone calls - learn braille, tactile Auslan, learn about NDIS, technology or your rights as Deafblind person. This is very exciting and stay in touch to find out when we are ready to launch!

16.01.2022 2 x Job opportunities with Deafblind Australia Hi All I am pleased to announce two new job positions with Deafblind Australia. For more details please see attachments for the following positions:... 1x Advocacy Officer - Disability Royal Commission (Part time - National role) 1x Project Manager Seen and Heard Project (Part time - National role) Deafblind people are encouraged to apply. Please circulate through your networks. Kind Regards David Murray Executive Officer/ Company Secretary Deafblind Australia Ltd DBA acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them, to their cultures, and to elders past, present and emerging. signature_1797108394 If interested in applying or information about these two jobs please email DBA.

15.01.2022 Virtual KODA Camp 2020 How wonderful that KODA camp 2020 was going to be in the Gold Coast, however it won't be in person but still great news it will be on Zoom. KODA isn’t only for the Deaf community to access, Deafblind parents are welcome to join too as I’m sure that there are a few Deafblind parents with KODA's. KODA means (Kids of Deaf Adult).... If you are a Deafblind parent or a single mother or Dad or you might know someone who plays a big part of your life as KODA god kids, even it can be your KODA niece, nephew or grandkids or children of Deafblind parents that it would be great opportunity for you to join in on zoom and meet all Deaf or HOH parents. It would be a great opportunity for Deafblind parents to get involved in this amazing event! For more information, you can contact, Hilary Morton on [email protected] below here or click on the website below here as well. Hope to see you on the zoom. DBV team. From Hilary Morton - Hello! It was sad news when we had to cancel the Koda Camp here on the Gold Coast because of Covid-19 but guess what? We are having a Virtual Koda Camp using Zoom! And best of all, it will be FREE! Date: Saturday 26th September 2020 Time: 6.30pm to 10.30 pm Ages: 11 to 17 (younger kids will finish camp early) Register: https://www.trybooking Please help us to share this with all of your friends - the hearing children of deaf parents, aged 11 to 17 from all over Australia, are welcome! Regards, Michelle, Adrian, Liza, Erica, Susan, Gavin e: [email protected] f: Koda Australia

15.01.2022 Screen magnifier Here is another amazing device that iPaola would like to share with DBV as it is worth considering to buy for your vision. Again, you could claim that with NDIS too.

13.01.2022 Deafblind Awareness Week - 1 of 7 Last year there were a big turnout of guests at Ross House Association for the Deafblind Awareness Week. DBV, Deafblind Australia and Able Australia organised this event for the Deafblind community in Victoria. It was a successful event, unfortunately we couldn't do it again this year due to covid-19 lockdown restriction, it had to be online, but we look forward to next year in person. ... This year DBAW was a facebook event, many videos were shown from different Deafblind people sharing about their life, being Deafblind proud and how it has impacted them. These were wonderful videos to see. It was great to get the chance to see some old faces but to meet some new ones too! We are excited about next year to have DBAW as DBV have many ideas to make it a fun event with plenty of entertainment for the Deafblind community. We have attached some memories below, there are a few videos with transcripts attached from the events so you can scroll down the DBV facebook page to have a look as well.

13.01.2022 Auslan Update - 9 September, 2020 Last month, the Federal Government signed an agreement with a UK-based company to secure the potential COVID-19 vaccine develo...ped by Oxford University, if its trials were successful. On Sunday night (US time), TikTok and Facebook streamed live clips of a man in America committing suicide. Overnight Victoria has reported 76 new cases of COVID 19. Since early this year scientists have been conducting wastewater testing at 25 sites across Victoria. Information released from Federal Parliament has shown during March to August 2020, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission received more than 30 complaints linked to COVID-19. In the USA, fires continue to blaze across the state of California. To read the full English transcript and see our sources, go to: https://bit.ly/2Z2BQKD

13.01.2022 Want to support Able Australia? This is for anyone who is Deafblind that might be interested to support Able Australia by being in a committee that meets every three months for the client Advisory Committee. It would be a great opportunity to share your experience in improving the services at Able Australia as a client in a few area such as commguides, accommodations, case management and other services you access with Able Australia. The meetings will be run by Kate McRae. ...For more information, contact Chandi Pielke on [email protected] or check with your commguide as well. The details are below here. Client Advisory Committee information session Hi everyone, Able is starting a Client Advisory Committee. What does the Client Advisory committee do? The committee makes suggestions to the Able Australia Board to increase client, carer and community participation in strategy, operations, planning and policy development at Able Australia The committee meets every 3 months. Given the current restrictions, we will be holding this information session as a webinar, hosted by Kate MacRae. If you are interested in joining this session, let Bec know and she will assist to set up supports for you. The session will be live close captioned. The event will take place on Thursday 24 September, 2020 from 4-5pm. The number of places available on the Client Advisory Committee will be limited to 8, so those interested in being part of this will need to complete a nomination form. You can register here: https://ableaustralia.zoom.us//r/WN_EEFXXY4oTa6GnxTP7pAXnw After registering, they will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. For those who cannot attend the information session but would like to receive more information about this opportunity please email [email protected] Thanks, Chandi.

12.01.2022 Deafblind Awareness Week - 2 of 7 As you know Deafblind Victoria has worked closely with Deafblind Australia and Able Australia and some other Deafblind-friendly organisations. We value these partnerships and team work. Here is a video of David Murray from DBA talking with transcript about DBAW and how wonderful it is seeing everyone at the event.... Transcript: David Murray (white hair, glasses, black shirt) standing behind podium with black backdrop with interpreter, Glenda Judd (black clothing, hair pulled back) standing to the left of the screen interpreting into Auslan. David says, "Lovely to see everyone here today. We have 35 Deafblind people here, in the front row there is some tactle, 7 tactile users and some other Deafblind people who use window frame and we have a general platform interpreter on my right. We also have students from Melbourne Polytechnic, so welcome to you all, we also have staff from Expression Australia, members from SARU and also members from Womens Disabilty Victoria Information Access and for the others I haven’t mentioned, welcome to you all today. I just want to let you know that this is the official Deafblind Awareness Week that is being televised on zoom which means this is officially national. So there are people on Zoom watching us today, so this is a very special event that we are holding today. Firstly, I would like to run through some house keeping rules around the emergency exits, incase of an emergency, walk casually out the door on my left and go down to the end of the corridor and on the left there is an emergnecy exit down the end and I think there is an emergency exit on the other end of the corridor. Toilets, if you need to go to the toilet, first door out here turn left striaght down the end of the corridor then turn left then you will find womens toilet first door on the right and if you see the next door is the mens. The other thing we have to keep in mind, we have limited number of interpreters, so really an apology to the interpreters for the amount of work to get through today, there are 11 interpreters with backup from the comm guides so we will be taking regualr breaks about 10 minutes throught the day or afternoon. Summary on the schedule today, will have a guest speaker will be coming up and there will be some information on DBAW, panel sessions faciliated by Rikki Chaplin who is our president for Deafblind Australia and for the rest of the day we will have some activities to choose from, you can learn about Deafblind communication or you can explore some Able art or you can just stay around and mingle amongst yourselves in this room." Finished. Click for the video of David with interpreter below here. https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php

11.01.2022 R U OK Zoom Last Wednesday, Able Australia had its first zoom for R U OK? with Deafblind clients and an Auslan Interpeter. This was a positive outcome for the first time as some Deafblind clients used their Communication Guide to assist with communication between Auslan and HOH users. I thought it was fantastic because we got the opportunity to meet some Deafblind clients who I haven’t seen since last xmas and that there were a couple of new commguides I hadn’t met so it wa...s nice to meet them and also met one of the new Support Coordinator, Ruby. Of course it was wonderful to see some familiar faces who had been working for Able Australia for many years such as Carla Anderson and Meredith Prain. Good to know that Carla hasn't retired yet and is still with Able. It was also beautiful seeing Marie's daughter. Of course it's not like seeing everyone face to face but its better than nothing while we wait for lockdown to end. This was a wonderful first time doing something like this and was great to socialise and connect with each other again. A great and unique Deafblind community, hey! The only thing I would think that would benefit another session like this is if we had someone captioning as it was hard to workout who was talking to who. But overall a great experience. I did learn one interesting thing about zoom that I didn't know about, which is called a "breakout room." A text box kept popping up on my screen asking me to join another room, I kept clicking "cancel" as I didn't know what it was for. But then Carla told me that someone was requesting a brief chat to me that is a private session. It was lovely as I got to catch up with Gina who I haven’t seen in over a year! She is still so sweet, it was lovely to see her. Then there was another text box that said "10 seconds left before we return back to the main session." I thought it was a great way to catch up with someone in a seperate zoom so its not confusing with everyone and no interuptions. By the way, I would love to attend the next one if Able Australia is planning to do that again as it is a great way to catch up with people or to connect with people who you hadn’t seen or hadn’t met new commguides or staff. Thanks to Bec for organising this zoom with Deafblind clients and staffs. Especially a huge thanks to Auslan interpreters and commguides for bridging the gap of communication.

11.01.2022 Deafblind Awareness Week - Part 4 of 7 Many of you are aware that there are self advocacy organisations for the Deafblind community in Victoria like DBV (Deafblind Victoria). However, some people get confused asking, "what is the difference between DBV and DBA?" This is why we invited DBA, Able Australia and DBV to talk about each of the organisations to learn the difference. This helped the audience to understand and the community to see familiar faces of people who work in ...Continue reading

11.01.2022 Protesting outside South Australian abortion clinics has been outlawed after new laws passed in State Parliament late last night. Today is Victoria’s 13th strai...ght day of no new COVID-19 cases and no new deaths. The list of possible exposure sites has been updated. Grace Tame, this year’s Australian of the Year, is using her platform to talk about sexual assault and grooming. Today all of Hong Kong's remaining pro-democracy opposition politicians will resign. To read the full English transcript and see our sources, go to: https://bit.ly/3iSyOQU

11.01.2022 How to learn more about Deafblind Victoria? Deafblind Victoria is a unique and independent self-advocacy group run by Deafblind committee members in Victoria, Australia. We want Deafblind people to learn about their rights and about speaking up in their community.... Being Deafblind means a person can have a variety of different types of vision conditions and they can be either severly or profoundly Deaf. There are a few places you can check us out on, either on the Deafblind Victoria website or the DBV Facebook page. These are set up for the general community, but especially for Deafblind people who are interested to follow us on our journey. This is a way to check out what DBV have been doing, what we have accomplished and achieved and to see what we are advocating for to make a difference in the Deafblind community. On the Facebook page and website, you will find information and resources that will help you understand more about Deafblind culture and learn how to communicate with Deafblind people. You will also learn about how important it is for interpreters, commguides, staff, families and friends to learn how to work and get along with Deafblind people. Our aim is to create inclusion for Deafblind people to become a participant in the wider community by educating services and community members including, Police, tafe, Melbourne City Council and Travellers Aid through Deafblind World workshops. To find out more information like our membership, resources (information kits, Communication Books,) or our Deafblind World workshops please contact us via email or click on website: [email protected] www. deafblindvictoria.com

10.01.2022 Deafblind Awareness Week - 5 of 7 Meredith Prain has been working for many years at Able Australia and still works for many other Deafblind-friendly organisations too. Meredith talked and explained about the role of Able Australia and how they assist people who are Deafblind. ... And she also did a brief speech about the Centre of Excellence and explains the purpose and the goals for it. Here is the video of Meredith Prain from Able Australia for you to click on below here and also a transcript here too. https://www.facebook.com/dbv2018/posts/554844602008315 Transcript: Meredith Prain standing behind podium with long hair out and red dress. Dennis, Auslan interpreter appears a bit later. Meredith speech start "Able Australia started out as the Deafblind Association back in 1967, it was setup by a group of parents that had children that were born with deafblindness as a result of the rubella epidemic at that time and the parents were concerned about what would happen with their children. So it started as a residential service for those children as they became adults. In the late 80's the community services program was developed and that's where more people with other forms of deafblindness that weren't born Deafblind, so people with usher syndrome or other acquired deafblindness could start to get some services, so the community services program changed their name to Deafblind services which is probably what you know it as. The current services that people with deafblindess can receive from Able Australia are support coordination, communication guide support, creative arts therapy, technology training and braille training. There is a new part that is starting that Carla Anderson and I are starting on which is called the Centre of Excellence for deafblindness. That will not be a service, it will work together with Deafblind organisations like DBA and also with Senses Australia and different universities and the focus will be on doing research on deafblindness to find the best practise, the best way to provide services and supports to people with deafblindness and also training to service providers because alot of service providers don't have the skills to work with people with deafblindness. This still needs to be developed and you will receive an announcement about it hopefully later his year." Gary Daly comes to take the microphone off Meredith. Finished.

10.01.2022 Second DBV newsletter - September Our second DBV newsletter is on the DBV website, click on the link. https://deafblindvictoria.com//newsletter-edition-2-sep-2/... The second monthly DBV newsletter is out now! It has a new segment, Tech Talk by Michelle, and another Deafblind tip from Heather with a clever idea for knowing what colour your jeans are. There is also an exciting update about DBV and other news for the Deafblind community in Australia. Click on this - https://deafblindvictoria.com//newsletter-edition-2-sep-2/ If you have any articles, photos, videos or even stories that you would like to share with us, you can email to Trudy Ryall who is the editor for the newsletter we would love to hear from you and gather your information too to share with everyone. The newsletter is designed for anyone and is accessible via our website or posted here on Facebook. Enjoy reading and viewing.

09.01.2022 Chair Yoga by Natalie Sandon-Stanhope. Many of you know Natalie who is an Auslan yoga teacher and has also supported Deafblind Victoria in the past. Last Satur...day, she provided a chair yoga session which was a 1 hour session on Zoom. I saw this and was keen to give it a try as we all have passions for different things whether it is for mental health, physical health or playing sports. I know Natalie is Deafblind-friendly and that she wants to make her information and classes accessible to everyone. I am so glad I joined in her session which was Auslan chair yoga, it gave me insight with exercises we could all do at home. The room set up was well planned with a dark backdrop and she wore dark clothing. I encourage you especially Deafblind people to try to take a session and support Natalie on her Facebook page Auslan Yoga it is a great opportunity for you to try something different and you could work with your commguide as I had my commguide with me by using FaceTime so i would see both screens on zoom and FaceTime. There are many things a Commguide can support you with. With this session, my Commguide would communicate with me if she could see I did something different to the others (ha ha), or would relay information if I missed something. Please join Natalie’s Auslan Yoga on Facebook for more information. You will learn information about exercises but also mindfulness too! And will also give you a chance to meet other people from the Deaf community on zoom or in person of course once when the lockdown ends.

09.01.2022 R U OK? Yesterday was the national day of the R U OK short for are you okay? This is a reminder for communites to check in with one another and to ask each other, "R U OK?" ... As we all know that there are people who are struggling with life’s ups and downs. It is important to take care of our mental health and well-being but also to check in with other people and make sure they are doing okay too. Remember it is normal to have occasional days when you are feeling sad or flat, reach out to other people when you are feeling this way and share your thoughts with people you trust. Every movement you do or say no matter how small or simple can make a big difference. It would be simple and positive that we let anyone know that we care enough to know if they are okay or not. It can be your friend, your family, your neighbour, your workmate, your student/lecture, really whoever is in your thoughts. It doesn’t have to be difficult to ask, just simple ask if you are ok? if they ask why you ask, you could just say, I would just like to know if you are ok. it is best to not say, because you looked sad or because you were quiet, avoid saying something negative about themselves, just express something positive about yourself towards them. Many people say it feels nice when someone asks you if you are ok? Sharing your thoughts about someone is a caring etc. Sharing is caring too. That is why we are living in a wider community so let’s be a community and share as well. On the 16th Septmeber, Able Australia are doing a R U OK zoom gathering. This will be a lovely way to checkin with other Deafblind people to see how each other are doing. I hope that you know that DBV are here for you if you need support or encouragement during this difficult time, we would love to hear from you. There are many ways for you to connect with the DBV team; such as emailing to one of the DBV team members or ask if they can FaceTime you even if you might like to organise your commguide to interpret for you during the FaceTime as chatting can be positive way to start with. You might just need to have a social chat with someone. And also again we will keep posting things in the Facebook for you to follow up and also keep watching Auslan videos sent from SARU on Facebook as well.

09.01.2022 A message from Victoria - an artist therapist. Hello, Hope you are well and keeping safe. ... It has been a tricky year because of COVID-19 Restrictions. This year, because of COVID Able Art exhibition will be different. We can’t visit federation square and be together in person. So Able Australia decided to do something special. Able Art exhibition online. We want to know if you want to make some art work at home and then submit for the online exhibition. If you say yes, Able Australia can send you art supplies to your home. You can make your art work at home. Victoria, the art therapist, can set up zoom session with you and support you with art if you want. It would be good if you and your support can take videos and photos while you are doing your art so Able Australia can make booklet and create video for Art exhibition. Please let Victoria know by Friday 23rd October if you want to make Art for Art exhibition. [email protected]

08.01.2022 House cleaning & gardening with NDIS For any of you who might need a house cleaner or gardener at your place, you can actually claim this through your NDIS. Just make sure you let your LAC or case manager know to include this in your plan before the review is due or you could let them know and explain why you need this type of support due to your vision condition or other reason that means you might struggle to do it yourself.... Here are some tips below to be aware of before you book a cleaner or gardener. House Cleaning/gardener Cleaner must have ABN (Australian business number) Explain to cleaner/gardener to invoice Moira (if you are with Moira) or explain how else you get the funds to pay as self managed If you pay cash, cleaner/gardener must give you a receipt Ask cleaner about oven cleaning if included When they come ask if their insurance covers their job for example cleaning windows if they hurt themselves will their insurace cover the cost. Hope this helps. Any question, you can ask your LAC or case manager or CommGuides.

07.01.2022 Video from Heather Lawson about bananas. In our first DBV newsletter, there was a story Heather shared about bananas. Here is a link for you to click - https://youtu.be/5CD0jHKliVE. The transcript is in the comment for you to read. The video is also on the DBV website on the front page: www.deafblindvictoria.com

06.01.2022 DBV newsletter is coming soon Anyone who would like to put an article in the next September 2020 DeafBlind Victoria newsletter? Please send the article by Friday 18th September 2020.... The article could be about Deafblind advocacy or tips you use to overcome barriers of deafblindness or cooking, etc. Please share with your friends and networks about the articles to share. Email to - [email protected]

05.01.2022 Deafblind Information Australia Last year, two commitee members from DBV, Paola Avila and Michelle Stevens worked closely on an interesting project with Meredith Prain. They had to learn how to use zoom as these meetings were on this platform once a month for a year meeting with others from different states. They had the opportunity to meet other Deafblind people, parents of Deafblind and people who work for the Deafblind community. They were all responsible to collect infor...mation and resources for the team. Meredith did an amazing job choosing the right people to work on this project, it was a great experience where they learnt about the different needs from different Deafblind people. Deafblind Australia, Sense Australia and Able Australia worked in partnership with this project, please have a look on the Deafblind Information Australia website, as this is a new website for you to have a look at and also videos in Auslan to make it Deaf-friendly. Here is the website to have a look: https://www.deafblindinformation.org.au To whom it may concern Should you think the following would be of interest to your staff, I would be grateful if you could distribute throughout our organisation. Any queries can be directed to [email protected] Deafblind Information Australia is developing training and resources for people with congenital deafblindness, their families and the carers and professionals who work with them. To stay up to date with training dates and latest releases, paste the following into an email and complete your details. This has been made possible through an NDIS ILC grant, so there is no charge for this service. Please add me to the Deafblind Information Australia mailing list for congenital deafblind training and resources. Name: Role / Organisation: Email: Address and/or State: Other contact details you want us to have: Email to: [email protected] Kind regards Melanie Robartson Deafblind Consultant & Project Officer

05.01.2022 Deafblind Awareness Week - 6 of 6 Meredith gave a beautiful speech about Ablelink. Ablelink has been around for many years assisting the Deafblind community and not just for Victoria but other states too. It was an emotional moment because Claire had played a big role at Ablelink and it was sad to farewell her, all Deafblind people were sad to see her go but thankful for everything she had done for the Deafblind community. At Ablelink, the Deafblind community have learnt alo...Continue reading

05.01.2022 Auslan Update - 4 September, 2020 On Wednesday, a live export ship, travelling from NZ to China, containing approximately 6000 cattle and 43 crew members, inclu...ding 2 Australians, went missing in a typhoon off the coast of Japan. Overnight Victoria has reported 81 new cases of COVID 19. The Premier has promised to announce the state's ‘roadmap’ plan this Sunday. Many Tasmanians are receiving power bills that are much higher than they were last winter. In January 2019, Dr Yang, a Chinese Australian writer and democratic activist was detained by the Chinese Government. To read the full English transcript and see our sources, go to: https://bit.ly/2Z2BQKD

04.01.2022 R U OK - 2nd webinar On 11th November, Able Australia had the 2nd webinar for the R U OK day. We had a different theme which was to share a funny story or to tell a joke. Great to see some familiar face from DBV. I am sure we all could of stayed on for hours! It was great medicine. We agreed to do another one sometime next year for the Deafblind clients of Able Australia in Victoria.

03.01.2022 Deafblind Awareness Week - 7 of 7 (final) Here is a short video of Claire Tellefson, who gave a lovely speech with gorgeous flowers given from DBA, Able Australia and DBV. This was the perfect way to finish the DBAW event with a farewell to Claire. Claire was flattered and humbled with the flowers and speeches from Meredith and a few of the Deafblind members; John Hoctor and Alex Sar. We all know that John Hoctor was a regular at Ablelink and worked on braille training with ...Claire. It was an emotional moment hearing the beautiful stories that John and Alex shared. There would be many things that Claire has done for the Deafblind community that we wouldn't be aware of. So thank you Claire, this moment brought a lot of tears and joy. We would love to know what Claire has been up to during her retirement. I am sure she has travelled to a few places and has enjoyed relaxing. Enjoy the last short video of Claire with the transcript here. Transcript: Dennis interpreting, Claire Tellefson, David Murray and Meredith all standing at the front. Claire is holding a beautiful bunch of red roses. Claire talking: "Thank you for your kind words and she's true. I really wanted to teach people how to read their manuals and work out their problems and retire early. And I actually do think I achieved that and John is the best example of that, he got through NDIS a very sophisticated braille computer and I think I took it out of the box and I showed him where all the buttons were and I sent it home with him and the next week he came in and he said, "I can get the footy results, I can do facebook, my emails set up, I am just having a bit of trouble..where is the calendar?" *audience chuckles* so he actually read the whole manual and did everything himself. So thats a great testament to the values of Ablelink and how everyone is really keen to work it out for themselves and I just facilitate that. And a few years ago, a lady in Sydney bought a very sophisticated piece of equipment and John taught her how to use it in his own time through email. So, I think they are in good hands to keep the place going. Thank you very much." *Audience claps, Claire smiling and walks back to her seat. Finished. https://www.facebook.com/dbv2018/posts/554850018674440

02.01.2022 Kmart's inclusive doll win: ‘It has a cane like me!’ A beautiful positive story about the store Kmart selling a blind barbie doll with a cane. They have also brought out a barbie doll with crutches, a deaf ken doll and barbie in a wheelchair. ... Some of you might have children in your family that you could give this doll to or maybe they will want to get the collection. This is a great representation for our Deafblind community and great for awareness too! We need to remember how important it is to remind people about including the Deafblind community in resources like large fonts, braille, backdrop etc or equipment like braille printers, audito, zoom features or services like captioners, interpreters, communication supports or devices like canes. Thanks to barbie for desiging these dolls, you can see the full article below: Kmart's inclusive doll win: ‘It has a cane like me!’

01.01.2022 Questions from Travellers Aid DBV has been asked by Travellers Aid Companion Services to do 4 questions below here. It would be great appreciated if you could have 5 to 10 minutes to answer. ... This review will help Travellers Aid to improve services for the Deafblind community. Few way to give your answers to Greta by either emailing or your commguides could interpret for you on phone with Greta. There are more information in DBV newsletters. Travellers Aid Companion Services Due by Friday 6th November 2020 1. Have you had a good or bad experience using the Companion Service? Can you provide an example? 2. Will you still use the Companion Service after COVID-19? How do you think it will change? 3. Do you have any ideas on how we make the Companion Service work better for you? 4. Do you want to add anything else? You can answer these questions via email and send them to [email protected] or you can give me a call to have a chat on 0434 098 329. Thank you, Travellers Aid.