How Secret Is Our Secret Vote?

This briefing document is a supplement to “The Great Barrier Brief”. In this, Blind Citizens NZ addresses Accessible Independent Voting from the perspective of blind and vision impaired voters, many of whom are unable to vote without sighted assistance, whether at the polling booth, in a postal ballot and telephone dictation voting. Hence the ability to independently cast a truly secret vote is denied to us.

While our brief identifies the challenges and barriers we face, we also offer solutions.

Blind Citizens NZ thanks the Lotteries Grants Board for its support and funding of this publication.

Lost in the Urban Jungle

This briefing document is a supplement to “The Great Barrier Brief”. “Lost in the Urban Jungle” is about Access to the Built Environment and in this we make every endeavour to inform everyone who plays a part in how public buildings are created, including architects, builders, and local authorities.

There is almost nothing that can be done in modern life without at some stage walking into a public building. If you ever go into a shop like a dairy or grocery store, or an airport, hotel, doctor, bank, gymnasium, library or museum, or you go to school or a tertiary education facility, then you are walking into a public building. Public buildings can range in size from something like a simple stand-alone corner shop or a small block of shops on your local street corner to a huge office building in the centre of a big city.

Most people take public buildings so much for granted that they never stop to think that such facilities can be difficult for some people to use. If not properly designed, features such as steps, staircases, escalators, lifts, doors and furniture can be hazards to blind people and other people with disabilities.

Blind Citizens NZ thanks the Lotteries Grants Board for its support and funding of this publication.

A sentence paints a thousand pictures – so what’s it sound like?

This briefing document is a supplement to the Great Barrier Brief and calls on the Government and entertainment industry to fully embrace audio description as a means of making entertainment more accessible to blind and vision impaired people. Reference is made in particular to audio description on television, at the movies, and in live theatre and live art displays.

Is your website reaching everyone?

This briefing document is a supplement to the Great Barrier Brief and calls for all websites that provide services and information to the public to meet accepted accessibility standards. People nowadays take it for granted that we can carry out numerous everyday transactions online. For some people with disabilities who have limited transport options, the internet has opened up a whole new world of independence. But still there are many websites that offer much needed services to the public that fail to meet accessibility standards and which remain off limits to blind and vision impaired people.

Money talks – where does it stop

This briefing document is a supplement to the Great Barrier Brief and concisely explains how the banking industry can best meet the needs of blind and vision impaired people, particularly given today’s fast developing banking technology. Areas covered include customer services, EFTPOS machines, credit and EFTPOS card design and self service kiosks.

The RNZFB at a Glance

Blind people accept that we live in a highly visual world. While we continue to work towards the world being as accessible as it can be for us and for people with other disabilities, we recognise that we still need access to specialised services that teach us the essential skills we need to function in the world around us. The Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind is the primary provider of the essential blindness-related services needed by blind people in New Zealand. As a modern disability service provider, the Foundation must not only respond to the needs and aspirations of blind people as its consumers but must also uphold the principle that it works in partnership with us to provide the services we need. That partnership with consumers is maintained through consumer organisations such as this Association.

This document was adopted by our National Conference in October 2010 and briefly lists the most important statements that capture the essence of what we expect from the Foundation. It is distilled from our various policy decisions made by our members that are reflected in our submissions to the Foundation over a number of years.

This document is not to be interpreted as a list of concerns. In fact we feel the Foundation does perform reasonably well in the majority of the identified areas. Rather, this document is intended as a check-list of the most fundamental areas in which we will be assessing the Foundation’s performance.

Are you walking the “talk”?

This briefing document is a supplement to the Great Barrier Brief and concisely explains what blind and vision impaired people need from today’s telecommunications companies. The phone takes on a particularly important role for people who are blind or who have other disabilities as many of us have limited access to urban transport. Information is given in areas including standard Phone Lines, mobile Phones, telephone directories, accessible information, websites and staff training.

Are we being taken for a ride? Total Mobility – Equitable Access to our Environment and Local Communities

This briefing document is a supplement to the Great Barrier Brief and calls for a nationally consistent and equitable Total Mobility taxi subsidy scheme in order that people with disabilities can live in, work in and have full access to today’s urban environment.

Is this the right bus? Public transport – trials and tribulations of the blind traveller

This briefing document is a supplement to the Great Barrier Brief and concisely explains what blind and vision impaired people need as pedestrians who rely primarily on public transport to get around. Areas covered include taxis, buses, trains, staff training, transport facilities and pedestrian travel.

The Great Barrier Brief – register of issues – blind people speaking for ourselves

This is a concise list of the most important issues Blind Citizens NZ feels must be addressed if blind and vision impaird people are to live fully productive lives in today’s society. The areas covered include:

• Public transport
• Access to public information
• Banking
• Telecommunications
• Technology and appliances
• Audio description
• Funding for blindness related services
• Our right to cast an independent vote in state elections
• The right of blind and vision impaired students to an equitable education
• Access to today’s built environment
• aWareness of blindness amongst today’s service providers.

This document was launched at our Wellington Seminar on 22 July 2008 and will guide our work for the next few years. Over time, “briefs’ will be prepared and posted here to give more detail on each of the issues identified in this document.