Weekly update: 21 March 2025
Kia ora tatou,
Hello to all of us,
Last Fridy evening Phil Thorn, your Board Member, and myself were invited to Government House for the launch of the “Seeing Streets Differently” campaign by Blind Low Vision NZ. We were very pleased to be invited as valued members with valid input. Phil met with Her Excellency, Cindy Kiro. Her delivery was humane and engaging with our challenges around navigating our streets safely.
The evening was warm in terms of relationships and connections. Thank you to Jacqui Iseli, Deafblind Coordinator Blind Low Vision NZ (BLVNZ), for providing some social haptics for me to appreciate what the room configuration was, where things were laid out, and where the dias was. After all the hurrah was over I took the opportunity to touch the vases of flowers. Why, after all, if not for sighted people then for all of us!
Let’s not forget warm hugs from the Chair of BLVNZ, Chief Executive Whaikaha, Regional Managers of BLVNZ, and many others. I give special thanks here to tactile communicators Bridget and Janet who were there for Phil, without which such events simply become a token gesture; after all "Be Seen Be Heard Be Connected" is what we are all about! Thank you again for BLVNZ, Jelena Zidoff for organising this.
All of this is about building understanding, advocacy, and relationships. And let us not forget all of the Guide Dogs in the room acknowledged with aroha and humour by Her Excellency even as one of that cohort made his comments known! “Yes”, said Her Excellency, “good point!”
Conference 2025
Thank you to the two people who have filled in your registration forms. It helps so much with funding applications. I take this opportunity to encourage those of you who have been sent registration forms to return those or ask for help to do so. If you have still not expressed interest please reach out by email. That will only come to me and not to everyone on this list so your privacy is assured. It’s looking good so far! :) 😊
Ngā mihi mahana,
Warm regards,
Amanda
In this week's newsletter
Smart homes a boon for accessibility, but come with a technology warning
Consumer representatives for Northern Clinical Governance Committees
Seeking nomination for statutory health roles - Responsible Authorities
Smart homes a boon for accessibility, but come with a technology warning
From RNZ, a piece about the risks with which useful devices like Alexa come.
"Blind Low Vision NZ spokesman Dan Shepherd said this kind of technology makes life a lot easier for people with visual impairments.
""We are using Amazon Alexas to provide our library service to our clients in their homes. In terms of the other things smart technology can do for you in the home, there are opportunities to use smart technology to turn on your TV , to open and close blinds. This technology is advancing and it's supporting our community."
"But there is one drawback, because every internet connected device carries a security risk."
You can find out more at the link below.
Smart homes a boon for accessibility, but come with a technology warning (RNZ)
Consumer representatives for Northern Clinical Governance Committees
From Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission.
A new consumer opportunity has been listed for the Northern Region Clinical Governance Committees. Please consider applying yourselves and /or sharing this opportunity with your whānau, colleagues and networks.
Please note this is a very short turn-around with applications closing on 25 March.
Seeking nomination for statutory health roles - Responsible Authorities
From Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People.
Two “Responsible Authorities” are looking for new Board members: the Occupational Therapists Board and the Optometrist and Dispensing Optician Board. Both Boards are looking for both health profession and lay people applicants. As is usual with these vacancies, whilst they like some governance experience, it is not essential, so if you are interested in either of these board, then these might be a good place to start or grow your governance career. Please apply directly to the Ministry of Health, using the links below. As usual, please let Pauline Melham, Pauline.Melham001@whaikaha.govt.nz, at Whaikaha know if you are applying so that she can see how often people take up the opportunities she sends out.
The Ministry of Health are very keen to support people from diverse backgrounds, so unless you tell her not to, she will let the team at the Ministry of Health know who has applied from their database.
You need to send in a CV and cover letter. You also need to send in a Declaration of Health form - there is one on the website below.
The advertisement can be found at:
Applications close 2 April 2025.
One year of horror - will they ever acknowledge it?
"Calling on the Coalition Government to issue a formal apology to the disabled community."
A year after the funding cuts for disabled people, Emily Writes looks at the effects, and discusses the open letter she has developed - and which you can join her and others in signing - calling on the Coalition Government to issue a formal apology to the disabled community.
RNZFB board meeting minutes
You can read the 15 November 2024 RNZFB board minutes - which were confirmed at the meeting on 1 March 2025 - below.
These minutes are also available on the telephone information service menu 313.
15 November 2024 confirmed RNZFB board minutes (.DOCX 122 KB)
You can also read the draft minutes from the 1 March 2025 board meeting below - they will be approved at the next meeting, on 3 May.
The minutes will be available soon on the telephone information service menu 313, or available by request.
1 March 2025 draft RNZFB board minutes (.DOCX 179 KB)
Event reminders
Remember to check out new documentary series Sight Unseen, from Able and NZ On Air, which talks with vision-impaired people around Aotearoa New Zealand. Audio descriptions accompany each of its 5 episodes - there are around 180,000 New Zealanders who are vision impaired.
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Check out our calendar of events for reminders of all the other events coming up, and updated dates for our regional peer-to-peer gatherings.
Calendar / events (Deafblind Association NZ)
Other newsletters
The D*List
The D*List website is an online culture magazine that creates space for disabled people to tell their own stories through features, columns and news reporting. This week, they look at campaigns, catastrophe and cinema, plus how Special Olympics NZ has won big at the World Winter Games.
Link to weekly update below.
The D*List Delivered (Substack)
Following is a link to have a browse of The D*List website or sign up to receive their weekly newsletter.
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Be Seen be Heard be Connected weekly update, and mailing list
You can find our weekly Seen Be Heard Be Connected updates (ie our newsletter) on our website, at the following link.
Our weekly updates (Deafblind Association New Zealand)
You can also sign up for our weekly newsletter, and / or our mailing list DBANZ Discuss, at the links below. Please feel free to spread the word 😊
Feedback request and other reminders
Students seeking your feedback about audio description and AI
A team of students have trained an AI model to automate parts of the audio description process for films. They know most synthetic audio description falls short - flat narration, awkward timing - so they’ve focused on making their TTS sound less robotic. It’s still rough, but they're improving it weekly. They're now looking for people to test it and provide feedback, which you can do using the forms and short film clip below. They’ll use the feedback to refine the tool, and will publish updates openly.
- Link to the first form - please fill out before watching
- 300 movie clip (YouTube)
- Link to the final form - please fill out after watching
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"Improving the sustainability of Disability Support Services" paper - alternate formats available
Alternate formats for the Cabinet paper on 'Improving the sustainability of Disability Support Services' are now available on the MSD website.
Improving the sustainability of Disability Support Services (MSD)
This paper contains Cabinet decisions for next steps to improve the sustainability of Disability Support Services. It follows the recommendations from the Independent Review of Disability Support Services.
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The Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 - alternate formats, and have your say
Phase Two of the Inquiry primary focus is reviewing key decisions made by the New Zealand Government in response to COVID-19 during 2021 and 2022, about vaccines, lockdowns, testing and tracing technologies, and public health materials (eg masks).
Submissions close 27 April 2025.
The audio can also be found on TellMe under option 522.
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Nominations are still open for the World Blind Union scholarships!
Find out more about the 3 scholarships and 2 funds (World Blind Union)
You can also check out open nominations and available roles in our 21 Feb update.
Open nominations and available roles: 21 February 2025 weekly update
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Survey about online safety for young disabled people
All is for All would like to invite you, you whānau, and support workers (if applicable) to participate in a survey about your experiences navigating online and social media spaces and to learn about the types of training and learning opportunities you would like to see delivered to support young disabled people and their support networks with learning about online and social media safety.
The survey is short and should only take 10 minutes to complete. We value your input and perspective, and your participation in the survey would be greatly appreciated.
Online safety and social media survey (All is for All)
If you have any questions or feedback about the survey, please do not hesitate to contact Natalie Robinson by emailing natalie@allisforall.com.
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Submission opportunity to influence more content in audio description and captioning
The Ministry for Culture and Heritage has released a discussion document on "modernising regulation and content funding arrangements for New Zealanders". Part of this includes increasing captioning and audio description.
More information, and the full paper (Ministry of Culture and Heritage)
Blind Citizens NZ will be making a submission. Any thoughts you care to share will be very much appreciated.
Find out more in our 21 February 2025 weekly update
Submissions close 11:59pm on 23 March 2025.
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Research about the education and employment of deafblind people in low / middle-resource countries
Deafblind International’s Global Research Initiative coincides with a research project on the education and employment of individuals living with deafblindness around the world.
The Université de Montréal are currently looking for persons living with early-onset deafblindness (while being a child or youth) to participate in interviews about their experience growing up deafblind. The goal of the project is to tell the stories of persons living with deafblindness, and to learn from the experiences, so we can do better.
Find out more in our 21 February 2025 weekly update
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National Housing Survey
The Urban Advisory is running a longitudinal study so there is no foreseeable closing date. The survey asks how people make their housing choices and what they want to see happen with housing in the future, with the intention of helping New Zealand better respond to housing needs and demand.
Completed surveys are eligible for entry into a quarterly prize draw to win a $200 Prezzy Card. It is an online survey through Qualtrics and is expected to take less than 30 minutes to complete.
New Zealand's Housing Survey (The Urban Advisory)
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Public library use and accessibility
Blind Low Vision NZ Client Training and Engagement Senior Advisor Tom Smith asks: “Is there anybody willing to be interviewed about their use of public library services and accessibility?"
Email Tom for details, at tsmith@blindlowvision.org.nz.
Regular / ongoing events
No Labels on Wellington Access Radio
You can listen to the show on Wellington Access Radio on Tuesday just after 1pm, or the following Tuesday at the same time.
If you miss the scheduled show, you can check it out later online at the link below.
No Labels (Wellington Access Radio)
Or you can subscribe to the show via your preferred podcast player to check out this episode or previous episodes of the show.
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Blind Spot, Radio Southland
Monthly show hosted by Carolyn Weston.
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Disability Disrupters podcast
From Disability Responsiveness NZ, the podcast features news, views and interviews with disabled people from around the world.
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Entertainment with Able
Able is a not-for-profit organisation working towards a more inclusive Aotearoa, believing everyone should be able to access news, entertainment and culture. Funded by NZ On Air, they’re Aotearoa’s leading provider of media access services, including captioning services, subtitling and audio description.
Listings are available at the following browser links:
A link to Able's website to subscribe to the weekly newsletter with listings and picks of the week follows.
Deafblind Association NZ access to TellMe
See TellMe numbers for your area
End of report and this week’s update.
Amanda Stevens
Executive Officer
Taringa Turi Kāpō Rōpū
Deafblind Association New Zealand