What's New

Festive Greatings: The Association takes this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Thank you for visiting our Website and for the feedback often received.  We hope you continue to explore our site in 2010.  Regular visitors may have noticed the search function is unreliable - our apologies.  This problem should be resolved early in 2010. 

Conference 2009:  We CAN - Change Attitudes Now:  Some of the addresses given by guest speakers at Conference have been made available.  You can access addresses by selecting the name for the respective guest speaker:  Maryanne Diamond, President of World Blind Union;  Hon Pansy Wong, Associate Minister for Disability Issues; Neil Jarvis, RNZFB Executive Director Access, Innovation and Enterprise; Lynne Pillay, Labour Spokesperson for Disability Issues and Doug Johnston, Life Member and Leadership Champion.

Is this the Right Bus? This publication is a supplement to The Great Barrier Brief.  It addresses Issue 2 - Accessible Public Transport.  To learn more about the issues faced by blind and vision impaired travellers we encourage you to read "Is this the Right Bus?"  Hard-copies are available upon request, just contact our National Office and ask for them.

The Great Barrier Brief:  Issues identified in this publication form the basis of the Association's on-going advocacy programme.  Taking this link will lead you to "THE GREAT BARRIER BRIEF" and the Association's register of issues...

President's BLOG: The President's BLOG provides a regular public commentary on issues of concern to blind and vision impaired people living in New Zealand.  If you have not already subscribed, now is the time to do so - the President's BLOG reflects the Association's vision and perspective with a view to improving an understanding of blindness issues.  Take this link to vist the President's BLOG and hear from our National President, Clive Lansink..

Focus - December Issue:  This is now available so please do take this link to read the latest issue of Focus.  

Summary of Board Meetings: Following each Board Meeting a summary of key outcomes is made available for Branches and others interested in following the Association's workload.  Visit our News page and read our meeting summaries.  The most recent summary provides highlights of the Board's November meeting.

Proposed Changes to RNZFB Governance: The  Association has contributed via various mechanisms to the Foundation’s Board of Directors’ proposal to amend RNZFB governance.  We developed a statement that identifiesour position about seeking a full review of the Foundation’s constitution.  We were successful in bringing about a meeting of delegations between our respective organisations where we reached agreement to establish a working group - the Governance Working Group came into being.  Facilitated by Kevin McCaffrey the working group comprised Vaughan Dodd, Geoff Gibbs, Geraldine Glanville, Clive Lansink, Jonathan Mosen, Dean Rea.  The Governance Working Group has submitted its report and recommendations to the Foundation's Board of Directors. This was received in November and the Association is keenly waiting for the report and recommendations to be publicised.

Schedule of Association Board Meetings: Dates for 2010 were set at the Board's Annual Planning Meeting, held over the weekend of 20-21 November.  The full schedule of Board Meeting dates for 2010 is: 20-21 February; 27-28 March (strategic planning); 8-9 May; 17-18 July; 11-12 September; 19 November.  The Wellington Seminar will be held over 19-20 July and the Board's Annual Planning Meeting will occur on 20-21 November.  Observers are very welcome to attend routine Board Meetings.  You will need to inform the Executive Officer approximately four days prior to the Board meeting of your intentions to attend.  Costs incurred when observing at Board meetings (meals, travel etc), are the responsibility of the "observer".   

Benefit Issues - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): This resource is available in all formats. The  FAQ is available by taking this link or you can contact the National Office for a copy in your preferred format.  If you are having difficulties with benefit entitlements and would like some assistance, you should contact the Association's Executive Officer Rose Wilkinson. 

National Feedback Line:  If you are keen to keep abreast of issues raised on the Association's National Feedback Line, remember Martine Abel records this weekly.   If you have missed the most recent bulletin or you want to hear an earlier recording, take the Feedback Line link .

You are encouraged to check out our Website - please feel free to pass on any feedback and suggestions for improvement.