Services Update
Page 18
Enable changes to AIC
The team that handles requests for the production of accessible formats was formerly known as Enable. To represent more accurately the role of the team, its name recently changed to Accessible Information Consultancy, or AIC for short. Phone and mail contact details remain the same but there is a new email address: aic.
The AIC staff work between information users and the Accessible Format Production department. Users include individual Foundation members, students and their teachers, consumer organisations and Foundation departments, including the Library.
Closer ties
This year Mana Kāpō and Ngāti Kāpō will be working together closely when providing services to the members they have in common.
The aim is to provide "me manaaki te tangata" (caring) to members using both Foundation and consumer services.
Mana Kāpō and Ngāti Kāpō will together be providing support and encouragement, responding to the needs of individual members and helping to make their environment safe to enable them to participate in their own communities.
New edition of Iris' World
Iris' World, the Foundation's education kit for primary school children, has been updated and is now available online at www.rnzfb.org/communityeducation under the heading "student classroom".
There are two versions - a .pdf file and an accessible Word version. The revamped Iris character looks similar to a female version of Harry Potter, with round glasses and short red hair. She will appeal to younger children and is a good medium for teaching them some of the issues that blind and vision-impaired children face living in a sighted world.
Communicator Guide project
Deafblind Services is currently trialling a Communicator Guide/Intervener programme in the Auckland office.
This pilot provides skilled Communicator Guides/Interveners to support deafblind RNZFB members in the areas of communication, information and mobility. Receiving support from Communicator Guides/Interveners enables members to participate in a range of activities that would otherwise be unavailable to them. The pilot runs until the end of July 2004 and its success will be evaluated in May and June.