[vip_students] Everyone] VISPA Vision Week 2010 {01}
- From: "Paul J. Traynor (NCBI)" <paul.traynor@xxxxxxx>
- To: <vip_students@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 12:06:44 +0100
VISPA Vision Week 2010
314 million people worldwide live with sight loss and although it is most
significant in older people, sight loss can affect everyone from babies and
children through to adults.
Vision 2020 is a global initiative to eliminate the main causes of avoidable
blindness by the year 2020. The World Health Assembly passed the Vision 2020
resolution in 2003 and since then more than 120 countries have signed up.
Despite the Irish Government's further endorsement of the initiative in May
2009 and despite several calls from Irish vision groups no effort has been made
to implement it here.
Restorations of sight, blindness prevention and support strategies are among
the most cost-effective interventions in health care and the urgency to make
these interventions cannot be over emphasised. With so many sight conditions
being degenerative, the clock is ticking and action is needed urgently.
Vision Impaired Service Providers Alliance (VISPA), the Irish College of
Ophthalmology (ICO) and the Association of Optometrists in Ireland (AOI) are
calling on the government to fulfill its commitment to the development and
implementation of a National Vision Strategy for Ireland in the shortest time
frame.
VISPA Vision Week will take place from May 9th to 15th 2010. The week will be
an opportunity for the four main groups providing care and services to people
affected by vision impairment in Ireland to raise awareness of what can be done
to prevent blindness.
VISPA is delighted to announce Specsavers as the first-ever partner of VISPA
Vision Week.
What's happening during VISPA Vision Week?
We will be calling on Government to act on the commitment it made in May 2003
and again last year to implement a National Vision Strategy.
We will be offering half price (€15) eye tests in Specsavers stores and asking
people to prevent sight loss by having regular eye tests and updating their
prescription
Sight Village, Europe's largest exhibition of assistive technology and low
vision aids will be coming to Ireland for the first time. Cork and Dublin will
host the exhibition.
The Making a Difference awards with Specsavers will be launched and we will be
calling on people who are blind or vision impaired to nominate an organisation
or a person who has made a difference to their lives. The winners will be
announced on World Sight Day in October.
From the 30th of April through to the 15th of May we are running a cinema ad in
Cinemas throughout the country to improve the awareness amongst the sighted
community of the importance of regular eye exams. This cinema ad will be seen
by more than 300,000 viewers. We are also running a series of radio ads on RTE
Radio 1 and Newstalk 106 advertising Sight Village and encouraging people to
nominate someone for the Making a Difference Award.
Come See - St. Joseph's Centre for the Visually Impaired and Drumcondra
National School will be having the first ever 'reverse integration programme'
where children who have full sight will attend St. Joseph's School for three
days during vision week. This will help the children in Drumcondra National
School understand more about vision impairment.
Specsavers outlets will be offering half price (15 euro) eye tests in their
stores throughout the country during vision week. This call to action will
hopefully encourage people to prioritise their eye health and help prevent the
increase of eye disease in Ireland.
A Vision Week website will be up and running from next week -
www.visionweek.ie <http://www.visionweek.ie> for further information about any
of the above please email info@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:info@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> or
phone any of the four VISPA organisations;
NCBI – 1850 33 43 53
St. Joseph's Centre for the Visually Impaired – 01 8373635
Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind – 1850 506 300
Fighting Blindness – 01 709 3050
The two events which we would encourage both staff and clients to please
promote amongst their friends and colleagues are Sight Village and Making a
Difference Awards with Specsavers.
The Making a Difference Awards aim to give those who make a difference to
people with impaired vision the recognition they deserve. We are asking you to
nominate a volunteer who has given up their time to assist you with shopping or
reading the post, or maybe your local library has installed additional lighting
or a local restaurant has provided a menu in Braille? Please nominate a person
or organisation you know who have helped make life easier for a person with
vision impairment.
You can nominate by
- visiting www.visionweek.ie <http://www.visionweek.ie>
- ringing 01 8373835
- completing a nomination form in your local Specsavers store before July 11th
Nominations will be accepted in three categories: Individual, Community and
Business.
Please note that, although their work is highly valued, the organisation in
VISPA, or their paid staff are not elligible for nomination.
Sight Village
- For the first time Sight Village, an exhibition which takes place every
year in Queen Alexandra College, Birmingham, is coming to Cork and Dublin.
Suppliers of assistive technology and low vision aids as well as low tech aids
for independent living will exhibit and information on services for people with
impaired vision in Ireland will be available.
- The Cork exhibition will be held on the 11th and 12th of May at the Oriel
Hotel, Ballincollig between 10am and 4pm. The Dublin exhibition will be later
in the week, on Friday 14th and Saturday 15th of May, in the Burlington Hotel,
10am to 4pm. For current users of assistive technology and magnification aids
there may be something new and interesting and for those who are not so
familiar with what’s out there, it’s a good opportunity to see what is
available.
NOTE: Sighted guides will be available to assist people at both venues.
Getting to Sight Village:
Cork
For those who can make their way to Cork, train or bus station transport to the
exhibition can be arranged by phoning Mary on 086 8546744. Those travelling
from Kerry who wish to avail of transport should call Neil on 086 8180554 to
make arrangements.
Dublin
A limited number of bus transfers from Heuston, Connolly and Busaras will be
arranged on Saturday, May 15th to bring people to the Burlington Hotel. Those
wishing to book a seat on the bus should contact Oona on 01 8307033 to make
arrangements.
Anyone requiring assistance on the train or from the train to a taxi, should
contact Iarnrod Eireann, Customer Service Dept. 01 7033504, in advance of
travel.
********************************************************************
National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) is a company
limited by guarantee (registered in Ireland No. 26293) .
Our registered office is at Whitworth Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.
NCBI is also a registered Charity (chy4626).
NOTICE: The information contained in this email and any attachments
is confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended
recipient you should not use, disclose, distribute or copy any of
the content of it or of any attachment; you are requested to notify
the sender immediately of your receipt of the email and then to
delete it and any attachments from your system.
NCBI endeavours to ensure that emails and any attachments generated
by its staff are free from viruses or other contaminants. However,
it cannot accept any responsibility for any such which are
transmitted. We therefore recommend you scan all attachments.
Please note that the statements and views expressed in this email
and any attachments are those of the author and do not necessarily
represent the views of NCBI
********************************************************************
********************************************************************
National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) is a company
limited by guarantee (registered in Ireland No. 26293) .
Our registered office is at Whitworth Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.
NCBI is also a registered Charity (chy4626).
NOTICE: The information contained in this email and any attachments
is confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended
recipient you should not use, disclose, distribute or copy any of
the content of it or of any attachment; you are requested to notify
the sender immediately of your receipt of the email and then to
delete it and any attachments from your system.
NCBI endeavours to ensure that emails and any attachments generated
by its staff are free from viruses or other contaminants. However,
it cannot accept any responsibility for any such which are
transmitted. We therefore recommend you scan all attachments.
Please note that the statements and views expressed in this email
and any attachments are those of the author and do not necessarily
represent the views of NCBI
********************************************************************
--
I am using the free version of SPAMfighter.
We are a community of 7 million users fighting spam.
SPAMfighter has removed 3895 of my spam emails to date.
Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len
The Professional version does not have this message
********************************************************************
National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) is a company
limited by guarantee (registered in Ireland No. 26293) .
Our registered office is at Whitworth Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.
NCBI is also a registered Charity (chy4626).
NOTICE: The information contained in this email and any attachments
is confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended
recipient you should not use, disclose, distribute or copy any of
the content of it or of any attachment; you are requested to notify
the sender immediately of your receipt of the email and then to
delete it and any attachments from your system.
NCBI endeavours to ensure that emails and any attachments generated
by its staff are free from viruses or other contaminants. However,
it cannot accept any responsibility for any such which are
transmitted. We therefore recommend you scan all attachments.
Please note that the statements and views expressed in this email
and any attachments are those of the author and do not necessarily
represent the views of NCBI
********************************************************************
Other related posts:
- » [vip_students] Everyone] VISPA Vision Week 2010 {01} - Paul J. Traynor (NCBI)
