Vision Australia
Audio - Sound recording, ABC Hindsight: Hearing the Blind, 13 December 2001
ABC Radio show 'Hindsight" which looks at the historical, and not so historical, limitations that were placed on blind and vision impaired people through the twentieth century. Through interviews with various people who lost or were born with limited or no sight as well as historian Judith Buckrich, the changes over the last 150 years about the politics of the blind and the thinking around it are reflected upon. From the first institute for the blind set up in Victoria in 1866, there have been restrictions on conditions, access of service, working life, education, travel, voting rights, attitudes on using white canes or dog guides, pensions, workers rights, and socialising between blind men and women. The impact of Helen Keller's visit in 1948 resulted in some changes, however many other groups such as the Blind Workers Union, and individuals like Tilly Aston, worked to put blind people in charge of their lives and in the institutions that affected them. 1 sound file of radio show interviewroyal victorian institute for the blind, judith buckrich, dorothy hamilton, barry palmer, anna fairclough, alice mcclelland, harry worland, megan denyer, david blyth, john murphy, major general paul cullen, roy hallett, martin stewart, nick gleeson, jennifer bowen, abc radio