Vision Australia Radio is proud to provide full radio coverage of Blind Citizen Australia’s National Convention from March 29 – 31 on the IRIS digital radio service in Melbourne and Adelaide alongside highlight programs across the VA Radio Network.
Being that only a small proportion of the BCA national membership can be at the event in person means the provision of comprehensive radio coverage across Victoria and in Adelaide on IRIS is greatly valued by their membership and the broader blind, low vision and print disabled community.
The following is an outline of the major features of the Convention program, all of which will be broadcast live or delayed for inclusion on the IRIS digital radio coverage (please note IRIS in Adelaide will not be on delay so all programs will start 30 minutes earlier on each of the days)
Friday March 29
From 1pm through to Saturday 9am
- Highlights and pre-recorded packages from previous BCA Conferences
Saturday March 30: 9am - 10.30pm
9am - 10.15am: Opening Session:
- President's Welcome; John Simpson
- Feature address "Human Rights and Technology" Edward Santow, Australian Human Rights Commissioner
- Keynote Address "AI + AR + Human = Beyond Possibilities" Suman Kanuganti, CEO of Aira
10.15am - 10.45am: Feature Interviews
10.45am - 12:00pm: The Future of Work: Behind the headlines and what does it mean for people who are blind or vision impaired?" Panel Discussion lead by Kelly Schultz, Customer Inclusion Protagonist.
12.00pm - 12.30pm: Launch of BCA Service Expectations Policy Statement
12.30pm - 2pm: "Beyond the bare minimum: The future of Audio Description". Workshop involving:
- Ross de Vent, Director Description Victoria
- John Simpson, BCA President and Audio Description Consultant
- Prof Katie Ellis Director, Centre for Culture and Technology, Curtin University
- Emma Bennison, BCA CEO and former CEO Arts Access Australia.
2pm - 3.30pm: "Blindness Services in the 21st Century"
- David Speyer General Manager Commercial and National Services Vision Australia
- Michael Kightly, CEO Guide Dogs Qld, on behalf of Guide Dogs Australia
- Visability – speaker to be confirmed
3.30pm - 4pm: New Horizons – replay of two recent episodes
4pm - 4.45pm: New Developments in Australia's Blindness Sector
- Dale Cleaver, Chair Australian Blindness Forum
- Judith Abbott, CEO Vision 2020 Australia
- John Simpson, President BCA
4.45pm - 5pm: Round Out to Close
5pm: Close of broadcast
9pm - 10pm: BCA Convention Daily Round Up
Sunday 31 March: 9am - 10.30pm:
9am - 10.20am: "From Past to Present"
- Update from BCA CEO Emma Bennison;
- "The History of Information Services in Tasmania", Jan Miller
- Podcast Series Launch "Our Legacy – changing what it means to be blind in NSW and the ACT"
10.20am - 11am: Interviews including David Blyth Award Recipient.
11am - 12.30pm: Panel discussion - "Diverse Experiences of Blindness"
12.30pm - 1.45pm: Pre-recorded programming (to be confirmed)
1.45pm - 3pm: The NDIS and My Aged Care
- Matthew Wright, National Disability Insurance Agency
- My Aged Care speaker to be confirmed
- Angela Jaeschke
- Q and A (including questions from listeners via text message)
3pm -4.10pm: Interviews
4.10pm - 4.45pm: BCA Members Q and A and Convention close
- John Simpson, BCA President
- Emma Bennison BCA CEO
- Other staff and Directors as required
4.45pm - 5.00pm: Wind up
5pm: End of live coverage
9pm - 10pm: BCA Convention Daily Round Up
In addition, Vision Australia Radio will be broadcasting the BCA daily roundup programs each evening via all stations on the VA Radio Network from Friday to Sunday at the following times (please note VAR Adelaide will not be on delay so the programs will start at 8.30pm on each of the days):
- Fri 29/3: 9pm - 9.30pm (30mins)
- Sat 30/3: 9pm - 10pm (60 Mins)
- Sun 31/3: 9pm - 10pm (60 mins)
For more details on the conference visit: http://www.bca.org.au/conv2019/