December 4 - Vision Australia, Part One

Today Lyle and I took the train to Sydney to visit the national headquarters of Vision Australia. Actually, we caught a bus, then the train and then another bus to get from our rental unit north of Sydney to the Sydney suburb of Enfield where the main office of Vision Australia is located. I find that travelling by public transport is relatively easy in Sydney. In my experience, the bus drivers have always been helpful, and on the trains upcoming stops are announced. Announcements are also made on the various station platforms. For the most part, I have found that other travellers are respectful of the use of my white cane.

I had called ahead to arrange my time at Vision Australia and Rolf and his guide dog, Echo, were ready for us when Lyle and I arrived. The trip to the centre had taken just over two hours and I was awed when Rolf told me he did a similar trip by train and bus each day to and from work. That is certainly a long daily commute. In his previous life, as I like to say, Rolf had been a pastry chef but when his sight changed he knew that he needed to shift his career focus. That was his first connection with Vision Australia as a client, and now he is employed by the organization as Volunteer Coordinator.

We began our tour with the store. I wasn’t surprised to see many of the same gadgets, devices and tools that are also available in Canada through the CNIB.  In many instances, the CNIB and Vision Australia use the same suppliers. I was surprised however to see exactly the same set of audible bathroom scales that I use in my own bathroom at home. When were shown a display case of Braille, audible, and a large dial watches, our guide pulled one out to show us.  We were all amazed and amused to see that it was exactly the same one as the one I was wearing – bought at a CNIB store in Alberta. 

From the store we headed downstairs to the central call centre. The people who seek the services of Vision Australia are encouraged to call the toll free number so that they can be directed to the appropriate person or department. This was the same number I had called to set up the appointment for my tour.  This central call system does have certain advantages to be sure, but there are also kinks to be worked through. As does Canada, Australia covers more than one time zone. Canada`s central system is in Toronto. In both cases, this means that when the call centre in the east is closed for the day, there may still be clients in the west who need to make contact.

Now, there is more than I can write about our visit in one post, so I am going to make this Part One, and conclude with a picture of me standing beside Rolf and his four-year old black lab, Echo.