Dublin City Council Accessibility Survey

Dublin City Council invites you to take part in a survey being carried out regarding accessibility to services provided by the Council. To take part in this survey please call freephone 1800 200 587. The survey should take about 10 minutes to complete and your feedback will be very important in helping Dublin City Council continue to improve its services for all of its customers. Your participation is greatly appreciated and lines are open from 10 am to 8 pm Monday to Friday.

NCBI Submission Regarding Election Posters

NCBI recently made a submission to the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government regarding a public consultation process on the subject of election and referendum posters. At present, election and referendum posters are exempt from the provisions of the Litter Pollution Acts until 7 days after polling day. This poses significant concern to NCBI regarding the scale and nature of postering that arises on foot of this exemption.

Election posters can present an obstacle to a pedestrian with a vision impairment if they are not hung above head height. Guide Dogs are unable to identify obstacles above head height and someone using a long cane will not be aware that there is an obstacle ahead.

NCBI has therefore proposed that the Litter Pollution Act should be amended to ensure that protruding posters be hung above head height (the minimum height of 2200mm from floor level) where they will not cause an obstruction.

NCBI’s submission can be viewed by logging onto www.ncbi/ie/reports-and-strategies

NCBI and Dublin Bus Survey

Dublin Bus will be ordering new buses in the coming months but before doing so they wanted to ensure that the number on the side of the new buses is more readable for people with low vision. Dublin Bus worked in conjunction with NCBI to give as many people with vision impairments as possible the opportunity to see the new bus numbers and to have their views heard.

Fiona Kelty of NCBI in conjunction with Dublin Bus organised for a bus to be parked on St. Columba’s Road in Drumcondra, Dublin from 1pm to 7pm on Thursday 11th September, so that people with low vision could take a look at the number and offer comments. Both the old and new numbers were displayed together. While there wasn’t a huge turnout on the day, Dublin Bus found the overall response very helpful.

All of those who participated found the proposed new number much easier to read. The vast majority of people with low vision who came to offer their feedback were unable to read the old number, but could read the new one which was clearer and also located lower down on the side of the bus making it easier for people to read. Many thanks to those who took part in the survey.

Medical Optics Company Nominate NCBI as Charity

Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) is a medical device company, which specialises in eye care products. Recently AMO staff celebrated National Customer Service Week at their shared service centre in Liffey Valley. During the week, the staff organised various events to raise funds for charity and this year they chose NCBI as their nominated charity that would benefit from these activities. The staff raised money by having “casual day” every day and selling raffle tickets with a day’s holiday as the prize. The company’s managers took part in various activities during the week, such as making waffles every morning, hosting a non-alcoholic cocktail bar and serving breakfast to employees on Friday, where the tips collected were added to the charity fund. The AMO staff raised a total of €1120 for NCBI.

World Diabetes Day, 14th November

In a report recently published by the Vision Impaired Service Providers Alliance (VISPA) it was found that the number of individuals registered as a result of diabetic eye disease has doubled between 1996 and 2003. Diabetes is now a common disease, which affects approximately one in every 100 adult Europeans. While it is known to cause serious complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure and amputation, few are aware that diabetes may also lead to blindness.

Having diabetes does not necessarily result in sight loss but there is a higher risk that one’s sight will be affected. Diabetes can affect the eye in a number of ways and usually involves the fine network of blood vessels in the retina, hence the term diabetic retinopathy. Most sight loss from diabetic retinopathy can be prevented. However, it is vital that it is diagnosed early. It is not always clear to a patient that something is wrong with their sight, therefore NCBI underline the importance of regular eye checks.

NCBI is campaigning on World Diabetes Day to raise awareness of diabetes and the serious complications that can arise as a result of the disease. World Diabetes Day was introduced in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to the alarming rise in diabetes around the world. According to the IDF statistics, every 10 seconds a person dies from diabetes-related causes. In that same 10 seconds, two people develop the disease.

NCBI calls on the government to develop national policies for the prevention, care and treatment of diabetes to tackle the growing diabetes epidemic. Diabetes is an expensive condition, with wide-ranging costs for individuals, for families and for healthcare systems. Increased funding and widespread screening programmes are required to curb the growth of diabetes and the resulting increased prevalence of related eye conditions such as diabetic retinopathy.