News

Vital service growing for people with low vision

Wed, 04 Apr 2018 11:42:00

Vision Australia Radio (VAR) Mildura has served for 20 years as the eyes for people who can’t see.

The community radio station, which recently celebrated two decades on the air, broadcasts a range of news and special interest programs for people who are blind and have low vision.
A one-hour anniversary special focusing on history of the station will run on Thursday 12 April at 2pm.
VAR Regional Network Coordinator Peter Butler said the special program included snap shots of the first broadcast in March 1998, interviews with some of the original volunteers, and stories about how the station got started.
Mr Butler said the sole purpose of VAR was to act as a conduit between the printed word and those who can’t read.
“Vision Australia Radio services are the eyes for the blind and low vision community,” Mr Butler said.
“From books to newspapers and everything in between, our role is to deliver as much information to those people as we can each day.”
Sharyn Ryan has been involved with VAR since the early 1980s, when the network was known as Radio for the Print Handicapped (RPH).
“The Melbourne studio was only a few doors down from where I lived, so I would walk there to volunteer,” Ms Ryan said.
“I was also an avid listener, but when I moved back to Mildura in 1987 there was no RPH, which was sad because I was used to listening to certain programs and I had to do without until it all began here in 1998.”
Ms Ryan, who has been without sight for most of her life, was on programming committees in the Mildura station’s formative years.
She still enjoys listening to a range of programs, from news broadcasts and programs designed to assist blind people in their everyday lives to sports and other special interest shows.
“If it wasn’t available to me, I’d miss not having it,” she said.
“There are lots of befits for people, especially those who are unable to read newspapers because we don’t have many other ways to access the news.
“It’s also a medium by which we can get information that’s blindness related and listen to entertaining content.
“People who lose their vision later in life might also like to have the radio on for company.”
Mel Stephens, who has been blind since birth, was introduced to VAR by her parents who are also blind.
Ms Stephens listens to VAR Mildura every day to hear the local news.
“I really like being in touch with the local community and there’s no local news on the television, so VAR is the only access I have to it,” she said.
Ms Stephens recently moved to Mildura and became a Vision Australia volunteer, working as a radio panel operator.
“I like giving back to my local community and I’m interested in radio – I’ve done a lot of performing arts, so I thought I’d give radio a go,” she said.
“I’m also going to start a business offering technology and braille training, so I want to get involved around town and meet new people.”