2006/2007

Chairman's Foreword

The year 2006 marked the Society’s Golden Jubilee. During the 50 years since its foundation in 1956 the Society has grown from small beginnings when we were reliant on overseas resources and expertise, to the multi-faceted organization we have today. These days, overseas organizations look to the Society for guidance and support, which we are more than happy to provide.
In order to commemorate 50 years of serving the visually impaired of Hong Kong, and more recently of Mainland China and other Asian countries, celebratory events were held throughout the year. These included exhibitions staged around the territory with the aims of arousing public awareness of the needs and abilities of the blind and severely visually impaired and of the common eye problems and methods used to prevent and where possible cure potentially blinding eye diseases. At the same time, these exhibitions enabled us to encourage public support of our work by using our massage and eye care services, by offering their support by becoming volunteers and, in some cases, by making donations. More than 10,000 visitors attended the various exhibitions.
In order to demonstrate the Society’s concerns over the eye health of the public, free vision screening was offered in a Mobile Eye Treatment Centre (“METC”). After its commissioning by the Society, this METC had been recently delivered and was donated to Shaanxi Province once the exhibition had closed. It is gratifying to write that as a result of the exhibitions, a donation of HK$1.8 million was received to enable the construction of an additional METC, which the donor wished to be donated to Fujian Province.
In July, 2006 the Society staged the Annual METC Review Seminar at which representatives from each of the 12 provinces to which METC’s had been donated reported on progress achieved during the year, and in particular on problems which may have arisen. By December 2007, it is estimated that successful surgery on more than 100,000 cataract patients will have been achieved since the start of the METC programme. METCs are versatile vehicles, each having its own generator, so that mains electricity is not a prerequisite to surgery. They can be driven anywhere that there is a motorable road, thus enabling cataract surgery to be performed in towns and villages away from the major centres of population, most of which have hospitals with eye treatment facilities.? An important element of the work undertaken by the METCs is the training of eye doctors and nurses in China. So far, several hundred have been trained by professional ophthalmologists with funding raised in Hong Kong. 
A major event staged by the Society during the year was the hosting of the 12th International Mobility Conference. More than 300 delegates from 29 countries attended the Conference, the first time it had been held in Asia.
The work of the Society, then, has grown from its small beginnings to become, not only an important centre of activity for Hong Kong’s visually impaired, but a significant force on the international scene. Much of this expansion has come about during the past 20 or so years during which Mrs Grace Chan has been the Society’s Chief Executive. She has brought initiative, energy and commitment to the work of the Society for which the Council, the Hong Kong and international communities are deeply appreciative. Mrs Chan is supported by a team of devoted staff to assist her, to whom we are truly grateful.
Our volunteers are the unsung heroes of the Society’s work. Working with the blind and the severely visually impaired is labour intensive, and without the contributions made by our many volunteers, including in particular our donors who continue to aid the Society both in cash or in kind, the scope of the Society’s work would have had to have been significantly reduced. The community owes them a debt of gratitude.
I am grateful to members of the Society’s Council and its committees for their dedication during the past year. All are volunteers, and I am impressed by the commitment that they continue to make. 
I am sure that the next 50 years will see further advances in the prevention and treatment of blindness so that by 2056 cures for all forms of treatable blindness will have been found, and for those whose visual impairment may not be capable of treatment, that new, powerful aids will be produced to enable the blind to lead economically, healthy and happy lives.

Clive Oxley

Chairman 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chief Executive's Report
 

This is the 20th and the last annual report written by me as the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Society for the Blind.? Looking back at my tenure of the Chief Executive position, it had been filled with excitements and challenges. I am pleased to report that the plans set out in all of the four Five-Year Programme Plan (from 1987/88 to 2006/07) during my term were all accomplished with additional achievements, thanks not the least, of course, to the guidance and advice of the Council led by the Chairman, Mr Clive Oxley, and the support of the dedicated staff team.
Instead of presenting an executive summary of last year’s major achievements, here I would like to share with supporters, friends and readers of this annual report my personal thoughts and experiences on services for the blind and visually impaired. Hopefully they would serve as useful references for the Society’s future endeavours.

1) Community’s Acceptance towards Blind People
Up till the mid-80s, attitude of the general public towards blind people was still very unfavourable and they had to be persuaded to accept the blind. In the course of the subsequent years, through efforts of the Society and other parties concerned, the situation has improved significantly. 
This is indeed a pleasing development and represents a big step closer to integrating the blind into society. In my view, apart from helping the blind maximise their potentials, we should diligently facilitate the processes of adaptation to the loss of vision, acceptance of disability, life appreciation and living with vision.

2) Professionalism in Service Delivery
To provide quality service, we established a team of professional staff who excelled in different areas. Staff training programmes were conducted from time to time to upgrade their knowledge and skills for the benefit of our service recipients. We now have a staff team excelling in eye care; rehabilitation; barrier-free access facilities for the blind; information communication technology for the blind; services for the multi-handicapped blind; and services for aged blind people requiring dementia care and infirmary care. Such training programmes should naturally be continued to enable our staff to move with the times.

3) The Need for Users’ Participation
I truly believe that our service users are “experts on their own needs”. The Society should act as an agent of change for the blind. Since the 90s, we have set up a Users’ Committee under the Information Accessibility Centre (formerly known as the Communication Department) to gather their opinions on our services and invite them for suggestions on service improvement and new service development. During my term as the Chief Executive, we have blind people serving on the senior staff team and participate in policy formulation, service planning and implementation. 
At the Council’s level, we have representatives from self-help groups. The purpose of this is to listen to their voices and act upon what is heard.
As an organisation serving the blind, we should also empower our blind clients with the necessary skills to participate in the activities of the Society so that they can contribute to the community. Take the recent sports activity “Kingdom Swimathon for Brightness” as an example, which was the first sports fund-raising event organized by the Society. The blind swimmers together with people from all walks of life in the community, swim by relay to break the Guinness World Record. The swimming teams comprised participants with/without a disability among civil servants, school students, staff of corporations, athletes and artists. They far exceeded the old record and created a new one with 159 swimmers each completing a pool length of 69 feet by relay in 40 minutes and 21 seconds with more than 50 of them being people with disabilities. This meaningful event fully demonstrated the spirit of “Sports for All” and their strive for the goal of equal contribution to the community.

4) Creating a Barrier-free Information Community 
The first Information Accessibility Centre in the Asian Region was established in November 2006 to provide comprehensive ICT related services for the blind. It is aimed at enabling blind people to enjoy the benefit brought about by information technology. 
The ICT Enlightening Action is one of such initiatives. It comprises the first hotline for computer support for the visually impaired,; the first netshare website; Digital paradise, the tactile China Atlas with speech output in three languages; Scan to Light Project; Compu-light Project; Cyber World; Digi-infotainment Zone; and Barrier-free Reading Corner.
All these projects were made possible through technical cooperation, professional exchanges and resource support from professional organisations and IT companies. They have enabled people with visual impairment to leverage IT in their daily living and mainstreamed them into information society and hence facilitate them in study and work.

5) Future Development of our Services by Tripartite Collaboration
Through years of experience working for the blind and in the rehabilitation field, I envisage that the future development of our services would go for tripartite collaboration. That is, we should launch our services/projects together with the assistance and support from the Government and the business sector. I should like to avail myself of this opportunity to thank, in particular, Mr Raymond Kwok, Mrs Helen Kwok and Mr Edward Kwok for their personal interest and prolonged support in the running of the Parents Resource Centre for Visually Impaired Children since 1998.

6) An Eye for China
With the unique role of Hong Kong SAR being the meeting point between the east and the west, the Society could serve as a bridge and link among the developing nations in the Asian Pacific region and the wider international community in matters for services to the visually impaired. 
I was fortunate that my passion and compassion in this regard have all along been shared by our devoted staff, many committed people, organizations and trust funds. I should like to take the opportunity to thank, in particular, the late Mr Y C Ho, Dr Bessie Chiang, Drs Richard Charles & Esther Yewpick Lee Charitable Foundation, the Kadoorie Charitable Foundation, the Hongkong Bank Foundation, Jetta Company Ltd, Yuen Yuen Institute and Bestseller United Ltd. for so generously supporting many of our projects in China.
During the past twenty years, we pioneered numerous projects in China and the Asian Region. A few of these projects that are continuing to improve and grow include: i) the WBU Asia Pacific Regional Massage Conference which has become one of the most important events in promoting massage as a reputable profession for people with visual impairment; ii) the establishment of Education Resources Centres for Visually Impaired Students at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels that have greatly improved educational opportunities of people with visual impairment in China; iii) National Training Courses in Orientation and Mobility that have facilitated the inclusion of O&M Training as the required curriculum in schools for the blind in China; iv) the Mobile Eye Treatment Centre Project (METC) that would, by the end of 2007, enable more than 100,000 cataract patients in China to have their vision restored, with 18 METCs operating in 18 provinces in China, each operating an average of 2,000 low cost or free surgeries each year; and v) the Vision 2020 Regional Low Vision Resource Centre situated at the Society, which has become an important low vision devices development, purchase and distribution centre that develops and supplies affordable high quality low vision aids to developing countries globally. 
The tasks have been immense and the efforts asserted will have far-reaching impacts on the well-being of the blind in China. They have been achieved in addition to the regular services provision and improvement in Hong Kong. These projects have been possible on account of our collective passion to people with visual impairment and our commitment to make this a better world.

7) Concluding Remarks
Looking back, it has not been a very easy and smooth 20 years, but I am glad that my efforts have made contributions and my passion for the job, my compassion towards my clients and my vision for the way ahead have guided me in the right way to go. It is my belief that when one steps into the rehabilitation field, it is a lifetime commitment. 
I am gratified to conclude my 35 years of services for the blind as follows:
1) My passion for serving the blind will never 
cease; 
2) My love for my dear fellows will never end;
3) My mission for creating an altruistic and inclusive society for all will go on;
4) My endeavours for empowering the socially 
disadvantaged to live with dignity will pass on.
Thank you very much!

Grace Chan
Chief Executive

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finance & Administration Division
General Financial Situation

This was the sixth year the Society had opted the Lump Sum Grant and the first year the Society received the Special-One-Off Grant (SOG) from the Social Welfare Department. The purposes of SOG are mainly for staff training and development, salary increment for above mid-point snapshot staff and staff recognition scheme for the two years 2006/07 to 2007/08. For the financial year ended 31 March 2007, the Society had recorded a surplus of 
$5,793,632 including transfer amounted 
to $1,830,064 to the reserve of Lump Sum Grant, transfer amounted to $869,470 to the reserve of SOG and transfer amounted to $1,048,785 to the Provident Fund Reserve. The Society was able to monitor and control the expenditure for all the service units in order to achieve the satisfactory surplus. In accordance with the requirement of the Social Welfare Department Lump Sum Grant Manual, the cumulative unspent lump sum grant of six years at a total value of $23,734,972 had been transferred from the General Fund to a “Lump Sum Grant Reserve Fund”. Overall speaking, the Society continues to be in a healthy financial position. A Flag Day was successfully held on 13 January, 2007, to raise funds for supporting the operations and capital item of the Parents Resource Centre for Visually Impaired Children, the Factory for the Blind and the Jockey Club Tuen Mun Home for the Aged Blind. The Flag Day income was $2,291,811 whereas expenditure was $172,473 with a net surplus of income over expenditure of $2,119,338.

Accounts Department

The Accounts Department, making use of the new Financial Management System, continued to provide timely and accurate accounting books and records for the 20 service units and senior management. Based on these, the service units were able to develop close cost monitoring and budgetary control measures via decentralized financial information and review analysis. In addition, to maintain tighter internal control over dues & fees such as cash collection of the General Eye and Low Vision Centre, surprise inspections of cash on hand at the reception counter and optical dispensing service are conducted regularly to ensure all collected fees are recorded properly. During the year, the Accounts Department was able to prepare the required audited account as required by the Social Welfare Department, the Community Chest, the Hong Kong Jockey Club and the Hospital Authority.

Administration Department

During the year under reviews, the Administration Department continued to provide central support and services to all Departments, we were pleased to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Society, staff members of the department assisted in many of the celebratory activities. They included the Opening ceremony of the Deafblind Resource Centre cum Integrated Motor Rehabilitation Training Programme, The kick-off Ceremony for Golden Jubilee Activities cum Barrier Free Access Public Education Exhibition, the China Mobile Eye Treatment Centres Public Education Exhibition, the 8th Mobile Eye Treatment Centre Annual Seminar cum Sight Care No.1 Donation Ceremony, the 12th International Mobility Conference, Eye Care Project for Kindergarten Children in Eastern District of Hong Kong Island, and the Flag Day. Apart from the Society’s programmes, the Department also assisted in organizing two Singing Concerts for the social welfare sector held at the Society’s Assembly Hall and Tsuen Wan Town Hall to celebrate the 57th Anniversary of the National Day. The Department also assisted in the printing of Golden Jubilee Logo of the Society designed in letterhead paper. Moreover, the Society’s Information Booklet and all the departmental pamphlets were updated and re-printed in a standard format with corporate colour for promotional purpose. As for office equipment, five sets of FujiXerox photocopiers were replaced at East and West Wings of the Headquarters Buildings.

During the year under review, the Administration Department had completed quite a number of building repair and renovation projects. They included the installation of Security Locks with (Smart Card System) in all main entrances and corridors of the East and West Wings, replaced the Time Attendance Record by Smart Card System, replaced all the Close Circuit Televisions to upgrade the building security control system at watchman counter, and replaced the Watchman Patrolling System in all patrolling areas within the Headquarters Buildings’ environment. The renovation of ground floor main entrance and reception counters at the West Wing and replacement of the Society’s Building Names with stainless steel material at the external wall of the East Wing.

Factory for the Blind

SALES
The Factory sales of 2006/2007 was $13,263,361.83 ($13.26M). The Factory business recorded an increase of 3.73% compared with the fiscal year 2005/2006 and it exceeded the planned sales target of $13M by 2%. For individual production sections, the Paper Box Section and Trading Section had recorded a 5.39% and 73.64% increase of sales respectively over the sales in 2005/2006, whereas sales in the Sewing Section, Filing Tags Section and Assembling Section had recorded a drop of 6.82%, 27.52% and 25.62% respectively compared to the sales in 2005/2006.

The Sales and Service income of the Barrier Free Access Technology Service Unit (BFATS) in 2006/2007 was $1,585,406, representing an increase of 
$1,222,620 (337%) when compared to the sales in 2005/2006. The Major contributions of this sizable increase were orders from China, Supply and Installation of tactile guide paths for a commercial building and Supply Tactile Maps for Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point.

ELECTRICAL RENOVATION
The Electrical Renovation of 2/F Store Section with an amount of $192,500, were completed in January, 2006, thanks to the support of the Lotteries Fund Block Grant.? The Door Exit Signs of the whole Factory were also replaced.

THE REPLACEMETN OF 5.5 TONS LORRY
With funding of $362,147 from the Society’s Flag Day held on 13 January 2007, the Factory was able to replace one of the 5.5 tons lorry which had already been used for more than 10 years.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
By making use of our Call Centre, the telesales were conducted continuously for the Factory/BFATS products and service promotion. When positive feedbacks were obtained from the prospective customers, the Sales and Marketing Officer would pay personal visits to follow-up on the business opportunities. In order to enhance the exposure of the services and products provided by the Factory/BFATS, promotion through the call centre for environmental bags, aprons, diapers for adults for the elderly homes and laundry services, mass mailing projects was launched from time to time.

The Factory was planning to offer a wide range of souvenirs and gift pack service, with company logos on the souvenirs made in-house by hot-stamping machine, pad-printing machine and silk-screening machine so as to enhance the business opportunities in the Trading Section.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rehabilitation Division
TH 12TH INTERNATIONALLY MOBILITY CONFERENCE

As Vice-chairperson of the Scientific Committee, Director (Rehabilitation) had assisted the Chairperson of the Organising Committee to prepare the conference programme and to collect, screen and select a total of 91 papers from 20 countries under the theme “Orientation and Mobility in an Inclusive Society”. Among the 91 papers, 22 and 69 were arranged to be presented in Plenary and Concurrent Sessions respectively. In addition, D(R) had also helped to make abstract books and conference proceedings in the conference. Prior to the Conference, our O&M Instructors gave professional advice on the design and modification of tactile guide paths inside the Mongkok MTR station as well as streets outside the hotel where the Conference took place.

After the Conference, D(R) also led a group of international experts for a post-conference study tour to the Shanghai School for the Blind where the overseas experts had a fruitful sharing with the school teachers on blind education in general and orientation and mobility training and barrier-free access facilities in particular.

VOLUNTEERS DEVELOPMENT SERVICE

In order to maintain and build up a central volunteer database as well as a referral system that best matched new volunteers to appropriate services, a Volunteers Development Service (VDS) at agency level was set up during the year under review and D(R) was in charge of this service. The VDS would also arrange regular promotional programmes, recruitment, training and appreciation scheme to motivate and to acknowledge volunteers’ service and contribution to the Society on agency level. The first Volunteers Appreciation Ceremony was held on 23 March 2007.? For those volunteers including individuals and corporations who had accumulated certain amount of service hours from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2006, they were accordingly presented with Golden Diamond, Purple Crystal, Gold, Silver and Bronze awards. One of the recording volunteers, Madam Lee Kin Choi was awarded the top prize (Golden Diamond Award) who contributed over 900 hours in recording service. There were 300 participants including staff and guests attended the Ceremony.

As at 31 March 2007, there were about 1,400 individuals and 10 corporations registered as our volunteers.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
During the year under review, Manager of the Information Accessibility Centre (IAC) was appointed Chairmen of the Information Technology (IT) Committee of the Society, to help monitoring the IT service provided by the maintenance company as well as giving advices on IT issues. In addition, Supervisor of the Centralised Braille Production Centre helped in the webpage for Flag Day, IT Committee and wrote up a screen video manual on in-house webpage design, as well as prepared an electronic photo album to celebrate the Society’s Golden Jubilee during the 12th International Mobility Conference and for the Staff Spring Dinner 2007.

JOINT PROGRAMMES

Divisional programmes such as Sportswear Sales Activity, Adventure-ship Programme, making pocket-size Braille Calendar and Carnival cum Charity Sale Programme were organized for the visually impaired trainees and members. To facilitate our staff members and VI members to enjoy a convenient and unique shopping experience of sportswear, IAC had lined up an apparel company and jointly organised with Rehabilitation Centre (RC) to hold a sale counter on 9 October 2006, which offers very special discounts on some well-known brands sportswear products. Many members and trainees welcomed this service very much as they could shop more conveniently and easily.

With sponsorship from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charity Trust and support from the Adventure-ship Hong Kong, IAC collaborated with RC to organize an accessible 2-day adventure-ship journey for 56 members/volunteers/staff from 22 to 23 November 2006. The major objectives of the captioned event were to let members have an exposure to new challenges and activities at sea. A Carnival cum Charity Sale Programme was held from 16 to 17 March 2007 at the Headquarters building. The programmes included booths of interactive games, charity sales, massage service, blood pressure reading service, karaoke singing, snacks serving and a sale by auction. It was a very popular event with around 1,400 members attended.

COMMUNITY LIAISON
During the year, Director (Rehabilitation) was appointed agency representative to the Committee on Network for Visually Impaired of the Hong Kong Joint Council for People with Disabilities. On district level, D(R) participated in the Shum Shui Po District Rehabilitation Service Coordinating Committee and 2006 International Rehabilitation Day Sham Shui Po Programme Committee. D(R) was also on the Committee of Digital Solidarity Fund of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service since May 2006.

CENTRALISED BRAILLE PRODUCTION CENTRE
When the Society was appointed by the Education Bureau as the operating agency for braille production for the whole blind population of Hong Kong in 1986, the Centralised Braille Production Centre (CBPC) was established in the same year.? The aims and objectives were to transcribe both English and Chinese braille materials to meet the reading needs of the visually impaired in Hong Kong, including but not limited to textbooks, reference books, recreational books, government consultation papers, Training Manuals for Corporations and public companies. 
As information of all kinds are available in large volume at instantaneous speed today, compounded by the fact that more visually impaired persons are pursuing higher education and professions, the Centre clearly undertakes an important mission in the dissemination of information among the visually impaired community which is vital for them to keep abreast of latest development of the society as a whole. During the year under review, the output of master braille pages reached 224,907, while the overall production (including copies) numbered 593,520 sheets. CBPC received a large number of Mathematics and Science textbook transcription applications for the year and produced more than 16,000 sheets of tactile diagram masters.
In May and July 2006, CBPC had arranged two workshops on tactile diagrams: one at the Ebenezer School for their teachers and transcribers and one at CBPC for their Braille Production Officers. Both workshops helped facilitate collaboration to improve the effectiveness, understanding and overall quality of tactile diagrams.
In 2006, CBPC had conducted a survey on Braille Textbook Production. A pilot test was conducted in early September and the final 90 braille and 125 print copies were distributed via the Ebenezer School in late September 2006. A total of 139 questionnaires (55 braille) were successfully collected.? It was glad to find out that many of them were satisfied with our service and the opinion collected had helped in further improving our service quality.
CBPC had taken up the role to help in the first Music HKCE braille examination paper transcription in 2007. In order to have it run smoothly, CBPC had arranged two workshops, one with the students and Ebenezer School teachers in July 2006 and one with HKEAA and Ebenezer School teachers in January 2007. CBPC had prepared some reference and braille music reading guide for HKEAA to better understand braille music. The practical arrangement on the way of braille transcription, actual examination and final marking were discussed resulting in consensus by all concerned.
To further sustain the tactile diagram making facilities and development, a XyFuse heater and a Network Attached Storage were acquired in 2006 to backup the decade-old heater, for auto production and file sharing.
In addition to braille transcription of textbooks and reference at primary, secondary and university levels, which had been regular and essential items among CBPC production, the Centre had also produced the following in the year under review:
· Braille Digest
· Braille calendar
· 2006-07 Policy Address : Proactive Programatic Always People First
· 2007-08 Budget
· SPD Newsletter of Labour Department
· HKALE Abstract
· HKCEE Abstract
· Common Recruitment Examination
· Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers
· English language benchmark speaking test
· Cervical screening programme
· Cervical screening programme (Chi. Version)
· Questionnaire on Braille Text Books Production for VI Student
· International Mobility Conference Abstract Book
· Dialogue of Traditional Chinese Medial Science
· History of Chinese Medicine in Hong Kong
· Notes for Foot Reflexology Treatment
· Methodology and Practise of Naprapathy
· Japanese Style Massage
· Sweden Style Massage
· Traditional Chinese Pharmacology
· Modern Western World History
· Modern Chinese History
· Guide for Social Research
· Chinese Language & Culture
· Modern Chinese History (Book B)
· Notes for Scan to Light
· Fire Safety Seminar
· Basic Computer Knowledge

· Window Light Short-cut Key & Desktop Buttons 
INFORMATON ACCESSIBILITY CENTRE

IAC’s Launching Ceremony

Communication Department had been restructured and renamed as Information Accessibility Centre (IAC) with the following main objectives:

· To facilitate visually impaired people of all age groups in Hong Kong to have full access of information and on-line resources;

· To empower visually impaired persons to leverage Internet applications and Information & Communication Technology (ICT) to improve 
their quality of life;

· To promote the wider adoption of international accessibility standards among local technology developers and IT industries;

· To narrow digital divide between people with/without visual impairment and promote an information inclusive society.

IAC was officiating launched on 17 November 2006 in order to specifically meet the needs for people with visual impairment in Hong Kong. On that occasion, we also celebrated the setting up of the Cyberworld sponsored by IBM China/HK Ltd. The Cyberworld was set up for members’ use and training need with donation of eight sets of desktop PCs with 19” LCD Monitors, unlimited copies of Aworks and Web Adaptation Technology (WAT) softwares developed by them specially for low vision computer users. Around 150 people attended the launching ceremony.

NEW PROJECTS
With the support of the Lotteries Fund Block Grant and the donation from Mr Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of the HKSAR Government, the Centre had been able to do the renovation work in early August 2006 including replacement of vinyl sheet flooring, lighting, repainting works of internal walls and ceiling, and installation of tactile guide path. The renovation works was completed in November 2006. Besides, IAC carried out a series of ICT-related projects such as “Scan to Light Project”, “Compu-light Project”, setting up of the first hotline for computer support for the visually impaired in Hong Kong, establishing the first netshare for the blind, providing members Weekly Special Offer Services, producing the first electronic braille IT magazine (Hi-Tech Weekly), conducting one-stop portal test project for OGCIO of HKSAR Government, developing the first audible-touch China map in 3 languages and Smart Globe etc. The purpose of these projects are to advance members’ ICT capabilities that may help them mainstream into information society.

ACTIVITIES
With support and sponsorship from Green Worldwide and City Golf Club, IAC kick started the first blind golf programme in Hong Kong in June 2006. IAC had successfully paired up 12 members with 12 volunteers to participate in this meaningful project. The programme continues until now. To celebrate its anniversary, the Disneyland had offered some tickets to the Centre. IAC members visited the Hong Kong Disneyland on 2 and 12 September 2006 respectively and enjoyed the event very much.

On 13 February 2007, the Centre held a party to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year, thanks to the generous donation of gifts from Dr Yik Wai Yung, Mr Luk Choi Lung and Mr Kong Chi Hung. A total of 125 members attended the function. Miss Shirley Tsang (DJ of Radio Television II Hong Kong) also joined the occasion and acted as our honorable master of ceremony. The programme included lucky draw, lunch, performance by visually impaired members and games. All participants enjoyed the party very much. During the year under areview, the Division had successfully raised some public donation through a radio programme, called“有誰共鳴” of the Commercial Radio 1. In the programme, our Manager of IAC shared his life experiences by referring to the chosen songs. Anyone agreed with his messages could donate HK$5 to the Society by sending a blank SMS to a phone number designated by Commercial Radio 1.

BRAILLE AND TALKING BOOK LIBRARY
Established in 1965, the Braille and Talking Book Library was the only public library for the visually impaired in Hong Kong. As at 31 March 2007, it had a readership of 2,400 and a collection of over 8,500 titles and a variety of magazines. During the year under review, the Library’s Users Committee met four times. The meetings were fruitful and beneficial as all committee members gave new ideas for service development and advices for services improvement. For the “Victor” DAISY Book Players donated by the Hongkong Bank Foundation, the Library had relaxed the loan out policy to encourage more library members to borrow the equipment to facilitate them to listen to the DAISY formatted talking books. As at March 2007, we had loaned out 380 units of the DAISY book players.

As there was increasing demand for IAC services from members living in the New Territories, the Centre extended its services to this particular group. Extended services included: multimedia loan out service, returning borrowed items, collection of payment and membership application. With the help of the Rehabilitation Centre (New Territories), members living in the New Territories were able to collect or return their loan-out items through the above Centre. We received positive feedback from members for this additional service. In collaboration with the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, the Centre had assisted in distributing 700 special certificates to visually impaired users for free rides on most public transport on 26 November 2006 for celebration of the International Rehabilitation Day.

MUSIC LIBRARY
The Music Library was set up in November 1993. The current collection were over 3,800 compact discs. The Music Appreciation Centre of the Library was proved to be popular among members. During the year under review, over 1,600 users were recorded.

CD-ROM LIBRARY

The CD-ROM Library was set up in 1996. The current collection were over 5,500 CD-ROM's/VCD's and various videotapes, covering a wide range of subjects, such as history, geography, education, literature, health, science and technology, etc.

PROFESSIONAL LIBRARY

Established in 1986, the aims and objectives of the Professional Library were to provide reference materials concerning visual impairment for both the staff of the Society and other professionals in special education, rehabilitation, vocational training, adaptive technology, low vision and prevention of blindness, etc. The Library currently had a collection of 1,390 titles and a variety of periodicals. During the year under review, about 1,800 visits to this service departement were recorded.

TALKING BOOK PRODUCTION STUDIOS

During the year under review, with the assistance of many dedicated volunteers, the Studios produced over 138 talking books of general interest and 15 magazines of different subjects in both English and Chinese. In addition, other informational materials, such as pamphlets and Government consultation papers were also recorded for the reference of the visually impaired. The project of converting the English-Chinese Talking Dictionary, Oxford Advanced Learner’s from cassette format into CD-ROM format was completed in December 2006. A total of 15 diskettes after conversion to CD-ROM format. The Dictionary was ready to loan out to visually impaired members of schools/organizations since January 2007.

REHABILITATION CENTRE

The aims and objectives of the Rehabilitation Centre (RC) are to provide comprehensive rehabilitation training programme for visually impaired people aged 16 and above. Clients undertook the training were equipped with the necessary independent living skills. Two modes of training are provided, namely, the centre-based and community-based rehabilitation training, the latter being catered for those who could not come to the Centre for training because of health, transportation or other prevailing reasons. Two Centres are located at the Headquarters building and the Tuen Mun District respectively. As at 31 March 2007, the total number of trainees enrolled was 132 with 121 trainees completed the rehabilitation training.

SERVICES PROVIDED

Throughout the year, trainees were encouraged to participate in extra-curricular activities to develop their self-confidence and social network as well as maintain contact with the community, which would facilitate them to integrate into the community and lead an independent life. In 2006, the Centre had jointly organised a community rehabilitative promotional programme, namely, “Love with Joy and Harmony” Carnival cum Exhibition Programme with other NGOs in the Shamshuipo District, which had attracted 400 participants.

To echo the Olympics Games held in Beijing 2008, three trainees and two instructors joined the activity “3rd Two-shore Five-city Disabled Persons Welcoming Activity for Olympic Games”  in Qingdao from 28 June to 2 July 2006. On 22 July 2006, the World Wild Fund for Nature Hong Kong (WWF) conducted a press conference at the Society’s headquarters to introduce a CD of wildlife birds, which was specially made for visually impaired persons so that they could appreciate different kinds of wildlife birds. Eighty persons including 24 trainees attended the press conference. The CD given to each of the blind trainees for appreciation of birds was very well received by them. The event was covered in a Chinese newspaper (Ming Pao).

Trainees of RC participated in the programme “Canoeing Fund Day” jointly with the Momentum Academy on 5 August and 9 September 2006 respectively. Altogether, 18 trainees joined the exciting programme and enjoyed it very much.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT AND RECREATIONAL SERVICES

Apart from providing centre-based and home-based training to our visually impaired clients, support and assistance were also provided to them and their family members, so as to reduce the adverse effect of disability on their daily lives, and to lead a meaningful and healthy life in the community. This aim is being achieved by setting up a new service unit called Community Support and Recreational Service (CSRS). CSRS has commenced its service as from September 2006. The service is also extended to those clients on our waiting list for rehabilitation training on a low fee-charging basis. The service users can join our service by becoming our members so that they can join our groups, activities and programmes. The new service is in line with Government's present policy to encourage NGOs to provide community support service to their clients.
As at 31 March 2007, we have 195 members with 169 visually impaired persons, 13 family members and 13 volunteers.
With the support of the Adult Education Subvention Scheme 2006/07 under the Education Bureau, an English Instructor was employed to teach the “Everyday English Conversation – Foundation” course from November to May 2006.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT
With the Special One-off Grant (SOG) available, two Orientation and Mobility Instructors Training Courses at Elementary and Advanced Levels were conducted from 5 December 2006 to 6 January 2007. Mr Tom Blair, the O&M Consultant from Australia was invited to be the course instructor. The two courses were successfully conducted with a total of 35 Society staff (22 for the Elementary and 13 for the Advanced levels) participated, all were awarded certificates at the Graduation Ceremony.
Moreover, twenty instructors and staff of RC participated in the 12th International Mobility Conference, which they had good explosure and sharing with international expertise. It did help us to broaden our view on professional and service development in the long run.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES 
O&M and tactile maps training course was organised for three staff of the Beijing City Activity Centre for the Disabled Persons from 19 to 23 March 2007.
The Centre participated actively in meetings and projects especially those dealing with barrier free access for the visually impaired which were organized by government departments, corporations such as the Transport Department, the Mass Transit Railway Corporation, Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, bus companies, Hong Kong Disneyland etc. Staff and trainees of RC had also attended and given opinions druing the public consultation forum on the Consultancy Study re Review of the Design Manual: Barrier Free Access 1997 on 21 February 2006.
The Centre also arranged and co-ordinated trainees to take part in evaluation of new access facilities and installations, such as tactile guide paths and other access facilities in government buildings and public areas, such as tactile guide paths at Kwai Chung Estate on 18 January 2007, Wai Chi Street at Shamshuipo on 28 February 2007, Tin Yat LRT station on 28 February 2007, braille signages and colour contrast of the facilities at Star Ferry Pier on 20 October 2006, the facilities of the public transport interchange at North Point and Chai Wan on 16 March 2007.
The Centre continued to play an active role in public education awareness programmes. They included 36 talks on Sighted Guide Techniques for about 1,121students of primary and secondary schools, universities as well as adults in community and social services centres, etc.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE CENTRE 
As soup making could hardly be taught during class, a Training Manual on the cooking methods for more than 100 kinds of soup was produced and taped to supplement the contents of the Home Management classes in 2006. The feedback was good and encouraging. As the response on the Soup-making Training Manual was much welcome by our clients, it had been converted into CDs and sold to the blind clients in the community.
During the year under review, a Cantonese Braille Textbook and the O&M Training Manual were also published. The Cantonese Braille Textbook was available in braille, CD and printed versions, thanks to our Communication Skills Instructor, Miss Edith Yeung, who herself is a blind person and has 10 years of experience in teaching braille. Edith has put lots of efforts to publish this book for which we appreciate very much. Besides, the staff team of O&M Training Unit had put tremendous efforts in putting their many years of experience as well as theories together to write up the O&M Training Manual.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RESIDENTIAL SERVICES DIVISION

Following the objectives set for the Fourth Five Year Programme Plan which concluded in March 2007, substantial achievements have been made in the past five years through conscientious efforts of all staff members of the Division to go for quality service. Remarkable developments are highlighted in the following.

VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT

Big achievements had been made since the launching of Volunteer Movement under the Fourth Five Year Programme Plan. The number of volunteers had been doubled between 2002/03 and 2006/07, some of them rendered volunteer services to both the aged blind and multiply handicapped blind service users under a systematic service record and volunteer training scheme. Two recreational programmes for cultivating cohesion among volunteers had been organized in June and December respectively each year since 2003. In addition, volunteer training programmes conducted during the summer of each year to recruit new volunteers and for refreshing the caring skills of our old members.

RESIDENTS AS VOLUNTEERS

Volunteer groups among the more capable residents in the Kowloon Home for the Aged Blind and the Tuen Mun Home for the Aged Blind had been set up to promote mutual help and community service spirit. Visits to fellow inmates and other community services had been organized as their regular activities. Feedback from participants had been positive as they were able to raise their self-confidence and self-esteem in rendering volunteer service.

APPLICATION OF THE CLIENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

With the inception of the Client Information System (CIS) as from 1st October, 2004, staff members had got accustomed to using the CIS on computers. They are now more confident in using the CIS for instant updating of clients’ personal information on line such as medical data, casework service, handling of clients’ pocket money and para-medical support. The inception of CIS in the residential homes proves to have facilitated communication among staff of different disciplines in the Home, including the social work team, the nursing team and the para-medical team.? Individual Care Plans could be updated and progress of individual clients could be reviewed on-line.

To go for better efficiency, the CIS had undergone major revamping in the year under review. The new CIS was to be operated on web-basis for higher efficiency in data-processing and data access.

PROFESSIONALIZATION OF RESIDENTIAL CARE FOR THE AGED BLIND

Physiotherapy Service

To pool resources for better service delivery, the Physiotherapy Service Team of the Division continued to provide quality service to the aged blind residents in our four Homes for the Aged Blind and the Morning Glory DAC cum Hostel. Apart from normal service delivery, the Physiotherapy Team had completed the research project on “The Effect of Exercise Programme on the Performance of Functional Balance of Visually Impaired Elderly Living in Residential Setting” that examined the effectiveness of exercise programme in improving the mobility and prevention of fall of the elderly people with visual impairment. About 30 subjects had been selected for the exercise programme and 28 were recruited as the Control Group for the research study.? The study was completed in July 2006 and research report was presented at the 12th International Mobility Conference for a sharing with the conference participants in November 2006.

THE DEMENTIA CARE TEAM
Apart from conducting the usual staff training programmes for frontline staff members to upgrade their skills in handling the demented elderly, Music Therapy training, Aromatherapy and Body-mind Physical training had been conducted for both professional and frontline staff of the Division in July and November 2006 respectively.
The Dementia Care Service team continued to run therapeutic groups, namely, Movement to Music, Reminiscence, Remedial Activity and Sensory Stimulation for the demented aged blind in each of our Homes for the Aged Blind. In addition, music therapy had been tried out in some of the Homes under the guidance of the qualified music therapist, Mr Ng Wai Man. Aromatherapy was tried out at the Yuen Long Home and Kowloon Home for suitable demented aged blind too during the year.

SHORTAGE OF ENs IN THE RESIDENTIAL SERVICES OF WELFARE SECTOR 
To meet with frequent turn over of Enrolled Nurses(ENs) in the Homes and the shortage of EN supply in the labour market, the EN vacancies have been filled up by Health Workers and the purchase of EN and personal care workers service from private nursing agencies to meet with operational needs of the residential care homes. At the end of the year under review, though we still have one to two EN vacancies, the nursing care team of the respective Home is prepared to accept the replacement of EN by Health Workers, so that the general nursing service would not be adversely affected due to shortage of manpower.

THE DEAFBLIND RESOURCE CENTRE (DBRC) 
Established on 11 January 2006, the Deafblind Resource Centre made efforts to build up its membership during the year under review. As at end of March 2007, the membership of DBRC was as follows:
Honorary members : 3; Life members (individual) : 12; Life members (agency) : 6; Ordinary members (individuals): 57; Ordinary members(agency) : 1; and associate members of agency members : 546.
Thanks are due to the Van Zuiden Charity Trust for support of a series of adaptive aids suitable for the deafblind in the sum of HK$142,500. The items supported include a PAC Mate Notetaker supporting a deafblind person’s communication with others through personal computers, a Zoom-Text Magnifier, a PAC Mate 40 Braille Display, a programme on Chinese Jaws for Windows, a Perkins Brailler, an Aladdin Apex CCTV and two personal computers. 
Apart from organizing social programmes for our members of the Deafblind Resource Centre, a training workshop on “Introduction and Making of Teaching Aids for Deafblind” had been organized on 17 June 2006. Fifty participants coming from different rehabilitation centres and special schools attended. Another training workshop on “Use of Adaptive Aids for the Deafblind” had been organized on 17 March 2007. About forty participants coming from different rehabilitation centres and special schools attended.
To enrich resources of the Centre, we have successfully obtained funding support from the Shamshuipo District Council the sum of HK$4,210 to organize a volunteer training programme to recruit volunteers for the Centre. The programme involved two training sessions for volunteers to be held in October and November, and two social programmes in December of 2006 organized for deafblind members and volunteers of the Centre to facilitate their interaction.
The second Newsletter of the Centre had been published in August, 2006 and the third one published in January 2007. They were circulated to all members of the Centre, rehabilitation agencies, agencies for the elderly, special schools in the field and volunteers in order to keep them abreast of our latest news and updated information of deafblind rehabilitation.

HEALTH MASSAGE AND TREATMENT CENTRE 
Major renovation of the Reception Counter of the S K Yee Health Massage and Treatment Centre(HMTC) and foot reflexology area of the Beauty Centre had been completed during the year under review. 
To further promote and develop the services of the Beauty Section, training to our visually impaired masseuses had been rendered by a volunteer beautician, Mrs Connie Yuen in May, 2006. In addition, Mrs Connie Yuen donated an Infrared Sauna Spa (美容太空艙) and two other beauty machines to the Centre in June. Meanwhile, Ms Samantha Keung, the General Manager of the Blu Spa had given our three beauty masseuses one day free training for use of the new machine, the Super Bio Spa , for face and body slimming in June. The machine was donated to the Centre in July. We are grateful to the two celebrities for their staunch support of helping the visually impaired ladies to strengthen their skills in beauty massage, facial treatment and body slimming. With the installation of these new machines, the beauty massage service of the Centre has been diversified with good and promising response from the customers.
Promotional activities had been launched at the New Town City Plaza in Shatin in early August, the East Point City, the Metro plaza in late August and early September respectively under the mobile exhibition campaign to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of HKSB and Tenth Anniversary of the Mobile Eye Treatment Centre (METC) project. The response at the promotional sites had been positive and new customers for HMTC had been recruited during the promotion.
Promotional packages for facial and beauty massage, foot reflexology cum body massage had been developed and introduced one after the other during summer of 2006. With the new Manager in post as from November 2006, who is an experienced beautician, new beauty service packages were developed and the sales for the beauty massage service, facial and body slimming treatments plus related beauty products had been increasing substantially between January and April 2007. 
However, the business of Mobile Massage Service has been unsatisfactory over the past six months due to keen competition from Vocational Training Council massage graduates and those from other NGOs under the Employees Retraining Scheme. They charge for low fees for the mobile massage service to the Residents’ club houses in private residence. To meet with keen competition from the sighted masseurs, we shifted our focus to big private and public corporations, such as the China Light and Power (CLP) Ltd. We are particularly indebted to the CLP who supported our service by giving us a free promotion on their e-newsletter to their Business Partners of the Business Plus as from March 2007.

BRADBURY CARE AND ATTENTION HOME FOR THE AGED BLIND 
Encouragement of Client Participation
In order to promote the concept of “user participation” in the Home, a “Customers Service Committee” was established in 2006. Ten Committee members were nominated by the residents and three members were invited from residents’ family members. Regular meetings were held to collect service users’ feedback so as to improve the Home services and the residents’ quality of life throughout the year. As a result, better communication between the Home and the service users were achieved.
To facilitate residents’ to lead a more meaningful life, an elderly volunteers group was organized in June 2006. After the training, seven residents played active role in home affairs such as provision of feedback to Home’s general services. 
During the year, four residents were elected by residents and family members as “Star of Health”, “Star of Politeness” & “Star of Care”. They have been invited to promote the launching of health programmes with the staff members, to help in the reception of guests during the mass programmes and etc. Through an active participation in Home’s programmes, their self value and sense of belonging to the Home were greatly enhanced.

IMPROVEMENT OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH CARE SERVICE 
Throughout the year, the Community Psycho-geriatric Team of Kowloon Hospital and the Community Geriatric Assessment Service of Kwong Wah Hospital provided visiting medical consultations and rehabilitation service to the needy residents of the Home. In addition, a visiting Medical Officer provided consultation service to our residents once a week. We appreciated their support and guidance for better care of our aged blind residents.
A total of thirteen residents were found suffering from different levels of senile dementia and fourteen residents had been waitlisted for infirmary placement at the Hospital Authority by end of 06-07. In order to meet the constant care needs of the frail elderly, we had employed additional staff including social worker, personal care workers and physiotherapist to provide special care and individual training to the frail elderly and the demented elderly under the provision of Infirmary Care Supplement and Dementia Supplement from the Social Welfare Department.
To prevent residents from rapid deterioration in physical health, health exercise and individual orientation and training programmes had been organized regularly. The community nurses of the Department of Health were invited to give health talks to our residents during the year, so as to enrich the residents’ health knowledge and awareness. Throughout the year, resident attendance of medical follow-ups and hospitalization were recorded as 577 and 47 respectively by head count.? Compared to the last year, the frequencies of medical follow-ups of our aged blind residents decreased by 19%. Individual rehabilitation and treatment programmes as well as fall assessment for frail residents had been conducted by the Physiotherapist, in order to upkeep their optimal functioning and prevention of fall.

IMPROVEMENT OF HOME FACILITIES 
We are deeply grateful to the funding support of Van Zuiden Charity Trust and Lotteries Fund for improvement of our Home facilities and equipment. We were indebted to the Van Zuiden Charity Trust for support of a standing wheelchair and one set of aircast autochill pump system with cooler tube assembly for better physical rehabilitation of our aged blind residents. On the other hand, with support from the Lotteries Fund Block Grants, a total of fourteen sets of hospital beds were acquired to replace the worn out ones in 06/07, and the annual inspection and repair for the Home Van was completed in March 2007.

IMPROVEMENT IN OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY 
In order to arouse staff’s awareness in occupational health and safety at work, lifting assessment was arranged for staff in September 2006 and a follow up training workshop to enrich the Home staff’s knowledge on occupational health and work safety was conducted. Moreover, a series of staff training programmes including talks and workshops, and regular internal work place risk assessment had been arranged during the year.

KOWLOON HOME FOR THE AGED BLIND 
Celebration of 20th Anniversary
The Kowloon Home for the Aged Blind was opened in 1986. In 2006, we celebrated its 20th Anniversary on 15 July 2006 by holding Party with the theme on “Reminiscence”. There were 22 relatives of the residents and 15 volunteers joined the programme together with our 76 aged blind residents. In addition to these, the famous TV star, Ms Law Lan, was invited to the Celebration Party to present a talk to share her personal stories and encourage our residents to hold a positive and happy attitude towards their life. All the participants enjoyed the Party very much.
Enrichment of Social Work Services
In the year under review, KHAB offered opportunities to students from different local universities fieldwork placement at the Home. Various types of service were brought to our residents to enhance their psychosocial care and enrich their daily life through outdoor activities, interest classes therapeutic groups and counseling services.
In addition, a music therapist, Mr. Ng Wai Man, led a group of six music therapy students of the SPACE of the University of Hong Kong to render music therapy for the aged blind residents on every Sunday between October and November 2006.? Besides, a student of Master of Music Therapy at Queensland University of Australia started her placement at the Home from December 2006 until February 2007 for a total of 160 hours conducting music groups for our residents with mental problem, such as depression or dementia.
Two students of Physiotherapy Department of Hong Kong Polytechnic University started their clinical placement at KHAB between 15 February to 16 March, 2007 on every Tuesday and Wednesday during the period.
Apart from rendering social work services to the aged blind residents, the placement students had the opportunities to get to know better about the aged blind.
Visits from Justice of Peace and Community Leaders
The Home joined the Justice of Peace Visit Programme since 2005.? During 2006/07 six JPs, namely, Dr. Wong Ming Chung, Dr. Wong Yick Ming, Mr. Cheng T N Albert , Mrs. Watt Leung Sing Tak, Grace, Ms Victoria C M Tang and Mr. Walter P S Kwok paid visits to the Home on 3 May 2006, 27 September 2006 and 13 February 2007 respectively. They all gave positive comment towards our service.
District Service Quality Group 
Our Home joined the Service Quality Group of Shamshuipo District organized by the Social Welfare Department of Shamshuipo District in 2006.? During the year, two community leaders, Mr. Cheung Man Ping and Mr. Ha Chin Pang, paid visit to our Home on 20 July 2006 and they gave us positive comments. They paid special tribute to the Reminiscent Floor established on 7th Floor of the premise for the demented elderly.
Community Liaison 
During the year 06/07, the Home collaborated with various religious bodies such as 基督教宣道會恩磐堂, 國際佛光會 and 湛寺 to organize festive programmes such as the Christmas Celebration Party, the Celebration Feast for Mid Autumn Festival. and Vegetarian Feast for our residents who enjoyed the parties and meals.
Improvement of Home Facilities and Environment
During the year under review, with support from the Lotteries Fund block Grant, we were able to install two sets of fan coil air conditioners at the exercise room for improvement of ventilation in the room, purchase two 3-crank hospital beds, 4 electric hospital beds as replacement of the worn-out ones, repair the rusty mullions of the balcony, and to carry out annual inspection and repair work of the Home van.
In addition, the Drs Richard Charles & Esther Yewpick Lee Charitable Foundation-Charity for the Blind had generously supported $49,980 for the Home to purchase a Laser Therapy Unit to enhance our Physiotherapy service 
Participation in Society’s Flag Day
In the year 06/07, The Home participated actively in the Society’s Flag Day and won the champion of the prize for “Recruitment of Highest Number of Volunteers”.

JOCKEY CLUB TUEN MUN HOME FOR THE AGED BLIND 
10th Anniversary Celebration
Established in 1996 and as the 4th Home for the Aged Blind under the Hong Kong Society for the Blind, the Jockey Club Tuen Mun Home for the Aged Blind? aims to provide the warmest care and most comfortable living environment as well as a harmonious home life to the aged blind residents under our care. Round the clock personal and nursing care services, catering service, laundry service, group or individual counseling services as well as social and recreational activities were rendered to our residents. In the year of 2006, we celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the Home. A series of events and activities had been organized with the slogan “十載回憶極珍貴，共建和諧快樂家” launched to celebrate this memorable year.? Celebratory activities held included Finger Print Arts Creation, “Today in those Years” Quiz Competition, and Award Presentation with a Lunch Buffet held at the Assembly Hall of the Home for our residents and relatives on 25 October 2006.
Finger Print Arts Creation
Our guests, residents, staff members and volunteers used different colors of fingerprints to paint a lively, powerful and cheerful dragon on a banner. This piece of artwork represented combined efforts of enthusiasm, devotion and energy from different parties which had made it a great success. The banner was put up onto the Stage as backdrop of the Award Presentation and Lunch buffet held on 25 October. 
“Today in those Years”Quiz Competition 
In the past ten years, our residents had shared happiness though sometimes there were frustrations due to minor relationship problems with inmates, health problems and etc. However, they supported each other through difficult times. Every drop of tears and every moment of joy had made the time spending together extraordinary and unforgettable. Through the game, residents had a chance to look back on every episode in ten years for a good recall of memory. It was amazing to see participants having good memories and enthusiasm in participating in the quiz that indicated their strong sense of belongingness to the Home. 
Installation of Ozone Laundry System
With the support of the Business Improvement Project under the Social Welfare Department, the installation of the Ozone Laundry System was completed in late 2006. It helps to improve the service quality in laundry and reduce the operating cost. This new system produces better cleansing quality than the conventional washing with less usage of chemical detergent and better time efficiency. Also, the sewage produced contains a smaller portion of chemicals which is conducive to environmental protection.
Visits from Justice of Peace
During the year under review, we were glad to have received two JP groups visiting the Tuen Mun Home. The first group comprised of Mr. Luk Hing Too, JP and Mr. K. W. Tsang, JP (Assistant Commissioner of Labour Department), who visited the Home on 29 August 2006.They gave positive comments on our services. They were impressed by the good facilities provided at the Home. Another group comprised of? Mr. James Chiu, OBE JP and Mrs. Lau Lai Siu-wan, Marigold JP (Deputy Director of Architectural Services Department) who visited the Tuen Mun Home on 27 February 2007. They appreciated our dedicated services offered to the aged blind in the provision of a better living environment.They had spent time to get familiarize with the aged blind home service and gave us due encouragement in our continous pursuit of quality residential care services.

YUEN LONG HOME FOR THE AGED BLIND 
Celebration for the 35th Anniversary
Yuen Long Home was the first home for the aged blind established in Hong Kong in 1971. At present, it provides 60 C&A beds and 20 Infirmary beds for the aged blind elderly. There were 3 residents over 100 of age and 5 residents had been residing at Yuen Long Home for over 20 years. A series of celebration programmes, including visit to Hong Kong Wet Land Park, seafood lunch, and other home activities were held. A survey on “Satisfaction Level toward Home’s Service” was conducted. Most residents and relatives showed their satisfaction to the services provided by the Home. A 35th Anniversary booklet was published as well to record the memorable events, service development, service statistics and sharing from staff members.
Progress Update of Major Renovation
Major renovation of the Yuen Long Home had been delayed due to Social Welfare Department’s request for conversion of all Old People Home (OPH) places into Care & Attention (C&A) places in the Homes for the Aged Blind as from September 2005. Therefore, a revised application had been submitted to SWD requesting a supplementary grant to meet with renovation for the conversion exercise in October 2005.? But the immediate repair of the re-roofing work was completed in October 2005 due to serious water leakage at the roof top of the building. In view of the withdrawal of the Authorized Person (AP), the Project Architech, in May 2006, another consultant company had been giving assistance in the revision of the application and provision of schematic drawings to the Lotteries Fund Committee. At the time of this report writing, approval from SWD was still pending.
Implementation of “5S Practice” and Greening Home Environment
The 5S practice, base on the five principles of Sorting, Straightening, Shining, Standardizing and Sustaining were introduced to staff members and residents. They were educated and encouraged to participate actively in the process of 5S. It was a tool for continual improvement for Home’s service quality, environment, occupational health and safety management. The result was satisfactory and the environment had been improved. Residents and staff members were reminded to execise self-discipline so that the working and living environment would be more decent. Besides, more flowers and plants were planted in the open courtyard to? build up a greenery environment inside the Home.
Community Participation
During the year, the Home made further progress in liaison work with various social service organizations, schools and volunteer bodies. The Superintendent continued to attend District Elderly and Rehabilitation Co-ordinating Committees, NT-West Geriatric Services Consultative and Advisory Committee, to maintain communication and network with other welfare agencies and geriatric medical service units of the district. In addition, the Home had joined a two year pioneer project (2005-2007) – “SWD-Yuen Long District Residential Quality Scheme” by conducting mutual visits to different rehabilitation residential homes in the District-giving assessment and improvement suggestions.

MORNING GLORY DAC CUM HOSTEL 
Multi-intelligence Training and Community Participation
Every person , including the handicapped, has their own potential. Some has talents in language, some in arts, some in music and some in mathematics. To develop the potentials of our mentally handicapped blind, we need to give them chances and choices to express themselves in the way that they feel at ease and have confidence. During the year, we were grateful to see the joint collaboration of our professional teams, the social workers, the physiotherapist, the occupational therapist and even the nursing staff in developing trainees’ multi-
intelligence through training and participation in various kinds of art and musical performance, sports, drama, handicrafts making, gardening and etc. The singing and musical band of the Morning Glory DAC cum Hostel-the Cheers, attended the Singing Competition of the Celebratory Programme of the National Day of China“中國情香港心歌唱比賽” and had been selected for the final contest held on 5 September at the Tuen Wan Town Hall. With outstanding performance, they were being invited to take part in the Jockey Club Arts for the Disabled Annual Performance on 9 December 2006 at the Auditorium of Shatin Town Hall. 
In addition, the Cheers gave a performance at the Welcoming Dinner Reception of the 12th International Mobility Conference (IMC) on 27 November 2006 at the Grand Ballroom of the Langham Place Hotel. They were well received by the overseas and local participants of the 12th IMC. The parents were happy to see that their children were not shy of showing their enthusiasms in different activities and reaching out to the community. 
Also, on 25 March 07, the Cheers made a wonderful performance at the Annual Function of the Zonta Club (HK East). Their performance impressed the Zonta Club members. 
Besides, the trainees of the Morning Glory DAC cum Hostel had the chance to participate in the “Beat the Drums Altogether-Breaking World Record” held at the International Festival of Arts for the Disabled on 2 December 2006 at the seashore of the Victoria Harbour. Twenty-four trainees and parents took part in the event and they gave a wonderful performance together with thousands of disabled and volunteers from 18 districts in Hong Kong.
Social Work Service
Apart from the delivery of various multi-intelligence interest groups, and behavioral therapeutic groups to our trainees, a study named “Aging and Support Network of our trainees and their families 2006” was launched during the year to find out the aging profiles of the parents of our trainees and their support network to identify effective strategies for overcoming problems and issues related to aging for further programme development in the coming three years. 
“I Will always LOVE U-Celebrating the love of Parents” was the theme of a family programme on 26 May, 2006. A total of 64 residents of the Morning Glory DAC cum Hostel, 28 of the Bradbury Home and 28 parents attended. The trainees expressed their heartfelt thanks to the love of their parents through dramas and singing songs. Some of the trainees even did simple massage on their parents with aroma oil to show their tender love to their beloved parents while some others did fruit facial for their mothers. Every one of the participants enjoyed the party. 
Summer Variety Show 06
「夏日繽紛看世界」 
To widen exposure of our trainees, the theme of the year under review had been “Tour around the World”. Each house of the Morning Glory DAC cum Hostel selected a place, like Beijing, Korea, Japan, Brazil and Hawaii for a study and gave performance through dramas, role-plays, dancing and singing songs to introduce to trainees from the other Houses the culture of the place they chose. A total of 129 participants, including trainees, volunteers, family members attended the Annual Performance organized at the end of August 2006. 
Healthcare and Visiting Medical Practitioner Scheme (VMP)
With effect from November 06, both the Morning Glory DAC cum Hostel and the Bradbury Home were supported by the Social Welfare Department to start the VMP services for our residents. We are grateful to have invited Dr Affandy Harriman to be our visiting doctor attending to the general medical care of our residents of both units. Dr Harriman offers weekly visits to the Home on every Wednesday. Our service users and their parents or family members, in particular, welcomed Dr Harriman who was willing to spend more time and effort than he was paid for each individual residents of the Home.
Integrated Sensory and Motor Rehabilitation Programme
During the year, we were pleased to see the increased initiative of our trainees in joining the physical fitness and multi-sensory training programme. They enjoyed the activities at the Sensory Garden and Adventure Park. Aromatherapy, hand therapy and various types of sensory stimulation programmes had been rendered to the trainees to enhance their quality of life.
Parent Work
A Parents-Staff Sharing meeting had been held on 7 July 06 to work out the main themes for the coming 3 years. Besides, the annual meeting of the Parents Association was held on 15 Dec 06 to review the work of the Association and programmes organized with the Home for the year.
Lunar New Year Dinner
「公豬同好廿載情」 
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Home, the Annual Dinner was held at the Spotlight Club at Whampo Garden on 2 February 07 with lots of games and performances conducted by the trainees with assistance from the volunteers and their family members. A total of 192 participants, including 72 trainees, 58 parents, 17 volunteers, 20 guests and 25 staff members had a very joyful and special evening together.
Annual Excursion 2007 to Zhong Shen
「朝陽廿載親親祖國之旅」 
The Annual Excursion was held on from 29 to 30 March 2007. A total of 77 participants including 21 staff members, 42 trainees, 12 parents and 5 volunteers joined the tour to Zhong Shen. The Hotel Spa Club was a wonderful place for entertaining both of our mentally handicapped blind trainees and their family members. They enjoyed the spa and massage service there, apart from the delicious food.

BRADBURY HOME 
Friday Fitness Programme and Healthy Diet Scheme 
Apart from the provision of general residential care and training for semi-independent living at the Bradbury Home new programme named “Friday Fitness Programme and Healthy Diet” had been launched during the year. An Individual Functional Ability assessment” was conducted for every residents of the Home with an aim to motivate our residents to keep sound physical health. Upon assessment, some of them were assessed to have deficits in body balance and they were encouraged to attend the balance training class on every Friday after work. Others were encouraged to take part in aerobic exercise training in order to keep their physical fitness. 
Healthy Diet and Social Life
Under the theme of “Healthy Living”, the food menu was reviewed from time to time for maintenance of healthy diet for each of the individual residents of the Home. Apart from training in cooking healthy food, the residents of the Bradbury Home had been encouraged to be the host inviting their friends, 2 to 4 trainees, from the Morning Glory DAC cum Hostel to join their dinner on every Friday.
Personal Development Programme
Three out of the ten residents of the Bradbury Home attended the interest classes run by the Echo Valley Evangelistic Association for the Handicaps. Another one joined the “Rhythm training for the Handicapped” that their leisure life could be enriched with more meaningful activities.
Preparation for Ageing
To prepare some of our residents, whose age are already above mid forties , for facing menopause, Hostel Supervisor had conducted “A Study on Aging and Support Network of our Service Users”. Findings revealed that the fathers and siblings were the main carers of our residents. The carers had been encouraged to pay regular visits to the Home and fetch residents out for family gatherings to enhance family ties. On the other hand, knowing that the average age range of the main carers was 71 years old, counselling and group work had been rendered to help our residents and their families to cope with aging, death and dying. 
Medical and Health Care
In response to the increased nursing care and rehabilitation needs of our ageing residents of the Brabdury Home, members from the para-medical and nursing team of the Morning Glory DAC cum Hostel paid regular visits to the Bradbury Home to provide needy support and supervision to our residents in handling their medication, skin care and prevention of fall. 
In addition, the Visiting Medical Practitioner Scheme offered by the SWD had been extended to the Bradbury Home as from Nov 2006.

SOCIAL PARTICIPATION
Charity Sales - at the Creative Arts Playground at Wong Tai Sin
From 17 to 24 April 06, 9 residents of the Home took part in the charity sales of handicrafts at the Creative Arts Playground at Wong Tai Sin organized by the Martketing Consultancy Office of the Social Welfare Department. Despite of the low income generated from the sale of handicrafts, our residents did enjoy the work process which was meaningful and self-fulfiling.
Joyful Home
During the year under review, we started the self-financing Joyful Home Project located at the Greenery Villa in Tuen Mun to provide residential care service to the visually impaired and mentally handicapped persons whose family carers are unable to take care of them due to work.
Due to keen competition from the private sector, the admission rate of Joyful Home was not so satisfactory. A focus group was held with staff members to find out ways for promotion of the service. By end of November 2006, four clients had been admitted to the Joyful Home. Recruitment for staff for the Joyful Home Project at Tuen Mun and co-operation with the Tuen Mun Home for the Aged Blind to provide auxillary support to the Joyful Home residents had been making steady progress. 
A total of ten applications were received during the year, but only 5 of them were being assessed as suitable for admission. By end of March 2007, the total number of admission was 5. During the past six months, three applicants withdrew their application due to financial hardships and family reasons. The number of discharged cases was two for placement at other subvented services.
Fund Raising Scheme-“Searching for the Grateful Heart”「尋找有心人計劃」 
To support families with financial hardship to apply for residential care at the Joyful Home, a fund raising scheme , named “ Searching for the Grateful Heart” had been launched for finding donors or sponsors to support the disabled with financial hardships in enrolling for the Joyful Home programme. At the end of the year under review, we were pleased to have sourced donation and sponsorship to support partially the home fees of two of the residents of the Joyful Home for a term of one year.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Research & Development Division
Career Support and Development Centre

In 2005, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust continued to support the services of the Hong Kong Society for the Blind through a 3-year Community Project Grant, which provided all the necessary financial resources for the Society’s “Let there be Light” project to strengthen its vocational training services for the visually impaired and to develop eye care and educational programmes for the public. The services supported by the Grant included the basic and advanced massage trainings and computer training to better the employment opportunities of the visually impaired, and public education programmes to promote the services of the Society and needs and abilities of people with visual impairment. It has conducted many training programmes to facilitate community involvement and public awareness on eye care, and helped the public to develop proper attitude towards people with visual impairment.
In 2006/07 one of the major vocational training programmes, the 10th Massage Training Course for the Visually Impaired was completed in November 2006. Ten trainees graduated, completing a comprehensive syllabus of basic Chinese medicine, anatomy, pathology, massage techniques and a three-month supervised field practicum.? All graduates had successfully found employment after graduation.
To provide the visually impaired masseurs the opportunity to enhance their massage skills and qualification, the 1st Advanced Massage Training Course, was held in 2006 and five graduates have successfully completed the Course. To promote the professional standard of the visually impaired masseurs, our Society organized the Advanced Massage Skills Examination for the course graduates. Eleven graduates successfully passed the examination and obtained the qualification as senior masseurs.
The Centre provides 135 training courses in computer knowledge, word processing, internet and use of adaptive equipment, etc. to enhance the information technology knowledge of the Centre’s visually impaired clients.

The Community Chest and the Social Welfare Department supported the Employment Service Unit (ESU) and the Supported Employment Service (SE) of the Centre to help more visually impaired persons to receive successful employment in the open market. The Centre had succesfully helped 3 cases of SE and 32 cases of ESU to obtain successful employment so that they could actualize their potentials and participate in the society. 
The Centre also provides adaptive technology and equipment and training in their usage to the visually impaired clients to help them overcome the difficulties at work. During the year under review, the facilities in the Centre recorded over 5,470 user visits and over 1,000 piececs of adaptive devices were dispensed to her visually impaired members.
With the continual and generous support from the Jockey Club’s Community Project Grant, the Centre reached out proactively to the community to promote needs and potentials of people with visual impairment and provided necessary training on eye care, proper communication and correct attitude in interaction with people with visual impairment. The good ground work laid in 2005/06 led to a tremendous increase in output of 99% on average for each programme activity for the “Let There Be Light” Public Education Project in 2006/07, especially in the area of volunteer training for school students. The most frequently held activities were the “Public Education Exhibition on Eye Care and Barrier Free Access Facilities”. They promoted the important concept of barrier free accessibility and visual health to about 9,850 participants of the general public. 
With the continual support from the volunteers, the Centre will organize more varieties of services and activities for the visually impaired members and the public in the year to come as the integration of the abled and the disabled persons in our community is important in enhancing social harmony. In the near future, the Centre will further develop her volunteer group to render more useful service to promote the social inclusion concept.

Parents Resource Centre for Visually Impaired Children
The Parents Resource Centre for Visually Impaired Children (PRC) was established in August 1998. Up to date it is still the only resource centre of its kind in Hong Kong that provides on-going support to families with visually impaired children. The Centre provides appropriate supportive and advisory services to her members in education, rehabilitation, healthy family relationship and social intergration to facilitate the integration of visually impaired children into our community. 
With supports from her members, volunteers and other social organizations, the number of registered members reached 785 in 2006/07 while the number of registered volunteers was 140. A total of 90 developmental and educational activities consisted of 287 group meetings were held in 2006/2007 and served 2,761 members. They included thirty-one support groups, nine social and recreational activities, twenty two educational classes, seven observational visits, fifteen family outings and six community programmes. These activities helped to establish intimate parent-child relationship, improved the parenting skills of the parents and enhanced the comprehensive development of the visually impaired children. 
Another major emphases of the Centre was on community education. Fifteen public and community education programmes on social integration were organized for our visually impaired members and the public through our Centre’s cooperation with volunteer teams of other welfare organizations.
Volunteers from 12 volunteer teams of other welfare organizations participated in our Centre’s Integrated Community Education Programmes. They included Yung Shing Lutheran Integrated Team, St. James Settlement, Holy Trinity College, Hong Kong Christian Service Happy Teen Club, Leo Club of Kwun Tong Hong Kong, SKH Ma On Shan Integrated Services Centre, Hong Kong Children & Youth Services Fanling Integrated Services Centre, Hong Kong Federation of Youth Group School Social Work Unit, SKH Lam Kau Mow Secondary School, Caritas Francis Hsu College, Momentum Academy and Rainbow Music. The programmes helped improve volunteers’ interaction skills with the visually impaired children and built up their understanding, care and concern for the visually impaired. 
One large scale promotional and community programmes organized by our Centre in 2006/2007 was the Marathon Charity Concerts held in shopping plazas to publicly demonstrate the musical talent of the visually impaired to the public. Two days of the Marathon Concerts were held with great success with over 70 performers participated in each day. Majority of the performers were visually impaired children, kindergarten, primary and secondary school students and youths. Positive comments on the talents and performances of the visually impaired children were received and over HK$38,000 were raised. 
The Centre was moved to the mezzanine floor of the Maintown Plaza in March 2006 due to shops’ reallocation. The new floor area was slightly larger than the previous shop area occupied by the Centre. An Information Technology Corner with adaptive computer equipment was also set up with the donation support from Fung Ying Seen Koon (蓬瀛仙館), and training courses were organized to enable the visually impaired children to be proficient in using the latest information technology in their education process, daily living and social integration.
In the years to come, PRC will continue to play a vital role in the provision of appropriate supportive and advisory services to her clients in education, rehabilitation, healthy family relationship and social integration. The Centre will derive different means to detect her members’ needs and to encourage them to give active feedback about what services and facilities would need improvements. We will also actively organize more variety of training programmes such as social skills training, self esteem building course, and educational talks for parents of pre-school visually impaired children, and social integration activities such as Marathon Charity Concert, and family outings to strengthen areas that can give the visually impaired children comprehensive development.

Low Vision Resource Centre
The Vision 2020 Low Vision Resource Centre (LVRC) was formed in July, 2003 under the recommendation of the Asia Pacific Regional Low Vision Workshop to establish a centre to take on the role of a clearinghouse to centralize the purchase and development of low vision devices and assessment materials at particular low prices to benefit as many low vision persons as possible in the developing countries, especially those with underdeveloped low vision services due to financial constraints.
The Christoffel-Blindenmission, the Foundation dark & Light, the Hong Kong Society for the Blind and the Sight Savers International contributed to a start-up fund of the LVRC. The Centre is managed by the Hong Kong Society for the Blind and monitored by a Board of Governors consisting of representatives nominated by the sponsoring organizations with the World Health Organization as an observer.
More than 60 developing countries from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East and South America are acquiring low vision devices from the Centre in 2006/07. The number of low vision devices and vision assessment equipment dispensed increased from 603 pieces in July-September 2003 to 11,502 pieces in January-March 2007. 
LVRC conducted a client satisfaction survey in 2006. The purpose of the survey was to measure the level of satisfaction among the LVRC clients and to identify possible areas for improvement in the Centre’s products and services. The questionnaire was sent to 56 LVRC’s clients by e-mail and 26 clients responded to the survey. Overall, nearly 90% of respondents were satisfied with the products and services provided by the Centre.
To make its range of low vision devices and assessment equipment more comprehensive at low cost, the Centre is in continuous search for new low vision devices and assessment equipment from new suppliers at reasonable cost. New low cost spectacle magnifiers, closed-circuit television reading aid were made available in the Resource Centre in January 2007. And LED hand-held magnifiers and stand magnifiers would be added to LVRC in later part of 2007. The Centre has started to develop low vision devices and assessment materials that are useful but not available in the market, such as better designed Halberg clips, occluder etc. to meet the needs of the field optometrists and eye care specialists who worked in remote areas of the developing countries.
LVRC also served as a training centre to support the setting up of low vision resource depot in other countries. In May 2007, the Centre would provide a 4-day training for the staff of the International Centre for Eyecare Education (ICEE) in inventory management, quality checking, and overall management of a low vision depot. It is hope that this would speed up the establishment of low vision supply facilities and better accessibility of low vision services and devices to the poor visually impaired persons in the developing countries.

The General Eye and Low Vision Centre
Low Vision Services
Being the most established clinical low vision service provider in Hong Kong, the Centre continued to provide comprehensive low vision services to the visually impaired in Hong Kong since 1984. It also served as a training Centre and provided clinical attachments to the final year Optometry students of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University to improve their clinical low vision skill and knowledge. 
By providing low vision assessment, prescription of low vision devices, lending of the devices for home trials, dispensing of the devices and making appropriate referrals for necessary social and educational services to the visually impaired, the Centre served a total of 2,392 low vision patients in 2006/07 and 186 of them were Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients.
General Eye Services
The number of general eye patient attendance in 2006/07 was 43,629, of which 1,718 were Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients. Some of these were patients with mental and physical disabilities, referred to the Centre by social service organizations and hostels for people of old age and with disabilities.
The Centre provided subsidized sight restoration surgeries to thirty-seven patients with financial difficulties and were in need of urgent eye operations to cure their blinding eye diseases using the generous support of the S.K.Yee Medical Foundation. Besides surgical subsidy, the Foundation supported the Centre with Funding to acquire advanced low vision examination equipment and devices to the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients with low vision. 
To help to prevent the formation of undetected permanent visual disability among kindergarten students, elderly and disabled persons, the Centre’s Vision Screening Team visited a total of 32 kindergartens, homes for the elderly, centres for the disabled persons and primary schools, and served more than 6,500 vision screening subjects. The Team helped to prevent permanent visual impairment among those they served. Posters to promote GELVC’s services were distributed to service outlets of the Hospital Authority to recruit patients who could not afford the long waiting time at public eye hospitals and the expensive charges of private eye services. 
Three of the Centre’s optometrists joined the 4th Hong Kong Optometric Conference in November 2006 and reported what they learnt to all other optometric colleagues. To celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Society, the Centre helped launch a series of public education exhibitions and vision screenings from July to September 2006. Thousands of people of the general public visited the exhibitions and received vision screening services. 
In the year to come, we plan to renovate the chiller system of our operating theatres to prepare for expansion of our surgical services. We will continue to put great efforts into providing more vision screenings and eye care seminars to the elderly homes, kindergartens and schools to publicize visual hygiene and prevention of blindness. Academic research in low vision and other ophthalmic related topics would be one of the major focuses of the Centre in 2007/08.

Consultancy Service Unit

The Consultancy Service Unit (CSU) made significant service improvement in 2006/07 with increase in the number of contracts to design and to produce tactile maps, the development of some new and improved products and the organization of more public education activities to advocate the use of Barrier Free Access (BFA) facilities to promote equal opportunities for the visually impaired. The core activity for CSU is to design and produce any BFA products (e.g. tactile map, guide path and signage, etc) and to advise on the design of appropriate living environments to improve the functional abilities of the visually impaired (VI). In 2006/07, CSU was engaged in 15 projects, and designed 35 tactile maps, including 12 fire escape tactile maps, and was 21 more than the year before. This is mainly due to the increase in the number of construction/revamp work and the extensive network that CSU established in the past few years.? Some of the major BFA projects were carried out for : Aberdeen P.H.A.B. Site, Grand Waterfront Plaza, Kowloon Tong Education Resource Centre, KCRC Sheung Shui Station, KCRC Ma On Shan Station, KCRC Lok Ma Chau Station, LDS Church, Ocean Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Tseung Kwan O Arcade, Union Square.

To raise the public concern about the significance of BFA for VI and to increase the pubic acceptance of BFA, CSU actively organized promotional activities that targeted at the public as well as the professionals to pose more important impact on the issues. Apart from the public education exhibition organized in January 2007, CSU supported training sessions and training camps organized by the Career Development & Public Education Centre for their youth volunteers. Moreover, three training sessions were conducted for the staff of Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited to enhance their knowledge in BFA and their communication techniques with visually impaired customers.

CSU was invited to give four consecutive seminars on “BFA facilities for the VI for Achieving Universal Design” to over 400 architects and estate managers of the Housing Department to enhance the VI’s abilities to use the facilities in public housing estates independently. Cooperative relationship with Housing Department was built thereafter, and the Department assigned CSU with tactile map projects of their newly constructed and renovated public housing estates, and also invited CSU to provide consultancy service to their new public estates in Kwai Chung, making it a “model public estate”. Such encouraging mission has fostered CSU’s goal to be a pioneering consultancy body for BFA for VI in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Institute of Housing paid a visit to our Society and interviewed CSU concerning the design and development of BFA in Hong Kong, and the interview was published in the Institute’s official journal in September 2006.

Progressive development of BFA products was carried out this year. For example, new color coating technology was employed on stainless steel and aluminum tactile maps to give them colorful look. The text was electrically itched on the stainless steel plates with braille messages on the braille plate for the implementation of universal design in BFA. Automatic sound volume adjustment mechanism would be introduced to the audible device of tactile map to minimize their unnecessary disturbance to the immediate environment. The introduction of these new designs and products would increase the public acceptance of BFA. Besides the enhancement of features of the BFA products, research and development activities with government and private companies had been done for the improvement of public facility for the visually impaired and also the sighted persons:

Transport Department (TD) – A proposal on the installation of street name plates with braille and sighted text on traffic signal poles of pedestrian crossings was approved by the Transport Department. It would undergo testing before full scale installation. E-go Voice Navigation of the Digital Bus Stop (DBS) System – CSU played an advisory role in this project, which would help the visually impaired person to receive real time audible information at the bus stops about bus services and buses’ arrival time. Public demonstrations were organized to collect opinions for this system from different organizations for the visually impaired.

The year of 2006/07 was an eventful year for CSU in its work to improve independence and equality for persons with visual impairment in Hong Kong. We will remain active in research and development activities and sensitive to the needs of people with visual impairment, so that the proposed BFA can enable them to find their destinations and to use the public facilities with ease.