2011/2012

Patrons 
The Honourable Donald Tsang, GBM 
Chief Executive 
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
 

Vice-Patrons 
Mrs Marjorie Bray 
Dr Bessie Chiang 
Mrs Helen Kwok  
Professor Dennis S.C. Lam 
Mr Clive Oxley, OBE ED 
Professor C.K. Poon, OBE, GBS, JP

Council Members 2011/2012  

Chairman 
Miss Nancy Law Tak Yin 
 
Vice-Chairman 
Mr Michael Szeto Chak Wah 
 
Hon Treasurer  
Mr Patrick Ng Wing Hang 
 
Hon Legal Advisor 
Mr Peter Chan Kin Sang 
 
Hon Medical Advisor 
Dr Hui Siu Ping
 
Members 
Mr Chong Chan Yau 
Dr Ho Chi Kin (until Nov 2011)
Ms Susan Ho Suet Fun 
Ms Winnie Kong Lai Wan 
Dr Vincent Kwan Pun Fong 
Mr Lawrence Lai Man Leung 
Ms Ida Lam Choi Chu 
Mrs Fanny Lam Fan Kit Fong 
Mr Lam Wai Pong 
 
Co-opted Members 
Dr Clement Chan Wai Nang (from Dec 2011) 
Mr Lam Chung Yun  
 
Ex-officio Member 
Ms Maureen Tam Ching Yi

Committees  
Audit Committee 
 
Chairman  
Ms Winnie Kong Lai Wan 
 
Members  
Ms Eva Chow Yee Fei 
Mr Lawrence Lai Man Leung 
Mr Paul A Moore
 
Ex-officio Members 
Miss Nancy Law Tak Yin 
Ms Maureen Tam Ching Yi 
 
Eye Care & Vocational Services Committee 

Chairman 
Dr Hui Siu Ping 
 
Members 
Mr Joseph Kwan 
Dr Kenneth Sin Kuen Fung
Mr Yan Wa Tat 
Mr Joseph Cho Chun Wah 
 
Ex-officio Members 
Miss Nancy Law Tak Yin 
Ms Maureen Tam Ching Yi

Factory Management Committee
 
Chairman 
Mr Michael Szeto Chak Wah
 
Members 
Mr Colin Bosher
Ms Winnie Kong Lai Wan 
Mr Lawrence Lai Man Leung 
Mr Christopher Marquis  
Mr Joseph Cho Chun Wah 
Ms Phoenix Cheung Mei Fung 

Ex-officio Members 
Miss Nancy Law Tak Yin 
Ms Maureen Tam Ching Yi

Finance & Administration Committee 
 
Chairman 
Mr Patrick Ng Wing Hang 
 
Members 
Dr Vincent Kwan Pun Fong 
Mr Lam Chung Yun  
Ms Fannie Wong Siu Fun 
Ms Kany Wong Kan Ying 
 
Ex-officio Members 
Miss Nancy Law Tak Yin 
Ms Maureen Tam Ching Yi

Rehabilitation Services Committee 
 
Chairman
Ms Ida Lam Choi Chu 
 
Members 
Mr Jason Ho Ka Leung 
Ms Virginia Pak Lai Sheung 
Mr Tsang Kin Ping 
Ms Kitty Chung Shuk Ming 
 
Ex-officio Members 
Miss Nancy Law Tak Yin 
Ms Maureen Tam Ching Yi 

Residential Services Committee 
 
Chairman 
Mr Lam Wai Pong 
 
Members 
Ms Shirley Cheung Yuet Mei 
Dr Ho Chi Kin 
Ms Susan Ho Suet Fun
Mr Benson Lo Tak Wing 
Ms Amy Tso 
Ms Doreen Mui Siu Ping 
 
Ex-officio Members 
Miss Nancy Law Tak Yin 
Ms Maureen Tam Ching Yi

Publicity & Fund-Raising Committee
 
Chairman 
Miss Nancy Law Tak Yin

Members
Ms Winnie Kong Lai Wan
Mr Lawrence Lai Man Leung 
Mr Lam Wai Pong 
Mr Patrick Ng Wing Hang 
 
Ex-officio Member 
Ms Maureen Tam Ching Yi 
 
Yuen Long Home Redevelopment Committee 
 
Chairman 
Mr Lam Wai Pong 
 
Members 
Dr Ho Chi Kin 
Mr Patrick Ng Wing Hang 
Ms Olga Chew 
 
Consultants 
Project Architect
Professor Patrick Lau Sau Shing 
 
Quantity Surveyor 
Mr Yu Hon Kong 
 
Structural Engineer 
Mr Ng Kam Tong 
 
M & E Consultant 
Mr Raymond Tam 
 
Project Management Team 
Mr Carlos Lau Chung Yue 
Mr Ricky Ng Kwok Pui 
 
Ex-officio Members 
Miss Nancy Law Tak Yin 
Ms Maureen Tam Ching Yi 

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Chairman’s Foreword

With the aim of “helping the visually impaired to help themselves”, the Hong Kong Society for the Blind has been providing diversified rehabilitation services to help the visually impaired regain self-confidence, integrate into the community and become self-reliant.

Since its establishment in 1956, the Society has provided comprehensive rehabilitation services to the visually impaired for over 55 years.  In the early days, seven vocational training centres were established to provide training for the visually impaired.  Currently, the Society’s services include: Factory for the Blind to provide sheltered employment for the visually impaired, aged homes to provide residential care for the elderly blind and General Eye and Low Vision Centre to provide eye care services for members of the public.  In addition, we operate day training and residential care services for the mentally handicapped visually impaired adults, Centralised Braille Production Centre to produce Braille reading materials for the visually impaired and the first-of-its-kind Resource Centre for Parents with Visually Impaired Children.  Over the years, the number of service units operated by the Society has grown to 19. 

Having regard to the development of our community and in order to allow the visually impaired more opportunities to participate in social activities, several innovative programmes have been operated.  These include: “Community Support and Recreational Service” to provide social and emotional support to the newly blind; “Empower Shop” to provide practicum training for visually impaired job-seekers interested in sales and store management; “CanDo.hk website” to facilitate the visually impaired to seek jobs; and “Starting a New World from Piano-playing” to assist visually impaired piano teachers to pursue their piano teaching career.
 
With funding support from “Create Hong Kong” of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, the Society conducted a one-year “Hong Kong Film Audio Description Development Programme” from May 2011 to April 2012.  Experts from the United States and Taiwan were invited to conduct training and workshops for people interested in audio-description.  Participation in the Programme was encouraging with a total number of 131 participants, of which 71 successfully completed the training. Sixteen movies were shown during this period to allow the trainees to practise their skills.  The aim of the Programme is to enable the visually impaired to have equal opportunity to enjoy movies, thus broadening their social network and opportunity to participate in entertainments for the community.

“Barrier Free Access (HK) Ltd” was established on 1 October 2011 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Hong Kong Society for the Blind.  The company continued to provide “one stop” service to government departments, voluntary organisations and private companies and persons, including consultancy service, design, production and installation of barrier-free access facilities. The company also organized seminars and workshops to allow the public to have a better understanding of barrier-free access facilities for the visually impaired.

With continued exploration and improvement since the 90s, we have established a solid foundation for providing rehabilitation services for the deafblind.The Deafblind Resource Centre was set up in 2006 and membership has now grown to 147 persons.  Besides providing community-based training and recreational activities for the members, we provide appropriate support for families and carers of our deafblind members.  The Centre now conducts training course in tactile sign language for volunteers so that they will eventually become interpreters and escorts for our deafblind members and assist them to integrate into the community.  During the past year, a second training course was held with 19 persons completing the course.

Implementation of Statutory Minimum Wage from May 2011 has increased the financial pressure on the Factory for the Blind.  It was particularly challenging for the Paper Box Section.   Due to the efforts of the Factory staff to solicit new orders and boost existing ones, the sales performance was not seriously affected. The business of the piano-tuning service grew satisfactorily last year.  We are glad that the services of the visually impaired piano-tuners are well regarded by our clients.

To celebrate the 55th anniversary, starting from 14 October 2011, the Society organised Open Days on three consecutive weekends at the headquarters building in Shamshuipo, service units in Tokwawan and Tuen Mun Districts so that members of the public would know more about the services provided by the Society.  A barrier-free access experiential programme was conducted at two of the Open-Day sites.  Members of the public were blindfolded and given a cane to experience how visually impaired people cope in their daily lives, such as crossing the street, withdrawing money from the ATM and shopping on their own.  The Open Days attracted 1,970 visitors, of which 620 persons took part in the barrier-free access experiential programme.

To facilitate social integration and harmony of our community, it is important to launch diversified services that are in keeping with our community development.  On behalf of the Council, I would like to thank relevant departments of the HKSAR Government, the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the Community Chest, various trust funds and foundations, corporate and individual donors and volunteers for their staunch support so that we can introduce innovative projects over the years to meet the needs of the visually impaired.  I would also like to thank the Chief Executive and all employees of the Society for working wholeheartedly and diligently to provide services to the visually impaired.

With the enthusiastic support of the community, government, business organizations and volunteers, we will continue to work together to bring about a better future for the visually impaired. 

Nancy Law 

   

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Chief Executive’s Report 

Counting back to the years before 1956 when there were limited services for the visually impaired, the life of the blind in Hong Kong had been difficult.  Upholding the mission of helping the blind to help themselves, the Hong Kong Society for the Blind has gone through the golden 55 years to develop services with innovations and have established a wide spectrum of services to meet with the changing needs of our clients with visual impairment.
Yet, turning into the twenty-first century, we witness a changing users’ profile with new needs and new demands.

Upon government’s promotion of free education and equal educational opportunities for all with support of learning aids, more and more young visually impaired persons are able to excel academically, become a musician or even an IT expert.  As a result, there is an increasing demand for high level jobs.  With advancement in technology, in particular amidst an explosive development of information technology (IT), visually impaired persons are able to work on computers equipped with magnifying or screen reading programmes as skillful as their sighted counterparts.  Nowadays, the visually impaired persons are no longer satisfy with the few vocational training and employment opportunities that have been familiar to the general public, such as massage, telephone reception and filing tags making. 

Since the 1990s, the Hong Kong Society for the Blind had organized a total of thirteen ten-month basic massage training courses for the visually impaired with more than 150 graduates joining the field.  Yet starting from 2006, advanced training in the form of modular courses had become more popular among the working masseurs. 

Meanwhile, telephone reception service common among the visually impaired since the 70s, has been modified as customer service.  The visually impaired customer service assistants working in our Factory for the Blind, are capable of arranging appointments and meetings for small business entrepreneurs, doing cold calls for sales promotion and handling bookings of piano tuning services for the visually impaired piano tuners attached to the Factory for the Blind.  Also, for the more educated visually impaired, they may engage in secretarial jobs such as meeting minutes transcription, interview records transcription or even translation.  For the music talents, new job opportunities for giving performance at shopping centres are under exploration apart from working as music teachers.

To meet with an increasing demand for better social life and quality of life, audio description service have been vigorously promoted with the aim of enriching the social life of our visually impaired members.  Besides, talks that range from philosophical pursuits, literatures appreciation to travel and healthy diets, have been organized by our Information Accessibility Centre to widen the exposure of our visually impaired members and to open up their mind.

Barrier-free is a crucial element to enable equal participation of the visually impaired in the society.  Barrier free access to transport, public and community facilities to enhance independent mobility of the visually impaired has been one of our major advocacies in the past years.  Through intensive promotion, many more building professionals are aware of the needs of the visually impaired.  We are pleased to see that a number of professional institutions are doing research on applying new data transmission technology such as WIFI, RFID, Blue Tooth, Infra-Red and etc, in the development of new mobility aids to assist the visually impaired in indoor and outdoor navigation, other than using a walking cane on tactile guide paths to go in and out of buildings, shopping malls, locating bus stops, entrance and exit gate inside rail stations and on platforms.
Apart from physical access, web accessibility is also of great concern to the new generation of visually impaired who browse websites on internet and communicate with friends on facebook and other internet social media.  To promote equal rights and participation, the government has taken the lead to promote web accessibility for persons with disabilities.  To test the accessibility of all websites, visually impaired persons have been employed to do the users’ test and provide valuable comments for improvement.

In residential care, new rehabilitation programmes administered by the physiotherapists and occupational therapists that made use of latest biomedical technology, have been yielding good results. Apart from provision of intensive nursing care to the frail residents, meals, social and recreational programmes, effective rehabilitation programmes and palliative care have proved to be effective in enhancing the quality of life of the aged blind and the multiply handicapped visually impaired persons under our care.

The society is changing and so do the needs and demands of our visually impaired clients.  To meet with the changing client profiles and their different service expectations, the future is full of challenges.  Led by the Council and the Committees, we shall do our very best with service partners and users to strive for a bright future.

Maureen Tam

   

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Highlights of Events

Development of Audio Description Services for Hong Kong Films Project

Supported by Create Hong Kong of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, the “Development of Audio Description Services for Hong Kong Films Project” was organized from May 2011 to April 2012, aiming to nurture a pool of professional narrators for support of the development of audio description services. 
The Project was divided into three parts, namely, “Workshop on Professional Audio Description Training”, “Movie Screening with Audio Description”, and a Seminar on “Audio Description in Chinese films”.

   

    

55th Anniversary Celebration

To celebrate the 55th Anniversary, Open Days were organized on 14-15, 22 and 29 October 2011 for service units at HKSB Headquarters, in Tokwawan and Tuen Mun Districts respectively. By introducing to visitors our services rendered to the visually impaired, they would have a deeper understanding about the difficulties and needs of the visually impaired persons in daily living. In addition, a “Living in a Barrier Free Society” Programme was staged during the Open Days to give participants a special experience to move around in total darkness, to explore how barrier free facilities were able to assist the visually impaired persons to minimize difficulties in their daily life. The four-day Open Days attracted an attendance of about 2,000 visitors.

Establishment of Barrier Free Access (HK) Limited

The Barrier Free Access Technology Services Centre was renamed “Barrier Free Access (HK) Limited”, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of HKSB, on 1 October 2011. One-stop services ranging from consultancy services to design, supply and installation of barrier free access products will be provided to government departments, organizations, companies and members of the public. As part of community education, seminars and talks on barrier free access for visually impaired had been held periodically to enhance public understanding of barrier-free access facilities.

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Rehabilitation Services

Rehabilitation Centre (RC)

Enrolment
The Centre recorded a total of 139 enrolments and 92 referrals in the year. Over the year, 63 visually impaired service users completed the various independent living skills training programmes conducted at the Centre whilst 65 trainees completed the route orientation programme.  Up to 31 March 2012, there were 196 applicants on waiting list for rehabilitation training.

Professional Development
In order to provide suitable and quality rehabilitative training to the visually impaired, professional team meetings of Home Management and Orientation & Mobility (O&M) Skills Instructors were held regularly to review individual cases and share among teammates teaching techniques, for enhancement of their teaching quality. 
Supervisor and Unit In-charge of O&M Training Unit attended the 14th International Mobility & Orientation Conference during 13-17 February 2012 at Palmerston, New Zealand to bring back the latest information and technology regarding O & M training for the visually impaired.

Public Education and Outside Liaison
During the year under review, the Centre organized 60 seminars / talks on effective communication skills with visually impaired and sighted guide for NGOs, private corporations and schools, with 3,674 participants.

Service Enhancement
With the 10% One-off Supplementary Allocation  from the Community Chest in 2011/12, community-based training had been extended to those visually impaired on waiting list, to help them better adjust to daily living with proper O & M skills and cookery skills before receiving a formal training at the Centre. A total of 54 visually impaired had benefited from this supplementary allocation.

Publicity
During the year, we received visitors from the community and had attended several media programmes to introduce the difficulties faced by the visually impaired in their daily living. The  Cable TV Programme “Fat Mother Alone” came to the Centre for a shooting on 29 January 2012 to introduce how visually impaired persons handled cooking tasks.  The programme hostess, Ms Maria Cordo and her assistant, Mr Leung Wing Chung, were blind-folded to do cooking together with 25 visually impaired trainees. The programme received good public response when it was shown on TV.

Deafblind Training Programme

Thanks to the unfailing support of the Community Chest, the rehabilitation programme for deafblind continued in the year under review.  
Training includes: tactile sign language and communication skills, orientation and mobility skills. Besides we received community resources enquiry and rendered service referrals. During the year, 22 deafblind persons were trained and six of them were staying in the community. 

Professional Training
Father Cyril Axelrod, the Honorary Consultant of deafblind service, scheduled to visit Hong Kong twice a year since year 2008. He gave his professional advice on the development of the communicator service and provided in-service training to rehabilitation workers. Father Cyril hosted two workshops for the teachers of Caritas Jockey Club Lok Yan School and Ebenezer New Hope School on communication with multiple disabilities deafblind students in June and November respectively. 
In-service training for staff members was conducted again in April 2011.  All three members completed “Communicator /Guide Course for the Deafblind Level 1” and obtained the required qualification.  
In May 2011, two communication training workshops were conducted for 50 staff working at day activity centres and hostels for people of moderate to severe intellectual disabilities of the Wai Ji Christian Service. 
The second “Certificate Course for Communicator / Guide for the Deafblind Level 1-Basic” was organized from May to August 2011. Among the 21 course participants, 19 completed the training, and 14 of them passed the test and presented with a certificate. In addition, ten of them finished a ten-hour situation practicum with deafblind clients from October to December 2011, and acquired the qualification as the Deafblind communicator.

“You are not Alone” Deafblind Project
The first graduation ceremony was held on 22 July 2011 for 14 community deafblind trainees who had completed the tactile sign language training from 2008 to 2011. Many of their family members and friends came to show their support. The first class on “Learning Tactile Sign Language in Fun” was conducted in February 2012 through soft clay making. Fourteen members with their familiy members visited the Elder Link and its Senior Citizen Home Safety Service in March 2012. 

Service Date 11/12

Deafblind Training Programme

Number of Graduates during the year 2011/12	7
Number of Trainees as at 31 March 2012	15

Rehabilitation Centre

Graduates

Graduates of rehabilitation programme	92
Graduates of Route Orientation	83

Sex Distribution

Male	42
Female	50

Age Profile

16-29	21
30-39	12
40-49	10
50-59	20
60-69	11
70 or above	18

Analysis of Trainees' Causes of Blindness

Diabetic Retinopathy	7
Retinitis Pigmentosa	20
Retinal Detachment /  Retinal Degeneration	9
Glaucoma	15
Cataract	5
Macular Disease	14
Retina Disease	3
Optic Atrophy	2
Brain Tumor / Cancer	6
Congenital Defects	7
Unclassified	4

Enrollments and Referrals

Case referrals received	92
Enrollments	139

Trainees number in Various Subjects

Home Management Skills

Cookery	77
Techniques of Daily Living	70

Social & Educational Activities

Music Class	45
Community Life Education	114
Social & Educational Programmes	52
Monthly Outings (average attendannces)	45

Counselling and Group Sessions

Individual Counselling	212
Self-help Group Meetings	12
Group Meetings	44

Orientation & Mobility Skills

Orientation & Mobility Training	88
Route Orientation	83
Physcical Exercise	116

Communication Skills

Reading / Writing in Braille	53
Putonghua	28
Handwriting	58
Computer Training	39

 
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Employment Services

Career Support and Development Centre (CSDC)

The 4th Advanced Massage Training Course
The 4th Advanced Massage Training Course was organized to enhance the knowledge and skill of the visually impaired masseurs. It started in October 2011 with four classes of different subjects: Aroma Massage Therapy, Chinese Medicine for the Treatment of Tendon Injury, Palpation Diagnosis and Massage Therapy for Common Urban Diseases. Twenty four visually impaired masseurs were benefited from the course.
 
Training Course on Piano Tuning and Maintenance
A one year vocational training on piano tuning and maintenance was organized for two persons with visual impairment, who were selected out of twenty one applicants. The training that started in March 2012, was financially supported by the Chan Dang Social Services Foundation for the purpose of increasing employment opportunities for the visually impaired. Upon completion of training and pass of examination in Mainland China, the two trainees would be offered piano tuning and maintenance jobs by the Factory for the Blind for its individual and corporate customers.

Empower Shop (ES Shop)
Empower Shop is a platform to provide job training to the visually impaired job-seekers. A new branch of the shop was planned for the East Wing lobby of the headquarters building to strengthen the effectiveness of the training for the trainees in 2012/13. As the customer flow in the lobby of East Wing is larger, it would also help more people in the community to understand the working ability of the visually impaired people.

CanDo.hk Website
During the year, an average of 44 job vacancies were posted on the website monthly for the visually impaired job seekers of the centre to consider. The monthly browsing frequency was 770. On average, 7.5 job interviews were organized monthly for the job-seekers.

Further Studies for Persons with Visual Impairment
Five visually impaired persons were financially supported by the Dr Karen Lee Scholarship for the Visually Impaired to study various training courses including Wine Tasting, Hosting and Production of Broadcasting Programme, Advanced Training in Piano Performances, Music Composition and Production. The completion of these courses would greatly enhance their opportunities in finding suitable jobs in  the open market.

Volunteer Support
Volunteers were recruited to provide support to the Centre through escorting visually impaired job-seekers to attend job interviews, assisting the trainees in mobile sale activities of the Empower Shop, retreading of walking canes, and maintenance of computers in the self-study rooms and computer zone. The support from the volunteers had helped to enhance occupational safety and health, and a more effective vocational training environment in the Centre.

Factory for the Blind

Sales  
The Factory sales of 2011/12 were $13,228,824 ($13.23M), representing a decline of $2,168,662 (14.08%) over the same period of 2010/11. 
For individual production section, the sales for Sewing Section, Assembling Section and Filing Tag Section increased by 21.05%, 4.36% and 17.88% respectively, whereas the sales of Paper Box Section and Customer Service Centre declined by 26.92% and 12.94% respectively when compared to the same period in 2010/11.
The drop of sales in Paper Box Section accounted for the major decrease of the total sales. One of our significant customers who placed $3.2M business orders in 2010/11, gave us business orders total to just $0.33M in 2011/12, a drop of 90%.

Energy Saving Project and Production Equipment Replacement
For energy saving purpose, the Factory acquired a grant from the Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) in June 2011 to replace all T8 fluorescent lights with LED lights. This project was concluded in October 2011 at a total project sum of $177,680. It is expected that 72%  saving reduction of 46.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum will be resulted.
The Factory was successful in obtaining a grant of $267,800 from the Van Zuiden Charity Trust in January 2012 for the purchase of a slitting machine and a jogging jig saw machine for the Paper Box Section and six lock-stitching machines for the Sewing Section. The new machines will help improve the product quality to satisfy our customers and increase number of sales orders to provide more job opportunities for our disabled workers.

Factory’s Annual Outing 2011
The Factory’s annual outing was held on 19 November 2011 for a trip to the Sky 100 Tower, and an early dinner in Wong Tai Sin. Two hundred and twelve participants joined this outing, including 154 service users, 35 staff and 23 volunteers.

Future Development
The Factory will put more effort to develop its piano tuning business. Over the past two years, the service was promoted to kindergartens, primary schools, churches, NGOs, etc. and obtained good business result. The expanded client pool and a 3-year Piano Tuning Contract awarded by the Leisure & Cultural Services Department in June 2011, provided a good platform to further expand and generate more revenue for the Factory. It will also create more job opportunities for persons with visual impairment.

Health Massage and Treatment Centre (HMTC)

Business Overview
The business of the two Centres, S K Yee Health Massage & Treatment Centre and Bernard van Zuiden Health Massage & Treatment Centre were keeping well with encouraging revenue for the year. The total sales income from massage revenue, beauty therapies and sale of beauty products were $6,742,000, which indicated an increase of 6% when compared with the previous year. During the year, 26 visually impaired masseurs, masseuses, beauty masseuse and massage assistants were being employed.

Business Promotion and Product Diversification
During the year, HMTC conducted promotional sales including facial and body treatment packages at privileged prices monthly. Special gift sets were introduced during seasonal festivals.

Mobile Massage Team
The income generated by our mobile massage team had a 24% increase when compared with the previous year because the Health Massage and Treatment Centre had successfully built up good business relationship with the caring companies.

Staff Training and Development
Our Masseurs, Masseuses and Beauty Massage Assistants had attended the Fourth Advanced Massage Training Courses organized by our Career Support and Development Centre. Moreover, beauticians were sponsored to attend the beauty seminars and training workshops so as to keep them abreast of the latest products and service skills.

Advertisements
For promotion of services, HMTC was able to obtain free advertisements in the Fashion & Beauty, Economic Digest and free electronic advertising in the Vitality. HMTC also participated in various exhibitions e.g. Caring Company cum NGO Partnership Day and Exhibition organized by the Social Welfare Department in CC Wu Building.

Customer Service Enhancement
A customer satisfaction survey was conducted jointly with HKUST Internship Programme at Bernard van Zuiden Health Massage and Treatment Centre from December 2011 to January 2012. One hundred customers were randomly selected for the interview and 97% of them indicated that they were satisfied with the Centre’s services. 
 

Service Date 11/12

Career Support and Development Centre

Employment Service Unit

Number of job seekers registered	318
Number of job seekers already gainfully employed	63
Number of new job seekers	51
Number of counselling service / consultations	5,224
Number of job vacancy referrals	531
Number of interview under escort	90

Supported Employment Service

Accumulated number of registrants	13
Number of placements	12

Aids and Appliances Service

Number of opening sessions	594
Number of user attendances	4,729
Number of sales	3,590

Adaptive Equipment Load Service

Number of loan-out aids/appliances

120

"Job Club" Pre-work Training Programme

Number of participants	94
Number of training classes	10
Number of training sessions	102
Number of training programmes	8

Computer Zone and Self-study Rooms

Number of facility users

2,535

Factory for the Blind

Sales Proceeds (HK$)

Sewing	2,550,924
Paper Box	7,145,355
Filing Tag	1,394,765
Customer Service Centre	1,479,120
Assembling (Sheltered Workshop)	658,660
Total	13,228,824

Strength of Factory Workers / Sheltered Workshop Trainees as at 31 March 2012

Factory Workers

Visually Impaired	11
Hearing Impaired	3
Mentally Handicapped	56
Ex-mentally III	4
Sub-total	74

Sheltered Workshop Workers

Visually Impaired	21
Mentally Handicapped	48
Ex-mentally III	67
Physically Handicapped	1
Sub-total	137

Health Massage and Treatment Centre

Total No. of Customers	13,473
Total No. of Service Hours	33,340

Mobile Massage Team

Total No. of Customers	4,248
Total No. of Service Hours	3,809

 

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Eye Care and Low Vision Services

The General Eye and Low Vision Centre (GELVC)

The General Eye and Low Vision Centre provided over 41,000 consultations and 1,200 surgeries in 2011/12. Clinical low vision training were given to final year Optometry students of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Ophthalmologists of government hospitals and other local and overseas service providers and institutes including the Singapore Polytechnic University.  
With the generous donation from the Chan Dang Social Services Foundation, S.K. Yee Medical Foundation and the Operation Light project, we had supported 137 free low vision eye examinations, gave away 145 free low vision devices, and provided 30 subsidized surgeries to patients with financial hardship but in need of the services to improve their eyesight and functional ability during the year.

Being funded by the Shamshuipo District Council, the Centre recruited 80 secondary school students as volunteers and being trained to provide glaucoma screenings to 420 elderly persons in the district. The programme on one hand helped the elderly to detect and prevent the development of the blinding eye diseases, and on the other enhanced the participated students their knowledge in glaucoma.
Two staff members of the Centre gave a presentation in the Guangdong Provincial Low Vision Conference and hosted a workshop during the conference held in June 2011 and exchanged with eye care professionals in the Mainland.
A one-day seminar on supportive services and resources for students with visual impairment was organized with the Education Bureau in October 2011 for teachers who served students with visual impairment in the normal schools. 
The course on “Teachers Training Course on Supporting Learning Needs of Students with Cortical Visual Impairment” was organized in  January 2012 to provide training to 30 special teachers and therapists, to equip them with appropriate knowledge and skill to teach and train students who suffered from Cortical Visual Impairment.

Vision 2020 - Low Vision Resource Centre (LVRC)

The Centre supplied high quality and affordable vision assessment equipment and low vision devices to more than 95 developing countries in the world, and helped tens of thousands of persons with visual impairment to enhance their visual abilities as well as quality of living. Other than the eye examination equipment and vision enhancement aids, the Centre also supplied educational aids to visually impaired students for studies. 
The Centre regularly reviewed and updated the varieties of low vision devices and assessment equipment through consultation with the senior committee members of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. New vision assessment equipment and low vision devices such as the handheld video magnifier for reading, and retinoscopy rack for eye examination were introduced in 2011/12 to enrich the inventory. 
The LVRC received requests to provide training to ophthalmologists, optometrists and management executives from international organizations from time to time. A 6-day low vision training course was organized for a senior optometrist of The Bahrain Society of Hearing, Speech and Optometry in September 2011.
 

Service Data 11/12

The General Eye and Low Vision Centre

Total No. of Attendance

General Eye	39,804
Low Vision	2,002

Vision 2020 Low Vision Resource Centre

Total no. of low vision devices dispensed to developing countries

34,124 pcs

 

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Residential Services

Chronic Pain Management Programme for Pro-life Care Enrichment 
Provision of professional life care to our clients, including quality of life and end of life care is the major goal of our residential care service.  A Chronic Pain Management Team led by Physiotherapist I using multi-disciplinary approach was set up in June 2011 at the Jockey Club Tuen Mun Home and Yuen Long Home for the Aged Blind.  Two chronic pain management groups were conducted for chronic pain sufferers in the two aged blind homes during the reported year.  Participants had perceptual adjustment to chronic pain and showed improvement in managing pain and reduction in depressive symptoms.  Seeing the encouraging results, such programmes would be extended to other aged blind homes and the Morning Glory Day Activity Centre cum Hostel.

Positive Living by Life-Long Learning & Social Inclusion
The Opening Ceremony of the Elder Academy “耆欣長者學苑” was held on 8 October 2011 to promote the spirit of life-long learning. This project was a collaborated effort with the Hong Kong Sze Yap Commercial and Industrial Association Wong Tai Shan Memorial College. The first phase of the Elder Academy commenced from October 2011 till February 2012.  The studies covered a wide variety of subjects, such as health knowledge, Putonghua class and African drumming group.  The residents of aged blind homes and those visually impaired elderly living in the community were the target service users.
As participants of the Community Participation Project in Shek Kip Mei, our Multiple Disabilities with Visual Impairment (MDVI) clients joined the I-CAN Workshops from September to November 2011.  The “Cheers” Band and “Happy Clown” of the Morning Glory DAC cum Hostel and Bradbury Home gave performances in the “Active Living” talent show held on 17 September 2011 and received positive response from the audience. 
A total of 8 Happy Clowns and Cheers Band members joined an Exchange Tour to Jeju, Korea from 25 to 29 August 2011.  During the visit, our ambassadors shared their life experience and their inclusion journey with the service users and service operators in Jeju.

Promotion of Service and Clients’ Participation
All the residential service units participated in the 55th Anniversary Open Days programme held in October 2011.  The service users joined our staff members to perform, and to introduce residential care services for the visually impaired to community visitors.
An introduction of our aged blind homes, including an interview of the aged blind residents and the Director of Residential Services, was broadcasted by TVB News on 29 January 2012.  In addition, on line telephone interviews of superintendents of Jockey Club Tuen Mun Home for the Aged Blind and Kowloon Home for the Aged Blind, concerning the aged blind home service and service for dementia were arranged by RTHK Radio Five on 10 December 2011 and 24 March 2012 respectively.

Professionalization
The professional staff members of the Morning Glory DAC cum Hostel (MGCH) attended the 20th Asian Conference on Intellectual Disabilities Conference (ACID) from 21 to 26 August 2011 in Jeju, Korea. The Superintendent, together with the social worker, presented a paper entitled “The invisible hearts of Happy Clowns – Moving beyond Disability”.  The Occupation Therapist presented a paper entitled “Effectiveness of the Sensory and Motor Rehabilitation Programme for MDVI in HK”.  They were glad to exchange thoughts with the 1,500 participants coming from 200 different countries.  The feedbacks during the Q & A sessions on their presentations were positive. Some of the participants were amazed by the talents of the “Happy Clowns” in serving and bringing happiness to others, as well as the active participation of the MDVI clients in the fitness and rehabilitation programmes.
The Physiotherapist and the Occupational Therapist of the Kowloon Home for the Aged Blind presented a paper on the topic of “Therapy Integrated Service –Streamlining and Strengthening of Geriatric Rehabilitation Service for Visually Impaired Elderly” at the 8th World Congress on Long Term Care in Chinese Communities and Asian Ageing Development Conference, that held in Hong Kong on 24 November 2011 for an exchange with conference participants about rehabilitation programme administered for  elderly with visual impairment.

Statutory Licensing - Residential Care Homes for Persons with Disabilities (RCHDs)
The Residential Care Homes (Persons with Disabilities) Ordinance came into effect on 18 November 2011.  All aged blind homes and residential care homes (including Morning Glory DAC Centre cum Hostel, Bradbury Home and Joyful Home) are subject to this licence control.  On the basis of the licensing requirements, we had to follow the “Code of Practice for Residential Care Homes (Persons with Disabilities)”.  There would be a grace period of 18 months to allow time for individual RCHDs to put in place suitable arrangements for applying for a new licence or Certificate of Exemption starting from 18 November 2011. 
SWD announced that the Lotteries Fund Advisory Committee had given agreement-in-principle for the use of Lotteries Fund (LF) for subvented and self-financed RCHDs to undertake Fire Service / Building Safety rectification measures.  As a result, there would be renovation works for different units of residential services in the coming year.

Yuen Long Home for the Aged Blind Redevelopment Project 
The conversion work of Jockey Club Tuen Mun Home for the Aged Blind was completed in April 2011.  With the relocation of the Yuen Long Home for the Aged Blind to the Tuen Mun Home on 16 August 2011, a Licence of Residential Care Home for the Elderly bearing the address of the Tuen Mun Home was granted to the Yuen Long Home for the period from 1 August 2011 to 31 July 2012.    Coordination work such as management, shared facilities and utilities, operation of the kitchen and laundry, etc. had been made for the two homes operating under the same roof.
As a welcome to the residents of the Yuen Long Home, a Housewarming Ceremony was held at Tuen Mun Home on 6 December 2011 with Dr. Eric Li Ka Cheung, GBS OBE JP, Steward, the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Mrs Cecilia Yuen, Assistant Director (Rehabilitation & Medical Social Services) of Social Welfare Department, Mr Lam Wai Pong, Chairman of Yuen Long Home Redevelopment Committee and Miss Nancy Law, Chairman of HKSB as officiating guests.
The Ground Investigation work of Yuen Long Home was completed in early October 2011 and the demolition and hoarding works were completed in March 2012.  The Hong Kong Jockey Club, donor of the Yuen Long Home Redevelopment Project,  confirmed that the new Home would be named “The Hong Kong Society for the Blind Jockey Cub Yan Hong Building” (香港盲人輔導會賽馬會欣康樓). The completion date of Jockey Club Yan Hong Building would be in July 2014.
 

Service Data 11/12

Enrolment in each of the Home as at 31 March 2012

Bradbury Care and Attention Home for the Aged Blind

Male	18
Female	28
Total	46

Kowloon Home for the Aged Blind

Female	75
Total	75

Yuen Long Home for the Aged Blind

Care and Attention Section
Male	31
Female	28
Sub Total	59
Infirmary Section
Male	4
Female	9
Sub Total	13
Total	72

Jockey Club Tuen Mun Home for the Aged Blind

Care and Attention Section
Male	66
Female	127
Sub Total	193
Infirmary Section
Male	7
Female	25
Sub Total	32
Total	225

Morning Glory DAC CUM Hostel

Day Training Centre

Male	33
Female	29
Total	62

Hostel

Male	32
Female	30
Total	62

Bradbury Home

Male	4
Female	6
Total	10

Joyful Home

Male	5
Female	3
Total	8

 

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Barrier Free Access and Adaptive Equipment Services

Barrier Free Access (HK) Limited (BFA (HK) Ltd.)

The establishment of Barrier Free Access (HK) Limited
Barrier Free Access Technology Service Centre was established as a limited company, re-named Barrier Free Access (HK) Limited, on 1 October 2011. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Society. The setting up of the limited company would make full use of its available resources to provide consultancy service on barrier free products including Braille signage, tactile and audible signage, and etc, with an aim to build a barrier free society for the people with visual impairment.

Research and Development
In the year of 2011/12, BFA (HK) Ltd. had developed some new services and facilities to improve the living quality of the visually impaired.

It is believed that accessible public transport services can enhance the mobility and then social participation of the visually impaired. To achieve this vision, the Society has entered into a three-year service contract with the MTR Corporation Limited to provide professional advice on barrier-free access facilities enhancement in MTR stations. Significant improvements were found in the installation of directional signs and street name braille plates, tactile maps and audio guiding systems.
In collaboration with scientific research institutions, BFA (HK) Ltd. has been engaging in the development of an indoor navigation system. The aim of this project is to help the visually impaired to travel independently in indoor areas. The project team is exploring the use of wireless technology to allow the visually impaired to navigate through audible guidance from their personal smartphone.
Nowadays, internet browsing plays an indispensable role in receiving and searching for information in our daily lives. To provide the visually impaired a convenient and barrier-free living environment, BFA (HK) Ltd. is extending its services to provide a website accessibility test to examine the accessibility of websites by adaptive equipment and software used by the visually impaired. At the present stage, our main service customers are the various government departments. BFA (HK) Ltd. will expand this service to other public and private organizations in the near future. This new service will largely benefit the visually impaired in acquiring the latest information more efficiently.

Promotion of Barrier Free Facilities and Attendance of International Conference
To further arouse public awareness of barrier free facilities and to introduce the latest information about the barrier free facilities to different organizations, government departments and commercial enterprises, a number of seminars and training workshops were held for the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Architectural Services Department, the Guangzhou University students and our main contractors. 
Furthermore, the manager attended the 14th International Mobility Conference in February 2012 held in New Zealand. During the Conference, two papers on the topics of tactile maps and barrier free facilities that assist the elderly visually impaired were presented. Ideas on barrier free design such as the development direction on guide path, the design and application of cane and the use of tactile map and audible devices were exchanged with the participants at the Conference.

Adaptive Equipment Service (AES)
The objective of AES is to provide sales of adaptive equipment and supportive services to persons with visual impairment to enable them to stay active in their work, school and community and to improve their quality of life.
Actual sales for 2011/12 was $3,156,858, which represented an increase of 20% compared to 2010/11.
In 2011/12, we introduced a series of new products to customers, such as the SmartView 360 table top Closed-circuit Television Viewing Aid, the iGlasses ultrasonic device for better independence in mobility of the visually impaired, an upgraded version of the Ruby video magnifier with picture storage function, improved designs of the ZoomText v10, JAWS v13 software and etc. They were introduced  to the clients of AES through visits and demonstrations, and the audience who participated in the exhibitions and seminars organized by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service and the Education Bureau with the support from the Hong Kong Society for the Blind.
 

Service Data 11/12

Barrier Free Access (HK) Limited

No. of tactile Maps Designed and Produced	130 pcs
No. of customers served	250 nos
No. of orders	980 nos

Adaptive Equipment Service

2011-12 Product Category in Quantity

Repair & Maintenance	30%
Screen Reader Software	12%
Magnification Software	8%
Braille & Speech Devices	17%
Embossers	2%
CCTVs	31%

 

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Education and Community Support Services 

Centralised Braille Production Centre (CBPC)

In the year under review, the Centre has completed braille transcription of 510 books of 220,670 master braille pages, while the overall production (including copies) numbered 4,126 volumes and 555,784 braille sheets (including loose sheets).
In the year, CBPC further developed the existing transcription management computer system and eBook capability to further streamline its book provision quality. Its computer system and peripheral were also upgraded to meet with the production need. 

Information Accessibility Centre (IAC)

The Information Accessibility Centre aims to provide library services to meet the needs of visually impaired users for knowledge, information, lifelong learning support, continuous education and profitable use of leisure time.
Tele-digital Library Services for the Visually Impaired
Access to talking books/magazines, daily newspapers and other information through our Tele-digital Library for the Visually Impaired had been increasing continuously. The 2011-2012 annual hit rate was at 319,134. Now, our visually impaired members can access to 10 daily newspapers in the Tele-digital Library. Release of daily newspaper starts as early as 7:00am every morning.

Netshare for the Visually Impaired
In February 2012, three magazines were added to the Netshare for the Visually Impaired,  namely, iMoney, U Magazine and PCM. Now, our visually impaired members could access to 11 popular magazines on this website.

Screenings with Audio Description
The provision of audio description to enable the visually impaired to enjoy the wonder of watching films was one of our most successful services. Watching films had become one of our members’ favorite hobbies.  From April 2011 to March 2012, 37 screenings with live audio description were organized, including 3 films at cinemas and 1 film at the Hong Kong Film Archive.  The total number of participants was 2,391.

The One-year Project on Development of Audio Description Services for Hong Kong Films
Supported by the Create Hong Kong of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, we jointly implemented the one-year project, “Development of Audio Description Services for Hong Kong Films”, which aimed to promote audio description in films widely in the community and to develop training grounds for provision of audio describers to meet the potential market needs for audio description in Chinese films.

Professional Audio Description Training Workshop
We invited two Audio Description specialists, Mr. Joel Snyder, President of Audio Description Associates, LLC from the United States and Dr. Chao Yaly, Chair of the Board of the Public Television Service Foundation and Chair of the Board of the Chinese Television System from Taiwan, to conduct a workshop in last July.  There were 131 trainees enrolled, of which the majority of them came from the fields of TV, broadcasting and performing arts.  Seventy-one of them had completed the required basic training and obtained certificates of attendance for both basic theory and the practicum.

Seminars on Exploring the Development of Audio Description Services in Chinese Films
From 4-6 February 2012, we organized four seminars on Exploring the Development of Audio Description Services in Chinese Films. The first seminar held on 4 February, “The Development of Audio Description Services in Chinese Films”, was the most worth mentioning one. Dr. Chao Yaly, the Audio Description specialist from Taiwan, and Mr. Wellington Fung Wing from Create Hong Kong, were invited as the keynote speakers at the seminar. Fifty-one participants from various fields attended the seminar, including representatives from the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, people from film industry, performing arts, social service organizations, Equal Opportunity Commission, and the trainees of the project.

Practice for Audio Describers
During September 2011 to March 2012, 16 screenings were organized for trainees to practice audio description, which included three screenings at cinema, one at the Hong Kong Film Archive, one at Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Jockey Club Rehabilitation Complex and the rest were held at our agency. The Closing Ceremony of the Project cum Screening of “A Simple Life” was held on 27 March 2012. The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr. Gregory So Kam Leung, JP, was the Chief Officiating Guest who showed staunch support to the programme. The total number of audience was 214, that coupled with the screening held at the iSquare a week ago, the total number of visually impaired audience watching the movie “a Simple Life” stroke a record high of 380 compare to all the screenings with audio description we organized throughout the past three years.
Broadway Musical with Audio Description
On 8 October 2011, our Centre jointly organized a Broadway Musical “13” with Theatre Noir, Arts with the Disabled Association Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Society for the Deaf.  This was meant to be a special “Accessible Performance for All”. Audio description and caption were made available to help the visually impaired and hearing impaired audience appreciate this Broadway Musical. We felt honoured to have the famous Radio Programme Hostess, Ms. Candy Chea Suk Mui, as the audio describer in this Broadway musical. The total number of attendees from our agency was 315.

Chinese DVDs with Audio Description
This year, thanked to the support from the Media Asia Group Holdings Ltd, they continued to grant us the right to add audio description sound tracks to their two famous Chinese film DVDs, namely, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”, released in June 2011; and “Life without Principle”, released in February 2012.

Outings with Audio Description
Apart from films, audio description had been introduced to the cultural and leisure activities organized by the Centre.  In August 2011, a visit was made to the old Legislative Council building and the Hon. Cyd Ho Sau-lan, Member of Legislative Council, provided audio description to help our members get a better understanding of the building design and the facilities inside the building.  Ms. Ho received professional training in audio description at our Professional Audio Description Training Workshop.  She was good at using ordinary objects as examples, such as lemon, tablets and porridge, to help the visually impaired understand their surroundings. Participants spoke highly of Ms. Ho’s audio description and found that it helped them understand the building and the facilities much better than joining the visits without audio description.

Cultivation of Reading Culture & Promotion of Talks of Different Interests
To cultivate a reading culture in the visually impaired community, the centre organized two talks by writers and six talks on “Lao Zi”.  Also, Lao Zi’s “Tao Te Ching” was offered in both Braille and talking book version.  
Meanwhile, to widen the exposure and knowledge of the visually impaired, 20 talks of different interests had been organized for our members this year. The guest speakers included writers, radio programme hosts, lecturer, chef, musicians, etc. All these talks were well received by our members.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Project Grant:Parents Resource Centre for Visually Impaired Children (PRC)

During the year under review, the Centre continued to provide ongoing support, appropriate training, social and recreational activities to visually impaired children and their family members.

Extra-curricular Activities Subsidy Scheme for Visually Impaired Students 
The Green Photo Charity Bazaar organized by Chinachem Group and co-organised by the Society was held on 27 November 2011 at Tsuen Wan Nina Shopping Mall. Over 600 photos from the entries of Green Hong Kong Photo Contest were put on sale. The fund raised from the charity sale together with donation from Chinachem Group, was designated to support the Extra-curricular Activities Subsidy Scheme for Visually Impaired Students. 
The Scheme was established in 2010 with an aim to enable visually impaired students coming from low income families to participate in extra-curricular activities during their school years.  Subsidies were given to 38 visually impaired students for joining extra-curricular activities or courses in the year.

School Inclusion Sharing Programme
The School Inclusion Sharing Programmes were carried out at five secondary schools and one primary school. Visually impaired students and their parents shared with the sighted students in their schools their learning and life experiences. Through sharing, interactive activities, and experiential games, the sighted students were able to learn more about the abilities and potentials of their fellow visually impaired schoolmates to enhance mutual support and concern. One hundred and forty-two secondary students and three hundred primary students had joined the programmes, to solicit for visually impaired students more direct support from their schools, their peers and teachers, and to enhance their integration in school lives.

2012 Marathon Charity Concert 
The 2012 Marathon Charity Concert was held successfully on 25 and 26 February 2012 with staunch support from the two co-organisers: Success Piano Company, Engery@Candy’s Music, volunteers from the SHK Volunteer Team, as well as the venue sponsor - the Metro Plaza of the Sun Hung Kai Properties.  The Concert, already held the sixth time  since  2004, aimed to provide a good platform for the public to understand the music talent of the visually impaired persons, as well as a chance for music exchange between the sighted and visually impaired persons.The Concert took place at Metro Plaza in Kwai Fong District where the public had an opportunity to appreciate the talents of the visually impaired performers, and to participate in the barrier free and related experiential games as well as charity sales. There were outstanding performances of various sighted and visually impaired performers in musical instrument playing, including: piano, guitar, violin drum and saxophone, singing performances, and etc. Five junior and six senior visually impaired members took turn to be the Master of the concert. 
Altogether, 295 performers, 1,900 audiences and participants from the public joined the two-day Concert. An amount of $130,000 was raised for financing further development of PRC.

Resource Centre for the Deafblind (RCDB)

The year 2011 marked the 5th anniversary of the Centre.  On the occasion of the celebration of the 5th anniversary on 11 June 2011, an opening ceremony for the multi-sensory communication training room was held.  In addition, three festival programmes were implemented with activities linked to “Sea-Land-Sky” to bring new experiences to the members.

Deafblind Survey 2011
With an aim to better understand the needs of the deafblind in Hong Kong, the Centre conducted a survey between August and November 2011.  The questionnaires were either emailed or faxed to related deafblind service welfare organizations for collection of information.  Thirty three replies were received from these organizations.  The survey indicated a deafblind population of 164 persons and the sex distribution was 66 males and 98 females.  Among them, 44 persons were living in the community and the remaining 120 persons were service users of residential service organizations or schools.  Also, it was found that 74 persons (59 from residential homes and 15 from the community), representing 45% of the deafblind population, belonged to the elderly group (over 60 years).   This reflected a need of developing service for the aged with dual sensory loss.
Social Inclusion Programmes 
It has always been RCDB’s aim to promote social inclusion.  The Centre keeps recruiting community people, to encourage the public to get in touch with the deafblind. Through interactive games and performances, both the volunteers and deafblind members have benefitted. Deafblind members could feel the care and concern from community members.  Participants had the chances to learn and practice tactile sign language, increased their understanding of the deafblind and how to communicate with them.  In July, September 2011 and March 2012, 83 persons participated in the joint functions of the Centre. The participating organizations included Asbury Methodist Social Service, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Chen Zao Men College, Canton Road Peace Evangelical Centre, etc. 
The “Sunshine Angels” Performance Team was formed on 10 September 2011.  The name “Sunshine Angels” literally means bringing sunshine and warmth to the heart of everyone.  The objective of the team is to facilitate members and volunteers to spend time together through collective practice, so as to promote and cultivate a spirit of cooperation and social inclusion.

Community Support and Recreational Service (CSRS)

CSRS continued to provide emotional support services to the newly blind waitlisted for training at our Rehabilitation Centre. In addition, recreational, educational and developmental group activities were also organized for the graduates of the Rehabilitation Centre to strengthen their abilities to lead a meaningful and independent life after completion of independent living skills training at the Centre.
Up to 31 March 2012, a total of 649 persons registered under the Community Support and Recreational Service with 460 being visually impaired members, 62 family members and 127 volunteers. During the year, CSRS organized five festive and seasonal programmes for a total of 266 participants, and 13 outdoor activities for a total of 854 participants. In addition, 36 groups were organized with 748 attendances by head-count. 
 
Catering Service Training
The CanCook Kitchen project, a pre-vocational training for the visually impaired, started since 9 November 2009. In March 2011, the S. K. Yee Medical Foundation supported the training cost for six months till 30 September 2011. Due to financial consideration and resignation of the Catering Service Instructor in November, CanCook kitchen had suspended its service on 21 November 2011 upon graduation of the last batch of trainees. A total of nine trainees had received the training in the past two years.

Volunteers Development Service (VDS)

Centralized Volunteer Numbering System
The system was set up in November 2009.  Up to 31 March 2012, 952 volunteers from various departments were assigned with centralized volunteer numbers for issuing volunteer cards.  With this system, duplication of volunteer card was avoided for better co-ordination of volunteers.  Moreover, 14 social service groups / companies / corporations had provided voluntary service to our agency in the year.

2011 Give a Day Get a Disney Day Scheme
“Give a Day, Get a Disney Day” was a scheme initiated by Agency for Volunteer Service, aiming at promoting volunteer service in the community.  Volunteers of participating organizations, who had completed 8 hours of service, would receive a one-day complimentary admission ticket to the Hong Kong Disneyland.  We joined scheme and distributed 160 tickets to our volunteers in the year.  Volunteers enjoyed the tour to the theme park and appreciated the recognition and support from our agency.

Agency Volunteer Gathering
A volunteer outing was conducted on 
9 December 2011 with 128 participants.  All enjoyed the gathering and the chance to network and share with each other.

Nominations for Caring Company/Organisation Logos 2011/12
Launched by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service in 2002, the Caring Company Scheme aims at cultivating good corporate citizenship.  It is specifically geared to building strategic partnerships among businesses and charitable organizations to create a more cohesive society.  Our agency had nominated 15 companies /corporations for Caring Company Logos and 13 were successfully selected for awarding the logos in the year.

Hong Kong Volunteer Charter
A Volunteer Charter was drawn up by the Agency for Volunteer Service on the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of International Year of Volunteers proclaimed by the United Nations in 2011.  To echo for this meaningful Charter, HKSB signed up as one of the supporting organisations for the Charter and in their promotion too.

Public Education

HKSB Facebook Fan Page & Email Broadcasting System
A Facebook Fan Page (www.facebook.com/HKSB1956) was launched in July 2011 to update agency’s news, posting of event photos and introduce new services.  In addition, utilization of the new email broadcasting system for distribution of HKSB e-newsletter, event announcements and new services introduction in 2011, had definitely enhanced public education effectiveness. 

Aids Gallery

The Aids Gallery that locates at the East Wing Lobby of the Headquarters Building was opened on 1 June 2011. In 2011/12, nine visually impaired trainees were trained to introduce and demonstrate to the visitors and potential customers the adaptive aids and equipments for use in the daily living of the visually impaired. Through this training, the trainees are able to develop proper presentation skills and enhance self-confidence in social interaction. 
On the other hand, the Aids Gallery serves the public education purpose too.  Visitors were able to know better about the abilities of the visually impaired through the interaction and how they use the aids for independent living.

Public Education Programme 
During the year, more than 8,100 individuals coming from schools, community organizations and business corporations were given the chance to learn more about our services, the ability of visually impaired persons and difficulties they encounter in daily life through the various public education programmes, including visit to the our headquarters buildings, sighted-guide talks, talks on use of tactile sign language and sharing sessions by visually impaired persons.  We were indebted to the Labour and Welfare Bureau for sponsoring part of the public education programme costs during the year under review.

Service Data 11/12

Centralised Braille Production Centre

Transcription Completed

Books (Titles)

English	161
Chinese	349

Articles / Documents

English	150
Chinese	483

Thermoformed / Embossed / Bound

Books (Volumes)	4,126
Books / Articles / Documents (Sheets)	555,784

Information Accessibility Centre

Membership

Members

2,869

Tele-digital Library Service for the Visually Impaired

Usage Frequencies （calls）

319,134

Netshare for the Visually Impaired

Hit Rate

366,955

Collection

Braille Books (titles)	10,430
Talking Books (titles)	5,639
Music Compact Discs (discs)	5,528
CD-ROMs / VCDs /DVDs (discs)	6,812

Loans

Talking Books（cassettes）	115,955
Braille Books（volumes）	14,288
Talking Periodicals（cassettes）	15,881
Brialle Periodicals（volumes）	4,920
Music Compact Discs（discs）	6,433
CD-ROMs / VCDs /DVDs（discs）	4,639

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Project Grant:
Parents Resource Centre for Visually Impaired Children

Membership

Members	918
Affiliated Memebrs	73

Member Attendance

Drop-in members	2,901
Visitors	416
Enquiries / Referrals	140
Toy & Resource Loans	414

Toy & Resource Library Collections

Educational Toys	470
Reference Books	920
Educaitonal Compact Discs	300
Learning Tapes	442
Video Tapes	121
Video Compact Discs	825
CD-ROMs	112

Resource Centre for the Deafblind

Individual Membership:
Individual Honorary Members	3
Individual Life Members	20
Individual Ordinary Members (Deafblind)	58
Individual Ordinary Members (Workers / Carers)	26
Total	107
Organisation Membership:
Organisation Life Members	11
Ordinary Associate Members	2
Total	13

Volunteer Development Service

Total number of volunteers registered through the Centralised Volunteer Number System	952
Corporations and groups volunteers	14

Community Support and Recreational Services

Organisation Membership

Visually Impaired Members	460
Family Members	62
Volunteer Members	127

Sex Distribution

Male	264
Female	385

Number of Attendance

Festival Programmes (5)	266
Outings (13)	854
RC Group Programmes (36)	748

Public Education Programme (sponsored by LWB) 

From 14 June 2011 to 31 January 2012

No. of schools and organizations	46
No. of participants	4,532
No. of visit to HKSB headquarters	31
No. of Sighted-guide Talk	21
No. of visually impaired persons sharing	38
No. of talks on Tactile Sign Language	21