Don't be left in the dark during Earth Hour
30 March 2007
Australia’s leading blindness agency, Vision Australia is offering all-important advice for people taking part in tomorrow’s Earth Hour blackout in Sydney.
As an organisation well versed in offering advice to people who are blind or have low vision, Vision Australia is issuing the following tips to assist those taking part in the awareness initiative who find themselves in a position where their visibility is reduced.
Vision Australia’s Marketing & Fundraising Manager Trish Egan says, “Admittedly this advice is usually given to assist people who are blind or have low vision to live more independently. But there’s no reason why anyone can’t use the tips to help them move around safely during the blackout tomorrow night!”
Top tips from Vision Australia:
- Use your other senses like touch and smell to assist you in getting your bearings. This will be useful in detecting danger and confirming or obtaining additional information about a task or environment. It’s also fun to re-connect with these often forgotten senses.
- Use magnification to make things bigger and easier to see. In order to enlarge an object you can also bring it closer to you.
- Use colour and contrast to make things bolder. Black on white offers the greatest contrast, but sometimes just putting light colours against dark backgrounds is enough to increase visibility. For example: use a black texta to write with instead of blue biro or put a white cup and plate on a brightly coloured placemat – try to avoid patterns wherever possible.
- Introduce yourself when joining a group of people to let them know you are there.
“Vision Australia fully supports Earth Hour and the importance of raising awareness about climate change and global warming,” says Ms Egan.
“We saw this as a great opportunity to raise awareness about the challenges people who are blind or have low vision face every day.”
Earth Hour will be held in Sydney tomorrow night and people are encouraged to turn off their lights from 7.30pm.
For more information or to support Vision Australia call 1300 84 74 66