Dates

Venues

Monday 10th September

Bankstown   

[click for Bankstown venue information - directions, parking, accommodation etc]

Venue: Bankstown Sports Conference and Events Centre, Sydney

Contacts: Margaret Butler, Regional Disability Liaison Officer (RDLO), Greater Western Sydney, hosted by University of Western Sydney, and Timothy Hart, Disability Co-ordination Officer (DCO),  Nothern, Central and Southern Sydney, hosted by Centre for Developmental Disability Studies (CDDS)

Wednesday 12th September

Newcastle    

[click for Newcastle venue information - directions, parking, accommodation etc]

Venue: Newcastle Panthers, Cnr King and Unions Streets, Newcastle

Contact: Kay Dean, Regional Disability Liaison Officer (RDLO), Hunter/Central Coast, hosted by The University of Newcastle, (02) 4921 8844 or 0438 218848

Friday 14th September

Bomaderry    

[click for Bomaderry venue information - directions, parking, accommodation etc]

Venue:  Bomaderry Bowling Club

Contact: Reshad Heckbarally, Disability Co-ordination Officer (DCO), South East NSW Region, hosted by TAFE NSW - Illawarra Institute, Dapto Campus

The Forums are designed to provide information and practical advice to:

• Teachers, Lecturers, Teacher-aides, Tutors, and Educational and Disability Support Staff (Years K-12 and Tertiary Sector)
• Employers
• Disability Employment Network staff
• Job Network staff
• Disability Support Agencies
• DADHC 'Transition to Work' and 'Community Participation' Program staff
• Related Government Agencies
• People with a disability

Program:

Registration:

Cost:

Registration is a nominal $50 (including GST) to ensure that the Forums are as accessible as possible to all who may want to participate (the fee assists with the costs of convening all three Forums, however, the RDLO/DCO convenors are sponsoring the events to enable this).

As the registration fee is already subsidised, there are no half day rates available.

What's Included:

A full day's program (including the hands-on training strand), Forum bag, morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea are included in the registration fee.

The registration process:

• Please note that the first Forum takes place in Sydney on Monday 10th September and that the Organising Committee will be on the road from Sunday 9th September. It will be too late to organise any special requirements after the official close-off on Wednesday 5th September if you are trying to register after that time

• Consult the Forum Program  and record the session numbers (e.g 1.2, 2.3) of the workshops you would like to attend, and an alternate option

• Due to the limited number of places in the hands-on training strand, only one of these sessions will be available to each participant. You can choose either 1.1, 2.1, 3/4.1, or 5.1.

• Catering requirements will be finalised on Wednesday 5th September and no refunds will be available after this date. If you cannot attend on the day, you may send a nominee - please advise the convenor (click for link) of the Forum you are attending if this occurs

• Online Registrations are not final until payment has been received (online registrations are now closed)

• Sydney Forum now closed to registration

• Registration accepted until 4 pm Tuesday 11th September for Newcastle and 12 noon Thursday 13th September for Bomaderry - click here to download the manual registration form. If not paying by credit card, you must pay at the Forum on the day.

• Fax manual registration form to Kay Dean, (02) 4921 6939, or email it to kay.dean@newcastle.edu.au

Accommodation and venue information:

Details regarding accommodation options, directions, parking information and so on for each venue are linked from the following locations, and also linked above. Participants are expected to locate and organise their own accommodation.

Sydney Mon 10 Sept    |  Newcastle Wed 12 Sept   |  Bomaderry Frid 14 Sept

About the Forums:

The same program is offered at each venue, and each Forum will include a mini-Expo featuring key assistive technology suppliers from across Australia.

The 2007 Forums also feature, for the first time, hands-on training in small group settings. Software to be featured includes Clicker 5, TextAloud, Boardmaker, and textHelp Read & Write Gold.

Information about the Convenors:

Kay Dean (Newcastle Forum), Timothy Hart and Margaret Butler (Sydney Forum) and Reshad Heckbarally (Bomaderry Forum) - are RDLOs (Regional Disability Liaison Officers) and DCOs (Disability Co-ordination Officers) funded by the Australian Government's Department of Education, Science and Training.

Their role is to facilitate the transition of students and people with a disability into further training, education and employment. Visit our National website. Other members of the Forum Planning Committee are listed below.

Suppliers at Forums:

Australian suppliers/services in attendance include (more to be confirmed):

• Ability Technology
• Adaptech Solutions  (Newcastle Forum only)
• Australian Caption Centre - who will be Live Captioning the Opening Address to demonstrate the service
• Battery Powered Computers
• HumanWare
• Innovative Communication Programming
• Northcott CATS
• Optek Systems
• Printacall Communications Technology
• Quantum Technology
• Spectronics Inclusive Learning Technologies
• The Spastic Centre 
• Vision Australia  

Forum Downloads:

• Forum Program:      Word version   |  PDF version
• Session Overviews:  Word version   |  PDF version
• Forum Flyer:           Word version   |  PDF version

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Accessing the Future: Forum Planning Committee

Kay Dean, RDLO, Hunter/Central Coast, Convenor Newcastle Forum

Margaret Butler, RDLO, Greater Western Sydney, Co-convenor Sydney Forum

Timothy Hart, DCO, Nothern, Central and Southern Sydney, Co-convenor Sydney Forum

Reshad Heckbarally, DCO, South East NSW Region, Convenor Bomaderry Forum

Andrew Downie, Senior Education Officer, Adaptive Technologies Connected Learning Team, Centre for Learning Innovation

Cheryl Stambolis, SEO2 Technology Support, NSW DET Disability Programs

Geoff Maddox, DLO, University of Western Sydney 

The Forums are a collaboration between

Forums

Sydney Mon 10 Sept    |   Newcastle Wed 12 Sept   |   Bomaderry Frid 14 Sept

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