BRAILLE COPY OF 'ENGLISH SACRED MUSIC' PRESENTED TO AUTHOR PETER PHILLIPS
TREATING ANIMALS BEFORE PEOPLE
Today's rises in prescription costs will be a bitter blow to the estimated one million blind and partially sighted people in the UK, claims the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB).
Despite the nearly five per cent rise in the cost of prescriptions (above the rate of inflation), the increase in the value of vouchers for spectacles will only increase by an average of one per cent. Access to affordable glasses or lenses is crucial for visually impaired people, as so many live on low incomes. For the majority, the National Health Service voucher scheme is an important source of assistance, as registered blind and partially sighted people are not automatically entitled to free glasses.
The NHS voucher scheme was introduced in April 1986. The Government stated the aim was "to provide a basic pair of spectacles to meet a person's clinical needs". Since that date, however, the increase in the cost of glasses has far outpaced the value of vouchers, and RNIB has experienced a significant rise in the number of people asking for financial help to make up the short-fall between the cost of glasses and the value of vouchers.
More importantly, the Department of Health's own most recently available statistics show that for the period April - September 1 994, only 26 per cent of vouchers were redeemed for spectacles priced within the voucher value.
For further Press information, please contact Jenny Shepherd or Olivia Belle at RNIB's Press Office on 0171-636 1153 (Mobile: 0850-006 304). (Ref: 016).
The Government is showing double standards in Opposing the addition of an anti-discriminatory clause into the European Union Treaty, according to the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB).
RNIB Chairman John Wall said today: "We cannot see how the Government can put forward a proposal to incorporate the principal of animal welfare in the Treaty, and yet refuse to safeguard the welfare of disabled people in the same way."
The Government's white paper on the Inter-Governmental Conference, to be debated tomorrow, specifically promotes inclusion of animal welfare in European treaties and yet rejects the anti-discrimination clause on the grounds that such measures should be dealt with solely in a national context.
But RNIB believes that the clause, which would prohibit discrimination on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, age or disability, would provide a safeguard preventing European legislation from undermining national anti-discriminatory legislation.
Already a number of EU directives jeopardise existing UK disability provisions. For example, the postal services Directive could challenge the UK's Articles for the Blind scheme which provides free postage for materials sent in braille and on tape; and draft EU legislation on buses and coaches would undermine the UK Disability Discrimination Act, as it would not include mandatory disability access.
Without the clause any redress will have to be sought through the European courts, after the damage has been done.
"We very much regret the Government's decision to oppose this clause" said John Wall. "And we urge them to reconsider. It is in the UK's interest where negotiating on the Treaty to make sure that the non-discrimination clause is included."
For further information please contact Joe Korner at the RNIB Press Office on 0171-636 1153 (out of hours mobile: 0850 006 304) or Barbara McLaughlin at
the RNIB Public Policy Department on 0171-388 1266. (Ref 033)
RNIB Press Office Direct Line 0171-636 1153 Fax 0171-388 8316
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BRAILLE COPY OF 'ENGLISH SACRED MUSIC'
PRESENTED TO AUTHOR PETER PHILLIPS
A braille version of the famous book: 'English Sacred Music 1 549-
1 649' was presented to its author Peter Phillips by the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB). The presentation, in association with Gimell Records, took place on 5 March after a concert given in St
John's Smith Square by the Tallis Scholars.
Peter Phillips, Director of the Tallis Scholars and academic authority in Renaissance sacred music, made a personal request for the braille
copy of his book when he was told about its production which took
nearly a year. Receiving the book from Roger Firman, RNIB's Music Services Manager, he said:
"I was delighted to be presented with a braille edition (amounting to
no fewer than 14 volumes!) of my book and I salute Roger Firman's herculean task in translating its almost 500 pages in a fraction of the time it took me to write them. This period of renaissance music
remains unjustly overshadowed and the RNIB braille edition is a fine achievement which will help further to rectify its neglect."
The total of 14 braille volumes cost ?18.62 (UK subsidised price) and
are available from RNIB Customer Services on 0345-023 1 53.