Advocacy in action | Vision Australia. Blindness and low vision services

National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)

Our advocacy drives policy changes, legislative reforms and everyday improvements. Here’s what we’ve achieved and what we’re still working toward.

We’ve successfully lobbied to ensure essential items like assistive tech, orientation and mobility supports, and accessible format plans are recognised and funded under the NDIS.

We also influenced operational guidelines and warranty standards for dog guides, helping to ensure greater consistency and fairness for participants.

Aged care

Older Australians with vision loss are often left out of the NDIS. We’re calling for an aged care system that properly recognises blindness and low vision, including:

That key professionals that deliver services to older Australians remain in any new support at home system, and
Better support in residential aged care settings.

Employment

Just 24% of Australians who are blind or have low vision are in fulltime employment. We advocate for:

Stronger government disability employment targets,
Ensuring accessible workplace tools and technology are built in from the start,
Showing that success means having connected support at every level, starting with families, throughout school, by employers, backed by government and the community, and
Education for employers through awareness campaigns and lived experience stories.

Transport and infrastructure

We’re always working towards making transport safer, more accessible, and more inclusive:

Electric vehicles: We successfully advocated for mandatory Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems (AVAS),
Tactile surfaces: We pushed for more Tactile Ground Surface Indicators (TGSIs) on train platforms and crossings,
Taxi subsidies: We helped secure continued funding for the QLD Taxi Subsidy Scheme, and
Uber inclusion: Our long-term advocacy led to rideshare subsidies and new mandatory anti-discrimination training for Uber drivers.
We're pushing rideshare providers for increased penalties, enhanced enforcement as well as continued education.

Accessible government technology

We’ve influenced the design of several government platforms, including:

The COVIDSafe app and My Health Record, which were made more accessible after our intervention,
The MyID digital identity app, and
Contributions to the Digital ID Framework to ensure it considers people with disability from the beginning.

Accessible voting

Everyone’s vote deserves to be independent, secret and viable. We’re pushing for:

Universal adoption of online voting systems like iVote, and
Consistent, accessible voting options at state and federal levels.

Banking access

Self-service banking is becoming a standard part of modern life. But for people who are blind or have low vision, new technologies like touchscreen terminals are often introduced without accessibility in mind.

We’re calling on the banking sector to adopt national standards to ensure everyone can manage their money independently

Tactile Currency

After years of campaigning, all Australian banknotes now feature tactile markings, a practical and useful change for many in the blind and low vision community.

International progress: The Marrakesh Treaty

Australia was the first country to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty, and Vision Australia played a key role in this international win.

The treaty allows us to share accessible books and resources across borders without legal barriers, giving our community better access to a global library of information.

National assistance animal accreditation

We’ve been actively advocating for the introduction of consistent, national accreditation standards for assistance animal trainers and training organisations. This is an important step to ensure all assistance animals are trained to a high standard and behave appropriately in public spaces.

We believe this will increase community confidence in assistance animals and help reduce instances where they are wrongly refused access.

In 2025, we made a submission to a Commonwealth Government consultation exploring the introduction of National Principles for regulating assistance animals.

Bus stops and footpaths

We’ve raised concerns about the safety and accessibility of floating bus stops and flat crossings through our work with accessible transport advisory committees and other advocacy channels.

These designs don’t always meet the needs of people who are blind or have low vision. That’s why we’re calling for better, safer solutions, designed in partnership with the people who use them.

Education (Tertiary)

In 2017 we conducted research that showed most university students who are blind or have low vision were facing major accessibility barriers when using online learning platforms.

We shared these findings widely with government and education sector bodies, and it made a difference. Since then, resources like the ‘Guidelines for Supporting Blind and Vision Impaired Students Online’ and the ‘Accessible ICT Procurement Implementation Guide for Higher Education Providers’ have been developed.

We’ve also seen real improvements in the accessibility and usability of some online learning platforms since our research.

We continue to advocate strongly for better digital access through submissions like those made to the Australian Universities Accord process, because every student deserves equal access to their education.

E-scooters

We’ve been speaking up for some time about the safety risks that e-scooters pose for people who are blind or have low vision, but also for the wider community of pedestrians.

Recently, we’ve contributed to Parliamentary Inquiries in Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia to make sure our community’s concerns are heard.

We’re calling for a number of changes to help make footpaths and public spaces safer for everyone, including:

No e-scooters on footpaths,
Technology that makes e-scooters easier to hear and slows them down near pedestrians, and
Rules that require e-scooters to be parked in designated areas only.

Assistance animal refusals

Being refused entry or service because of an assistance animal is still far too common.

We hear about it most often in taxis and rideshares, but also in places like restaurants, cafés and accommodation. These experiences are not only frustrating but unlawful and can be deeply isolating.

At Vision Australia, we’ve supported clients through these situations for many years. We also work at a broader level to reduce refusals, especially in the point-to-point transport sector, including by providing training and guidance to service providers.

Accessible parking permits

When the Australian Disability Parking Permit scheme was introduced, blindness and low vision were left out of the eligibility criteria. As a result, several states and territories removed access to permits for people who are blind or have low vision.

Vision Australia stepped in, strongly advocating for this decision to be overturned. We made the case that accessible parking is essential for safe and independent travel.

Thanks to this work, every state and territory has now reversed their position ,and people who are blind or have low vision can once again apply for a disability parking permit.

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