Association of Blind Citizens NZ head Rose Wilkinson. Photo: Supplied
Among the Wellingtonians on the New Year's Honours List are a 30-year advocate for the blind, who says the country still has a long way to go for the community.
Rosemary Wilkinson is being awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to the blind and vision impaired.
She is currently chief executive of the Association of Blind Citizens NZ, where she has been since 1991.
Her initial involvement was coordinating school exams and curriculum content for production in Braille for blind students at Manurewa High School.
She was instrumental in developing important government information for the blind during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"If you are watching TV and it's like ring the number at the bottom of the screen, what does that mean to a blind person? So making sure that this information was always verbalised and not just relying on something that's very visual," Wilkinson said.
But gaining traction in improvements for the community could be pushed back when people moved on from certain roles, she said.
"It shouldn't be about the champions that we're working with in relation to government or with the stakeholders. There needs to be better systems and processes within each of the agencies where ever, so that if somebody leaves it's not about that person taking all the knowledge with them and us having to start again."
The community still needed more in the way of voting, audio descriptions and accessibility, Wilkinson said, so those who are blind or visually impaired could cross the road safely and independently.
She had also been in touch with Wellington City Council to call for audible signals to work at traffic light crossings around the capital.
"We have so many near-misses and actually accidents outside our office that we're continually monitoring.
"There will be apartments within the inner city, people living in those apartments will complain, because the buzzer sounds at night might be a distraction and so they're turned down. A blind person is then surely disadvantaged, because if you are able to hear, then you are using the beeps as a locator to indicate to you where is the safety place to cross."
She dedicated her award to her whānau, including her husband who is part of the blind community.
