About BCA

Blind Citizens Australia (BCA) is the united voice of Australians who are blind or vision impaired.

Our mission is to achieve equity and equality by our empowerment, by promoting positive community attitudes, and by striving for high quality and accessible services which meet our needs.

Blind Citizens Australia (BCA) was formed in June 1975. It was formed out of a growing dissatisfaction by people who were blind or vision impaired with the existing national body, which was an amalgam of state based consumer organizations; and there was a growing desire to establish a national consumer organisation based on individual membership.

A more detailed look at the history can be found here; History of BCA

BCA has grown steadily and now has over 3,000 individual members covering every State and Territory.

Blind Citizens Australia (BCA) takes an active role internationally through the World Blind Union with David Blyth, the founding President of BCA, having served as President of the World Blind Union between 1992 and 1996.

Maryanne Diamond was elected President of the World Blind Union in 2008 to 2012. Maryanne became just the second Australian to hold the World Blind Union’s top post. Maryanne spent four years as Executive Officer of Blind Citizens Australia.

Maryanne Diamond (WBU), Dan Pescod (RNIB) with Stevie Wonder, celebrating WIPO Treaty signing in Marrakesh June 2013.

The full WIPO Marrakesh Treaty is available on the World Blind Union website under the Resources section as Word & PDF formats.
WBU Resources Page

BCA has a team of dedicated employees and a Board of Directors as well as a National Policy and Development Council.

BCA has 11 State and Territory Branches and 2 Special Interest Branches.

Governance and Development

Information on Branches

Purpose and Activities

Our Vision

A community which embraces people who are blind or vision impaired.

Our purpose

Blind Citizens Australia is the united voice of people who are blind or vision impaired. Its mission is to reduce the social and economic disadvantages of blindness or vision impairment on individuals and achieve their equity and equality.

In carrying out its purpose the organisation’s activities may include:

providing peer support
providing individual and systemic advocacy
facilitating information exchange
empowering its members
promoting positive community attitudes
striving for high quality and accessible services which meet individual needs
promoting research into the causes and amelioration of the impact of blindness and vision impairment

Feedback to BCA

We are always looking for improvement in what we do, and would appreciate your input.

If you would like to provide feedback to BCA, please take a few minutes to fill out our feedback form.

Use this link to provide feedback

BCA Complaints Policy

If you would like information on our complaint process , we have a document BCA Complaints Policy (Word doc) that will assist.

Did you know?

Blind Citizens Australia (BCA) has over 3,000 members
BCA has 13 branches Australia wide
BCA has a number of Special Interest Branches, including the Overseas Service Branch and the National Women’s Branch
BCA was instrumental in the implementation of audio tactile lights at crossings throughout Australia
BCA, in partnership with the Australian Banking Industry, is working to establish a comprehensive search facility for locating audio enabled ATMs
BCA has a webpage of employment profiles. Read volunteered information from people who are blind or vision impaired about their employment experiences
bca-l is an email discussion list where members of BCA debate issues effecting people who are blind or vision impaired in their day-to-day lives
“Getting the Message” is a BCA publication outlining a number of ways to present information to people with print disabilities
BCA actively advocates for Electronic Assisted Voting (EAV) and other electronic technology to enhance democracy and privacy for people who are blind or vision impaired
BCA has developed a FAQ Sheet covering all major aspects of the Disability Support Pension (Blind)
BCA has developed the publication “Safer Streets: A guide to public access advocacy for people who are blind or vision impaired”
BCA maintains public policy positions on a range of vital issues affecting people who are blind or vision impaired including education, transport and web accessibility

If you would like to find out more about BCA, you might like to take a look at our Frequently Asked Questions (Word doc) for information.