With Easter becoming an increasingly important, cross-cultural celebration, Cadbury has announced its mission to make Easter traditions even more accessible, so every Australian family can get involved. Powered by Cadbury, new technology has been developed in collaboration with creative technology studio, FutureLabs, to enable those with vision impairment to experience the joy of the annual Easter egg hunt for the first time.
Through its long-standing partnership with The Royal Children’s Hospital’s Good Friday Appeal spanning over 20 years, Cadbury has flipped the model of the traditional Easter egg hunt to instead rely on sound, and not sight, making the Easter tradition open to even more Australians than before.
Mondelez Senior Marketing Manager ANZ Kathy De Lullo says, “Having worked closely with The Royal Children’s Hospital’s Good Friday Appeal for years, we’ve seen the joy that holidays like Easter bring to children first hand. Upon recognising the logistics of an Easter egg hunt are harder for vision impaired children, we set out to make a change for the better, and hence engaged the team at FutureLabs to help us make Easter an accessible occasion for all.”
“Working closely with the FutureLabs team, we successfully trialled this technology at the first ever ‘accessible’ Easter egg hunt today. We were overwhelmed by the happiness and excitement on the faces of those who participated, and look forward to continuing on our mission to make Easter something that everyone can celebrate!”
To make this new technology possible and in continuing its strides towards ‘inclusivity’ in Australia, Cadbury has worked closely with the team at Blind Citizens Australia (BCA), the national representative organisation of people who are blind or vision impaired. Through focus groups and ongoing discussion, the BCA generously shared insights from both the organisation and its members as to what this initiative means to the vision impaired community, with a lucky few being amongst the first to experience the new technology in action.
Blind Citizens Australia CEO Sally Aurisch says, “We’re happy to see initiatives such as this, that help increase the accessibility of day-to-day life for people who are blind or vision impaired and bring awareness to the barriers that people with disability face every day. Through the creation of accessible events such as this, we can help break down these barriers and build communities where people who are blind or vision impaired can participate fully and equally.”
Simona D’Angelo, Mother of nine-year-old Sienna D’Angelo Sciulli who was born with Optic Nerve Hypoplasia, says, “This event is an absolute game changer, not just for Sienna, but for all kids with additional needs worldwide. It has meant that Sienna can feel completely included with her peers; every year they get to do their Easter egg hunts, whether that be at school or with friends, but the inclusion of this new technology has meant she can feel like all the other kids at Easter time, an experience she’s not had to date. So, we’re very grateful to Cadbury for creating a more inclusive hunt this year.”
With the specifically-designed Easter Eggs in action for the first-time last weekend, both Cadbury and the participating families have witnessed the impact that technology can have on bringing joy into the day-to-day lives of those with vision impairments. It is for this reason, that this year Cadbury’s annual $100,000 donation to the Good Friday Appeal, will be directly in support of further research and development in the area of blindness and vision in Australia.
Good Friday Appeal Executive Director Rebecca Cowan says, “Cadbury has been a valued fundraising partner of the Good Friday Appeal since 2001, and in this time has raised over $1.8m through initiatives and donations such as our past Easter egg hunts and chocolate eggs and hampers for our volunteers and fundraisers.”
“We are thrilled to receive a generous donation once again of $100,000 from Cadbury this year and are so grateful for their ongoing support. The funding from Cadbury assists The Royal Children’s Hospital Ophthalmology department to have access to the latest equipment and technology with the upgrade of RETCAM, a vital tool used in screening for eye disease in newborns.”
To support The Royal Children’s Hospital, donate to the Good Friday Appeal via goodfridayappeal.com.au/donate.
For further information on Cadbury’s Easter product range, visit cadbury.com.au/cadbury-easter.
