By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
AN illustrated pamphlet on safe syringe disposal should become the
model for council signs and community awareness leaflets, says Greater
Dandenong councillor Roz Blades.
The multicultural pamphlet produced by the Noble Park Community
Action Forum uses mostly diagrams and pictures to explain how to safely
pick up discarded syringes and dispose of them in a bottle.
It is designed to cut across the municipality’s diverse demographic, which includes people of 156 nationalities.
Cr Blades, a member of the drug action forum, said the guide was
developed over two years in consultation with groups including South
East Drug and Alcohol Service, Wellsprings for Women and the Adult
Migrant English Service.
“I had an idea of a pictorial leaflet but no idea of how it should
look or what it should say,” she said. “It’s a balance: you don’t want
to be condescending about it. We only had one chance to do it right.”
Cr Blades said the pamphlet could be reproduced as signage in the
municipality’s toilets. Its universal design principles could also form
the basis for other signs and leaflets.
“We’ve broken the new ground so why can’t all council instructions
be done like this? It’s local government for the future,” she said.
