29 Oct 2025

 On FOCAL POINT: 

• Ryan Hotchooten, Youth Support Officer, at VisAbility, went on a guided tour of Optus Stadium - marking International White Cane Day - exploring its accessibility features and more
• Dr Annmaree Watharow invited all to the "Filling in the gaps and joining the dots" Conference on the 27th and 28th November at Sydney University. This event is for everyone, 6 flavours of ice cream and pop corn after each day!
• Neal Robertson spoke about losing his sight, and the different services accessed at Vision Australia - including the woodwork group; technology; quality living group and more. Neal also spoke about therole the right attitude can play to get the most out of life
• Phil Vandepeer, co-funder and co-presenter for Focal Point, spoke about how fundraising has changed for organisations and the impact on their viability. Phil also spoke about the federal political scene and the audio description of the National Pharmacies Christmas Pageant on Vision Australia Radio. There are premium spots at the pageant available to attend on the day
  contact Access 2 Arts on 8463 1689 (Web site available in the podcast notes under "Resources")

Resources:

VisAbiloity: http://www.visability.com.au

Filling in the Gaps and Joining the Dots - Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/filling-in-the-gaps-and-joining-the-dots-tickets-1459528391709 

Access 2 Arts: http://www.access2arts.org.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

S1 (00:23):
Good evening and welcome to Focal Point here on Vision
Australia Radio 1190 7 a.m., Adelaide. Online at Radio Leo,
Radio Digital Adelaide and Darwin through the community Radio app.
Look for Vision Australia, Radio Adelaide as well as your
favourite podcast or streaming service. Catch us also on the
Reading Radio Network. Peter Greco, on behalf of Philip Napier,

(00:47):
saying thank you for tuning in this program, coming to
you from Garner Land, come to you very shortly. We'll
speak to Ryan Horn, shooting from, um, Visibility in Perth.
He'll tell us about International White Cane Day. They did
something pretty special over there. We'll find out what that was.
Then catch up with Doctor Anne Marie Witherow about a

(01:07):
conference coming up for people with dual sensory impairment and
professionals as well. Sounds like a great conference. Your invitation
to attend is coming up very soon. Then catch up with, uh,
Neil Robertson, who will talk to us about life before
and after losing sight and the sort of difference that
attitude can make. And Phil Van Pelt will join us,

(01:28):
co-founder and co-presenter of Folk Point. Lots of things to
talk about. We might even have some seats for you
for free to have front row seats at the Christmas pageant.
And it would also be audio described if you're listening
through 1190 7 a.m. in Adelaide at 8:00 for your
listening pleasure. Lithium Sam are here with Studio One just
before we hear what song studio one tonight can let

(01:50):
you know that Access to Arts have been in touch
this Friday evening as part of the Ozasia Festival. They've
got milestone happening on North Terrace. Audio described free. If
you'd like to go along. 8463168984631689. And also on Sunday,
another event happening on North Terrace. So if you'd like

(02:13):
to go along, give access to answer call on 8463168984631689.
It's actually called On the Terrace, which is happening this
Sunday on North Terrace from 11 a.m.. For further details
and both events are free. 84631689. Let's find out what's

(02:35):
on studio one tonight, shall we?

S2 (02:38):
Tell us what you really think.

S3 (02:40):
We catch up with Doctor Chrissy Antonopulos from Beyond Bias Consulting,
and she talks about unconscious bias and how it affects
attitudes towards people like you and me.

S2 (02:50):
So join us at eight for studio One.

S4 (02:55):
Well, some people at Disability in Perth had a rather
interesting way of celebrating commemorating.

S1 (02:59):
International White Cane Day. Let's chat about it with the
Youth support officer at Visability, Ryan. Ryan, great to catch up.
Thanks for your time.

S5 (03:08):
No problems Peter. Glad to be able to chat to
you again. It's been a long time between chats.

S1 (03:13):
It's been a little while, but I know you're still
around doing stuff because your name pops up everywhere. So
the ubiquitous Ryan, I should say, hey Ryan, you guys
did something pretty cool. Uh, as far as the International
White Cane Day goes, it was after the day. But, uh,
a great idea to, uh, look at Optus Oval. Optus Stadium.

S5 (03:31):
Yeah. That's right. And look, we had to do it
after the day because we needed it or we booked
a private tour. And even though we had looked months
in advance, the tours were all booked out. So we
were able to get a private tour just for us
and our clients on Saturday the 25th of October just gone.
And um, what an amazing experience. Wow. Um, I sent
him one of the seats where we all did. We

(03:53):
all sat in one of the seats that costs, uh,
something like 8500 dollars a year to book at Optus Stadium.
So it was a great, great view. I thought.

S1 (04:02):
Ah, actually, I know, I know, but, uh, looking at
their website, they do kind of, try and accommodate for,
you know, people with vision impairment to kind of put
them in a better position to use the site that
they've got.

S5 (04:14):
Yes they do. Yes, absolutely. 100%. In fact, one of
the people on our tour is actually an usher for
Optus Stadium. So he came along and he was quite funny.
He was telling us he was working in one of
those rooms that we visited just the week before, and that,
and he's got low vision and he works there as
an usher all the time. So, um, yeah, it was
it's very good. Very there are good disability employer as well.

S1 (04:37):
Yeah. Fantastic. Tell us a bit about the tour then. Um,
obviously it was to kind of, uh, celebrate or commemorate, uh,
International White Cane Day. So were people able to use
their cane pretty effectively to kind of navigate the place?

S5 (04:50):
Absolutely. We started off at visibility, uh, in the morning.
Then we jumped on the train and we went across
to the stadium station. We then, um, left the station
and walked around to gate D, and then when we
met our tour guide, Bruce, who was very, very chatty
and very happy man. We used our canes all the
way through, um, you know, it was it was quite sensational, really. Um,

(05:14):
some of the lifts in there are just huge. Um,
and we were told they're actually not lifts for moving patrons.
They were lifts for moving, I guess, you know, food
and drinks and things like that. Um, and, and equipment
and stuff like that. And this lift was so big,
even though we had 18 of us, we fit in
this lift with quite ease. There was room around you

(05:34):
you weren't packed in, so it was pretty incredible. Um, yeah.
And then we just used the the canes as we
wandered through. Uh, not so much like we weren't on
ground level in the grass area of the stadium. We
were up in all the corporate areas and having a
look at some of their, um, like big room. We
explored the big river view room, which, uh, can hold
up to 1500 people seated. So that was a great space,

(05:57):
a good place to practice a little bit of echolocation
and just get a bit of a idea as to
how huge it is. And then, um, for some people,
I'm not going to say myself, but for some people
it was a highlight to sit in the coach's chair
for the West Coast Eagles.

S1 (06:11):
You were not a West Coast supporter.

S5 (06:12):
No, no, I'm not a West Coast supporter. But that
doesn't matter. I mean, I did ask if we'd go
round to the Dockers box, but apparently not that day.
We couldn't get there. But, uh, yeah, no, it was good.
We had a look at the coach's box. We had
a look at the some of the other corporate boxes
and just how they work. Um, we got to feel
a lot of signage around the walk. You know, there

(06:33):
was a lot of signage all done in Braille, and
there was tactile markings everywhere. A lot of thought has
gone into the background of designing the Optus Stadium. I
must say.

S1 (06:42):
I was going to ask you about that because I think, uh,
sort of officially it's it's the newest sort of major
stadium that's been built in Australia. So it sounds like
it's been pretty, uh, thoughtful as far as the, the
inclusion angle of it goes.

S5 (06:54):
Yes, absolutely. Most certainly has been, uh, a lot of
thought has been put into it. And just the way
that building or the stadium itself is designed and all
that sort of stuff. Yeah, it's been well planned and
well thought out.

S1 (07:08):
For those of us that kind of follow the footy
or the cricket sort of on the radio or even
on television, I guess it's not till you go to
something like this, you kind of appreciate how big the
place is. You kind of talked about some of the rooms,
but just in general terms, the kind of acreage that
it sits on. You kind of unless you're sort of
there exploring it, you probably don't realize how grand a

(07:28):
place it is.

S5 (07:29):
Yeah. That's right. Um, I think, uh, we were told
if you were to get up on the roof and
do the walk on the roof, um, which you can do,
there's a guided tour that you can do on the roof.
We might do that next year. Um, but, um, it's
one points. No. Yeah. That's right. Well, don't worry, the
roof is apparently 86m across. Um, all the way around

(07:51):
the stadium, 86m across. I suggested we could play a
blind cricket match. There's enough for it. Um, but apparently the.
If you were to walk from point A all the
way around back to point A on the stadium roof,
it's 1.6km. Now that's that's fairly decent. You know, that's
a lot of roof space.

S1 (08:10):
That's like what you know, I think what a an
oval is sort of roughly 400m of circumference. That's kind
of four ovals if you want to put it that way.

S5 (08:18):
That's right. Exactly. So and look we only in explored
one area like one wing I guess of of the stadium.
We didn't do the whole entire stadium. But um, what
we went through was quite big enough in itself, you know. Um,
and then we went also towards the end of the tour,
we went for a bit of a walk through the
ring road, which is underneath the stadium. So there's a

(08:39):
two lane ring road that's underneath. And yeah, that's where
all the, I guess the, the vehicles before, uh, events
are and all that sort of stuff. So and they
were actually building the stage, uh, for the Metallica concert
while we were there. So, um, there was a lot
of things happening, going, coming and goings and that sort
of thing.

S1 (08:56):
I guess it's one of the things that people can
appreciate is the fact that some of these or a
lot of these venues aren't just the sport, but there's
a lot of other activities that go on around it.
So even if you're not a sports fan, chances are
that you have a disability or a blind or visually
impaired and you want to kind of navigate it. It
could be helpful to find out about some of the
accessibility features for, for for other events that might be

(09:16):
held there.

S5 (09:17):
Yeah. That's right. Yep. Absolutely. So yeah. No, it was
a sensational day. Fantastic day.

S1 (09:22):
I noticed that in some of the information you sent
out beforehand, you were talking about, uh, the sort of, um,
footwear that people should wear and that sort of thing.

S5 (09:30):
Yeah. So we had to have enclosed shoes, I guess,
just for safety reasons. Um, I mean, look, there was
nothing that I don't think you could have got hurt on,
but I guess it's just part of the occupational health
and safety. So. Yeah, just closed in shoes. It was
a lovely sunny day. It was absolutely beautiful day on Saturday. So, um. Yeah, the, um,
but really good conditions and um, and most of it,

(09:51):
we were inside anyway, we weren't really outside for long, but, um, yeah,
there would have been, I guess, for occupational health and
safety reasons. That's why they would have had to wear
enclosed shoes and things.

S1 (10:01):
That was probably one of the, uh, the good days,
because I, I noticed just following, uh, stuff in press,
we've had a, a heck of a sort of spring
as far as the weather goes, because it never rains
in Perth and the other day. Speak about Optus over
the the cricket match was almost washed out. And I
don't think you've ever lost a day's cricket in at
the test level in Perth. So you're nearly creating records

(10:22):
of a an unenviable type.

S5 (10:25):
Uh, look, take this week for example. I think we're
going 27 today, 29 tomorrow, and then the rest of
the week, including Saturday. Sunday is rain. Um, and it
looks like one of our Venetians, the blind cricket team.
One of our games will be washed out this weekend, which,
you know, that'll be the second day of November or
something like that. And you think, how can this happen?

(10:46):
Like this is not spring. Normally by this time of
the year, it's, you know, dig the shorts out of
the drawers and, and, you know, put the long pants away. It's, it's,
you know, but no, not not just as yet. We
keep getting teased, but then the rain comes back.

S1 (10:59):
And what about opportunities for people who are blind or
have low vision in in Western Australia? How's that going
in terms of the different sports? I mean, you've had
a great record in terms of Paralympians and, you know,
people with disabilities representing your state well at international level.
The opportunity is still there. There's still people interested. I
guess there's other distractions that come into it, like, you know,
the technology that we hear about.

S5 (11:21):
Oh, absolutely. There's always the technology and other distractions. They're
going to be there, um, you know, throughout anyone's life really,
you know, um, but no, there's there's still plenty of opportunities.
Goalball is still strong over here. The cricket's strong, the
blind golf is definitely, um, growing, you know, and the
tandem cycling still happening. We got the blind sailing team

(11:41):
that are just about to leave Perth and head across
to Oman. So, um. Oh, no. There's definitely a lot
happening in tennis. We just held a tennis tournament over
here not so long ago. So, uh, there's there is
a lot. There's there's definitely a lot. Now, I believe
there's talk of a three on three basketball type blind
spot to be, um, happening soon. So that's in the

(12:02):
in the works. It's been designed, I believe, as we
speak sort of thing. So yeah, there's a lot of
sport happening here, a lot it always is, which is
really good.

S1 (12:10):
Exclusive because I know that three on three basketball is
pretty big at, uh, wheelchair. And also for athletes with
an intellectual disability that's been quite big in the last
couple of years. So interesting that sort of branching out
also into, uh, athletes who might be blind or have
low vision as well. Yeah, yeah. And just a bit
about your role then, uh, your youth, uh, support coordinator.
Tell us a bit about what that involves. What what

(12:31):
what constitutes a youth?

S5 (12:34):
Well, actually, I've moved a couple of days a week
into the assistive tech area now as well. So I'm
working in assistive tech area work with a lot of
younger people when I'm in that area, especially over school holidays. But, um, yeah.
And I'm still working, um, in activities for youth in, um,
West Australia for visibility. So working, you know, enjoying my
life and and having a lot of fun. It's, um.

(12:55):
It's it's good. I'm coming up for my 24th year
soon of being at visibility. So it's a long time.
A long time.

S1 (13:02):
You must've been about ten when you started, right? I
wish I wasn't about as far as, uh, a serious
sort of question the technology thing, because sometimes you can
feel a bit removed. I mean, some of the, the
major companies are kind of based in Melbourne and Sydney
as far as their sort of centres go. Do you
feel like you're okay as far as being kept up
to date with technology and the changes that are taking place?

S5 (13:24):
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. No, no, we're always up to date.
You know, the the suppliers are always contacting us and, um,
you know, keeping us up to date. We're always getting
equipment sent across the demo and all that sort of stuff.
So no, there's no issues there. It's, you know, with
technology you research something one day and then the next day.

S1 (13:42):
It's.

S5 (13:43):
Been and gone and we're on to something else. So, um, yeah,
it's incredible. You know, it's I always thought it moved fast,
but I think it's moving even faster now, so. Um,
but and I think what I'm liking more is the
fact that a lot of mainstream products are becoming more
accessible to us. Um, you know, and we don't need
to spend exorbitant amounts of money to, you know, access

(14:06):
assistive tech anymore. It's, you know, just becoming a part
of life. So I think that's a big win for
us and a big step forward.

S1 (14:13):
Usually out of the boxes, they like to say. And
of course, a lot of the wearables now are very
much the the go up.

S5 (14:17):
Yeah, absolutely.

S1 (14:19):
Definitely very much with the tour of Optus Oval, Optus Stadium.
Were there any orientation and mobility instructors that came along,
or was it just a a group of people that
kind of wanted to get together and experience it? How
did that all sort of come about?

S5 (14:31):
Uh, no. We had two orientation mobility officers with us. Um, yeah.
Michael and Claire were with us and myself, and one
of our marketing team were there, so we had the
four of us there. And yeah, it was just a
really enjoyable day. And there was lots of questions asked. And, um,
you know, the tour, um, guide Bruce was really good, too,
in answering a lot of the questions. I mean, you know,

(14:53):
that's that's how I know the roof's 86m wide, because
that's what one of the clients asked. You know, if
we went for a walk up there, how, you know,
close to the edge, can you walk? And he said, well,
if you walk in the middle of 86m, there's a
lot either side. So, you know. So yeah. So no, no,
it was very good. Um, and the orientation mobility staff
were fantastic. You know, they, they didn't try to make

(15:14):
it a learning lesson or anything, an educational lesson. But,
you know, they were chatty, they were good. They were
listening to us and picking up some tips on echolocation
as well. So yeah, it was it was overall a
very good day.

S1 (15:26):
I think they've got 12 lifts according to their website.
Did you use the sets much? I mean, I guess
there's a lot of steps as well if you wanted
to use them as well.

S5 (15:33):
Yeah we did. We used some of the stairs as well.
There was there are some places that we use stairs
on the tour. Um, I mean, look, we could have
done lifts, but you know, they were given the choice
and some people would say, I want the lift. And
some people would say, I want the stairs. So it's
all about choice, I guess. Um, I'm pretty sure there's
more than that. Many lifts. If you, um, had to

(15:53):
look at all the service lifts and the other bits
and pieces and some of the rooms have got lifts
that go straight up to it, like the coaching area,
the coaching box has a lift that goes straight into that,
which is pretty incredible as well, you know, so you
can see where the expense is. Um, I come in
for the stadium, you know, we got three coaching boxes
there and all three have got their own individual lift.
Do you think that in itself is a, you know,

(16:16):
a big cost to build. But I mean what a
great service. You know.

S1 (16:19):
What about as far as, um, that the west, the
West Coast Eagles coaches chair was it was that a
bit hot. Did you get close enough to notice that?

S5 (16:28):
No, I didn't want to get anywhere near it.

S1 (16:31):
You might catch a disease.

S5 (16:32):
Yeah, something like that.

S1 (16:34):
West coast eagles fever or something like that.

S5 (16:36):
Something. Yeah. But no a lot of the clients like
to sit in it and, um, they were all pretending
to be coaches and, um, having a bit of fun
and a good bit of a laugh.

S1 (16:46):
And on a serious note, I guess it's a great
way to kind of get the message out there, because
I think you received a bit of media coverage and
obviously visibility do a fair bit as well. It's kind
of a great way to get the message out there
about accessibility and the white cane. It's a great sort
of public, public way to spread the word.

S5 (17:01):
Yeah, absolutely. And that's what it was all about. You know,
even just walking to the stadium from the train station
to the amount of people we passed and people were
saying hi and, you know, and one child said, you know, mum,
what's that? Why have they got them? And, you know,
so one of us was able to stop and actually,
you know, chat to them and say, hey, it was,
you know, this is what it is, this is how
I get around. This is what helps me, you know,

(17:23):
walk safely in my community.

S1 (17:24):
So, yeah, that's good.

S5 (17:26):
That's what it's all about. Just, just, you know, that
general public education, it's about exposure of the white cane,
getting it out there so people feel more comfortable to it.
And I think the stadium staff would be more, I guess,
better trained now because, you know, we gave them a
bit of sighted guide training as well On the day,
you know, a bit of incidental trading happened. But, you know,
when we finished. Um, you know, Bruce, the leader said, well,

(17:49):
I've never had to guide someone before, and now I
know how to do it. Thank you very much. You know,
that's going to make my job much easier the next
time I come across a vision impaired person.

S1 (17:57):
He was learning as well as you guys were. Hey Ron,
thanks for sharing that. A great message. And as I say,
a great way to kind of put the word out
there about International White Cane Day. We appreciate you spending
some time with us.

S5 (18:07):
Always a pleasure, Peter, and I look forward to the
next time we get to chat.

S1 (18:10):
Alright, that's Ron Hunt you there from visibility over there
in Perth. Thanks. About the tour of the Optus Stadium
for International White Cane Day. It's always great to speak
about dual sensory impairment and, uh, probably no one better
to speak about it than doctor Annmarie Withrow. Annmarie, lovely
to speak to you again. Thank you for your time.

S6 (18:32):
No problem. Happy to be here.

S1 (18:34):
Now you've got a conference coming up later on in November.

S6 (18:36):
We certainly do, Peter, on the 27th and the 28th
of November, we're hosting a conference at the University of
Sydney and we are joined by Macquarie University, the co-host,
I suppose, and then we have a whole host of
incredible organisations who have supported us to bring together people

(18:59):
who live with sensory impairments and the professionals, the practitioners,
the academics, the researchers and the organisations in one place.
So it's not something all researchers or for people with
sensory impairments, it's with everybody with some cold filling in

(19:22):
the gaps and joining the dots, because we're looking at
the gaps that we currently have in the knowledge and
the research, and from people with dual sensory impairment and
blindness themselves. What's missing in their lives? What are they
not getting that they need made. And from the research end,

(19:42):
you know, what are we finding in research about these
populations and how can we translate this into helping everybody
live better lives? So the conference is over today, but
one day being devoted to presentations. So we will hear
from whole diverse group of people in the space, including

(20:08):
lived experience is in every single section. We've made sure
that this conference is imbued with the voices and stories
coming from those of us that live with the condition.
The second day, Friday the 28th of November, we have

(20:29):
a couple of presentations in the morning, but it's mostly workshops,
so more hands on, In-depth experience, whether it's, um, about
working with children or about better hacks for daily living,
or an art workshop, or a big research seminar on

(20:50):
how to be more inclusive, because one of the big
issues we see is that people with sensory impairment aren't
asked to be in research very often because, oh, we're
so hard to reach, it's too difficult to provide our accessibility,
it's too expensive, it takes too long. So we're having

(21:10):
a research workshop that says, you can, you should, and
you will do it so that, um, if you're going
to produce good quality socially, just research, you will include
all the voices. Fine. Um, Braille dots, everything you've would
have included, all.

S1 (21:31):
You'll have people there to tap into their, uh, intellectual property,
won't don't you tap into their life experiences?

S6 (21:38):
Yes, exactly. We've got those, um, um, life experiences to
show why a particular topic or a particular presentation or
workshop is relevant and important, and why it's in the programme.
So we've got people with lived experience ranging from, you know,

(22:00):
parents of children to people who've had experimental procedures to
people who are living the best life they can and
how they do it to people who are talking about
the role of assistive technology in their work and their
social lives. So we're going to be hearing from a

(22:22):
lot of people. I think we've got over 15 lived
experience presenters coming on board, and that's not including me
and some of the other, uh, other people. And, you know,
we've got ice cream and popcorn at the end of
both days.

S1 (22:40):
But.

S6 (22:41):
You know, if, if, if the talks and presentations and
workshops don't get you in, maybe the six flavors of
ice cream different on both days will get you in.
So it's it's it's jam packed. It's like as someone said,
oh my goodness. This is like going to the Easter show.
It's jam packed and it's heavy and it's busy, but

(23:04):
it is a space where I think everyone can come
together and share knowledge.

S1 (23:10):
What will happen from this? Do you think what happens
kind of afterwards? I guess it's great to have these
conferences and this exchange of information, etc.. What about from it?
What do you hope will result from it?

S6 (23:22):
I think it'd be really nice to have the model
for how we did this, in that most conferences have
a like a scientific research Committee who look at all
the abstracts and decide which ones are scientifically worthy to
be put into the conference. We didn't do that. Oh, shocking.

(23:43):
What we did. We are 223 people. Big survey at
the end of last year. What do you need and
what do you want?

S1 (23:52):
Yeah.

S6 (23:52):
And they responded. And we made sure that everything that's
in this conference has is backed up by the community saying,
this is what we need and what we want. So
it's a different way of turning it around. Instead of
having scientific people who don't live with the condition say, oh,

(24:15):
this research is fascinating and really well done, we better
put it in. We've said we're going to go out
and search for the people doing this work that people
are saying they want to hear about. So that's what
we've done. And what are the skills people want to learn.
People really want to learn about tactile messaging. They want
to learn about, if you don't know sign language and

(24:37):
you develop a dual sensory impairment, you might need tactile signs.
Even if you, um, you know the person with low vision.
Tactile signs are often quite handy if you're out and
about in heavy traffic. And someone said, watch out, there's
a step, uh, a hazard, a hole, uh, whatever. You

(24:58):
might not hear it. So having a tactile message on
your arm is one way of doing it. And we have, um,
a keynote, um, workshop presenter from the United States who's
really interested in being innovative with, um, tactile, with touch messaging,
using your hands and on, um, arms and backs and

(25:21):
shoulders to communicate important messages. And our other keynote speaker
is Associate Professor Peter Simcock from the United Kingdom, who
has just last week opened his new centre for advances
in Deafblind Education and Research. So it's the first centre

(25:43):
of its kind.

S1 (25:44):
Wow.

S6 (25:45):
And that's an amazing achievement. So we're really grateful to
have him out, because he's been working as a social
worker for a long time with, um, people with sensory impairments.
But his work more recently has been on developing courses
and credentialing at university for the workforce and the people
who work with people with deaf blindness to how to

(26:07):
upskill them, how to give them more knowledge and, and
and more techniques and more strategies and more language interventions.
So it's really, um, we're really excited to have him
come out and, um, be in his English accent.

S1 (26:24):
Yeah. Anne-Marie, Emery of fifth grade that the event is happening.
For those that won't be able to get there, will
there be some way to kind of get the information
from it afterwards? Will there be papers written? Will there be, uh,
an ability to kind of, uh, you know, get it
on catch up, as it were.

S6 (26:42):
We haven't got permission from everybody to record it, but
there will be some recordings available yet. There will also
be a conference book for the point of accessibility. We
are putting as much of what people are going to
say into an electronic book and also a version, because

(27:03):
the things where a lot of deaf blind people is
that it's pretty exhausting concentrating all day, of course, trying
to get information and that the people that are with us,
our interpreters, our communication guides or our support workers need
a break as well. Yeah, we've tried to make sure
as much as we can is going to be in
a book of what people are going to say, all

(27:25):
the slides, everything will be in there, including the script.
We're showing the film The Journey that won several international
awards in 1993, and Billy Sinclair, who was a New
South Wales man who was deaf, blind, and he took
a trip to Japan in his 70s. And the, um,

(27:45):
the documentary follows him on this trip to Japan. And
so we've got the script and, um, a description in the,
in the electronic book so that.

S1 (27:56):
Oh, fantastic.

S6 (27:57):
Yeah. If you can't access the film and honestly, I
can't go to the movie, it doesn't make any sense
to me. So we tried to make that an interactive, um,
possibility because it's a beautiful film, and the director has
used Billy's own words as the voiceovers, but because Billy

(28:18):
was non-verbal, the director has. He actually speaks the words,
but they're Billy's words and then?

S1 (28:24):
Yeah.

S6 (28:24):
It's just about, you know, um, a beautiful life. And
he loved the roller coaster. And he was an artisan
in Japan because of his basket making. So something that
was in some way the sheltered workshop phenomena here was
regarded as a, you know, a creative artistic.

S1 (28:46):
Area.

S6 (28:47):
In Japan, which goes to the heart of telling, uh,
you know what? Some of our attitudes are pretty rubbish. Yeah.
And the Deafblind Association of New South Wales is sponsoring
that screaming. And the director has really kindly agreed to
do a question and answers. And we also have this
is really exciting too. We also have a stand up comedian.

S1 (29:09):
All right.

S6 (29:10):
Fine stand up comedian who is going to close out
the conference for us.

S1 (29:15):
All right. We'll all go home with a smile on
your face. And Marie, now people need to book. Is
there still a chance for people to book? It's about
four weeks or so. Why can people still book?

S6 (29:25):
Yeah, well, I think we've got, um, the links, um,
you've got the link there and email in. We can
and they can register for online for the first day, um,
or in person. It's only the second day that's, um,
only in person. So you can, you know, stay in

(29:47):
your pajamas all day and still come.

S1 (29:49):
And. Marie. Good luck. That would be great to catch
up with you afterwards, to hear how it all goes
and what comes out of it. Maybe some of the
highlights as well. So good luck. You have such passion.
It's really excellent listening to you and I'm sure it'll
be very successful. Congratulations on the work to this point.
And uh, as I said, hopefully we can catch up
with you afterwards to hear how it's all gone. And

(30:11):
people can consult our show notes to get the information
regarding the links to register.

S6 (30:17):
Thank you. Peter.

S1 (30:18):
That's the doctor, Anne Marie, with plenty of enthusiasm, plenty
of energy. That, uh, event coming up later on or
later on in November. All those details help with our
show notes. And as I always say, if you have
any difficulty, access them. Please give us a call at
the radio station and we'll do our best to help
you out. You're listening to.

S7 (30:38):
Focal Point on Vision Australia Radio 1190 7 a.m., BA radio,
digital and online at Radio.com.

S1 (30:48):
I'd like to introduce you to Neil Robertson, who shows
that there certainly is a life after being diagnosed with
an eye condition. Neil, thank you for your time. Hello
Peter and Neil, you're not long back from a trip
on the Ghan.

S7 (31:00):
No, I.

S1 (31:01):
Try to.

S7 (31:02):
Set myself little challenges every now and then to sort
of keep pushing myself and see. See that I can
keep doing things. And, uh, I decided that I would, uh, go.
I live in Melbourne, and I wanted to fly to Adelaide,
get on the Ghan gang. Go to Darwin and then
fly home. And, uh, yeah, I do did that. I,

(31:24):
I really enjoyed it. It was really great. And I
must say that the, uh, people on the Ghan, uh,
both the other passengers and the crew were absolutely fantastic.

S1 (31:35):
As you said, you like to set yourself challenges. Let's
go back a little while. You were diagnosed with an
eye condition a while ago. That was a pretty tough time.

S7 (31:43):
It was a really, really bad time for me. Uh,
I mean, I suppose it is for everybody when they
start to lose their sight and, uh, it goes reasonably
quickly because, you know, you've lived a life where you
take sight for granted. But, uh, when you realize that
you can't see very well and it's going to get worse, it, uh,

(32:05):
really sort of threw me into a, an area of,
I'd say depression. And I was really, uh, starting to
just shrink back into myself because I knew I couldn't
do anything.

S1 (32:17):
Well, you thought you couldn't do anything. Perhaps.

S7 (32:20):
Well, that's what the good working group has taught me.
I must say that the Vision Australia and the woodworking
group have been absolutely fantastic because I was, uh. As
I said, I was really, uh, not in a good place,
but working with them and working with the other people
from Vision Australia have enabled me to now get back.

(32:42):
And as you hear, I'm trying to push the limits
to try to keep out there and doing things.

S1 (32:49):
Uh, long may you keep doing it. Now, just a
bit about your eye condition. What is it? And did
it come on reasonably quickly?

S7 (32:55):
Age related macular degeneration. It is. And, uh, my, the
the specialists were very surprised at how quickly it came
on in my left eye. And the right eye is, uh,
is going as well, but not as quickly as the
left eye. But the left eye is pretty well, uh,
done by one how.

S1 (33:16):
You make a great point about being diagnosed later on
in life. I guess those of us that have lived
with blindness or low vision from a younger age, I
kind of we kind of get used to it, but
when it comes on at a later age, there's probably,
in a sense, more adjustments you have to make. And
at a time when maybe, you know, you don't want
to be making adjustments, you've kind of got used to
living this way.

S7 (33:35):
Well, you know, I was talking to my OT and, uh,
they said to me, look, you've got to start stop
looking for visual cues. You've got to start looking for
tactile cues and things like that. And that's a big
jump to make. It really is a big jump. But anyway, uh,
we have to do it. And I'm trying very hard

(33:58):
to do it.

S1 (33:58):
I guess it's a great point of term you use
before when you said you were starting to shrink back
in yourself. I guess that's one option. The other option
is to maybe, uh, take life on.

S7 (34:08):
Well, that's what I'm trying to do now. I'm trying
to do as much as I can and and continue
on and push the limits as fast as far as
I can.

S1 (34:16):
How did you discover Vision Australia?

S7 (34:19):
I discovered Vision Australia by by accident. Uh, I was
talking to somebody and they said, have you thought about
going to Vision Australia? And I thought, no, I didn't
even really know much about them at all. So, uh,
I decided I would give them a call. And, uh,
from then on, everything's been pretty good.

S1 (34:39):
You know, spoken to people over the years who might
be losing their sight later on in life or I guess,
at any time. And sometimes they talk about the fact
that it's a really hard thing to kind of admit
to themselves that, you know, their sight isn't what it
used to be, or they're losing sight more each day.
Was that a difficult thing to do, to kind of
come to terms with the fact that this is sort

(35:00):
of the, the new new that the new life or new?

S7 (35:03):
No, I think that's that's very true. I mean, one
of the hardest things that you have to do in
life is to admit that you can't do things. And, uh,
when you start to lose your sight, uh, you realize
that you've you've got to compensate somehow. You've got to make, uh,
do something, uh, another way to be able to compensate

(35:25):
because you just can't see.

S1 (35:27):
It's about the woodworking group. How did you kind of
come across that? Was that three Vision Australia?

S7 (35:31):
I was in a one of the, uh, community groups, uh,
Vision Australia have community groups where we had about 8
or 9 of us on the phone, and we were
talking to each other about things, and that was really good.
But somebody mentioned then about the woodworking group and I thought, ah,
I might follow that up because before, before my eyesight

(35:54):
started to go, I did do a lot of woodworking, uh,
as a hobby after I retired. And I thought, oh, okay,
I'll see what we can do. And. Yeah.

S1 (36:05):
Have you navigated the, uh, the woodwork group safely so far, Neil?

S7 (36:09):
Oh, look, they've been really, really good. I must say,
the first time I went there, I was, uh, very
different to what I am now because I knew that
I couldn't do anything, and I knew that it was
pretty well, a waste of time and that I wouldn't
be able to do anything. But, uh, you know, working

(36:29):
with them and and starting to learn to use the
equipment that they've got there. I'm now quite confident that
I can sit thing.

S1 (36:39):
How important is to kind of speak to other people
that have been through the same sort of thing and,
and kind of come out the other side. How important
is that?

S7 (36:46):
Look, it's it's really been a great help not just
doing the work there, but, uh, at lunchtime when we
sit down and talk and I talk to the others
and I realise that, uh, you know, everyone's got challenges,
but we're all finding our own way to meet them
and to keep going. So. And they've lifted me up

(37:08):
a great deal.

S1 (37:09):
Maybe a bit of a different way of thinking about
things than they might have otherwise been the case. Sort
of sharing ideas they had.

S7 (37:16):
If you know, through through talking to them, I've learned
to do things and to use equipment that, uh, I
didn't even know existed before. So it's it's really good.
Not only the woodworking, but, you know, the being with
the others and talking to them as well. And the
spirit that they have is amazing.

S1 (37:34):
I'll do a little bit of, uh, sort of interaction,
a little bit of shaking of each other now.

S7 (37:39):
Oh, just a touch. Yeah, yeah, we do a little bit.

S1 (37:45):
Well, humor can be a very powerful thing, can't it.
And and obviously help with, uh, you know, sometimes that
dark humor, putting it that way, it can be a
very good thing as well.

S7 (37:54):
Yeah. That's true. It's, uh, but I mean, there's a
there's a bit of dark humor, but there's also a
lot of support. There is a very a huge amount
of support that comes from them to help help each
of us. So the group works extremely well. And the, uh,
the two guys who are leading us, uh, do it

(38:16):
really well.

S1 (38:17):
Have you got a favorite thing that you've, uh. Wood worked?

S7 (38:19):
Well, I'm currently working on the jewelry box, and, uh,
I wanted to make the jewelry box, uh, something that
my wife would appreciate. We've been married now for well
over 60 years.

S1 (38:32):
Brilliant.

S7 (38:33):
And I thought if I could get a photo of the, uh,
church that we got married in and get that etched
into the top of the jewelry box. So I contacted
the minister back in the church, and in 62 years,
church has changed. But he went back into the archives
and he found a picture of it round about the

(38:56):
time we got married. And I've now been able to
get that engraved on the top of the jewelry box, uh,
with the laser printer that they've got there. So it
looks pretty good, I'm told.

S1 (39:10):
But did your wife think of it?

S7 (39:11):
She hasn't seen it yet.

S1 (39:12):
Oh, well, what if she knows about it? Well, she
does now.

S7 (39:16):
She. Well, she knows about it. She knows I'm doing it,
but she hasn't seen it yet.

S1 (39:20):
Alright. Yeah. Bit of a romantic venue. That's a lovely gesture.

S7 (39:24):
Yeah, well, that's what she, uh. She told me that, um,
I must be about 62 years to learn.

S1 (39:30):
Okay. It also through Visual Australia. You've, um. Uh, well,
maybe more than doubled in in technology because there's so
much out there these days and moving so quickly. Technology.

S7 (39:40):
Look, uh, with Vision Australia, they've kept me up with technology. And, uh,
I still can use the computer. And, uh, I have
magic apps on my phone, which, uh, read things to
me and read all the emails and everything to me. So, uh,
they've taught me to do a lot of things. Uh,

(40:02):
and they visit once, once or once or twice a year.
They come out and talk to me and show me
new things, which is really good.

S1 (40:11):
Well, as I say, it changes so quickly that it's
kind of good that you got that contact to keep
up to date with new things that might come out
that might help you even more.

S7 (40:19):
Yeah. That's right. Well, I'm looking forward to getting, uh,
the metal glasses. Oh, yeah. Which I probably don't really
need yet, but I will need them in the not
too distant future. So I want to get get them
and adjust to them before it becomes more desperate.

S1 (40:37):
That's a great attitude. Well done on that. And also
you've had a bit of orientation and mobility training as well.
Oh yes, yes.

S7 (40:45):
Yes I have I've been I have have aged to
help me walk around I do. Yes. And uh it's
pretty good I do.

S1 (40:53):
What did you do? Um, you know, a few years ago,
before you kind of, uh, moved to this part of
your life. What? What were you doing?

S7 (40:59):
I had a very interesting life. I've from my point
of view anyway. I started off my working career as
a maths science teacher in Queensland. Oh boy. And then
after a few years there, I moved and I joined
the Royal Australian Navy, and I was in the Navy
for almost 12 years, and I left there as a

(41:21):
lieutenant commander. And uh, I then joined, uh, Honda Australia
and Honda Australia in that time was a very small company.
It was in the late 60s, and, uh, I was
fortunate enough to stay with it until I retired in 2001.

(41:41):
And at that time, I was the most senior Australian
in Honda.

S1 (41:46):
Wow. Gee, they've come a long way in, uh, in,
in that time, haven't they, in terms of, uh, kind of, uh,
both in Australia but also on the world stage, if
I could put it that way.

S7 (41:56):
They certainly have. I mean, I've now been out of
it for 25 years, but it came a long way.
I mean, when I first started, uh, with them, uh,
nobody had computers. I was fortunate enough to spend some
time with IBM to learn how to do programming and
systems analysis, to do the introduction of computers into Honda. And, uh,

(42:21):
to look at it now, it's a different world.

S1 (42:25):
You talked about you having to make the adjustment after
losing your sight, but it sounds like you've always been
someone who's been very keen to learn and kind of
expand your horizons in all sorts of areas of your life. And,
I mean, the Navy must have been an incredible life for,
for that 12 years.

S7 (42:40):
It was it was a fun life, uh, really, really
great life. But it was a great life for a
single man. Yeah, not for a married man. And I had.
I was married with three children. And, uh, with the
constant being away and moving and things like that, it
wasn't a really good life. I didn't think it was
a good life for for our family. So that's the

(43:02):
the only reason I left.

S1 (43:03):
Is there, um, is there a place that you've been
either with the Navy or, uh, in your travels that
you really like that sort of outside Australia?

S7 (43:11):
Well, I've been fortunate enough to travel to many places
around the world, and I guess one of the most, uh,
amazing places for me was the Kremlin to Kremlin and
to go through there and see all the things that
survived and, uh, to look at the, the things that

(43:31):
are there, that things that survive through the revolution. Uh,
it's really amazing. I was absolutely amazed at what I
saw there from both the political view and, uh, you know,
just the things, uh, surviving, uh, the way they are.

S1 (43:52):
Incredible. Neil, if there's someone listening in that might be
losing their sight. Maybe some of their families had a
a diagnosis. That's not that promising as far as their
sight goes. Would you sort of sum up in a
few sentences what your advice would be, having been through
it yourself?

S7 (44:06):
The thing to do is to realize that you're not alone.
There's other people out there who are going through this.
And if you're prepared to admit to yourself that you
need to have a little bit of a chat or
have a talk, or you need some assistance in some way,
there are many people out there who will give you help.

(44:28):
And from my experience in Australia have been absolutely fantastic.

S1 (44:34):
Kelly. What you've been fantastic with us. Thank you so,
so much for sharing a bit of your life and
a bit of your journey as far as diagnosis after
your sight loss goes, we really appreciate it. We wish
you well. I was going to say maybe another 62
years of age, but well, maybe half of that, maybe
another 31 or something.

S7 (44:52):
Look, I hope to be here for another 20 years. So.

S1 (44:55):
Well, I do. I do too, so maybe we should
make a date in 20 years. Time to catch up.

S7 (45:00):
I hope, though I do.

S1 (45:02):
It's been. It's been excellent. Thank you so much.

S7 (45:05):
Thanks, Peter.

S1 (45:06):
It's a Bill Robertson there. Wow, that's inspirational, isn't it? And, uh,
hopefully you got something out of that because I'm so
certain I did. And greater New to have joined us.
I should say a big thank you to Megan for
putting us on to new. Also part of Vision Australia.

S8 (45:19):
Uh, you say it quickly. Sort of doesn't mean much.
They're hoping that. Well, why not? The government of the
federal government provide the service anyway, in particular, looking to
go nuclear. That's quite good. Sometimes it's almost like being
next to the radio station. Yeah, it's an interesting one.

S1 (45:37):
Well, that's Phil van der Perren brief. Let's get Phil
van der P in full. Co-Founder and co-presenter. The first point.
Feel good to catch up.

S8 (45:45):
Thank you. Yeah. It's good to catch up with you too, Peter.

S1 (45:48):
Yeah. Where do we start? Uh, let's let's have a
bit of a chat about the recent news regarding a
couple of organizations getting into financial strife and misery. You've
got some thoughts regarding fundraising and maybe how that might
have impacted on organizations over the years.

S7 (46:03):
It's sad that we just.

S8 (46:05):
Don't have the ability to be able to raise the
funds like we used to. In particular with the, for example,
the cryptocurrency association, they had the channel ten Christmas Appeal,
which raised lots of funds so they could build their
center out at Regency Park. We had the Good Friday appeal,
which built the parts of the Women's and Children's Hospital

(46:30):
and various other telethons. Um, there used to be a
thing called the House of Hope, and I don't know
what happened to that, but, uh, you know, we just
don't seem to be able to raise the funds for
organizations such as, um, Emmett and, um, Bedford's and so on,

(46:52):
which is rather sad, uh, because, um, uh, governments can't
afford to keep funding them and, uh, you know, the
funds that are just not around anymore. And of course,
we've got the NDIS. And with that, that means that
people choose which organisation they go to, but they may
not always choose the, um, the same organisation they've been with.

S1 (47:14):
Of course. Interesting. You talk about, uh, things like the, uh,
the channel ten and channel seven appeals that were kind
of local appeals as in in South Australia, whereas of
course now everything is kind of nationalized. So, you know,
that sort of local opportunity doesn't present itself anymore.

S8 (47:30):
No. That's correct. And it in a way it's sad
because that means that the local organisations who are perhaps,
in some cases the only organisation in town who can
provide some of the services that are required by the
people that are meant to serve. I mean, there aren't

(47:50):
any sort of like national organizations apart from, say, Vision Australia,
but they are not in South Australia, of course, other
than Vision Australia Radio. Uh, but they, they can't always provide, um,
the um, uh, the services that their local organizations were

(48:10):
able to.

S1 (48:11):
Yeah. You made an interesting comment to me the other
day when we were talking about this, too. He said,
you wish you could be around in 100 years, time
to sort of see what's going on. And I guess
the landscape has changed so much, hasn't it, in the
last even, say, 50 years, as you kind of touched
on there, you kind of do wonder where it goes. And,
you know, I mean, I guess I wonder what role.
Not so much the governments have, but the way that

(48:33):
perhaps NDIS money is distributed, you know, what role that
plays going forward.

S8 (48:37):
Well, that's that's right. I mean I still think I
was only just thinking earlier today, I wonder whether or
not we rushed the NDIS Direct to the point that, um,
we're now finding out that perhaps it's not working the
way we wanted it to work or the way it
should work, and that now we're paying the price for that.

S1 (49:00):
Yeah, well, I guess hindsight is a wonderful thing. And,
I mean, it's interesting, isn't it, because we're, what, 12
or so years into it. Sometimes these things take a
long time to find out or to work out the
repercussions and ramifications of introducing something like this. That doesn't
necessarily happen the next day, but it's kind of a
a bit of a water dripping on a rock. It
sort of slowly but surely wears away at it.

S8 (49:22):
Yes, that's that's its problem. And I don't think the
government were prepared for the amount of funds it was
needing to, to run the organisation because, um, I think
they sort of thought that this was only going to
be followed by the amount of people with disability that
they knew of that were going to apply for. It

(49:42):
has doubled in size since the NDIS. Um, Uh. Come in.
So everybody who wasn't able to be funded for whatever
purpose or any other organization at the time, now finds
the NDIS is a way to go, and that's put
a strain on it.

S1 (49:59):
And of course, every government that comes in is looking
for ways to cut back as far as the costs
of it go. So more people. Exactly.

S8 (50:06):
That's exactly right. And that's the most disappointing part of
the whole thing. So look, I don't know where we
go with this because it's a fixed problem. It's a
real problem. And I think that we've got to look
at it, um, differently. People aren't willing to sort of like, um,
in most cases. Now I say that everybody's not able
a lot of people don't, um, give there are people

(50:28):
who do donate to organisations and, and keep things going,
and we thank them for doing that. But there are
a certainly a lot of people who perhaps if you
were to, um, do say things like a badge day,
just walk straight past path to stage two.

S1 (50:45):
That brings back memories, doesn't it? I don't have any. Oh,
does it work? Do they still have them?

S8 (50:50):
I don't, I don't know. I don't think so. I
haven't heard.

S1 (50:53):
Um, no.

S8 (50:54):
Because I know that I used to, um, I used
to do, um, uh, voluntary work on, uh, badge day
for the, the RFB back in the, um, the 80s, um,
early 80s or whatever. And there were times when I
had a tin that was literally full and I couldn't keep, um,
a hold of it because it was so damned heavy
and in a short space of time. But nowadays, I

(51:16):
reckon if I went out there with a tin, I'd have, um,
I could still hold it until, you know, the late
afternoon is still not have it full.

S1 (51:23):
It's a great point you make also about, uh, the volunteers,
I guess it's an ageing population. Maybe a few people
that might have volunteered once have sort of died off. And,
you know, young people, cost of living, trying to bring
up a family. Yeah. Maybe they haven't got the funds
to do that all the time.

S8 (51:40):
Yeah. All of those things, uh, are come into play
for that situation. So it is rather sad. And I
do hope that somehow someone can find a way out for, um,
for Bedford Industries, because they have done a marvelous job
in keeping people with disabilities, um, employed and most, most

(52:01):
of the people that work there, they enjoy going there.
That's that's part of their life. They love it.

S1 (52:06):
Yeah. Good point. Well, there is some talk that, uh,
the Ms. society in Western Australia might be helping out
as far as delivering services to SA and the NT guys.
So we'll try and follow up on that and see
where that goes. I feel what do you make of
Anthony Albanese's visit to America and and Kevin Rudd and
all that sort of stuff? Were you entertained? Oh.

S8 (52:27):
I couldn't help but sort of laugh a bit, but, uh, yeah,
it was a bit of an entertaining sort of, uh, situation.
Mind you, the good part about it is that at
least Anthony Albanese got, um, uh, what he wanted out
of it. So that's a good thing and a good
thing for, um, Australia. So well done. Uh, elbows. Uh.
Not elbows. Um. Oh well good. Call him elbows. Oh, yeah.

(52:51):
I was thinking of yours for a minute there.

S1 (52:53):
Yeah, well, certainly some of his critics have kind of
had to eat their words. I think people are expecting
him to copper a bit of a, uh, a blasting like, um,
poor old, uh, Zelensky did from the Ukraine, but he
seems to have got off rather lightly. I mean, I
guess the only casualty, in a sense, was Kevin Rudd,
and I'm not sure if that was in, in jest
or whether the, the, the make up has gone on

(53:14):
afterwards and everyone's happy or if it's all a bit
of a knack, but I guess we'll find out in time.

S8 (53:18):
Yeah. Well, um, that's, that's the thing. And I don't
know whether, uh, Anthony Albanese could really, um, uh, criticise him.
After all, he, um, he is a member of the
Labor Party and, uh, has been in government, so, uh, yeah.

S1 (53:33):
Interesting times, I think.

S8 (53:35):
And it was Prime Minister.

S1 (53:36):
He was twice. Yes. It's speaking about Prime ministers. Prime
ministers have passed. Um, we as in Australia? Um, well,
I was going to say celebrating maybe commemorating the 50th
anniversary very soon of an event that happened. Well, obviously,
50 years ago certainly was.

S8 (53:53):
And I'll tell you what, um, thinking back on it now, um,
round about this time back then, 50 years ago, perhaps today,
things were really heating up in Canberra because for one thing,
the budget supply bill had been deferred. And that's now,
at this particular time, 50 years ago was on hold

(54:16):
and it went nowhere. And, uh, there were deals done.
There were all sorts of things done to try and get, um,
the parties to, um, uh, come to the party, if
you like, and, uh, release the money bills and, and
and get on with the government. But, uh, there was
no show. And the reason for that was because at
that particular stage. The liberals controlled the Senate. Yeah. And, uh,

(54:41):
that's where things sort of like happened. And then, of course,
come the 11th of November, all hell broke loose. Um,
we were sort of in the morning, sort of carrying on.
We were hoping that, uh, perhaps, uh, Gough Whitlam would
go to the Governor-General and ask for a half-senate election,
only to find out he got kicked out of office.

S1 (55:02):
And of course, then he lost the next election or
he lost the election following that, didn't he? After, um.

S8 (55:07):
Uh, he certainly did. He certainly did. Um, big time too.

S1 (55:12):
Well, Phil, we've got the, um, the Christmas pageant coming
up November 8th, just before the 50th anniversary, and of course,
Remembrance Day on the 11th as well. We won't forget that. Uh,
and of course, uh, a bit of a tradition now.
Audio described on Vision Australia radio.

S8 (55:26):
Yeah. And congratulations to the team that's putting that together.
Last year they did it and they did a fantastic job.
And it was absolutely superb. And for those listeners in
Darwin on digital, you're going to enjoy a fabulous audio
description of that, because the people that do the audio
description are fantastic and they do a wonderful job of that.

(55:49):
I know that listening to them last year, uh, we
got a fabulous audio description of everything that happened and the, uh,
the girls just didn't stop talking. They kept on filling
us in on where things were at and what things
looked like and what was happening on the floats, and
who was doing the floats and the bands and all

(56:10):
of the stuff, and describing when Father Christmas arrives and
making it really, really Christmassy. And, uh, so it was a,
it was a really good job. So if you get
the opportunity to and you can't go to the pageant
or if you are going to the pageant, I believe, Peter,
you've got some details about, um, where they can actually
go and how they can pick up the, um, the

(56:32):
audio description.

S1 (56:32):
Yeah. Alexis trucks have got a special spot just in
front of the MFS in Wakefield Street. If you are
a blind or have low vision or would like to
participate in that, or maybe you've got a child who
might be blind or have low vision. If you contact
access to us on 84631689, so it's still touched on,
you can get the best of both worlds. You can
have the audio description in your ear while you're there,

(56:55):
and also at the same time, particularly if you've got
a little bit of sight, they've got a a premier position.
So you'll be able to if you've got some sight,
you better use it to the best of your ability
to really take in the pageant. So 84631689, give the
office a call and, um, and book your spot. There's
still some spots left, so it's only a bit over
a week away or nearly a bit over a week away.

(57:17):
So lose track of time if you want to go
along either with, um, with with a friend or, uh,
as I say, if you have a child who might
be blind or have low vision, it'd be a great
way to experience both the live version and and also
be at the event when it's happening.

S8 (57:31):
Yeah. And Yeah. Target training with an earpiece in it.
And you'll be right. You'll get the best of both worlds,
as Peter says. So, um, uh, that's going to be
that's going to be brilliant. And, uh, I wish the, um,
the crew luck in, uh, in doing that. And I'm
sure they'll do a fabulous job. They did it last
year and the year before, and I'm sure that everybody's
going to enjoy it, and it's probably going to be

(57:53):
even bigger and better than it was last year. Peter.

S1 (57:55):
Well, you're quite right, Phil. They did a good job.
But I guess with anything you can always learn and
I'm not sure there's much they could have learned, but
if there's anything they could have learned, I'm sure that
they would have put or they will be putting that
into practice on November the 8th.

S8 (58:07):
They certainly will, Peter.

S1 (58:08):
All right. And there's a digital radio in Darwin as well.
And also if you're streaming the show at the moment,
you can hear it regardless of where you are in
the world. Phil, we're out of time. So much to
talk about. I like that was something that, uh, really
was a bit of a flashback. We'll we'll catch up
again next month. It's getting towards the end of the
year obviously.

S8 (58:26):
Yeah. Looking forward to that. Peter, as you say, it's
getting towards the end of the year, and it'll be
probably be a lot to look back on this year
as to what's happened. So I look forward to being
with you.

S1 (58:36):
Then you're going to be their co-founder and co-presenter for
Focal Point. It's a bit of a trip down memory lane.
When was the last matchday you either were involved with?
When was the last time you bought a badge? Maybe
you could let us know. Might do a bit of
research of that. Kind of a fascinating topic. Our audio

(58:57):
describe show of the week Fantabulosa. It's coming up this
Sunday evening on SBS Main Channel. It is JFK One
day in America. Now this is rated PG. It's a documentary,
and it shares the story of JFK's assassination through the
eyes of the Secret Service, whose sole mission was to

(59:21):
protect him. Sounds fascinating, doesn't it? That's to this Sunday evening.
SBS main Channel 730 JFK. One day in America, certainly,
I reckon well worth checking out and the audio description
will really add to it. Some birthdays before we go.
Stella glory having a birthday? Good on you Stella. Involved

(59:41):
with Vision Australia for many years. Talking vision. Another wonderful projects.
Quentin Christensen having a birthday. Spoke to Quentin at the
Tech Fest, part of the NZ axis Nvda big news
coming up there early next year. Happy birthday to Adeline
Rowe who was one of our fine women cricketers. More
news coming up there too. Stay tuned. Billy Hart had

(01:00:04):
that birthday the other day, isn't it? So it's a
bit of a tis the season for birthdays as far
as our women blind Christians go. Happy birthday to you,
Adeline and Jordy. How? Having a birthday? The wonderful Jordy
Howe on radio. Also wonderful musician, fabulous singer, excellent technologist.
Jordy can do anything. So Jordy Howe, a very big

(01:00:25):
happy birthday to you. Of course, earlier this year, I
became a mom. That is just about it for the program.
Thank you, Sam, for your help. Thank you, Pam Greene,
for your wonderful support, reminding you that Focal Point is
available wherever you get your favorite podcast. If you like
the program, even if you don't, please tell a friend,
we'd really appreciate that. On behalf of Philip Napier, this

(01:00:48):
is Peter Greco saying be kind to yourselves, be thoughtful
and look out for others all being well. Focal point
back at the same time next week on Vision Australia
Radio and the Reading Radio Network. This is basically.