March 18, 2025 • 28 mins
In the studio this week is Rob Mckrill; podcaster, photographer, film maker and passionate story teller. Rob speaks to us about his new film "The A Word," a documentary about his life, delving into the hardships he has faced and how he has persevered.
Link to 'The A Word': https://youtu.be/5C_24Fm3c1c?si=o_3lEA-FYIuhrBob
Support Vision Australia Radio: https://www.visionaustralia.org/donate
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:10):
Hi, I'm Abby.
S2 (00:12):
I'm Simon, and welcome to. In Plain Sight, a program
where we highlight people who are making a positive impact
within their community and the disability sector.
S1 (00:21):
Shining a light on those who might otherwise be hidden
in plain sight.
S2 (00:26):
And we share these stories on a weekly basis with
you here on Vision Australia Radio.
S1 (00:35):
Hello and welcome to everyone out there listening to us
right now. Thank you for joining us.
S2 (00:41):
Hello, Abby, and thanks to everyone out there listening to
the radio and the podcast later on. Hope you're all
well and hope you're all well. Abby, how's things going?
S1 (00:49):
Yeah, busy, busy uni life never stops.
S2 (00:53):
Life never stops. Indeed. Now, what we got coming up
this week, Abby?
S1 (00:57):
Well, this week I'd like to highlight the fundraising event
that Vision Australia are currently doing. It's called 100 K
your Way so you can sign up for free and
you simply run, walk, swim, cycle or roll 100 KS.
This is to raise money to support people who are
blind or have low vision. And you can even team
(01:18):
up with family and friends. And we are currently recording
in the Vision Australia Radio Perth studio, so I want
to advocate for us. The Perth team so far have
completed 52 KS of the 1000 KM target and have
raised $5,454 so far.
S2 (01:38):
Yes, and to everyone that's donated through my link on
the 100 K Your Way website, thank you very much.
I've raised a few dollars already and I've walked a
little bit, and I find it really a very stimulating
and rewarding thing to do, to be part of a
challenge like this, because I need that kind of extra motivation. Firstly,
(02:01):
to help raise funds for Vision Australia, who help assist
people who are blind and have low vision, get along
with daily living and do all the activities that they
want to do. And also it inspires me to move
more than I usually do because I'm quite a naturally
lazy person and I spend a lot of time on
(02:21):
the couch or in front of a computer and doing
an activity like this where it's somewhat competitive and you
track every step that you do, and then you log
it onto the website. It helps me keep motivated and inspired.
And it also one of the things that Vision Australia
are trying to highlight with this campaign is that for
(02:42):
a lot of blind and vision impaired people, it's quite
difficult to go out and do exercise on your own
as a vision impaired person because if you are totally blind,
for instance, you can't go out for a walk around
the park on your own in great ease, or you
might be able to walk from your house to the
bus stop, but you might not know how to get
(03:02):
to the local park or a nice riverside view to
be able to go for long walks and enjoy that.
So this is also trying to inspire and encourage people
who have low vision or who are blind to actually
get out and be a little bit more active as well.
And with the money raised, Vision Australia can help assist
with that. So it's a really great cause. Please look
(03:24):
it up 100 K your way for Vision Australia.
S1 (03:27):
Yes, and it's happening in April. So just note that
down and you can find all the details and how
to sign up on the Vision Australia website. Now Simon,
I'll ask you, have you found any exciting walks or
any really cool tracks on your endeavours so far?
S2 (03:44):
Not so far, not with this particular event. But I
do like taking advantage of having my support worker and
we go on a long and interesting walks whenever we can.
I went to one recently in South Perth. Some people
might know of the old historic mill in South Perth
along the freeway there on, funnily enough, on Mill Point
Road it actually looks like a small lighthouse. and it's
(04:06):
an old mill. It's from colonial days where they used
to make flour. And we discovered a really nice walking
trail along there, where there's a sort of an estuary
where the Swan River comes into these wetlands, and they've
got boardwalks, and you can walk around, and then it
hooks back up to the main footpath that goes along
the South Perth foreshore. And we had a really lovely
(04:26):
walk along there just a few weeks ago. And I
like finding these out of the way places and being
like a tourist in my own city and discovering new
and interesting places to go. So one advantage that having
a support worker has brought to my life, that I
can go in the car, firstly get in the car
and then go somewhere interesting to have my exercise walk
(04:47):
rather than just doing laps around the suburb, which I
will be doing just to clock up the kilometres till
I can reach my goal for the 100km your Way
walk event.
S1 (04:58):
How much have you raised so far, Simon?
S2 (05:00):
Uh, well, I'm quite a modest person, so I'd like
to know. But thanks to all my friends and family
so far that have raised over $300 so far, and
I haven't even. The campaign hasn't even started, so I'm
encouraging everyone to check it out. 100 K your way.
Look it up on the website and donate or participate.
S1 (05:20):
So this week we're going to be speaking to Rob Mackrill.
Rob is a photographer, filmmaker, podcaster, and passionate storyteller.
S2 (05:30):
He is, and he's a wonderful person and a very
kind gentleman. And one of the things that I learnt
from Rob was perseverance. He had a dream. He had
a desire, he had lots of knockbacks, but he persevered.
He wanted to follow through with his dream and his passions,
and I admired that. And I also related to that.
(05:52):
It's taken me a long time, but I am starting
to do that now. And as we discussed in the interview,
we like to encourage people, if you have a dream,
if you have a strong desire to be creative or artistic.
Or write stories. Put some time aside, try it out
and have a go. If it doesn't work, it doesn't matter.
It's a bit like walking for exercise. It's exercising your
(06:15):
mind and exercising your heart, and it's fulfilling your dreams.
And it's great work. And we really enjoyed talking to
Rob about all that, so please hope you enjoy it too.
S1 (06:25):
Thanks so much Simon, and we'll hear from Rob now.
S2 (06:32):
Hi, Rob. How are you doing? Simon I am good,
very good. You always appear to me to be good.
You're a good fellow by the sounds of things. Yeah,
I guess I take after my mum. I hang out
with my mum every every week, and she's just such
a happy, kind of laid back, positive person. So she's
my role model. Nice. Now, what is a diorama? A
(06:55):
diorama is a. It's kind of like a display of something,
but like in a museum. A diorama is like one
of those big cabinets, long, skinny ones with birds and
like bush. It's it's like a a model of something
real and big. So I guess the diorama for me
is the model of some of a story of someone's
story in podcast form. Okay. So why did you call
(07:18):
your podcast diorama? Well, I wanted to make it a
podcast about storytelling, like regular people, you know, telling real stories.
So I kind of I had the idea that if
I sit them down here, their story, we're recreating the
story like a, like in a display and also dioramas,
just a pretty funky word. And it's also not a
(07:39):
word that's used a lot. So it's, uh, no, it's
a bit original for the podcasting world. Now you do
lots of different things. But before we get going, yeah,
I'd like you to do something interesting for me because
we're on radio and there's this trend now in lots
of areas to give a physical description about yourself. For
those who those poor, blind people who can't see. Right. Yeah.
(08:02):
And I've often thought about this as well if, if,
if it came onto the news, how would the police
give a description of you? Okay.
S3 (08:10):
Uh, well, after they said that he's armed and dangerous,
they say, um, I'm about six foot. No, I'm about
just under six foot. I've got a, um, kind of
a rickety left knee. So I walk with a little
tiny limp, which is pretty much about getting old. I
have white beard, and I have a little bit of
white hair on my head. I don't have much hair left,
and I tend to look around with a bit of
(08:33):
a squint, and I look up close at things. I
try to. I love wearing nice clothes, so yeah, so
I'm often a bit vain about that. Uh, and that's
that's me. And I've often got a camera around my
neck because I love photography.
S2 (08:46):
Will get into taking photos. We'll get into that bit
later on. Now, you've dabbled in lots of different forms
of media over the years, even a stint at print
handicapped radio. That's right, I did.
S3 (08:58):
I had a programme on, um, RPA called, uh, what
was it called? It was a programme am about, uh,
kind of community services and, and, and community events that
were coming up. And I had a couple of readers,
and we used to research and pull all this stuff together,
and we did this weekly program.
S2 (09:18):
Very nice.
S3 (09:19):
I can't remember what it was called. If I do, I'll,
I'll chime in and and tell you that was fun.
That was I learned a lot, a lot about, uh,
working in a radio studio.
S2 (09:29):
Now, given your profession over so many years being a
social worker.
S3 (09:33):
It was called communiqué, by the way. Sorry. Communique.
S2 (09:36):
Communique.
S3 (09:37):
Sorry. Simon. Uh, back to you. Social worker. Yep.
S2 (09:40):
Yeah. Being an interesting link, because given your professional background
in being a social worker, which is all about personal stories.
S3 (09:48):
Yeah.
S2 (09:48):
And sometimes the most harrowing end of.
S3 (09:51):
Oh, yeah.
S2 (09:51):
How did you get interested in stories and storytelling? What
what sparked that interest in the first place?
S3 (09:58):
Well, social work, you're right, is really about engaging in
people's real stories and doing the podcast I have an
interest in because if nothing else, one of the few
things that makes us all the same is that we
love to tell stories. It's just ingrained in us. So
to do the podcast was a creative difference from being
(10:20):
from the harrowing world of being a social worker. So
I wanted to use my social work skills of interviewing
people and engaging people to do that. So help me
to self-care.
S2 (10:31):
Now, one of the reasons we've got you into the
studio today is because you've recently released a full length
documentary about yourself, which is available on YouTube, are called
the A word. Give us a quick one minute synopsis.
S3 (10:47):
Well, I've always wanted to do this. I've always wanted
to make a film since I was a kid and
I wanted to make. I'd like to contribute to the, um,
you know, the conversations around the world about albinism. So
I thought, I'll make a film, learn how to do that.
You're the YouTube videos and whatever, and then make a
film about my experience with albinism, my kind of views
(11:07):
about how albinism, how we've got incredible differences and what
it is. So it. So that's pretty much it. Yeah,
I and I and I did it. I did it
by myself. I learnt by trial and error. It took
me a couple of years to put it together. I
paid too much money for a video camera and just, um,
did it and it's finished. And and it's, it's out
there and I get a lot of, uh, responses and
(11:28):
feedback and got and met the goal, the conversations that
it started. It's magic.
S2 (11:33):
Now, I've watched the movie and, um, there's a lot
of great insights into your personal life. I also saw
it as personal history and a social history as well,
because you talk, you start from as a child growing
up in a certain area of Western Australia and so
on and so forth. I found it fascinating, fascinating. Through that.
I want to get this out of the way now. No,
(11:55):
it's it's somewhat.
S3 (11:56):
Elephant in the room or.
S2 (11:58):
Somewhat serious question.
S3 (11:59):
Yeah.
S2 (12:00):
Because I won't give away where you talk about it
in the, in the film. But the word albino.
S3 (12:06):
Yeah.
S2 (12:06):
Obviously, over the years, I've learned that that's not a
very polite terminology anymore.
S3 (12:12):
No.
S2 (12:12):
Was it at all at any point?
S3 (12:14):
I think it's back in the original days. Back in
the old days, all disabilities were pretty much either, just
not unknown. But they, when they first became known, was
through medical eyes. So it was very common for people
to be called a spastic or a or a or
an epileptic or an albino or a cripple. So they,
(12:38):
they were just words that were labels that were used.
And of course, when stigma arose, those names became tainted
with the stigma. So and of course, we as we
see now, disability is mostly about human rights and about access.
It's sort of more psychological and social things than it
is medical. So it's a person with albinism. You're the
(13:01):
person first and then you're the you're the disability or
the impairment. That's just part of it. but also a
lot of words are still used and they're they've got stigma.
S2 (13:11):
Alongside albinism comes a vision impairment.
S3 (13:14):
Yep. Yep.
S2 (13:15):
Is that always the case?
S3 (13:17):
It's pretty much varying degrees. I mean yes. Yeah. Look
it's I don't I don't really understand why, but it
is the important thing is that we're not all the same. Like,
I think a lot of the time when you hear
about disabilities in the media, there's so much other things
that people are fill their heads with. They often get
(13:39):
a simplistic view. So stereotypes and stereotypes too. Of all
the people that I know with albinism, they've all got
low vision but varying degrees of low vision. Yep, yep.
S2 (13:49):
Through watching your movie, I found out that you have
a love of reading.
S3 (13:53):
Yeah I do.
S2 (13:53):
And you like to. Maybe because the technology wasn't there
when you were younger? No, because it didn't have audio
books and so forth as readily available as they do now.
But you'd like to physically read? I find that fascinating
because I'm not. I love reading, but I listen to audiobooks.
S3 (14:08):
Yeah. Yeah.
S2 (14:09):
And I'm also not one that has great perseverance. So
if I had to struggle physically to read a book
with the vision that I have now, I would never
have done it. Tell me why and how you firstly
got that love of reading and why you persevered to
do it with the eyesight that you have?
S3 (14:27):
Look, I, um, I've always found audiobooks to be a
pain in the bum. Really? Because I don't know, it
just was a for me. It just didn't wasn't a
good fit. But reading has physical reading of a novel
with through a magnifying glass just hurt my hands and
my elbows and my neck and my back. It was terrible,
of course, but then when the Kindle first came out,
(14:49):
the Kindle, you know, the Kindle e-reader, you could blow
up the text on the screen to 24 point. And
there I was, sitting on the train like everyone else,
reading effortlessly. And of course, my wife, Lisa. She is
a passionate reader, so I've really kind of.
S2 (15:06):
A really I found that quite interesting.
S1 (15:13):
You're currently listening to In Plain Sight on Vision Australia
Radio with Simon and Abby. This week we are speaking
to Rob Mackrill, photographer, filmmaker, podcaster and passionate storyteller.
S2 (15:29):
Now, one of your other hobbies that we've just I
think we mentioned it earlier is photography.
S4 (15:34):
Oh, yes.
S2 (15:35):
Now, to most people, to photography for someone who has
a vision impairment. Yeah. Ah, it's quite an odd fit,
but I know for a fact that there's a lot
of people with vision impairments and some totally blind people.
They have an interest in photography and filmmaking as well. Yeah.
So tell us about your interest in photography and how
that works being vision impaired.
S3 (15:56):
Well, my dad used to take photos when we were kids,
and he used to have, like, a box brownie. And
he had those old fashioned photo albums with the black
paper pages and the little black and white. And I
loved it, loved them. And I got a camera when
I was ten. It was it was rubbish. It was
a terrible camera. But I just got hooked. And then
I took a class in an elective in photography at
(16:19):
high school and learn how to use a darkroom. And
that was that was it. I was I was lost
to photography, basically, and I've just been a fan ever since.
Photography is also a thing that's like a compliment to
my to the hard work that I do as a
social worker. Now, when I first started, it was really
hard because I couldn't focus accurately. And but every time
(16:42):
there's an advance in the technology, it's almost like this
little committee of people that meet when they get a
new invention and they say, but is this going to
be okay for Rob Mackrill? This little committee like and
every development just makes it easier for me. Like autofocus,
big screens, computers, digital photography was like a renaissance for
(17:04):
me And it's amazing. Even I because for a lot
of blind people out there, a lot of people with
low vision AI in cameras, you can actually have settings
that will identify faces. Yes. So it's just ironic, isn't it?
S1 (17:20):
What sort of photography do you do? Are you into
more portraiture or landscape or.
S4 (17:25):
Oh, I love.
S3 (17:26):
Passionately love street photography. And that's the taking of pictures
of people in their environment, interacting with their environment. It's
kind of edgy and it's, um, it's a beautiful thing, but.
And the great thing is, I don't drive. So I figured,
you know, when life gives you lemons, lemons you make
hang on. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, right?
So I figure if I just sort of pined over
(17:49):
not being able to go to exotic places, I crumple
into a heap. But I can jump on the public
transport and go into the city and suburbs and get
endless photos in my own backyard. And I love it.
And I and I love the work of street. It's
a great tradition in photography. Yes. So it's my thing
in my photo club. It's not that popular. Most people
(18:10):
in the club like to take photos of birds and
landscapes and, you know, bowls of fruit, and I just
nod off to sleep.
S1 (18:16):
Bowls of fruit.
S4 (18:17):
Bowls. But yeah, but that's.
S2 (18:20):
I don't find that all that artistic. I find street
art and street photography more, um, artistic because you're creating
something from nothing, you know?
S3 (18:28):
Well, it's.
S2 (18:29):
Because nature is pretty in itself.
S3 (18:30):
Well, that's what I think. But I mean, more more
power to them.
S2 (18:34):
Yeah, sure, sure.
S3 (18:35):
But what I think is it's for me, it's, you know,
most street scenes are sort of chaotic and mundane. Sometimes
they're dirty. And if you can find a story and
if you can find the ordinary or the, the, the,
the extraordinary in the ordinary or the beautiful in the ugly,
that's the challenge. So I yeah.
S2 (18:56):
So you just mentioned, um, you're in a photography club. Yeah.
And you also have had your photos displayed at a gallery.
S3 (19:05):
Well, yeah. Yeah. As serendipity. My mate, my old friend Mark,
who we've been together since we were mates, since we
were 16. He has a picture framing business in Bridgetown.
And when he opened it, he said, why don't we.
You print 20 of your photos, I'll frame them and
we'll have a little gallery. And I thought, I am
planning on doing a photo exhibition in Victoria Park later
(19:27):
this year. I've got to sort of start organising it,
but this was like a bit of a trial run
and we had an opening night and it was really successful.
I sold some and it was just a blast, really.
S2 (19:38):
You sold.
S3 (19:39):
Some? Yeah.
S2 (19:40):
Excellent. So tell us about the making of your film again,
as we'll just remind people your film is called the
A word.
S3 (19:48):
The a word.
S2 (19:49):
Interesting title. How did you.
S3 (19:51):
Well, because it was when I was a kid. It
was all my family didn't talk about it, so there
was a lot of shame attached to it. And as
you said earlier, the word albino was a, you know,
almost a swear word. It was embarrassing. And so so
that's why it was called the A word, because I
was grappling with even the albinism. But even the what
(20:11):
it was called and I made, I made it myself,
and I kind of watched a lot of YouTube videos
to learn all the cinema stuff. And I've got a
good friend, Rob, and he, he's got a film degree,
and he helped to teach me a little bit about storytelling,
and that was I really connected with that, because there
was a difference between telling a story versus telling a topic. Yes.
(20:32):
And a story has goals and it has barriers and
it has feelings. And so that really connected and I I'm.
S2 (20:40):
Well, it was very tricky watching the film because I
thought you might have delved into making it a really
long presentation, like somewhat like a lecture type of presentation,
because it is a very serious topic that you're talking about,
and it is just often just you on screen, just
talking about you and your, your situation and so forth.
(21:01):
So but you broke broke it up and made it
quite interesting project.
S3 (21:05):
And that's my first film, too. I, you know, I
contacted Luna Cinema and they do cinema here. So we're
going to have a showing of for family, friends and
supporters in probably in the next couple of months. So
that's the next thing.
S1 (21:17):
That's amazing. It'd be.
S3 (21:18):
Nice to.
S1 (21:19):
See.
S3 (21:19):
It on the big screen. Yeah. Thank you, thank you.
S2 (21:21):
Do you have a date for that?
S3 (21:22):
No. Not yet.
S2 (21:23):
Okay.
S3 (21:23):
But I'll let you know.
S2 (21:24):
Yeah. Please.
S3 (21:25):
And then you can, you know, shout it out from
the rooftops.
S2 (21:28):
Oh, yeah. I'm good at shouting.
S3 (21:29):
Cheers.
S2 (21:30):
But not drinks. Yeah. Okay. And, um, you've delved into
lots of different kinds of media and storytelling. Yeah. What
do you hope to achieve with all this?
S3 (21:42):
Well, I love, as you can tell. I mean, I've
got a bit of an artistic streak like my mum has.
Mum's a painter, I love the radio and I love podcasting,
and I, and I love the idea of making film
and I love photography. So I'm going to pursue that
as much as I can. What I also want to
do is I want to and I've already done this
a bit, is use my social work skills to interview
(22:05):
old people at the end of their lives and do
audio recordings of their of their life story. And I
want to sort of do that in a, in a
volunteer capacity. So that's that's one of my next things.
And I've already been doing it, and I've got a
schedule of questions that I've put together. And it's it's
kind of nice.
S2 (22:22):
Now, we've talked a lot about some of the bright
and fluffy and the positive things that you're doing. Having
watched your film and having known you for years now,
your life wasn't always this fluffy and light and bright.
Now for the listeners, we try not to be an
inspirational program here, but can you tell us firstly what
that was like? How did you move forward to being
(22:45):
the positive, forthright person that you are?
S3 (22:47):
Well, I think the theme of the kind of the
negative part of my life was being isolated, not being
not having other people with albinism around and not having
my family who talked about it. So that just leads
to shame and to, you know, feeling like you're worthless.
I think I was, as my mum said in, in
the film as I interviewed my mums, the star of
(23:07):
the film, she says I was pretty tenacious and I
would always, if I really put my mind to something,
if I wanted something, I'd really kind of do whatever
I had to to make it happen.
S2 (23:16):
You talked about isolation there? Yeah. Do you think that
helped create your interest in stories and create your imagination?
S3 (23:23):
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. And also, that bad experience helped me
to kind of connect with social work as well. So
it's kind of a really neat process. As I look
back on it, it's unfolded really nicely. It's it's been tricky.
You know, it could have stumbled and fall at any
stage during that time. And but I managed to hang
(23:43):
in there. But you're right about not just presenting the
inspirational side of stories. Because especially with disability, because, you know,
we either do that. We often see people with this
disabilities as tragedies or as totally fluffy inspiration stories. It's
always somewhere in the middle, isn't it? Yes. And that's
the thing I really feel strongly about is that we're
(24:04):
all different. We all have our own goals, our own
barriers and personalities. Yeah.
S2 (24:10):
When we hear a conversation like this, or watch a
film like you've made some people who aren't there in
that part of life yet think I can relate to
some of that. Yet I could never do that. That's
so brave. And it is brave to put yourself out
there and to move beyond the struggles. But it is
possible for everyone to do.
S3 (24:31):
And when you're young, it's often hard to visualize how
things are going to be later on. Yes.
S2 (24:35):
Yeah, yeah. What I related to in your movie was
achieving things that you wanted to achieve, persevering with things,
and finding a way to become this positive person that
you are. And also you you like you say you
worked in social work for most of your working career,
so you've always been giving back to the community that
(24:57):
you're in and around.
S3 (24:58):
There was a lady who lives in Brisbane who sent
me a message just before I finished the film, and
she said, I remember you when you put your web
page together. Back in 2000, she said, I was 13
years old and I have albinism. I was the only
person with albinism I'd ever seen. I lived at the
time in Colombia, in South America, she said. I saw
(25:18):
your website and it really changed things for me. Anyway,
I mentioned her in my film because that's really what
I wanted to do with this film, is to connect
with people.
S2 (25:28):
Yep, yep. And that's why I brought you in today,
because I thought there was a connection and similar inspirations
here for what we're trying to achieve. So thanks for
joining us today, Rob, it's been a pleasure to see
you in the studio and have a chat with you.
Is there anything you'd like to tell our audience before
we have to finish up this fun conversation?
S3 (25:46):
Over the years, I've heard people say, you know, Inspirationally.
They say, follow your passion in life. You know, you've
just got to regardless. And I've often thought, oh, well,
that's all very well, but you've got to put bread
on the table and you've got to pay the bills
and stuff. But now that I'm age 64, that's so true.
You know, even if you have following your passion as
(26:06):
part of your life. It's so important to have that
in your life, to have things that you really that
you love because you know love. Life is not just
all about work. It's sometimes it's about creativity and and
just doing those things that you really want to do
because life is short. So I would definitely promote that.
S2 (26:25):
I echo those thoughts and totally agree. Rob, I'd like
to thank you, Rob, for sharing what you do and
sharing your stories and sharing your passion with us here
today at Vision Australia Radio. Thanks for coming in, Rob.
S3 (26:35):
You're welcome. I'm one of your big fans. I've listened
to all your apps. I'm. I'm. Yeah, I'm there for you, Simon.
S2 (26:41):
Okay. Thank you very much. Rob. Good to see you.
S1 (26:49):
Thanks so much for listening. Really hope that you enjoyed
that interview. I'll make sure to include in the podcast
description a link to his film the A word, which
is on YouTube. So keep an eye out for that.
And also make sure to follow the Vision Australia radio
page on Facebook. There's a lot of different interesting shows
and other podcasts that they advertise on there that you
(27:12):
should really check out. And we also post each week
about our current episode and the latest show, so make
sure to check that out. That concludes in Plain Sight
for this week. Join us, Abby Greene and Simon Chong
at the same time next week on Vision Australia Radio,
VA radio, digital and online at VA radio.org. You can
(27:33):
also listen on demand by searching for In Plain Sight
wherever you get your podcasts, or ask your smart device
to play in Plain sight by Vision Australia Radio. Thanks
for listening.
Hi, I'm Abby.
S2 (00:12):
I'm Simon, and welcome to. In Plain Sight, a program
where we highlight people who are making a positive impact
within their community and the disability sector.
S1 (00:21):
Shining a light on those who might otherwise be hidden
in plain sight.
S2 (00:26):
And we share these stories on a weekly basis with
you here on Vision Australia Radio.
S1 (00:35):
Hello and welcome to everyone out there listening to us
right now. Thank you for joining us.
S2 (00:41):
Hello, Abby, and thanks to everyone out there listening to
the radio and the podcast later on. Hope you're all
well and hope you're all well. Abby, how's things going?
S1 (00:49):
Yeah, busy, busy uni life never stops.
S2 (00:53):
Life never stops. Indeed. Now, what we got coming up
this week, Abby?
S1 (00:57):
Well, this week I'd like to highlight the fundraising event
that Vision Australia are currently doing. It's called 100 K
your Way so you can sign up for free and
you simply run, walk, swim, cycle or roll 100 KS.
This is to raise money to support people who are
blind or have low vision. And you can even team
(01:18):
up with family and friends. And we are currently recording
in the Vision Australia Radio Perth studio, so I want
to advocate for us. The Perth team so far have
completed 52 KS of the 1000 KM target and have
raised $5,454 so far.
S2 (01:38):
Yes, and to everyone that's donated through my link on
the 100 K Your Way website, thank you very much.
I've raised a few dollars already and I've walked a
little bit, and I find it really a very stimulating
and rewarding thing to do, to be part of a
challenge like this, because I need that kind of extra motivation. Firstly,
(02:01):
to help raise funds for Vision Australia, who help assist
people who are blind and have low vision, get along
with daily living and do all the activities that they
want to do. And also it inspires me to move
more than I usually do because I'm quite a naturally
lazy person and I spend a lot of time on
(02:21):
the couch or in front of a computer and doing
an activity like this where it's somewhat competitive and you
track every step that you do, and then you log
it onto the website. It helps me keep motivated and inspired.
And it also one of the things that Vision Australia
are trying to highlight with this campaign is that for
(02:42):
a lot of blind and vision impaired people, it's quite
difficult to go out and do exercise on your own
as a vision impaired person because if you are totally blind,
for instance, you can't go out for a walk around
the park on your own in great ease, or you
might be able to walk from your house to the
bus stop, but you might not know how to get
(03:02):
to the local park or a nice riverside view to
be able to go for long walks and enjoy that.
So this is also trying to inspire and encourage people
who have low vision or who are blind to actually
get out and be a little bit more active as well.
And with the money raised, Vision Australia can help assist
with that. So it's a really great cause. Please look
(03:24):
it up 100 K your way for Vision Australia.
S1 (03:27):
Yes, and it's happening in April. So just note that
down and you can find all the details and how
to sign up on the Vision Australia website. Now Simon,
I'll ask you, have you found any exciting walks or
any really cool tracks on your endeavours so far?
S2 (03:44):
Not so far, not with this particular event. But I
do like taking advantage of having my support worker and
we go on a long and interesting walks whenever we can.
I went to one recently in South Perth. Some people
might know of the old historic mill in South Perth
along the freeway there on, funnily enough, on Mill Point
Road it actually looks like a small lighthouse. and it's
(04:06):
an old mill. It's from colonial days where they used
to make flour. And we discovered a really nice walking
trail along there, where there's a sort of an estuary
where the Swan River comes into these wetlands, and they've
got boardwalks, and you can walk around, and then it
hooks back up to the main footpath that goes along
the South Perth foreshore. And we had a really lovely
(04:26):
walk along there just a few weeks ago. And I
like finding these out of the way places and being
like a tourist in my own city and discovering new
and interesting places to go. So one advantage that having
a support worker has brought to my life, that I
can go in the car, firstly get in the car
and then go somewhere interesting to have my exercise walk
(04:47):
rather than just doing laps around the suburb, which I
will be doing just to clock up the kilometres till
I can reach my goal for the 100km your Way
walk event.
S1 (04:58):
How much have you raised so far, Simon?
S2 (05:00):
Uh, well, I'm quite a modest person, so I'd like
to know. But thanks to all my friends and family
so far that have raised over $300 so far, and
I haven't even. The campaign hasn't even started, so I'm
encouraging everyone to check it out. 100 K your way.
Look it up on the website and donate or participate.
S1 (05:20):
So this week we're going to be speaking to Rob Mackrill.
Rob is a photographer, filmmaker, podcaster, and passionate storyteller.
S2 (05:30):
He is, and he's a wonderful person and a very
kind gentleman. And one of the things that I learnt
from Rob was perseverance. He had a dream. He had
a desire, he had lots of knockbacks, but he persevered.
He wanted to follow through with his dream and his passions,
and I admired that. And I also related to that.
(05:52):
It's taken me a long time, but I am starting
to do that now. And as we discussed in the interview,
we like to encourage people, if you have a dream,
if you have a strong desire to be creative or artistic.
Or write stories. Put some time aside, try it out
and have a go. If it doesn't work, it doesn't matter.
It's a bit like walking for exercise. It's exercising your
(06:15):
mind and exercising your heart, and it's fulfilling your dreams.
And it's great work. And we really enjoyed talking to
Rob about all that, so please hope you enjoy it too.
S1 (06:25):
Thanks so much Simon, and we'll hear from Rob now.
S2 (06:32):
Hi, Rob. How are you doing? Simon I am good,
very good. You always appear to me to be good.
You're a good fellow by the sounds of things. Yeah,
I guess I take after my mum. I hang out
with my mum every every week, and she's just such
a happy, kind of laid back, positive person. So she's
my role model. Nice. Now, what is a diorama? A
(06:55):
diorama is a. It's kind of like a display of something,
but like in a museum. A diorama is like one
of those big cabinets, long, skinny ones with birds and
like bush. It's it's like a a model of something
real and big. So I guess the diorama for me
is the model of some of a story of someone's
story in podcast form. Okay. So why did you call
(07:18):
your podcast diorama? Well, I wanted to make it a
podcast about storytelling, like regular people, you know, telling real stories.
So I kind of I had the idea that if
I sit them down here, their story, we're recreating the
story like a, like in a display and also dioramas,
just a pretty funky word. And it's also not a
(07:39):
word that's used a lot. So it's, uh, no, it's
a bit original for the podcasting world. Now you do
lots of different things. But before we get going, yeah,
I'd like you to do something interesting for me because
we're on radio and there's this trend now in lots
of areas to give a physical description about yourself. For
those who those poor, blind people who can't see. Right. Yeah.
(08:02):
And I've often thought about this as well if, if,
if it came onto the news, how would the police
give a description of you? Okay.
S3 (08:10):
Uh, well, after they said that he's armed and dangerous,
they say, um, I'm about six foot. No, I'm about
just under six foot. I've got a, um, kind of
a rickety left knee. So I walk with a little
tiny limp, which is pretty much about getting old. I
have white beard, and I have a little bit of
white hair on my head. I don't have much hair left,
and I tend to look around with a bit of
(08:33):
a squint, and I look up close at things. I
try to. I love wearing nice clothes, so yeah, so
I'm often a bit vain about that. Uh, and that's
that's me. And I've often got a camera around my
neck because I love photography.
S2 (08:46):
Will get into taking photos. We'll get into that bit
later on. Now, you've dabbled in lots of different forms
of media over the years, even a stint at print
handicapped radio. That's right, I did.
S3 (08:58):
I had a programme on, um, RPA called, uh, what
was it called? It was a programme am about, uh,
kind of community services and, and, and community events that
were coming up. And I had a couple of readers,
and we used to research and pull all this stuff together,
and we did this weekly program.
S2 (09:18):
Very nice.
S3 (09:19):
I can't remember what it was called. If I do, I'll,
I'll chime in and and tell you that was fun.
That was I learned a lot, a lot about, uh,
working in a radio studio.
S2 (09:29):
Now, given your profession over so many years being a
social worker.
S3 (09:33):
It was called communiqué, by the way. Sorry. Communique.
S2 (09:36):
Communique.
S3 (09:37):
Sorry. Simon. Uh, back to you. Social worker. Yep.
S2 (09:40):
Yeah. Being an interesting link, because given your professional background
in being a social worker, which is all about personal stories.
S3 (09:48):
Yeah.
S2 (09:48):
And sometimes the most harrowing end of.
S3 (09:51):
Oh, yeah.
S2 (09:51):
How did you get interested in stories and storytelling? What
what sparked that interest in the first place?
S3 (09:58):
Well, social work, you're right, is really about engaging in
people's real stories and doing the podcast I have an
interest in because if nothing else, one of the few
things that makes us all the same is that we
love to tell stories. It's just ingrained in us. So
to do the podcast was a creative difference from being
(10:20):
from the harrowing world of being a social worker. So
I wanted to use my social work skills of interviewing
people and engaging people to do that. So help me
to self-care.
S2 (10:31):
Now, one of the reasons we've got you into the
studio today is because you've recently released a full length
documentary about yourself, which is available on YouTube, are called
the A word. Give us a quick one minute synopsis.
S3 (10:47):
Well, I've always wanted to do this. I've always wanted
to make a film since I was a kid and
I wanted to make. I'd like to contribute to the, um,
you know, the conversations around the world about albinism. So
I thought, I'll make a film, learn how to do that.
You're the YouTube videos and whatever, and then make a
film about my experience with albinism, my kind of views
(11:07):
about how albinism, how we've got incredible differences and what
it is. So it. So that's pretty much it. Yeah,
I and I and I did it. I did it
by myself. I learnt by trial and error. It took
me a couple of years to put it together. I
paid too much money for a video camera and just, um,
did it and it's finished. And and it's, it's out
there and I get a lot of, uh, responses and
(11:28):
feedback and got and met the goal, the conversations that
it started. It's magic.
S2 (11:33):
Now, I've watched the movie and, um, there's a lot
of great insights into your personal life. I also saw
it as personal history and a social history as well,
because you talk, you start from as a child growing
up in a certain area of Western Australia and so
on and so forth. I found it fascinating, fascinating. Through that.
I want to get this out of the way now. No,
(11:55):
it's it's somewhat.
S3 (11:56):
Elephant in the room or.
S2 (11:58):
Somewhat serious question.
S3 (11:59):
Yeah.
S2 (12:00):
Because I won't give away where you talk about it
in the, in the film. But the word albino.
S3 (12:06):
Yeah.
S2 (12:06):
Obviously, over the years, I've learned that that's not a
very polite terminology anymore.
S3 (12:12):
No.
S2 (12:12):
Was it at all at any point?
S3 (12:14):
I think it's back in the original days. Back in
the old days, all disabilities were pretty much either, just
not unknown. But they, when they first became known, was
through medical eyes. So it was very common for people
to be called a spastic or a or a or
an epileptic or an albino or a cripple. So they,
(12:38):
they were just words that were labels that were used.
And of course, when stigma arose, those names became tainted
with the stigma. So and of course, we as we
see now, disability is mostly about human rights and about access.
It's sort of more psychological and social things than it
is medical. So it's a person with albinism. You're the
(13:01):
person first and then you're the you're the disability or
the impairment. That's just part of it. but also a
lot of words are still used and they're they've got stigma.
S2 (13:11):
Alongside albinism comes a vision impairment.
S3 (13:14):
Yep. Yep.
S2 (13:15):
Is that always the case?
S3 (13:17):
It's pretty much varying degrees. I mean yes. Yeah. Look
it's I don't I don't really understand why, but it
is the important thing is that we're not all the same. Like,
I think a lot of the time when you hear
about disabilities in the media, there's so much other things
that people are fill their heads with. They often get
(13:39):
a simplistic view. So stereotypes and stereotypes too. Of all
the people that I know with albinism, they've all got
low vision but varying degrees of low vision. Yep, yep.
S2 (13:49):
Through watching your movie, I found out that you have
a love of reading.
S3 (13:53):
Yeah I do.
S2 (13:53):
And you like to. Maybe because the technology wasn't there
when you were younger? No, because it didn't have audio
books and so forth as readily available as they do now.
But you'd like to physically read? I find that fascinating
because I'm not. I love reading, but I listen to audiobooks.
S3 (14:08):
Yeah. Yeah.
S2 (14:09):
And I'm also not one that has great perseverance. So
if I had to struggle physically to read a book
with the vision that I have now, I would never
have done it. Tell me why and how you firstly
got that love of reading and why you persevered to
do it with the eyesight that you have?
S3 (14:27):
Look, I, um, I've always found audiobooks to be a
pain in the bum. Really? Because I don't know, it
just was a for me. It just didn't wasn't a
good fit. But reading has physical reading of a novel
with through a magnifying glass just hurt my hands and
my elbows and my neck and my back. It was terrible,
of course, but then when the Kindle first came out,
(14:49):
the Kindle, you know, the Kindle e-reader, you could blow
up the text on the screen to 24 point. And
there I was, sitting on the train like everyone else,
reading effortlessly. And of course, my wife, Lisa. She is
a passionate reader, so I've really kind of.
S2 (15:06):
A really I found that quite interesting.
S1 (15:13):
You're currently listening to In Plain Sight on Vision Australia
Radio with Simon and Abby. This week we are speaking
to Rob Mackrill, photographer, filmmaker, podcaster and passionate storyteller.
S2 (15:29):
Now, one of your other hobbies that we've just I
think we mentioned it earlier is photography.
S4 (15:34):
Oh, yes.
S2 (15:35):
Now, to most people, to photography for someone who has
a vision impairment. Yeah. Ah, it's quite an odd fit,
but I know for a fact that there's a lot
of people with vision impairments and some totally blind people.
They have an interest in photography and filmmaking as well. Yeah.
So tell us about your interest in photography and how
that works being vision impaired.
S3 (15:56):
Well, my dad used to take photos when we were kids,
and he used to have, like, a box brownie. And
he had those old fashioned photo albums with the black
paper pages and the little black and white. And I
loved it, loved them. And I got a camera when
I was ten. It was it was rubbish. It was
a terrible camera. But I just got hooked. And then
I took a class in an elective in photography at
(16:19):
high school and learn how to use a darkroom. And
that was that was it. I was I was lost
to photography, basically, and I've just been a fan ever since.
Photography is also a thing that's like a compliment to
my to the hard work that I do as a
social worker. Now, when I first started, it was really
hard because I couldn't focus accurately. And but every time
(16:42):
there's an advance in the technology, it's almost like this
little committee of people that meet when they get a
new invention and they say, but is this going to
be okay for Rob Mackrill? This little committee like and
every development just makes it easier for me. Like autofocus,
big screens, computers, digital photography was like a renaissance for
(17:04):
me And it's amazing. Even I because for a lot
of blind people out there, a lot of people with
low vision AI in cameras, you can actually have settings
that will identify faces. Yes. So it's just ironic, isn't it?
S1 (17:20):
What sort of photography do you do? Are you into
more portraiture or landscape or.
S4 (17:25):
Oh, I love.
S3 (17:26):
Passionately love street photography. And that's the taking of pictures
of people in their environment, interacting with their environment. It's
kind of edgy and it's, um, it's a beautiful thing, but.
And the great thing is, I don't drive. So I figured,
you know, when life gives you lemons, lemons you make
hang on. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, right?
So I figure if I just sort of pined over
(17:49):
not being able to go to exotic places, I crumple
into a heap. But I can jump on the public
transport and go into the city and suburbs and get
endless photos in my own backyard. And I love it.
And I and I love the work of street. It's
a great tradition in photography. Yes. So it's my thing
in my photo club. It's not that popular. Most people
(18:10):
in the club like to take photos of birds and
landscapes and, you know, bowls of fruit, and I just
nod off to sleep.
S1 (18:16):
Bowls of fruit.
S4 (18:17):
Bowls. But yeah, but that's.
S2 (18:20):
I don't find that all that artistic. I find street
art and street photography more, um, artistic because you're creating
something from nothing, you know?
S3 (18:28):
Well, it's.
S2 (18:29):
Because nature is pretty in itself.
S3 (18:30):
Well, that's what I think. But I mean, more more
power to them.
S2 (18:34):
Yeah, sure, sure.
S3 (18:35):
But what I think is it's for me, it's, you know,
most street scenes are sort of chaotic and mundane. Sometimes
they're dirty. And if you can find a story and
if you can find the ordinary or the, the, the,
the extraordinary in the ordinary or the beautiful in the ugly,
that's the challenge. So I yeah.
S2 (18:56):
So you just mentioned, um, you're in a photography club. Yeah.
And you also have had your photos displayed at a gallery.
S3 (19:05):
Well, yeah. Yeah. As serendipity. My mate, my old friend Mark,
who we've been together since we were mates, since we
were 16. He has a picture framing business in Bridgetown.
And when he opened it, he said, why don't we.
You print 20 of your photos, I'll frame them and
we'll have a little gallery. And I thought, I am
planning on doing a photo exhibition in Victoria Park later
(19:27):
this year. I've got to sort of start organising it,
but this was like a bit of a trial run
and we had an opening night and it was really successful.
I sold some and it was just a blast, really.
S2 (19:38):
You sold.
S3 (19:39):
Some? Yeah.
S2 (19:40):
Excellent. So tell us about the making of your film again,
as we'll just remind people your film is called the
A word.
S3 (19:48):
The a word.
S2 (19:49):
Interesting title. How did you.
S3 (19:51):
Well, because it was when I was a kid. It
was all my family didn't talk about it, so there
was a lot of shame attached to it. And as
you said earlier, the word albino was a, you know,
almost a swear word. It was embarrassing. And so so
that's why it was called the A word, because I
was grappling with even the albinism. But even the what
(20:11):
it was called and I made, I made it myself,
and I kind of watched a lot of YouTube videos
to learn all the cinema stuff. And I've got a
good friend, Rob, and he, he's got a film degree,
and he helped to teach me a little bit about storytelling,
and that was I really connected with that, because there
was a difference between telling a story versus telling a topic. Yes.
(20:32):
And a story has goals and it has barriers and
it has feelings. And so that really connected and I I'm.
S2 (20:40):
Well, it was very tricky watching the film because I
thought you might have delved into making it a really
long presentation, like somewhat like a lecture type of presentation,
because it is a very serious topic that you're talking about,
and it is just often just you on screen, just
talking about you and your, your situation and so forth.
(21:01):
So but you broke broke it up and made it
quite interesting project.
S3 (21:05):
And that's my first film, too. I, you know, I
contacted Luna Cinema and they do cinema here. So we're
going to have a showing of for family, friends and
supporters in probably in the next couple of months. So
that's the next thing.
S1 (21:17):
That's amazing. It'd be.
S3 (21:18):
Nice to.
S1 (21:19):
See.
S3 (21:19):
It on the big screen. Yeah. Thank you, thank you.
S2 (21:21):
Do you have a date for that?
S3 (21:22):
No. Not yet.
S2 (21:23):
Okay.
S3 (21:23):
But I'll let you know.
S2 (21:24):
Yeah. Please.
S3 (21:25):
And then you can, you know, shout it out from
the rooftops.
S2 (21:28):
Oh, yeah. I'm good at shouting.
S3 (21:29):
Cheers.
S2 (21:30):
But not drinks. Yeah. Okay. And, um, you've delved into
lots of different kinds of media and storytelling. Yeah. What
do you hope to achieve with all this?
S3 (21:42):
Well, I love, as you can tell. I mean, I've
got a bit of an artistic streak like my mum has.
Mum's a painter, I love the radio and I love podcasting,
and I, and I love the idea of making film
and I love photography. So I'm going to pursue that
as much as I can. What I also want to
do is I want to and I've already done this
a bit, is use my social work skills to interview
(22:05):
old people at the end of their lives and do
audio recordings of their of their life story. And I
want to sort of do that in a, in a
volunteer capacity. So that's that's one of my next things.
And I've already been doing it, and I've got a
schedule of questions that I've put together. And it's it's
kind of nice.
S2 (22:22):
Now, we've talked a lot about some of the bright
and fluffy and the positive things that you're doing. Having
watched your film and having known you for years now,
your life wasn't always this fluffy and light and bright.
Now for the listeners, we try not to be an
inspirational program here, but can you tell us firstly what
that was like? How did you move forward to being
(22:45):
the positive, forthright person that you are?
S3 (22:47):
Well, I think the theme of the kind of the
negative part of my life was being isolated, not being
not having other people with albinism around and not having
my family who talked about it. So that just leads
to shame and to, you know, feeling like you're worthless.
I think I was, as my mum said in, in
the film as I interviewed my mums, the star of
(23:07):
the film, she says I was pretty tenacious and I
would always, if I really put my mind to something,
if I wanted something, I'd really kind of do whatever
I had to to make it happen.
S2 (23:16):
You talked about isolation there? Yeah. Do you think that
helped create your interest in stories and create your imagination?
S3 (23:23):
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. And also, that bad experience helped me
to kind of connect with social work as well. So
it's kind of a really neat process. As I look
back on it, it's unfolded really nicely. It's it's been tricky.
You know, it could have stumbled and fall at any
stage during that time. And but I managed to hang
(23:43):
in there. But you're right about not just presenting the
inspirational side of stories. Because especially with disability, because, you know,
we either do that. We often see people with this
disabilities as tragedies or as totally fluffy inspiration stories. It's
always somewhere in the middle, isn't it? Yes. And that's
the thing I really feel strongly about is that we're
(24:04):
all different. We all have our own goals, our own
barriers and personalities. Yeah.
S2 (24:10):
When we hear a conversation like this, or watch a
film like you've made some people who aren't there in
that part of life yet think I can relate to
some of that. Yet I could never do that. That's
so brave. And it is brave to put yourself out
there and to move beyond the struggles. But it is
possible for everyone to do.
S3 (24:31):
And when you're young, it's often hard to visualize how
things are going to be later on. Yes.
S2 (24:35):
Yeah, yeah. What I related to in your movie was
achieving things that you wanted to achieve, persevering with things,
and finding a way to become this positive person that
you are. And also you you like you say you
worked in social work for most of your working career,
so you've always been giving back to the community that
(24:57):
you're in and around.
S3 (24:58):
There was a lady who lives in Brisbane who sent
me a message just before I finished the film, and
she said, I remember you when you put your web
page together. Back in 2000, she said, I was 13
years old and I have albinism. I was the only
person with albinism I'd ever seen. I lived at the
time in Colombia, in South America, she said. I saw
(25:18):
your website and it really changed things for me. Anyway,
I mentioned her in my film because that's really what
I wanted to do with this film, is to connect
with people.
S2 (25:28):
Yep, yep. And that's why I brought you in today,
because I thought there was a connection and similar inspirations
here for what we're trying to achieve. So thanks for
joining us today, Rob, it's been a pleasure to see
you in the studio and have a chat with you.
Is there anything you'd like to tell our audience before
we have to finish up this fun conversation?
S3 (25:46):
Over the years, I've heard people say, you know, Inspirationally.
They say, follow your passion in life. You know, you've
just got to regardless. And I've often thought, oh, well,
that's all very well, but you've got to put bread
on the table and you've got to pay the bills
and stuff. But now that I'm age 64, that's so true.
You know, even if you have following your passion as
(26:06):
part of your life. It's so important to have that
in your life, to have things that you really that
you love because you know love. Life is not just
all about work. It's sometimes it's about creativity and and
just doing those things that you really want to do
because life is short. So I would definitely promote that.
S2 (26:25):
I echo those thoughts and totally agree. Rob, I'd like
to thank you, Rob, for sharing what you do and
sharing your stories and sharing your passion with us here
today at Vision Australia Radio. Thanks for coming in, Rob.
S3 (26:35):
You're welcome. I'm one of your big fans. I've listened
to all your apps. I'm. I'm. Yeah, I'm there for you, Simon.
S2 (26:41):
Okay. Thank you very much. Rob. Good to see you.
S1 (26:49):
Thanks so much for listening. Really hope that you enjoyed
that interview. I'll make sure to include in the podcast
description a link to his film the A word, which
is on YouTube. So keep an eye out for that.
And also make sure to follow the Vision Australia radio
page on Facebook. There's a lot of different interesting shows
and other podcasts that they advertise on there that you
(27:12):
should really check out. And we also post each week
about our current episode and the latest show, so make
sure to check that out. That concludes in Plain Sight
for this week. Join us, Abby Greene and Simon Chong
at the same time next week on Vision Australia Radio,
VA radio, digital and online at VA radio.org. You can
(27:33):
also listen on demand by searching for In Plain Sight
wherever you get your podcasts, or ask your smart device
to play in Plain sight by Vision Australia Radio. Thanks
for listening.
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