September 16, 2025 • 21 mins
Sam speaks with Jo Cabot, an indoor skydiver with low vision looking to raise awareness for blind and low vision indoor skydiving, as well as organisations such as iFly and Handifly where people can find out more.
Jo also tells us about her work putting together Dinner in the Dark events in her area around Hervey Bay, visiting Sydney to attend the Boundless Beauty Summit in July, and much more.
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Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:13):
Our guest today on Talking Vision is all about living
well with vision loss. She's recently returned from an indoor
skydiving competition in Melbourne. She's tried her hand at surfing lately,
as well as getting involved with a few more dinner
in the dark events. One of her specialties. But she's
(00:36):
also recently been pleased to have the opportunity to attend
an annual fashion and inclusive design festival in Sydney. And
to tell us all about these things and more. It's
my pleasure to welcome back Joanne Cabbot. Jo, welcome back
(00:57):
to Talking Vision. Thank you very much for your time.
S2 (01:01):
Thanks so much, Sam. It's wonderful to be back here again.
S1 (01:04):
And great to have you. Now, Jo, I understand you've
been up to quite a lot as always, including an
indoor skydiving competition petition recently which just concluded. Tell us
a bit about that one.
S2 (01:18):
Oh my gosh, that was incredible with the most wonderful
people I've ever met. Like, seriously, we just had such
a phenomenal time. So to kind of lead into it,
how this came about for me is I went indoor
skydiving earlier this year with a friend who is also blind,
and we both wanted to try it and it was amazing.
(01:41):
And this actually led to somebody from Sydney seeing me skydive,
and I was invited to Australia's first open handy. Well,
they call it handy fly skydiving event. And this was
actually a part of the World Series Handy Fly event.
(02:02):
And we had international handy flyers there. It was amazing.
S1 (02:08):
And how does blind and low vision indoor skydiving differ?
What are sort of the, um, additional accessibility elements or
safety elements that come with that in comparison to perhaps
other forms of skydiving and skydiving for sighted people?
S2 (02:28):
Yes. Yes, absolutely. So pretty much the first time I
went indoor skydiving, I was with, you know, some instructors,
and it was more about just being moved around in
there and getting a feel for it. Whereas this was
actually a competition and there were people in wheelchairs, people
(02:49):
with autism, a variety of different disabilities. But there were
two of us and the incredible Tom Kennedy. He is
amazing and I know he's quite connected with Vision Australia. So. Hi, Tom. Hi.
The blind flyer out there. He's just such an inspirational
young man. Him and I were the two people that
(03:11):
had the vision impairments and we had to assist the team.
This was at iFly in Penrith in Sydney, on how
to set it up so that we could both see
where the targets was, because in this type of situation,
when it's a competition, you actually have to hit targets
on either side and do it as quickly as you can.
S1 (03:34):
How does that even work for somebody with very little
to no vision? I mean, it's, you know, hitting targets
and getting involved in a sport that's so visual.
S2 (03:46):
Absolutely. It was interesting too, because I have lost my
central vision and I've got a bit of peripheral, but,
you know, it's mostly cloudy. And then for Tom. Tom
has light perception only. So they had to cater for
two very different forms of vision loss as well. So
what they decided to do, and it took a little
(04:07):
bit of work and Tom got on board and helped
them till quite late. They actually had to light up
where these letters were. So they put like green, like
strobe lighting around all of these letters on one side.
And then on the opposite side it was blue. And
then it was a matter of turning the main lighting
(04:30):
off so that those two lights stood out. And then
also where we had to push buttons, which was like an, A, B, C,
and D, they lit those up and they had A, B, C,
and D written very large. So between all of those elements,
plus us doing some practice runs, we were both able
(04:52):
to hit the buttons.
S1 (04:54):
Okay. And Joe, just to recap, for people out there
who are completely new to this idea of indoor skydiving,
let alone indoor skydiving for people who are blind or
have low vision, what does the sport involve and how
does one win?
S2 (05:13):
Yeah, yeah. So out of Tom and I, Tom came first.
S1 (05:17):
Oh, wonderful.
S2 (05:18):
Yeah, yeah. So he's been doing it for, I think,
about 4 or 5 years. And he's really getting into
this and he's quite fast. So essentially when we jump
into that tunnel, you've got somebody on hand just in
case like for safety precautions, just the same as most
of the people in the wheelchairs as well except for
(05:39):
the pros. And essentially you're flying across you're hitting that
a button. You're coming back up to the top, hitting B,
circling around hitting B again. And then you come across
to C, you hit it. Then you do another circle,
hit it again, come down to D and then across
(06:00):
to A. And the aim is you're trying to stay
stable but do it quickly. And Tom was so fast.
It was just amazing. And he was top of one
of the top ones because we competed in a couple
of competitions. So there was one for just Australians Aliens,
and I came seventh in that. And I think Tom
(06:22):
might have come fourth.
S1 (06:23):
Wow.
S2 (06:23):
In that particular one, which was fantastic, and a gorgeous
young man called Heath, who's only 12 and has autism,
to my knowledge, he was actually the winner. Oh, wow.
So he he was so fast. It was incredible. Yeah. And, um,
then there was the World Series event, which unfortunately, at
(06:43):
this stage, people with vision impairment can't compete in the
World Series. So that's something we're working heavily on because
this was the first time it's come to Australia. And
next time it comes here, Tom and I so want
to compete, and I want to put it out to
all the people with low vision or blindness. Try this now.
(07:06):
Don't be scared. All the eye flies across Australia have
an all abilities day once a month and you can
actually go. And there's going to be people of all
abilities and amazing instructors that are going to help you.
S1 (07:20):
Perfect. And how can people get involved with iFly? How
did you get in touch with them? Maybe that's the
best way for people to get in touch.
S2 (07:30):
Yeah that's right. So I with my friend who lives
in Brisbane, there's an iFly there and we got in
touch with them and that's when we heard about the
All Abilities Day, which also gives a discount, which is
really handy to know. And we booked in for a
session there and I was lucky to fly three times
and that was incredible. And then it was through adaptive athletes.
(07:55):
Now you'll find them on social. They're an amazing group
of people as well. As I fly Down Under and
I fly Down Under in Sydney as well as on
the Gold Coast, and they encourage everybody to get involved. Now,
I know there's an iFly in Melbourne and there's one
over in Perth as well. So if you're in any
(08:16):
of those regions, just contact After I fly and they
will look after you from there on.
S1 (08:22):
Perfect. So that's it. And just chuck that into a
Google search. I'm sure there's going to be quite a
few search results that will point you in the right direction.
Now we've alluded to this a little bit already, Joe,
but we're looking to raise some awareness of indoor skydiving,
(08:45):
in particular the blind and low vision component of competitions to,
you know, spread that around and make that more available
for people, including Olympic and Paralympic versions one day. So
fingers crossed that does come about. So what's your hope
(09:06):
with regards to that? And what would you love to
see happening there in terms of the timeline and how
that pans out and what that would look like?
S2 (09:17):
I think, um, both Tom and I, as you know,
the the visually impaired athletes at the event, we would
love to see more visually impaired athletes joining this. And
there's actually another event coming up. And if you have
done indoor skydiving before, and even if it's only once,
(09:39):
if you've done this before, you have the opportunity to
come and join me. Tom will be there as well
in Sydney at a camp, and it's going to be
a training session on October the 17th there, and it
will be a wonderful opportunity to be trained by a
(09:59):
world class instructor at iFly in Penrith. So that's all
leading into it. We want to get the ball rolling
and see more people trying this sport and join in
more training iFly camps as well, because I think and
fingers crossed, hopefully by the time we have the Olympic
(10:21):
Games here. It's going to be a Paralympic sport, and
it would be incredible to have people with low vision
or blindness joining in.
S1 (10:30):
That certainly would be. And going closer to home now, Joe,
and touching on your work within the local community, I
understand you've recently been involved in another dinner in the dark,
the eclipse Dinner in the dark, which has been so
successful in the past. Tell us a bit about how
(10:50):
that went.
S2 (10:51):
Oh, it was just the most special evening. And I'm
just so grateful for for everybody who donated auction items
and the community as a whole for, you know, joining
this event. And we had business leaders and, and people
that really wanted to feel what this experience was like.
(11:12):
So essentially, at one of the local restaurants here in
Hervey Bay, time at the vineyard, which has a fabulous
view down at the Esplanade. We held the event there
and it was a sell out. We had 50 people.
Everybody was blindfolded as soon as they arrived, and they
got to experience eating with their blindfolds on, being guided
(11:37):
to the bathrooms, as well as some incredible events that
really made it fun. Like we did a textual trivia.
So at the table I put a box of items
and we revealed it and they had to with the
people sitting at their table. Guess within a time period
what all of these items were. And that was just
(12:00):
such a laugh. It was so much fun for me
to just watch and feel the energy in the air.
And then we also did a taste tester where each
table was given an item to taste and they had
to together guess what? The ingredients were so really tuning
into their tastes. And we did a blind auction where
(12:21):
everybody was standing up, and then the last person standing
was basically the person who wanted that particular auction item.
So it was amazing. And we managed to raise over
$5,000 for the low vision and blind community, which was brilliant.
S1 (12:37):
That's fantastic. Now you've hosted quite a few dinners in
the dark now, and it's been quite an experienced campaigner
in that sort of area. What's really improved every time
you've done a new one, what have you sort of
learned works and what doesn't work?
S2 (12:57):
Um, I certainly wouldn't go more than 50. And I
think really you need to have a venue where you
can be heard really well. So on this particular case,
we had a debrief after this particular dinner and we
were thinking, we probably need to like, speed up the
(13:17):
pace of it, keep it fast paced as well, and
also have, um, like we didn't have a roving microphone,
and that would make it so much easier to, like,
be in the center of the room, able to access
and be heard by everybody. So there's a few things
you need to keep in mind if you want to
keep it managed and flowing really well, so that the
(13:39):
experience is felt by everyone.
S1 (13:42):
But it has been a great success. As you've mentioned,
it was a sellout and you raised so many vital
funds for the blind and low vision community, which is
absolutely fantastic to hear that. It's got such a warm reception,
and everyone's been so generous and really bought into the
(14:04):
whole idea, which is just amazing to hear. But you've
also been involved in the world of fashion lately.
S2 (14:13):
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, when I think about this year,
it's just been phenomenal. And I have another dinner in
the dark coming up as well. And I just recently
did a breakfast in the dark.
S1 (14:23):
Oh my God.
S2 (14:24):
So I can talk to those in a minute. Let's talk. Molly.
S1 (14:27):
Let's talk. Absolutely.
S2 (14:29):
I was so lucky. I boarded a plane from Brisbane
to Sydney. I knew that Molly and her lovely partner
had arrived in Australia. And I heard that they were
going to Gargari, which many people know as Fraser Island.
But I never expected to be on the same plane.
And this cane came past where I was sitting and
(14:50):
I just thought, oh, there's a cane on the plane
right next to me. You know, I can see enough
to tell that. And I just looked up and said,
Molly Burke. And she said, yes. And I said, It's Joe.
I'm blind too. I'm from Livwell with vision loss because I've,
you know, commented on her posts, etc. and she said, oh,
we must talk when we land. So we were both
(15:14):
in quite a buzz. And so when we landed, one
of the fortunate things here at Hervey Bay, it takes
a while for the luggage to come off. So it
gave Molly and her partner and I plenty of time
to chat about fundraising and promoting awareness and what she
was up to here in Australia. She was really excited.
She'd only just arrived. So it was it was great.
(15:37):
And she mentioned that she was attending in Sydney, Australia's
first inclusive design beauty seminar. It was called Boundless Beauty
and I just thought, wow, that's such a wonderful idea
because inclusivity and beauty products is increasing. And here in Australia,
(15:59):
which is so great to see, we've got incredible designs
like by Storm and Occhio mascara made by a Melbourne ophthalmologist,
and it has Braille on it. It's for sensitive eyes,
you know. It's so good to see. Well, I actually
contacted Doctor Jackie Beltz in Melbourne because we become friends
(16:19):
through social media, and she arranged a ticket for me
at the event, which was Is just incredible. So I
flew down to Sydney just for the day, met Molly again,
met some amazing people, saw lots of guide dogs and
seeing eye dogs, which was wonderful. And a lot of
a lot of the top beauty brands were there.
S1 (16:41):
And keen to hear a bit more about that accessible
mascara for people with sensitive eyes and eye conditions. So yeah, let's, um,
let's jump into that a bit more.
S2 (16:53):
Oh, absolutely. That's, um, Jackie Beltz's mascara. And yes, you can,
you can buy it online. It's fabulous. I've got both
the brown and the black. And Jackie's made this specifically
for people with sensitive eyes, because she was hearing quite
a lot in her early years of being an ophthalmologist,
(17:17):
that other ophthalmologists were saying, no, you shouldn't wear mascara
because you've got an eye condition or an eye disease.
And she thought, no, let's just actually have a look
at the ingredients and see what's causing the problem, which
is often in your waterproof mascaras and what could actually work.
(17:38):
And so Jackie's created that. But she's not only created
that because she's an ophthalmologist and has patients who have
low vision or are blind. She made it inclusive. So
it's actually square. So if you put it down it's
not going to roll away. And it's got Braille on
the side on the packaging is navy lens. So anyone
(18:01):
can scan it if you've got the app and actually
find out all about the product. And there's Braille also
on the packaging. And it's two tone. So in my
case I can tell that the lighter end is actually
the end that I open it up with. Just incredible.
So much thought.
S1 (18:19):
Yeah for sure. Now just to wrap up, Jo, how
can people get in touch with you and find out
a bit more about what you're up to in the
next little while. You've always got a lot of things
going on. As we've discussed already, there's always something new
that you're involved with and a lot of great initiatives
(18:41):
coming up. So how can people perhaps find out a
little bit more about those events that you're involved with?
S2 (18:50):
I've got such an exciting month ahead, and I'd love
for people, you know, to to tap in and ask
me questions, if you like, about what it was like,
you know, doing these activities, I'm going to go surfing
again because I fell in love with it. So when
I head down to the Gold Coast soon to celebrate
my birthday, I've got a birthday coming up with my parents.
(19:11):
I'm going to go surfing down at Burleigh, and I'm
also going to go to the indoor skydiving iFly on
the Gold Coast and just try, you know, my techniques
out there again. But in October I'm actually going indoor
surfing at the Wave pool, urban Surf in Sydney, as
(19:32):
well as indoor skydiving and doing a camp there and
a dinner in the dark and a whole bunch of
incredible things because our theme is actually about sight. The
art of human sight. So it's going to be a
really cool event. So if you want to find out
more about these things, then jump onto socials. You'll find
(19:55):
me at Live Well with Vision Loss and it's all
one word. Live well with vision loss. I'm on Facebook,
TikTok and Instagram, so you'll definitely see more of what's
happening as well as my upcoming flight to Gary.
S1 (20:14):
All right, well, we could talk forever, Joe. And, you know,
it's just been an absolute pleasure to catch up with
you and try and pack all these things into one show.
It's almost impossible. It's so much stuff going on. So yeah,
as you said, if people would love to find out more,
(20:36):
just had to live well with vision loss. Give Joe
a follow and find out about all the incredible, exciting
things you'll be up to in the next little while.
I've been speaking today with Joe Cabot, indoor skydiver budding surfer,
(20:56):
dinner in the dark host social media extraordinaire that just
doesn't even scratch the surface of what you're involved with.
But it's just been an absolute pleasure to catch up
with you and hear about everything you've been involved with lately.
S2 (21:13):
Thank you so much, Sam. I think my key message
is you can live well with vision loss. Yes, you're
going to have those tough days. Find ways to pull
yourself out of that as quickly as you can, and
get on with doing the things that you love.
Our guest today on Talking Vision is all about living
well with vision loss. She's recently returned from an indoor
skydiving competition in Melbourne. She's tried her hand at surfing lately,
as well as getting involved with a few more dinner
in the dark events. One of her specialties. But she's
(00:36):
also recently been pleased to have the opportunity to attend
an annual fashion and inclusive design festival in Sydney. And
to tell us all about these things and more. It's
my pleasure to welcome back Joanne Cabbot. Jo, welcome back
(00:57):
to Talking Vision. Thank you very much for your time.
S2 (01:01):
Thanks so much, Sam. It's wonderful to be back here again.
S1 (01:04):
And great to have you. Now, Jo, I understand you've
been up to quite a lot as always, including an
indoor skydiving competition petition recently which just concluded. Tell us
a bit about that one.
S2 (01:18):
Oh my gosh, that was incredible with the most wonderful
people I've ever met. Like, seriously, we just had such
a phenomenal time. So to kind of lead into it,
how this came about for me is I went indoor
skydiving earlier this year with a friend who is also blind,
and we both wanted to try it and it was amazing.
(01:41):
And this actually led to somebody from Sydney seeing me skydive,
and I was invited to Australia's first open handy. Well,
they call it handy fly skydiving event. And this was
actually a part of the World Series Handy Fly event.
(02:02):
And we had international handy flyers there. It was amazing.
S1 (02:08):
And how does blind and low vision indoor skydiving differ?
What are sort of the, um, additional accessibility elements or
safety elements that come with that in comparison to perhaps
other forms of skydiving and skydiving for sighted people?
S2 (02:28):
Yes. Yes, absolutely. So pretty much the first time I
went indoor skydiving, I was with, you know, some instructors,
and it was more about just being moved around in
there and getting a feel for it. Whereas this was
actually a competition and there were people in wheelchairs, people
(02:49):
with autism, a variety of different disabilities. But there were
two of us and the incredible Tom Kennedy. He is
amazing and I know he's quite connected with Vision Australia. So. Hi, Tom. Hi.
The blind flyer out there. He's just such an inspirational
young man. Him and I were the two people that
(03:11):
had the vision impairments and we had to assist the team.
This was at iFly in Penrith in Sydney, on how
to set it up so that we could both see
where the targets was, because in this type of situation,
when it's a competition, you actually have to hit targets
on either side and do it as quickly as you can.
S1 (03:34):
How does that even work for somebody with very little
to no vision? I mean, it's, you know, hitting targets
and getting involved in a sport that's so visual.
S2 (03:46):
Absolutely. It was interesting too, because I have lost my
central vision and I've got a bit of peripheral, but,
you know, it's mostly cloudy. And then for Tom. Tom
has light perception only. So they had to cater for
two very different forms of vision loss as well. So
what they decided to do, and it took a little
(04:07):
bit of work and Tom got on board and helped
them till quite late. They actually had to light up
where these letters were. So they put like green, like
strobe lighting around all of these letters on one side.
And then on the opposite side it was blue. And
then it was a matter of turning the main lighting
(04:30):
off so that those two lights stood out. And then
also where we had to push buttons, which was like an, A, B, C,
and D, they lit those up and they had A, B, C,
and D written very large. So between all of those elements,
plus us doing some practice runs, we were both able
(04:52):
to hit the buttons.
S1 (04:54):
Okay. And Joe, just to recap, for people out there
who are completely new to this idea of indoor skydiving,
let alone indoor skydiving for people who are blind or
have low vision, what does the sport involve and how
does one win?
S2 (05:13):
Yeah, yeah. So out of Tom and I, Tom came first.
S1 (05:17):
Oh, wonderful.
S2 (05:18):
Yeah, yeah. So he's been doing it for, I think,
about 4 or 5 years. And he's really getting into
this and he's quite fast. So essentially when we jump
into that tunnel, you've got somebody on hand just in
case like for safety precautions, just the same as most
of the people in the wheelchairs as well except for
(05:39):
the pros. And essentially you're flying across you're hitting that
a button. You're coming back up to the top, hitting B,
circling around hitting B again. And then you come across
to C, you hit it. Then you do another circle,
hit it again, come down to D and then across
(06:00):
to A. And the aim is you're trying to stay
stable but do it quickly. And Tom was so fast.
It was just amazing. And he was top of one
of the top ones because we competed in a couple
of competitions. So there was one for just Australians Aliens,
and I came seventh in that. And I think Tom
(06:22):
might have come fourth.
S1 (06:23):
Wow.
S2 (06:23):
In that particular one, which was fantastic, and a gorgeous
young man called Heath, who's only 12 and has autism,
to my knowledge, he was actually the winner. Oh, wow.
So he he was so fast. It was incredible. Yeah. And, um,
then there was the World Series event, which unfortunately, at
(06:43):
this stage, people with vision impairment can't compete in the
World Series. So that's something we're working heavily on because
this was the first time it's come to Australia. And
next time it comes here, Tom and I so want
to compete, and I want to put it out to
all the people with low vision or blindness. Try this now.
(07:06):
Don't be scared. All the eye flies across Australia have
an all abilities day once a month and you can
actually go. And there's going to be people of all
abilities and amazing instructors that are going to help you.
S1 (07:20):
Perfect. And how can people get involved with iFly? How
did you get in touch with them? Maybe that's the
best way for people to get in touch.
S2 (07:30):
Yeah that's right. So I with my friend who lives
in Brisbane, there's an iFly there and we got in
touch with them and that's when we heard about the
All Abilities Day, which also gives a discount, which is
really handy to know. And we booked in for a
session there and I was lucky to fly three times
and that was incredible. And then it was through adaptive athletes.
(07:55):
Now you'll find them on social. They're an amazing group
of people as well. As I fly Down Under and
I fly Down Under in Sydney as well as on
the Gold Coast, and they encourage everybody to get involved. Now,
I know there's an iFly in Melbourne and there's one
over in Perth as well. So if you're in any
(08:16):
of those regions, just contact After I fly and they
will look after you from there on.
S1 (08:22):
Perfect. So that's it. And just chuck that into a
Google search. I'm sure there's going to be quite a
few search results that will point you in the right direction.
Now we've alluded to this a little bit already, Joe,
but we're looking to raise some awareness of indoor skydiving,
(08:45):
in particular the blind and low vision component of competitions to,
you know, spread that around and make that more available
for people, including Olympic and Paralympic versions one day. So
fingers crossed that does come about. So what's your hope
(09:06):
with regards to that? And what would you love to
see happening there in terms of the timeline and how
that pans out and what that would look like?
S2 (09:17):
I think, um, both Tom and I, as you know,
the the visually impaired athletes at the event, we would
love to see more visually impaired athletes joining this. And
there's actually another event coming up. And if you have
done indoor skydiving before, and even if it's only once,
(09:39):
if you've done this before, you have the opportunity to
come and join me. Tom will be there as well
in Sydney at a camp, and it's going to be
a training session on October the 17th there, and it
will be a wonderful opportunity to be trained by a
(09:59):
world class instructor at iFly in Penrith. So that's all
leading into it. We want to get the ball rolling
and see more people trying this sport and join in
more training iFly camps as well, because I think and
fingers crossed, hopefully by the time we have the Olympic
(10:21):
Games here. It's going to be a Paralympic sport, and
it would be incredible to have people with low vision
or blindness joining in.
S1 (10:30):
That certainly would be. And going closer to home now, Joe,
and touching on your work within the local community, I
understand you've recently been involved in another dinner in the dark,
the eclipse Dinner in the dark, which has been so
successful in the past. Tell us a bit about how
(10:50):
that went.
S2 (10:51):
Oh, it was just the most special evening. And I'm
just so grateful for for everybody who donated auction items
and the community as a whole for, you know, joining
this event. And we had business leaders and, and people
that really wanted to feel what this experience was like.
(11:12):
So essentially, at one of the local restaurants here in
Hervey Bay, time at the vineyard, which has a fabulous
view down at the Esplanade. We held the event there
and it was a sell out. We had 50 people.
Everybody was blindfolded as soon as they arrived, and they
got to experience eating with their blindfolds on, being guided
(11:37):
to the bathrooms, as well as some incredible events that
really made it fun. Like we did a textual trivia.
So at the table I put a box of items
and we revealed it and they had to with the
people sitting at their table. Guess within a time period
what all of these items were. And that was just
(12:00):
such a laugh. It was so much fun for me
to just watch and feel the energy in the air.
And then we also did a taste tester where each
table was given an item to taste and they had
to together guess what? The ingredients were so really tuning
into their tastes. And we did a blind auction where
(12:21):
everybody was standing up, and then the last person standing
was basically the person who wanted that particular auction item.
So it was amazing. And we managed to raise over
$5,000 for the low vision and blind community, which was brilliant.
S1 (12:37):
That's fantastic. Now you've hosted quite a few dinners in
the dark now, and it's been quite an experienced campaigner
in that sort of area. What's really improved every time
you've done a new one, what have you sort of
learned works and what doesn't work?
S2 (12:57):
Um, I certainly wouldn't go more than 50. And I
think really you need to have a venue where you
can be heard really well. So on this particular case,
we had a debrief after this particular dinner and we
were thinking, we probably need to like, speed up the
(13:17):
pace of it, keep it fast paced as well, and
also have, um, like we didn't have a roving microphone,
and that would make it so much easier to, like,
be in the center of the room, able to access
and be heard by everybody. So there's a few things
you need to keep in mind if you want to
keep it managed and flowing really well, so that the
(13:39):
experience is felt by everyone.
S1 (13:42):
But it has been a great success. As you've mentioned,
it was a sellout and you raised so many vital
funds for the blind and low vision community, which is
absolutely fantastic to hear that. It's got such a warm reception,
and everyone's been so generous and really bought into the
(14:04):
whole idea, which is just amazing to hear. But you've
also been involved in the world of fashion lately.
S2 (14:13):
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, when I think about this year,
it's just been phenomenal. And I have another dinner in
the dark coming up as well. And I just recently
did a breakfast in the dark.
S1 (14:23):
Oh my God.
S2 (14:24):
So I can talk to those in a minute. Let's talk. Molly.
S1 (14:27):
Let's talk. Absolutely.
S2 (14:29):
I was so lucky. I boarded a plane from Brisbane
to Sydney. I knew that Molly and her lovely partner
had arrived in Australia. And I heard that they were
going to Gargari, which many people know as Fraser Island.
But I never expected to be on the same plane.
And this cane came past where I was sitting and
(14:50):
I just thought, oh, there's a cane on the plane
right next to me. You know, I can see enough
to tell that. And I just looked up and said,
Molly Burke. And she said, yes. And I said, It's Joe.
I'm blind too. I'm from Livwell with vision loss because I've,
you know, commented on her posts, etc. and she said, oh,
we must talk when we land. So we were both
(15:14):
in quite a buzz. And so when we landed, one
of the fortunate things here at Hervey Bay, it takes
a while for the luggage to come off. So it
gave Molly and her partner and I plenty of time
to chat about fundraising and promoting awareness and what she
was up to here in Australia. She was really excited.
She'd only just arrived. So it was it was great.
(15:37):
And she mentioned that she was attending in Sydney, Australia's
first inclusive design beauty seminar. It was called Boundless Beauty
and I just thought, wow, that's such a wonderful idea
because inclusivity and beauty products is increasing. And here in Australia,
(15:59):
which is so great to see, we've got incredible designs
like by Storm and Occhio mascara made by a Melbourne ophthalmologist,
and it has Braille on it. It's for sensitive eyes,
you know. It's so good to see. Well, I actually
contacted Doctor Jackie Beltz in Melbourne because we become friends
(16:19):
through social media, and she arranged a ticket for me
at the event, which was Is just incredible. So I
flew down to Sydney just for the day, met Molly again,
met some amazing people, saw lots of guide dogs and
seeing eye dogs, which was wonderful. And a lot of
a lot of the top beauty brands were there.
S1 (16:41):
And keen to hear a bit more about that accessible
mascara for people with sensitive eyes and eye conditions. So yeah, let's, um,
let's jump into that a bit more.
S2 (16:53):
Oh, absolutely. That's, um, Jackie Beltz's mascara. And yes, you can,
you can buy it online. It's fabulous. I've got both
the brown and the black. And Jackie's made this specifically
for people with sensitive eyes, because she was hearing quite
a lot in her early years of being an ophthalmologist,
(17:17):
that other ophthalmologists were saying, no, you shouldn't wear mascara
because you've got an eye condition or an eye disease.
And she thought, no, let's just actually have a look
at the ingredients and see what's causing the problem, which
is often in your waterproof mascaras and what could actually work.
(17:38):
And so Jackie's created that. But she's not only created
that because she's an ophthalmologist and has patients who have
low vision or are blind. She made it inclusive. So
it's actually square. So if you put it down it's
not going to roll away. And it's got Braille on
the side on the packaging is navy lens. So anyone
(18:01):
can scan it if you've got the app and actually
find out all about the product. And there's Braille also
on the packaging. And it's two tone. So in my
case I can tell that the lighter end is actually
the end that I open it up with. Just incredible.
So much thought.
S1 (18:19):
Yeah for sure. Now just to wrap up, Jo, how
can people get in touch with you and find out
a bit more about what you're up to in the
next little while. You've always got a lot of things
going on. As we've discussed already, there's always something new
that you're involved with and a lot of great initiatives
(18:41):
coming up. So how can people perhaps find out a
little bit more about those events that you're involved with?
S2 (18:50):
I've got such an exciting month ahead, and I'd love
for people, you know, to to tap in and ask
me questions, if you like, about what it was like,
you know, doing these activities, I'm going to go surfing
again because I fell in love with it. So when
I head down to the Gold Coast soon to celebrate
my birthday, I've got a birthday coming up with my parents.
(19:11):
I'm going to go surfing down at Burleigh, and I'm
also going to go to the indoor skydiving iFly on
the Gold Coast and just try, you know, my techniques
out there again. But in October I'm actually going indoor
surfing at the Wave pool, urban Surf in Sydney, as
(19:32):
well as indoor skydiving and doing a camp there and
a dinner in the dark and a whole bunch of
incredible things because our theme is actually about sight. The
art of human sight. So it's going to be a
really cool event. So if you want to find out
more about these things, then jump onto socials. You'll find
(19:55):
me at Live Well with Vision Loss and it's all
one word. Live well with vision loss. I'm on Facebook,
TikTok and Instagram, so you'll definitely see more of what's
happening as well as my upcoming flight to Gary.
S1 (20:14):
All right, well, we could talk forever, Joe. And, you know,
it's just been an absolute pleasure to catch up with
you and try and pack all these things into one show.
It's almost impossible. It's so much stuff going on. So yeah,
as you said, if people would love to find out more,
(20:36):
just had to live well with vision loss. Give Joe
a follow and find out about all the incredible, exciting
things you'll be up to in the next little while.
I've been speaking today with Joe Cabot, indoor skydiver budding surfer,
(20:56):
dinner in the dark host social media extraordinaire that just
doesn't even scratch the surface of what you're involved with.
But it's just been an absolute pleasure to catch up
with you and hear about everything you've been involved with lately.
S2 (21:13):
Thank you so much, Sam. I think my key message
is you can live well with vision loss. Yes, you're
going to have those tough days. Find ways to pull
yourself out of that as quickly as you can, and
get on with doing the things that you love.
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