March 26, 2025 • 32 mins
Lizzie Eastham and Sam Rickard present Studio 1 - Vision Australia Radio’s weekly look at life from a low vision and blind point of view.
On this week’s show
"Back to School"
Three people talk about their experiences in the education system.
Vicky started at Townsend House School for Deaf and Blind Children in 1960. She talks about her experiences and the teachers that made the biggest difference to her.
Heidi and Sheryl attended the same school... sometime later. We hear how Townsend prepared them for life in the standard education system, or failed to do so.
Studio 1 welcomes any input from our listeners. If you have any experience or thoughts about issues covered in this episode or believe there is something we should be talking about.
EMAIL: studio1@visionaustralia.org or leave comment on the station’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/VARadioNetwork
A special thank you to Vicky Cousins; Heidi and Sheryl.
This program was made possible with support from the Community Broadcasting Foundation. Find out more at https://cbf.org.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:06):
This is studio one on Vision Australia Radio.
S2 (00:12):
Hello, I'm Sam and I'm Lizzie, and this is Studio One,
your weekly look at life from a low vision and
blind point of view. Here on Vision Australia Radio.
S3 (00:19):
On this week's show, we're going back to school.
S2 (00:22):
We talk to a few friends and find out what
has changed and what hasn't, and what we can learn
from all of this.
S3 (00:29):
As we always say at this point, please do get
in touch with the show. Whether you have experience of
any of the issues covered on this week's episode of
Studio One, or if you think there's something we should
be talking about. You never know. Your story and insight
may help someone who's dealing with something similar.
S2 (00:45):
You can contact us via Email Studio one at Vision Australia.
Org that's studio number one at Vision Australia.
S3 (00:51):
Org or of course, you can drop us a note
on our Facebook page by going to facebook.com Slash Radio network.
S2 (01:00):
Hello, Lizzie.
S3 (01:01):
Hello, Sam. How are we this week?
S2 (01:04):
Oh, All flustered. We've had nothing but technical problems, and
I had a very interesting thing happen to me on
the train. Um, as I was heading into work, it
was standing room only, so I was standing there by
the door, as I normally do, and there was this
young lady across from me, and she kept on looking
at me and I'm thinking, okay, do I still have
it or is there something else going on? Anyway, I
(01:27):
get to work and I'm told that my fly's undone.
S3 (01:29):
Oh dear. Oh my goodness. Oh, Sam. You. You poor fellow.
I am in the lovely Mount Gambier as we speak
on our short holiday with my husband Stephen, and we
are enjoying the Blue Lake and the Tantanoola Caves and
the Glenelg River cruise. It's just been all sorts of fun.
S2 (01:51):
Nice for some people. Anyway, we are going back to past, um,
traumas and joys as we look at life from a
blindness student's point of view. Now, you, um, went to
school at Townsend School, I do believe.
S3 (02:08):
I did. I went to Townsend when it was Townsend
from 1999 until it, uh, until it changed to satisfy,
which was in the end of 2004. And then I
continued on there until the end of 2006, which is
when I finished at seventh grade. After that, though, I
(02:28):
went to a mainstream high school. I went to Charles
Campbell College.
S2 (02:32):
Did going to a special school prepare you? I mean,
how how do you think you benefited or didn't benefit
from it?
S3 (02:38):
Although academically I was fine, I had not an issue.
I excelled in a lot of the subjects, but the
thing that I really struggled with was socialization. So being
in a primary school of 28 to 30 kids does
not prepare you or equip you in any way for
(02:58):
going to high school. I'm not tooting my own horn here,
but in primary school I was the popular kid. I
was the girl that was in all the music productions,
all the drama plays. I was top in the class
in every subject. I had it all going for me
in this, in this little podunk school of 30 people.
(03:20):
When I went to high school, I was just another nobody.
Nobody knew about my past career like my successes. Nobody cared.
More to the point. And so I went into this
experience with a massive ego thinking, you know, like, I
would continue to be popular. And I was just was
(03:40):
not the case. In fact, I spent most of my
first two years of high school or three years of
high school feeling really out of place, and I really struggled.
S2 (03:50):
The first time we met. You told us an interesting
story about, well, a fashion faux pas.
S3 (03:55):
Yeah, I think so. I in primary school I would
wear my polo tops fully buttoned up and there is
no problem. I had that we had polo jumpers at 62,
so I would wear my collars buttoned up all the
time and nobody said anything. In fact, you know, fashion.
What was that? And, you know, it was never mentioned that.
(04:17):
Hey man, when you go to high school, I wouldn't
do this. So I went to high school. I used
to wear my skirt below my knees, and I used
to go to school with my polo shirt buttoned up
all the way, and oh, man, I got picked on
something fierce until I figured out, well, until I was
rudely told that you should unbutton a couple of your buttons. Um,
(04:38):
because you look like a nerd. So. Yeah, it was horrifying.
I didn't know, I didn't know that I was meant
to wear my skirt above my knees. I didn't know
that I wasn't meant to wear long socks. I didn't
know that I wasn't meant to have my polo tops
and jumpers zipped up to the teeth. I didn't know
these things because primary school just did not teach me.
(04:58):
It did not equip me for that. Nobody told me that.
S2 (05:01):
And, well, none of the none of your school friends
or anything like that even mentioned it or anything like that.
It was just came as a sort of a shock,
did it? What?
S3 (05:09):
School? Friends?
S2 (05:10):
Yeah. Okay.
S3 (05:11):
I went to the same high school as one other bloke,
and he was part of the school gang, so I
know he picked on me just as much as the
rest of them did. But nobody ever told me in
primary school, hey, maybe when you get to high school,
you should do this. There was no warning. I had
no clue.
S2 (05:28):
And no visual. You weren't able to see what everyone
else was wearing anyway. And I mean, that's an experience.
And that should. We shall see what everybody else has
to say about it. So to kick things off, we're
catching up with Vision Australia Radio's own Vicki Cousins. This
(05:49):
is the first time we've talked in quite a while,
at least on studio one.
S4 (05:53):
Absolutely, yeah.
S2 (05:54):
So we're talking about school experiences. When did you first
start school?
S4 (06:00):
Back in 1960 or are.
S2 (06:03):
So let's go. Goes back quite a long way now.
Did you ever go to a non-special school, as it were?
Or did you spend your entire time at, say, at Townsend?
S4 (06:13):
I spent my whole time at Townsend. It it had
just started coming in when I was, you know, due
for leaving.
S2 (06:20):
Well forward to now. And the descendant of Townsend Sassy
is Australia's last remaining special school for visually impaired people.
Did you know that?
S4 (06:29):
No, that's. Wow.
S2 (06:31):
So I hear all sorts of stories about the divisions
sometimes you might have had between people who could see
a little bit and the totally blind. Did you ever
have any, say, bullying problems at. At school?
S4 (06:44):
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I would say some of them that
could see almost normally, you know, I found them the
harder ones to deal with.
S2 (06:54):
So what sort of things would happen. I mean was
it physical or just name calling or.
S4 (06:58):
Oh, I had one where she'd talk like when a
deaf person talked back then. Sometimes you couldn't understand one
word they'd say, so she'd talk like that and you'd
think it was one of them, or she'd be standing
in the library. In those days, we had library shelves
(07:18):
that were on rollers, and she'd be standing there, so
I couldn't shut the rollers and, you know, things like
like that. She was not a very nice person at all.
S2 (07:29):
So you get bullies everywhere. It doesn't matter where you go. Well, okay,
we'll go to more positive things, I mean, which for you,
throughout your entire period, there were the teachers that stood out.
S4 (07:42):
Ah, um, Clarence Duffy, she was the first one I
ever had. And she started me with Braille, which is
my life. And John Rodgers, terrific teachers.
S2 (07:55):
What made them stand out from the others?
S4 (07:58):
Well, with Mrs. Duffy, like I said, it was, um,
teaching me Braille, but also helping to make me stand
on my own feet. I guess because my parents lived
well miles away where I had to stay, um, each
term in the school for the first two years. And
(08:20):
she just helped me. Well, I didn't like it when
they left, but at least she, um, supported me and,
you know, comforted me at five years old to, you know,
know they would come back. But she was also, well,
she was a mom of, um, I think she had
two children herself. And she was just really good with
(08:43):
all of us and just wanted all of us to
do the best we could. And John Rogers, well, he
took me through high school and he was just such
a smart man, you know, that you could talk to
about anything if you were having Problems. But, you know,
like one of us in the class was really good
(09:05):
at math, but the other group weren't so good. But,
you know, he didn't make divisions like that. We were
all the same.
S2 (09:15):
That is, in fact, a criticism I've heard recently is
if you were one of the star students good at something,
then yes, there would be. You'd get a lot of attention.
Whereas if you were either average or not so good
at something, you wouldn't get so much attention. Did you
ever encounter that at school?
S4 (09:34):
Yes I did, there was one teacher that I finished
up having for two years because there was only myself
and another girl that, well, we passed. But also, you know,
we were that age where we should have gone up
to the next grade. I think it was grade five,
and we were held back because the rest of the
(09:56):
class didn't go up. And I thought that was totally unfair.
S2 (10:02):
One of the double edged swords I've noticed with special
education is people learn from each other and sometimes they
can learn bad habits, but often they can also learn
some really useful things. Was there any one in particular who,
I don't know, taught you some some of the more
useful tips about just getting around, as it were?
S4 (10:21):
Well, the one thing I always remember and I don't
know where it started, but if you walked around the yard,
like if I walked around the yard, I wasn't allowed
to hold on to anybody. You could walk alongside of him,
but you weren't to hold on to them because, you know,
(10:42):
it gave you that independence. And I guess the person
you walk with, they could watch out if you're going
to walk into something, I guess. But that made me
feel very independent.
S2 (10:54):
And did that did that help help to shape you
later on when you were in the real world, as
it were?
S4 (10:59):
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I it may seem a really silly
thing to say, but if I use a cane, I
feel totally blind. But if I'm with a guide dog
or I'm walking around my own area without the dog,
I feel normal. And I think that came from school.
S2 (11:21):
Okay. Is there anything I've left out here about your
school experience that you might want to sort of share
with other people?
S4 (11:28):
I believe that our headmaster back at the time, um,
I can't think of his first name, but Mr. Barkham anyway,
was a real stickler for education. And I believe through
him and John Rogers, we got the best of, what
(11:49):
would you call it, training or education. We could, um,
we all got through leaving, and 2 or 3 of
us even went on to Metric back in those days. Um,
at a normal, ordinary school, I didn't because I was
lucky enough to get a job, but I believe it
(12:10):
was because they were sticklers for education. All books had
to be ready, like the Braille books had to be, uh,
copied so that everyone had a copy when we came
back the next year. And that all had to be
done before we went on holidays at Christmas. So.
S2 (12:28):
So he was a determined person.
S4 (12:31):
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And through him and John Rogers, you know,
we we couldn't have done better saying that.
S2 (12:39):
Is there something that you have seen, say the young
people of today? I can say that now because I'm
older as well. Um, the young people today have that
would have made life so much easier if in your
educational career.
S4 (12:52):
Oh, yeah. A lot of the technology, I think, you know.
S2 (12:57):
Well, well, you've got some of that technology sitting in
front of you right now.
S4 (13:01):
Yeah, but no, just some of the things they can do,
like even with their phones. And that is unbelievable. You know,
when we did our exams, we typed them out on
a manual typewriter. But sometimes I think maybe the technology's
gone too far too. So there's not that real communication.
(13:24):
So I don't know. I do think we had the
better time.
S2 (13:28):
Vicky, thank you very much.
S4 (13:30):
Thank you.
S2 (13:33):
Well, from the 1960s, we're moving on to the late
70s and 80s with someone that. Well, I'm very familiar
with my own wife, Heidi. So it's a Sunday afternoon.
We're sitting here with a glass of wine, and we're
talking about something exciting, like school. Did you go, um, have, um,
(13:56):
visiting teachers when you first went to school, or did
you go straight into the special ed system.
S5 (14:00):
Now, I did start with visiting visiting teachers, and around
about year three I was in a mainstream primary school
and I'm not sure how it all came about, but
all of a sudden I had this lovely lady visiting
me every now and then just to see how I
was going and making sure I was coping, and also
(14:23):
telling me how untidy my writing was, which hasn't changed.
S2 (14:27):
Do you remember what life was like in school before
you had any help?
S5 (14:33):
My teachers were all aware that I had a vision impairment.
I mean, it was quite obvious because back then I
was wearing the big Coke bottle glasses. Mm. Um, but
they would do their best to, you know, sit me
up the front and make sure if they're showing the
class something that I got a proper look at it.
So yeah, they, they were aware.
S2 (14:53):
Were you able to keep up with the work at school?
Because I know I certainly had problems with that. I
was often about six months behind everybody else.
S5 (15:00):
No, that didn't seem to be an issue. I loved reading,
I know that I just took to reading like a
duck to water. So yeah, for for the most part, yes,
I was able to keep up with everyone.
S2 (15:10):
So when did you actually move in full time to
Townsend School then?
S5 (15:14):
Okay, that was year six. It was sort of halfway
through year five. The discussions were started, taken down there
for a visit. I liked what I saw, and even
though it was right across the other side of town
to where we were living, I was quite prepared to
to go there. I could I could see it being
a good thing for me even at age ten.
S2 (15:35):
What was the difference between just a normal school situation
and a special school situation? I mean, what what were
the big things you noticed?
S5 (15:43):
Uh, first of all, the sizes, the size of the class,
lot smaller, there was only about around about ten of
us in the class before I'd come from, you know,
30 children in a class. The classrooms were a lot
smaller because of the size of the class. So we
could all they could sit us as close to the
like the black borders, what we needed to. I didn't
(16:04):
feel like it was all year. One, two, three, four,
five in my class. It was year six to year eight, actually. So.
But yeah, but everyone, everyone knew everyone. Everyone knew everyone's name.
That was the thing.
S2 (16:19):
So across the whole whole school and across I mean
because you had multiple disabilities there as well. So. Yes.
S5 (16:24):
Yeah.
S2 (16:25):
So what do you think you got out of your
time at Townsend anyway?
S5 (16:29):
They focused on finding things that you were good at.
So instead of worrying about what you weren't good at,
let's find something you are good at. Sport was very big.
They really encouraged everyone to try and be good at something,
at sport, even if it was anything from high jump,
long jump, running, swimming, even just, I don't know, being
(16:51):
able to catch a ball. So also music. Music was
huge for those of us who wanted to partake. I
certainly went ahead leaps and bounds with my. I was
already having piano lessons prior to going to Townsend, but
I felt like my piano playing was enhanced a lot more. Uh,
also discovered that I could sing and I really enjoyed it.
(17:14):
So I think what I got out of it also
was just knowing that I, you know, I'd never had
prior to going to Townsend, hadn't really had any exposure
to other children with vision impairments. So I guess knowing
that I wasn't alone and, um, you know, I've, I've
still got friendships now from, you know, from my time
(17:36):
at Townsend.
S2 (17:37):
Are there any teachers that sort of stand out that, um,
for that in that period of time that, that stand
out to you as going that extra mile?
S5 (17:47):
Uh, yes. So there's Mrs. Jackson, the music teacher. She
went the extra mile to make sure that when I
went to high school, the high school had a good
music program that I was going to because she really
wanted me to succeed as far as music goes. Dennis Peck.
Jennie Flood. The sports teachers, they were always encouraging. Uh,
(18:10):
there was, uh, my year seven teacher, Mrs. Ayres, who? Yes,
I was, as I said, one of her favorites. You know,
when I went, when I went to high school, she
was always asking because I, you know, ended up having
a visiting teacher at high school as well. You know,
the the message was always passed on. Oh, Mrs. Ayres
says hello, and she's always asking about you and hoping
that you're doing well.
S2 (18:31):
So, I mean, that's kind of what the role of
Townshend was for you, at least, I'm guessing was to
as a sort of a way of brushing up and
preparing you for later schooling. Yes. Right in that one. Yes. Yes.
So do you think that, um, did a good job
in preparing you for the, um, mainstream education system after that?
(18:51):
So for high school.
S5 (18:52):
Um, for the most part, yes. Uh, I mean, I
I'm not going to lie to you. My first day
of high school, I was scared as it was a
big school. Lots and lots of students. I didn't know
anyone who went to that school, so I kind of
had to find my own way of like, you know,
(19:12):
making friends. That that wasn't always easy for me at
this stage. I was still wearing the Coke bottles. And, um,
as you know, that's usually a target for any of
the high school bullies. Or she's wearing big glasses. Let's
pick on her. So, yes. Hence term two came back
with contact lenses.
S2 (19:33):
How did you end up going educationally after. Um, through
high school.
S5 (19:36):
I would suggest I was probably an average student. I
certainly wasn't straight A's. There was maybe 1 or 2
fails along the way. And I'll admit, I didn't always
perhaps put in as much effort as I was probably
capable of putting in, but I scraped through. Um, well,
not I more than scraped through. Um, I did take
(19:57):
two years to do year 12 because we were allowed
to do that, and I didn't get what was called
matric back then. I was just a SAS. So just. Yeah.
So yeah, I, I think I did all right.
S2 (20:10):
Was there anything that you thought that you weren't prepared
for when moving back into the mainstream education system?
S5 (20:17):
I think the main thing was being prepared for the
number of students mainly. But my, you know, my first
primary school, it was mainstream, but it was still reasonably
small because it was sort of in a semi-rural area.
And then, of course, you know, the small, the smaller
school community at Townsend and then going into a school
(20:39):
that has, you know, somewhere up to 600 or 700 students,
that was scary. Um, I was always also scared of
not being able to find my way around getting lost.
I mean, I'd been taken out to the school prior
to starting there to be shown around, but come day one,
I'd pretty much forgotten everything. And also the amount of work.
(21:01):
I mean, the amount of work, the amount of homework.
I don't think I was prepared for that.
S2 (21:06):
But you eventually coped anyway. Um, you went to a
rural school to start out with. And what you finished?
Did you matriculate through one of the, um, city schools
with a resource unit?
S5 (21:18):
Yes. So, yeah, my high school, uh, high school years
were interesting. I started, um, in a metropolitan school out
in the north eastern suburbs. Uh, then my family packed
up and went to a little town called Langhorne Creek
to live. And that's where I went to Strathalbyn High.
And I have to say, of all my high school years,
(21:41):
they were probably my favorite high school years. Loved that.
I really did like that school. Um, and then sadly,
halfway through year 12, my second year of year 12, um,
mum and dad separated. So mum, my sister and I
were moving back to the city. And I said to mum,
I have to go. If I'm going to finish high school,
I need to go somewhere where I know someone. And
(22:03):
as as it turned out, back then, Seaview High had
the special vision impaired unit where they could take in
15 students with a vision impairment, and luckily they had
one spot left and I knew most of the students
in that unit. So and, you know, a couple of
(22:24):
them were in year 12 with me. So that did help.
S2 (22:27):
And so actually having a resource unit sort of on campus,
was that different to just a visiting teacher?
S5 (22:33):
Yes. That was basically our homeroom. So it's where we
would all gather, like we'd still go and attend lessons as,
as normal in the regular classrooms. But we also had
allotted free times. So we would go back to the
unit and finish assignments or whatever, you know, in our
in our free times, but also do a lot of
(22:55):
Socializing at the same time.
S2 (22:58):
Is there anything you wish that you'd had that kids
now have when you were going through school?
S5 (23:04):
No, actually, I think, um, I can't think of anything
more that I would want, uh, or would have wanted.
S2 (23:12):
Thank you for that. I hope it hasn't been too,
too harrowing going back to your school days.
S5 (23:16):
Well, you know, there are things that I, you know,
do miss about that time. I mean, you know, I
went through a period of, you know, the time that
I was at school, we didn't have this, you know,
thing called social media or smartphones or anything like that.
And I think I'm all the better for it.
S2 (23:36):
So, dear listener, what we say at the start of
the show and what we say at the end of
the show, has a lot of bearing on this episode.
We want to hear from you. This week's show has
a very South Australian centric theme to it, but I'd
like to hear about what you over in Victoria or
Darwin or Sydney or rural New South Wales. What you
(23:58):
went through for your schooling experience? If you went to
school in the 1990s, please do get in touch with us. Finally,
we're finishing off with Cheryl's experience.
S6 (24:12):
I started at Townsend School for Low Vision Blindness and
Deafness in 1981. I don't think there was more than
30 kids there. The classes were very small, between 5
to 10 kids per class, and it was especially designed
to teach each individual child the skills they needed to,
(24:34):
giving them independence. Being such a small school and small classes,
one on one attention was a lot more focused on
so you could learn the child, understand the child, and
develop skills to give them according to that child's needs.
On the other hand, when the child has had extra problems.
(24:57):
I think there was a lack of understanding of those problems.
S3 (25:02):
Where did you go to high school? Because as I
understand it, you didn't complete all of your education at Townsend?
S6 (25:07):
No. It was decided they would start to integrate the
blind children, low vision children into the main community schools,
which is a great idea because it helps them socialize
with children that don't live with disabilities. And this was
great for some children. For me, when I was 11
or 12, it was decided by the staff and the
(25:29):
teachers that they would integrate a number of us into
a mainstream high school, 1050 children, 20 blind kids amongst
all of those kids in a mainstream school. For the
two that I transferred with, it was great, but for
me it was a daunting, overwhelming, anxiety giving experience and
(25:53):
I didn't cope. I was in a class of 42 children.
The teachers were great. The support network would have been
great if the teachers weren't abusive. I didn't cope at
that school. My good grades in primary school became bad
grades in high school because it wasn't the environment. I
(26:13):
needed to have a good education.
S3 (26:15):
What were the challenges that you faced that made high
schooling so difficult for you?
S6 (26:21):
I didn't cope well with a lot of noise and
unfamiliar places. Most of the kids themselves didn't know how
to interact with people with blindness, deafness, wheelchairs and disabilities.
It was daunting to them, to the teachers themselves were
great teaching the lessons I'm talking about. But with 42
(26:42):
children in the class, I never got that 15 to
20 minutes, one on one support to help me with
my subject. I also didn't comprehend quite a lot of
what was being said to me, unless it was broken
down into smaller parts and explained to me in a
number of different ways.
S3 (27:01):
But you've also said that you went to a mainstream
high school. I thought it was really interesting because when
we talked about this the other night, you said that
was the best experience for me. What was the difference
for you?
S6 (27:13):
The unit at Sea View, whilst a couple of the
support networks were great, the support teachers I ended up
with were emotionally, psychologically, mentally and physically abusive to me
and treated me like I was dumb, I was stupid,
I'd never go anywhere in life because of my blindness
(27:35):
and I basically was a waste of space. So anything
I tried with them, no matter how good I did it,
they put me down. When I hit my local high school,
of which my sisters both attended. The deputy head, the secretary,
the the principal of the school and the visiting teacher
(27:57):
I had in my first year there went out of
their way to make sure I was given the same
chance to have a good education and have a good
life as any of the other kids there. And I
think because there was only two of us with vision
problems and one deaf child, the children were different. They
accepted us and treated us as normal, which helped my grades,
(28:19):
which were decent. C's at the other school jumped to
B's and a pluses. I gained confidence and a want
to learn and grow.
S3 (28:28):
So how has your education experience impacted the rest of
your life?
S6 (28:34):
Well, my education by the teachers was as good as
they could give me. The problem I had was I
had to live as a very defensive person. Everything I
was good at, I told I wouldn't be good at,
so they took me out of those classes. For example,
I was good at craft, I was good at French.
(28:56):
I was good at English, I still am. I was
good with business, maths I still am. I was good
with cooking, home ec, basic living skills and child studies.
The support network teachers at the first high school took
me out of all of those subjects. Almost by the
time I hit year 11, I had English, mathematics and music.
(29:17):
You can't complete an education on just three subjects. You've
got to have other subjects to build on. That meant
no university degree, no tertiary education. I did after work
experience at a childcare for two one week blocks, spend
13 years as a volunteer and honorary staff member, doing
(29:38):
8 to 16 hours a week in a childcare centre, unpaid.
But everything I've done since then I've gradually taught myself
by listening to things or listening to audio books or
or people and going out into the world and living
independently and learning from life experiences. If I was to
(29:59):
say I had one qualification without a certificate, it would
be life skills.
S3 (30:05):
If there is anybody listening to this show that is
going through the education system currently, or has a blind
or vision impaired child going through the education system, what
would be your message to that person or to that child?
S6 (30:17):
To a parent? I would say, talk to your child.
Find out what they're learning. Find out what they're getting
help with, find out what they're not getting help with,
be totally involved and get the teacher on board as well.
And make sure that if they're lacking and need extra support,
there's nothing wrong with having a specialised class at a
(30:39):
school to help and tutors to help with that, it's
important to try and make them feel as normal as
anybody else and encourage them. The supports are out there.
Fight for it.
S2 (30:53):
Well, that's a wrap for this week. A big thank
you to Vicki, Heidi and Cheryl.
S3 (30:58):
And of course, thank you for listening. You can find
this program along with some extra content on Apple, Spotify,
Google or your favorite podcast platform.
S2 (31:09):
Next week, Lizzy catches up with Peter Archer from Beyond Vision.
S3 (31:13):
But between now and then, please do get in touch
with the show. Whether you have experience of any of
the issues covered on this week's episode of Studio One,
or if you think there's something we should be talking about.
You never know. Your story of insight may help someone
who's dealing with something similar.
S2 (31:29):
You can email us Studio One at Vision Australia. Org.
That's studio number one at Vision Australia.
S3 (31:34):
Org or of course you can find us on all
the good social media platforms, whether that be Facebook, Instagram
or X. Were looking for VA Radio Network.
S2 (31:42):
Bye for now.
S1 (31:44):
Vision Australia Radio gratefully acknowledges the support of the Community
Broadcasting Foundation for Studio One.
This is studio one on Vision Australia Radio.
S2 (00:12):
Hello, I'm Sam and I'm Lizzie, and this is Studio One,
your weekly look at life from a low vision and
blind point of view. Here on Vision Australia Radio.
S3 (00:19):
On this week's show, we're going back to school.
S2 (00:22):
We talk to a few friends and find out what
has changed and what hasn't, and what we can learn
from all of this.
S3 (00:29):
As we always say at this point, please do get
in touch with the show. Whether you have experience of
any of the issues covered on this week's episode of
Studio One, or if you think there's something we should
be talking about. You never know. Your story and insight
may help someone who's dealing with something similar.
S2 (00:45):
You can contact us via Email Studio one at Vision Australia.
Org that's studio number one at Vision Australia.
S3 (00:51):
Org or of course, you can drop us a note
on our Facebook page by going to facebook.com Slash Radio network.
S2 (01:00):
Hello, Lizzie.
S3 (01:01):
Hello, Sam. How are we this week?
S2 (01:04):
Oh, All flustered. We've had nothing but technical problems, and
I had a very interesting thing happen to me on
the train. Um, as I was heading into work, it
was standing room only, so I was standing there by
the door, as I normally do, and there was this
young lady across from me, and she kept on looking
at me and I'm thinking, okay, do I still have
it or is there something else going on? Anyway, I
(01:27):
get to work and I'm told that my fly's undone.
S3 (01:29):
Oh dear. Oh my goodness. Oh, Sam. You. You poor fellow.
I am in the lovely Mount Gambier as we speak
on our short holiday with my husband Stephen, and we
are enjoying the Blue Lake and the Tantanoola Caves and
the Glenelg River cruise. It's just been all sorts of fun.
S2 (01:51):
Nice for some people. Anyway, we are going back to past, um,
traumas and joys as we look at life from a
blindness student's point of view. Now, you, um, went to
school at Townsend School, I do believe.
S3 (02:08):
I did. I went to Townsend when it was Townsend
from 1999 until it, uh, until it changed to satisfy,
which was in the end of 2004. And then I
continued on there until the end of 2006, which is
when I finished at seventh grade. After that, though, I
(02:28):
went to a mainstream high school. I went to Charles
Campbell College.
S2 (02:32):
Did going to a special school prepare you? I mean,
how how do you think you benefited or didn't benefit
from it?
S3 (02:38):
Although academically I was fine, I had not an issue.
I excelled in a lot of the subjects, but the
thing that I really struggled with was socialization. So being
in a primary school of 28 to 30 kids does
not prepare you or equip you in any way for
(02:58):
going to high school. I'm not tooting my own horn here,
but in primary school I was the popular kid. I
was the girl that was in all the music productions,
all the drama plays. I was top in the class
in every subject. I had it all going for me
in this, in this little podunk school of 30 people.
(03:20):
When I went to high school, I was just another nobody.
Nobody knew about my past career like my successes. Nobody cared.
More to the point. And so I went into this
experience with a massive ego thinking, you know, like, I
would continue to be popular. And I was just was
(03:40):
not the case. In fact, I spent most of my
first two years of high school or three years of
high school feeling really out of place, and I really struggled.
S2 (03:50):
The first time we met. You told us an interesting
story about, well, a fashion faux pas.
S3 (03:55):
Yeah, I think so. I in primary school I would
wear my polo tops fully buttoned up and there is
no problem. I had that we had polo jumpers at 62,
so I would wear my collars buttoned up all the
time and nobody said anything. In fact, you know, fashion.
What was that? And, you know, it was never mentioned that.
(04:17):
Hey man, when you go to high school, I wouldn't
do this. So I went to high school. I used
to wear my skirt below my knees, and I used
to go to school with my polo shirt buttoned up
all the way, and oh, man, I got picked on
something fierce until I figured out, well, until I was
rudely told that you should unbutton a couple of your buttons. Um,
(04:38):
because you look like a nerd. So. Yeah, it was horrifying.
I didn't know, I didn't know that I was meant
to wear my skirt above my knees. I didn't know
that I wasn't meant to wear long socks. I didn't
know that I wasn't meant to have my polo tops
and jumpers zipped up to the teeth. I didn't know
these things because primary school just did not teach me.
(04:58):
It did not equip me for that. Nobody told me that.
S2 (05:01):
And, well, none of the none of your school friends
or anything like that even mentioned it or anything like that.
It was just came as a sort of a shock,
did it? What?
S3 (05:09):
School? Friends?
S2 (05:10):
Yeah. Okay.
S3 (05:11):
I went to the same high school as one other bloke,
and he was part of the school gang, so I
know he picked on me just as much as the
rest of them did. But nobody ever told me in
primary school, hey, maybe when you get to high school,
you should do this. There was no warning. I had
no clue.
S2 (05:28):
And no visual. You weren't able to see what everyone
else was wearing anyway. And I mean, that's an experience.
And that should. We shall see what everybody else has
to say about it. So to kick things off, we're
catching up with Vision Australia Radio's own Vicki Cousins. This
(05:49):
is the first time we've talked in quite a while,
at least on studio one.
S4 (05:53):
Absolutely, yeah.
S2 (05:54):
So we're talking about school experiences. When did you first
start school?
S4 (06:00):
Back in 1960 or are.
S2 (06:03):
So let's go. Goes back quite a long way now.
Did you ever go to a non-special school, as it were?
Or did you spend your entire time at, say, at Townsend?
S4 (06:13):
I spent my whole time at Townsend. It it had
just started coming in when I was, you know, due
for leaving.
S2 (06:20):
Well forward to now. And the descendant of Townsend Sassy
is Australia's last remaining special school for visually impaired people.
Did you know that?
S4 (06:29):
No, that's. Wow.
S2 (06:31):
So I hear all sorts of stories about the divisions
sometimes you might have had between people who could see
a little bit and the totally blind. Did you ever
have any, say, bullying problems at. At school?
S4 (06:44):
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I would say some of them that
could see almost normally, you know, I found them the
harder ones to deal with.
S2 (06:54):
So what sort of things would happen. I mean was
it physical or just name calling or.
S4 (06:58):
Oh, I had one where she'd talk like when a
deaf person talked back then. Sometimes you couldn't understand one
word they'd say, so she'd talk like that and you'd
think it was one of them, or she'd be standing
in the library. In those days, we had library shelves
(07:18):
that were on rollers, and she'd be standing there, so
I couldn't shut the rollers and, you know, things like
like that. She was not a very nice person at all.
S2 (07:29):
So you get bullies everywhere. It doesn't matter where you go. Well, okay,
we'll go to more positive things, I mean, which for you,
throughout your entire period, there were the teachers that stood out.
S4 (07:42):
Ah, um, Clarence Duffy, she was the first one I
ever had. And she started me with Braille, which is
my life. And John Rodgers, terrific teachers.
S2 (07:55):
What made them stand out from the others?
S4 (07:58):
Well, with Mrs. Duffy, like I said, it was, um,
teaching me Braille, but also helping to make me stand
on my own feet. I guess because my parents lived
well miles away where I had to stay, um, each
term in the school for the first two years. And
(08:20):
she just helped me. Well, I didn't like it when
they left, but at least she, um, supported me and,
you know, comforted me at five years old to, you know,
know they would come back. But she was also, well,
she was a mom of, um, I think she had
two children herself. And she was just really good with
(08:43):
all of us and just wanted all of us to
do the best we could. And John Rogers, well, he
took me through high school and he was just such
a smart man, you know, that you could talk to
about anything if you were having Problems. But, you know,
like one of us in the class was really good
(09:05):
at math, but the other group weren't so good. But,
you know, he didn't make divisions like that. We were
all the same.
S2 (09:15):
That is, in fact, a criticism I've heard recently is
if you were one of the star students good at something,
then yes, there would be. You'd get a lot of attention.
Whereas if you were either average or not so good
at something, you wouldn't get so much attention. Did you
ever encounter that at school?
S4 (09:34):
Yes I did, there was one teacher that I finished
up having for two years because there was only myself
and another girl that, well, we passed. But also, you know,
we were that age where we should have gone up
to the next grade. I think it was grade five,
and we were held back because the rest of the
(09:56):
class didn't go up. And I thought that was totally unfair.
S2 (10:02):
One of the double edged swords I've noticed with special
education is people learn from each other and sometimes they
can learn bad habits, but often they can also learn
some really useful things. Was there any one in particular who,
I don't know, taught you some some of the more
useful tips about just getting around, as it were?
S4 (10:21):
Well, the one thing I always remember and I don't
know where it started, but if you walked around the yard,
like if I walked around the yard, I wasn't allowed
to hold on to anybody. You could walk alongside of him,
but you weren't to hold on to them because, you know,
(10:42):
it gave you that independence. And I guess the person
you walk with, they could watch out if you're going
to walk into something, I guess. But that made me
feel very independent.
S2 (10:54):
And did that did that help help to shape you
later on when you were in the real world, as
it were?
S4 (10:59):
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I it may seem a really silly
thing to say, but if I use a cane, I
feel totally blind. But if I'm with a guide dog
or I'm walking around my own area without the dog,
I feel normal. And I think that came from school.
S2 (11:21):
Okay. Is there anything I've left out here about your
school experience that you might want to sort of share
with other people?
S4 (11:28):
I believe that our headmaster back at the time, um,
I can't think of his first name, but Mr. Barkham anyway,
was a real stickler for education. And I believe through
him and John Rogers, we got the best of, what
(11:49):
would you call it, training or education. We could, um,
we all got through leaving, and 2 or 3 of
us even went on to Metric back in those days. Um,
at a normal, ordinary school, I didn't because I was
lucky enough to get a job, but I believe it
(12:10):
was because they were sticklers for education. All books had
to be ready, like the Braille books had to be, uh,
copied so that everyone had a copy when we came
back the next year. And that all had to be
done before we went on holidays at Christmas. So.
S2 (12:28):
So he was a determined person.
S4 (12:31):
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And through him and John Rogers, you know,
we we couldn't have done better saying that.
S2 (12:39):
Is there something that you have seen, say the young
people of today? I can say that now because I'm
older as well. Um, the young people today have that
would have made life so much easier if in your
educational career.
S4 (12:52):
Oh, yeah. A lot of the technology, I think, you know.
S2 (12:57):
Well, well, you've got some of that technology sitting in
front of you right now.
S4 (13:01):
Yeah, but no, just some of the things they can do,
like even with their phones. And that is unbelievable. You know,
when we did our exams, we typed them out on
a manual typewriter. But sometimes I think maybe the technology's
gone too far too. So there's not that real communication.
(13:24):
So I don't know. I do think we had the
better time.
S2 (13:28):
Vicky, thank you very much.
S4 (13:30):
Thank you.
S2 (13:33):
Well, from the 1960s, we're moving on to the late
70s and 80s with someone that. Well, I'm very familiar
with my own wife, Heidi. So it's a Sunday afternoon.
We're sitting here with a glass of wine, and we're
talking about something exciting, like school. Did you go, um, have, um,
(13:56):
visiting teachers when you first went to school, or did
you go straight into the special ed system.
S5 (14:00):
Now, I did start with visiting visiting teachers, and around
about year three I was in a mainstream primary school
and I'm not sure how it all came about, but
all of a sudden I had this lovely lady visiting
me every now and then just to see how I
was going and making sure I was coping, and also
(14:23):
telling me how untidy my writing was, which hasn't changed.
S2 (14:27):
Do you remember what life was like in school before
you had any help?
S5 (14:33):
My teachers were all aware that I had a vision impairment.
I mean, it was quite obvious because back then I
was wearing the big Coke bottle glasses. Mm. Um, but
they would do their best to, you know, sit me
up the front and make sure if they're showing the
class something that I got a proper look at it.
So yeah, they, they were aware.
S2 (14:53):
Were you able to keep up with the work at school?
Because I know I certainly had problems with that. I
was often about six months behind everybody else.
S5 (15:00):
No, that didn't seem to be an issue. I loved reading,
I know that I just took to reading like a
duck to water. So yeah, for for the most part, yes,
I was able to keep up with everyone.
S2 (15:10):
So when did you actually move in full time to
Townsend School then?
S5 (15:14):
Okay, that was year six. It was sort of halfway
through year five. The discussions were started, taken down there
for a visit. I liked what I saw, and even
though it was right across the other side of town
to where we were living, I was quite prepared to
to go there. I could I could see it being
a good thing for me even at age ten.
S2 (15:35):
What was the difference between just a normal school situation
and a special school situation? I mean, what what were
the big things you noticed?
S5 (15:43):
Uh, first of all, the sizes, the size of the class,
lot smaller, there was only about around about ten of
us in the class before I'd come from, you know,
30 children in a class. The classrooms were a lot
smaller because of the size of the class. So we
could all they could sit us as close to the
like the black borders, what we needed to. I didn't
(16:04):
feel like it was all year. One, two, three, four,
five in my class. It was year six to year eight, actually. So.
But yeah, but everyone, everyone knew everyone. Everyone knew everyone's name.
That was the thing.
S2 (16:19):
So across the whole whole school and across I mean
because you had multiple disabilities there as well. So. Yes.
S5 (16:24):
Yeah.
S2 (16:25):
So what do you think you got out of your
time at Townsend anyway?
S5 (16:29):
They focused on finding things that you were good at.
So instead of worrying about what you weren't good at,
let's find something you are good at. Sport was very big.
They really encouraged everyone to try and be good at something,
at sport, even if it was anything from high jump,
long jump, running, swimming, even just, I don't know, being
(16:51):
able to catch a ball. So also music. Music was
huge for those of us who wanted to partake. I
certainly went ahead leaps and bounds with my. I was
already having piano lessons prior to going to Townsend, but
I felt like my piano playing was enhanced a lot more. Uh,
also discovered that I could sing and I really enjoyed it.
(17:14):
So I think what I got out of it also
was just knowing that I, you know, I'd never had
prior to going to Townsend, hadn't really had any exposure
to other children with vision impairments. So I guess knowing
that I wasn't alone and, um, you know, I've, I've
still got friendships now from, you know, from my time
(17:36):
at Townsend.
S2 (17:37):
Are there any teachers that sort of stand out that, um,
for that in that period of time that, that stand
out to you as going that extra mile?
S5 (17:47):
Uh, yes. So there's Mrs. Jackson, the music teacher. She
went the extra mile to make sure that when I
went to high school, the high school had a good
music program that I was going to because she really
wanted me to succeed as far as music goes. Dennis Peck.
Jennie Flood. The sports teachers, they were always encouraging. Uh,
(18:10):
there was, uh, my year seven teacher, Mrs. Ayres, who? Yes,
I was, as I said, one of her favorites. You know,
when I went, when I went to high school, she
was always asking because I, you know, ended up having
a visiting teacher at high school as well. You know,
the the message was always passed on. Oh, Mrs. Ayres
says hello, and she's always asking about you and hoping
that you're doing well.
S2 (18:31):
So, I mean, that's kind of what the role of
Townshend was for you, at least, I'm guessing was to
as a sort of a way of brushing up and
preparing you for later schooling. Yes. Right in that one. Yes. Yes.
So do you think that, um, did a good job
in preparing you for the, um, mainstream education system after that?
(18:51):
So for high school.
S5 (18:52):
Um, for the most part, yes. Uh, I mean, I
I'm not going to lie to you. My first day
of high school, I was scared as it was a
big school. Lots and lots of students. I didn't know
anyone who went to that school, so I kind of
had to find my own way of like, you know,
(19:12):
making friends. That that wasn't always easy for me at
this stage. I was still wearing the Coke bottles. And, um,
as you know, that's usually a target for any of
the high school bullies. Or she's wearing big glasses. Let's
pick on her. So, yes. Hence term two came back
with contact lenses.
S2 (19:33):
How did you end up going educationally after. Um, through
high school.
S5 (19:36):
I would suggest I was probably an average student. I
certainly wasn't straight A's. There was maybe 1 or 2
fails along the way. And I'll admit, I didn't always
perhaps put in as much effort as I was probably
capable of putting in, but I scraped through. Um, well,
not I more than scraped through. Um, I did take
(19:57):
two years to do year 12 because we were allowed
to do that, and I didn't get what was called
matric back then. I was just a SAS. So just. Yeah.
So yeah, I, I think I did all right.
S2 (20:10):
Was there anything that you thought that you weren't prepared
for when moving back into the mainstream education system?
S5 (20:17):
I think the main thing was being prepared for the
number of students mainly. But my, you know, my first
primary school, it was mainstream, but it was still reasonably
small because it was sort of in a semi-rural area.
And then, of course, you know, the small, the smaller
school community at Townsend and then going into a school
(20:39):
that has, you know, somewhere up to 600 or 700 students,
that was scary. Um, I was always also scared of
not being able to find my way around getting lost.
I mean, I'd been taken out to the school prior
to starting there to be shown around, but come day one,
I'd pretty much forgotten everything. And also the amount of work.
(21:01):
I mean, the amount of work, the amount of homework.
I don't think I was prepared for that.
S2 (21:06):
But you eventually coped anyway. Um, you went to a
rural school to start out with. And what you finished?
Did you matriculate through one of the, um, city schools
with a resource unit?
S5 (21:18):
Yes. So, yeah, my high school, uh, high school years
were interesting. I started, um, in a metropolitan school out
in the north eastern suburbs. Uh, then my family packed
up and went to a little town called Langhorne Creek
to live. And that's where I went to Strathalbyn High.
And I have to say, of all my high school years,
(21:41):
they were probably my favorite high school years. Loved that.
I really did like that school. Um, and then sadly,
halfway through year 12, my second year of year 12, um,
mum and dad separated. So mum, my sister and I
were moving back to the city. And I said to mum,
I have to go. If I'm going to finish high school,
I need to go somewhere where I know someone. And
(22:03):
as as it turned out, back then, Seaview High had
the special vision impaired unit where they could take in
15 students with a vision impairment, and luckily they had
one spot left and I knew most of the students
in that unit. So and, you know, a couple of
(22:24):
them were in year 12 with me. So that did help.
S2 (22:27):
And so actually having a resource unit sort of on campus,
was that different to just a visiting teacher?
S5 (22:33):
Yes. That was basically our homeroom. So it's where we
would all gather, like we'd still go and attend lessons as,
as normal in the regular classrooms. But we also had
allotted free times. So we would go back to the
unit and finish assignments or whatever, you know, in our
in our free times, but also do a lot of
(22:55):
Socializing at the same time.
S2 (22:58):
Is there anything you wish that you'd had that kids
now have when you were going through school?
S5 (23:04):
No, actually, I think, um, I can't think of anything
more that I would want, uh, or would have wanted.
S2 (23:12):
Thank you for that. I hope it hasn't been too,
too harrowing going back to your school days.
S5 (23:16):
Well, you know, there are things that I, you know,
do miss about that time. I mean, you know, I
went through a period of, you know, the time that
I was at school, we didn't have this, you know,
thing called social media or smartphones or anything like that.
And I think I'm all the better for it.
S2 (23:36):
So, dear listener, what we say at the start of
the show and what we say at the end of
the show, has a lot of bearing on this episode.
We want to hear from you. This week's show has
a very South Australian centric theme to it, but I'd
like to hear about what you over in Victoria or
Darwin or Sydney or rural New South Wales. What you
(23:58):
went through for your schooling experience? If you went to
school in the 1990s, please do get in touch with us. Finally,
we're finishing off with Cheryl's experience.
S6 (24:12):
I started at Townsend School for Low Vision Blindness and
Deafness in 1981. I don't think there was more than
30 kids there. The classes were very small, between 5
to 10 kids per class, and it was especially designed
to teach each individual child the skills they needed to,
(24:34):
giving them independence. Being such a small school and small classes,
one on one attention was a lot more focused on
so you could learn the child, understand the child, and
develop skills to give them according to that child's needs.
On the other hand, when the child has had extra problems.
(24:57):
I think there was a lack of understanding of those problems.
S3 (25:02):
Where did you go to high school? Because as I
understand it, you didn't complete all of your education at Townsend?
S6 (25:07):
No. It was decided they would start to integrate the
blind children, low vision children into the main community schools,
which is a great idea because it helps them socialize
with children that don't live with disabilities. And this was
great for some children. For me, when I was 11
or 12, it was decided by the staff and the
(25:29):
teachers that they would integrate a number of us into
a mainstream high school, 1050 children, 20 blind kids amongst
all of those kids in a mainstream school. For the
two that I transferred with, it was great, but for
me it was a daunting, overwhelming, anxiety giving experience and
(25:53):
I didn't cope. I was in a class of 42 children.
The teachers were great. The support network would have been
great if the teachers weren't abusive. I didn't cope at
that school. My good grades in primary school became bad
grades in high school because it wasn't the environment. I
(26:13):
needed to have a good education.
S3 (26:15):
What were the challenges that you faced that made high
schooling so difficult for you?
S6 (26:21):
I didn't cope well with a lot of noise and
unfamiliar places. Most of the kids themselves didn't know how
to interact with people with blindness, deafness, wheelchairs and disabilities.
It was daunting to them, to the teachers themselves were
great teaching the lessons I'm talking about. But with 42
(26:42):
children in the class, I never got that 15 to
20 minutes, one on one support to help me with
my subject. I also didn't comprehend quite a lot of
what was being said to me, unless it was broken
down into smaller parts and explained to me in a
number of different ways.
S3 (27:01):
But you've also said that you went to a mainstream
high school. I thought it was really interesting because when
we talked about this the other night, you said that
was the best experience for me. What was the difference
for you?
S6 (27:13):
The unit at Sea View, whilst a couple of the
support networks were great, the support teachers I ended up
with were emotionally, psychologically, mentally and physically abusive to me
and treated me like I was dumb, I was stupid,
I'd never go anywhere in life because of my blindness
(27:35):
and I basically was a waste of space. So anything
I tried with them, no matter how good I did it,
they put me down. When I hit my local high school,
of which my sisters both attended. The deputy head, the secretary,
the the principal of the school and the visiting teacher
(27:57):
I had in my first year there went out of
their way to make sure I was given the same
chance to have a good education and have a good
life as any of the other kids there. And I
think because there was only two of us with vision
problems and one deaf child, the children were different. They
accepted us and treated us as normal, which helped my grades,
(28:19):
which were decent. C's at the other school jumped to
B's and a pluses. I gained confidence and a want
to learn and grow.
S3 (28:28):
So how has your education experience impacted the rest of
your life?
S6 (28:34):
Well, my education by the teachers was as good as
they could give me. The problem I had was I
had to live as a very defensive person. Everything I
was good at, I told I wouldn't be good at,
so they took me out of those classes. For example,
I was good at craft, I was good at French.
(28:56):
I was good at English, I still am. I was
good with business, maths I still am. I was good
with cooking, home ec, basic living skills and child studies.
The support network teachers at the first high school took
me out of all of those subjects. Almost by the
time I hit year 11, I had English, mathematics and music.
(29:17):
You can't complete an education on just three subjects. You've
got to have other subjects to build on. That meant
no university degree, no tertiary education. I did after work
experience at a childcare for two one week blocks, spend
13 years as a volunteer and honorary staff member, doing
(29:38):
8 to 16 hours a week in a childcare centre, unpaid.
But everything I've done since then I've gradually taught myself
by listening to things or listening to audio books or
or people and going out into the world and living
independently and learning from life experiences. If I was to
(29:59):
say I had one qualification without a certificate, it would
be life skills.
S3 (30:05):
If there is anybody listening to this show that is
going through the education system currently, or has a blind
or vision impaired child going through the education system, what
would be your message to that person or to that child?
S6 (30:17):
To a parent? I would say, talk to your child.
Find out what they're learning. Find out what they're getting
help with, find out what they're not getting help with,
be totally involved and get the teacher on board as well.
And make sure that if they're lacking and need extra support,
there's nothing wrong with having a specialised class at a
(30:39):
school to help and tutors to help with that, it's
important to try and make them feel as normal as
anybody else and encourage them. The supports are out there.
Fight for it.
S2 (30:53):
Well, that's a wrap for this week. A big thank
you to Vicki, Heidi and Cheryl.
S3 (30:58):
And of course, thank you for listening. You can find
this program along with some extra content on Apple, Spotify,
Google or your favorite podcast platform.
S2 (31:09):
Next week, Lizzy catches up with Peter Archer from Beyond Vision.
S3 (31:13):
But between now and then, please do get in touch
with the show. Whether you have experience of any of
the issues covered on this week's episode of Studio One,
or if you think there's something we should be talking about.
You never know. Your story of insight may help someone
who's dealing with something similar.
S2 (31:29):
You can email us Studio One at Vision Australia. Org.
That's studio number one at Vision Australia.
S3 (31:34):
Org or of course you can find us on all
the good social media platforms, whether that be Facebook, Instagram
or X. Were looking for VA Radio Network.
S2 (31:42):
Bye for now.
S1 (31:44):
Vision Australia Radio gratefully acknowledges the support of the Community
Broadcasting Foundation for Studio One.
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