Sam and Lizzie's Year in Review

Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:14):
One of our amazing friends and young people. Shar. What's
her name is your friend. This is studio one with
Sam Rickard and Lizzie Eastham on Vision Australia Radio.

S2 (00:32):
Hello, I'm Sam.

S1 (00:33):
And I'm Lizzie.

S2 (00:34):
And this is Studio One, your weekly look at life
from a low vision and blind point of view here
on Vision Australia Radio.

S1 (00:40):
It is New Year's Eve and we share the cheer
by looking back at 2025.

S2 (00:46):
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 in this episode of Studio One,
or if you think there is something we should be
talking about. You never know. Your story and insight may
help somebody else who is dealing with something similar.

S1 (00:59):
You can email us at studio One at Australia. That's
studio number one at Vision Australia. Or of course, you
can drop us a note on our Facebook page at
facebook.com Slash Radio Network.

S2 (01:23):
Well, it's been a very busy year, hasn't it?

S1 (01:25):
You know, Sam, I was. I was just looking at
the podcast feed and the topics that we have covered
this year. And I myself, I would say that it's
been our strongest year. We've covered so much from vision
loss to public transport to, uh, overly helpful people. We've
spoken to some amazing guests like Lily Piccalo, friend of

(01:49):
the show. We've spoken to the, uh, organizers at ski
for light. We've done so much. We've covered so much territory.
We've not only also not only talked to people in Australia,
we've been trotting across the globe, which is something that
we said we were going to make as a major
goal for this year. And I think, yeah, we've had

(02:10):
an amazingly busy and amazingly strong year.

S2 (02:13):
And dear listener, I will let on. That's in the
past because the workload has been quite high, so we've
sometimes had to rely on, dare I say it repeats
so of earlier episodes and things like that, or a
little bit of cheating. And this year, well, there was
one episode where we had to borrow some material from
an earlier episode, but apart from that, we've been pretty good.

(02:34):
So you have 53 odd shows all in the can
and all there to listen to over the last year.

S1 (02:40):
All original too, and all different.

S2 (02:42):
And yes, and it's been rather tough sort of picking
our favourites really, because there are some that I'm even
thinking about now and it's like I'm seeing this list
of our choices and going, oh, but what about this one?
But what about that one?

S1 (02:54):
Yeah, exactly. When you asked me to pick my three,
I mean, I did, and then I went back through
the podcast feed again and I went, yeah, but what
about this? But this one was really good. And it
was so hard to pick three of my favourites and
an honorable mention.

S2 (03:08):
Well, let's start with your number three choice. That was
a vision loss. Why did you pick that particular one?

S1 (03:15):
Because to me, vision loss is something that affects many
in our society. It doesn't just affect those that are
already vision impaired, it affects the fully sighted as well.
And I think it's such an important topic to tackle.
And we spoke to two amazing ladies and Valda, who
shared their incredible stories and their resilience as well. So

(03:37):
very heartwarming episode.

S2 (03:38):
So let's open the bottle and sprinkle the special stuff
out again and listen to bits and pieces of that show.

S3 (03:49):
I was born with poor sight and it had deteriorated
all my life for various genetic reasons, but it absolutely
collapsed and it was a huge shock around menopause, which
apparently is the time for women when genetic conditions will
surface if they haven't already. And I went from about
just over 10% to 2% very, very quickly. Um, no

(04:13):
peripheral vision at all, and at the time I was
a senior executive in the public service. I had no
expectation that that was going to happen to me. And, well,
it was devastating initially. I hasten to add that there's
a happy ending to the story.

S4 (04:30):
When I lost my sight, I was told. Bad luck.
You're a Caucasian woman over the age of 50. When
I look back, I've had fantastic support from family and friends.
I don't know whether that's because I was a sighted person,
but it really shocked my friends. Absolutely, because I'd been

(04:53):
so fit and healthy.

S2 (04:59):
All right. So my third favourite was one of the
shows we did early on in the year, because it
actually had a lot of impact to it, and that
was taxi.

S1 (05:07):
Yes, I remember that show. Um, yeah. We didn't. We
get a runner up at the billboards for this.

S2 (05:15):
We did. We were award nominated for that. And what
Pip2 says the post really was the fact that we
are a national program and they were highlighting South Australia only. So, uh,
Kratos for us, for, um, having a national program and, uh, I'm.

S1 (05:30):
Still getting.

S2 (05:31):
Wrong. I'm not going to change anything. Uh, as far
as that goes, uh, we are a national program and,
and proudly a national program. Um, but, uh, no, it
was really funny, um, hearing people's responses to it, especially
people who, um, in the able bodied community because, uh,
especially our own staff here and things like that. And
it really hadn't dawned on some people how much this

(05:55):
actually impacts on people.

S1 (05:56):
Oh, yeah. Like as we discussed in the episode, it's
a really scary and stressful situation, especially if you're in
the middle of somewhere or you have to be somewhere
at a certain time and a driver refuses you because
of your assistance animal or your assistance dog. It's it's
a it's something that impacts a lot of us dog
handlers in the community.

S2 (06:16):
So let's once more hail down a taxi.

S3 (06:22):
Anytime I actually book a taxi, I'm stressed because I'm
always concerned as to whether or not it will turn up,
especially if I'm travelling interstate. And will I or will
I not make the plane make the flight? It's always
on my mind that I may not get there which
and again, that's not okay.

S4 (06:41):
Let's pretend that you're an Uber driver, that every time
you get into because it's your personal car, every time
you get in your personal car and log on to
your Uber platform, did you know that a thing comes
up stating that you have to allow God hearing assistance
dogs in your car?

S3 (06:58):
Well, no I didn't. Well, they.

S4 (07:01):
Do, but no one bloody reads it because they just
scroll and then hit the tick button, the tick box,
you know, to say, yes, I've read it and people
have a go at me and say, well, Janice, you
should have ordered a pet friendly Uber and it's like, well,
you've got to wait longer because not all Ubers say
yes to pets. And plus you've got to pay extra money.

(07:24):
And thirdly, my guide dog is not a pet.

S1 (07:30):
So my second favorite show for the year was when
I got to speak to the president and one of
the regular guests at ski for light, which is a
cross country program that is hosted in the US and
it's a nationally based program. And a friend of the show,
Lily piccolo, again, she's featured a lot over the last

(07:52):
two years. She went to ski for light earlier in
the year and told us some incredible stories. So I thought,
why not actually speak to the people that make it happen? Well,
I am joined by Julie, who is the president of
ski for light, and Anthony, who is vision impaired athlete.
Welcome to you both to studio one.

S5 (08:13):
Thanks, Lizzie. Thank you. Well, this year, we're celebrating our
50th anniversary. The organization started in 1975 by a group
of Norwegian Americans who were into cross-country skiing. There's a
long running event that's similar happening every year in Norway
called the Retirin. And some of their people, uh, got
together with some of the people here in the US

(08:35):
and decided that this is a concept that they wanted
to try here.

S6 (08:39):
I had to face my fear of someone who never skied,
set a goal. As a person who've never skied, set
a goal in the first goal was I want to
learn how to ski. That's what I would say to
a person who's never skied. To have interest in skiing.
Come on in and join us because we are here
to support you.

S1 (09:02):
No guesses as to what your second is, Sam.

S2 (09:04):
Well, the interesting thing about this episode and the criticism
I've had from more than one person is as someone
who had competed at Sydney 2000, and I did an
entire episode celebrating the 25th anniversary of Sydney 2000. I
actually didn't feature in it an awful lot and well,

(09:25):
I don't necessarily think I should be the story in
these things. I was there and everyone else was saying
stuff that I did remember and that I liked, and
so I didn't think I really had anything to sort
of contribute. But, um, it was I mean, you said
it yourself. It made people feel like they were actually there.

S1 (09:43):
Well, I mean, the thing is, Sam, during if you
actually listen to our shows regularly, you'd hear bits and
pieces of your story woven in because you are always,
you know, mentioning anecdotes or bits and pieces about your
Olympic journey, your Paralympic journey, which I find really fascinating.
But like you said, you're not the main focus of
that story. You wanted to speak to other people, otherwise

(10:05):
you could have given us a 28 minute recount of
Sydney from Sam's perspective. But that's not the right route
we chose to go.

S2 (10:13):
No, And this was actually our first look outside the
blind and vision impaired world, because we included Malcolm on
our list of people to chat to as well.

S7 (10:22):
It's a little bit of a.

S1 (10:23):
Prelude to what we'll be doing next year, isn't it?

S2 (10:26):
Very much so, very much so. So anyway, let's go
back 25 years and there's only one winner. The winner
is Sydney.

S8 (10:35):
I was quite happy. I thought, don't have to travel
as far and be the first time my family and
friends can come and watch me fight at an international.

S4 (10:44):
I actually stayed up that night or got up that
night to watch the, uh, the announcement. I remember, uh,
getting up in the middle of the night. I know
it was like 3:00 in the morning. And I thought, oh, man,
this is amazing. Like, this is just something that you
have to work towards because there's nothing better than having
an Olympics and or Paralympics in your own country.

S2 (11:04):
I don't know about you, but was there ever any
doubt that you wouldn't be there?

S4 (11:07):
I don't think I had too many doubts at the time.
Like I just, I think I just backed myself I
knew that, um, I would, you know, do everything that
I possibly could to make sure I was going to
be there.

S9 (11:19):
1992 I would have been 14 years old, and probably
at the time I didn't like I knew the I
knew the Olympics was the Olympics were a big thing. But, um, like,
I hadn't heard of the Paralympics till a few years later,
but I knew it would. It would be the Olympics
themselves would be a big thing. So having seen them
on TV and stuff.

S2 (11:44):
Before we head to our favorite show for the year,
we've got a few honorable mentions. What's your honorable mention there, Lizzie?

S1 (11:49):
Well, it's taking care of business. What originally spawned the
idea for this show was, uh, one of the friends
of the show and young people. Cheyenne Durden is achieving
so much. And I read on her social media that
she'd started a business as a vision impaired support coach.
And I thought, what an excellent idea to really highlight

(12:09):
and give a platform to those blind and vision impaired
Paired individuals who have decided not to work for the
man and start their own business.

S2 (12:18):
Indeed, and it was quite an interesting, uh, group of people,
including your own husband, who is busy out mowing lawns
as we speak. Yes. Anyway, my honorable mention is, um. Well,
you reminded me of it because I'd completely forgotten about it.
And that was our, uh, look at audio description on
the on SBS, where we spoke to one of the

(12:38):
editors and, uh, and also the, uh, the, the lady
that actually heads up that whole department and it gave
us an idea on the whole process. And as I said,
I can't believe I'd forgotten about that whole show because
as I said, we've done so much this year.

S3 (13:01):
I have started.

S10 (13:02):
An online business as a support coach for the vision impaired,
and it's sort of like an all in one thing, really.
I'm offering online braille tutoring. There's also a peer support program.
There's basically a bunch of different programs on my website
for people with vision impairments.

S1 (13:19):
Why is mentoring others something that you're so passionate about?

S10 (13:23):
Even having gone to a blind school, it's something that
I lacked, and I really sort of felt that I
didn't have the mentorship. And, you know, I think that
would have really helped me to feel more confident in myself.
And I think that's what this is going to allow
people to do is to feel more confident in themselves
and to have someone there that they can talk to

(13:44):
who's been through similar things to them.

S11 (13:46):
I had given up for a while, um, just sort
of pursued my own interests and hobbies rather than work.
And then, uh, with the opportunity of massage, it is
it is an industry where you do tend to run
your own business, similar to personal training. And yeah, I
had the capability. I knew it wasn't going to be
overly onerous business to run as such, but I also had, um,

(14:10):
my wife's support at that stage. So I met her
and she also runs her own business. So she was
able to do some of the bookwork and the behind
the scenes things to get things humming along in the background.
So that was good timing there too.

S12 (14:24):
So I wanted something to accomplish. Life can be pretty
boring when you're when you're vision impaired, you can't get
out there and do the same work as other people do.
It's pretty limited, so having your own business, your own
skill set really counts. And the second reason is I've
seen all these mainstream companies absolutely rought old people in

(14:46):
and take them for a ride.

S13 (14:48):
So, uh, I am a, I guess you call it
a quality advisor, blind, low vision perspective along with some.
There's another quality advisor just like myself. And it's also, um,
a scriptwriter and a voice narrator for audio description. Who
is blind or low vision.

S14 (15:07):
Do you have a vision impairment yourself?

S13 (15:08):
I'm blind. Yes.

S14 (15:09):
I'll sound like, um, a million able bodied people and
say you don't look it so good on you, mate.

S15 (15:16):
I manage captioning, audio description, also subtitling for SBS programming.

S13 (15:21):
Essentially, when audio description has to be created for a program,
they get sighted scriptwriters to do it. And very often
that never gets checked by somebody who's blind or low
vision for continuity for either name mentioned early enough, do
they use the same word to describe describe the same object?

(15:41):
Things that if you see something you might not necessarily
know that have I or haven't I described it yet,
whereas I am totally dependent on the words that they use.
So I will very quickly tell you when are you
talking about now, halfway down the program, like if it
hasn't been introduced when everybody else knew about this. So
we have that unique perspective, um, like from a blind

(16:06):
perspective to make sure that the blind person isn't getting lost.

S16 (16:17):
This is Studio One with Lizzy and Sam on Vision
Australia Radio.

S2 (16:24):
And now. Drumroll.

S1 (16:28):
Woo!

S2 (16:29):
Our number one for this year. So we'll start once
more with you. What was your favorite episode this year
and why?

S1 (16:36):
My favorite episodes. And okay, this is a 2 in
1 Sam. So I'm not cheating because we did a
part one and a part two, and that's camp abilities.
I absolutely love the fact that again, in the US,
there are camps being started all over the place to
encourage young, blind and vision impaired and disabled kids to

(17:01):
get involved with sports, to get involved with team building.
And there's more than just sports involved in the camp.
They also teach them independent life skills and things like that.
So one of my favorite episodes for part one. We
spoke to Lilli Piccolo, friend of the show and her
time over there as a coach. And then in number two,
we spoke to Lauren Lieberman, who is the director and

(17:22):
the founder and basically the brain behind this whole concept
of camp abilities.

S2 (17:30):
It was a good set of interviews, and yes, it
warranted the them falling under the same, uh, line, as
it were. So yes, we can sort of call it
a one hour episode.

S14 (17:45):
We book, um, uh, a window seat in the middle seat.
Is somebody settled down in the aisle seat, completely comfortable
seat belts on who are utterly surprised when it turns
out that the two empty seats next to them aren't
empty after all, and that people actually want to go
through and sit there. So this time around, no, we

(18:06):
did not have to worry about that.

S1 (18:08):
Oh, the plane's fully booked. Shock, horror. Um, we are
getting completely sidetracked here. This week's episode covers what I
think is a really interesting camp in the US called
Camp Abilities. Now we are chatting to Lily.

S4 (18:24):
So um, again, going.

S15 (18:26):
Back to the Camino, I met a beautiful lady who
was guiding one of the other blind travellers, Chris and Nancy.
I've talked about them before. I then, you know, went
to ski for light and spent some time with them there.
And then when I got back from ski for light,
obviously I'd connected with them and, uh, up on Chris's
Facebook page popped up that she just had coached at

(18:48):
a week long camp for children with vision and sensory
impairment in Brockport, New York State. And I went, what
is that? What's Chris up to now? And I had
a look at the post and didn't say much. It
was just a big photo of her and the kids
and all the rest of them. Nancy was there as well,
and the others. And then I went, wow, what is that?
And I messaged her and I said, what is camp abilities?

(19:08):
What are you doing there? She gave me the name
of the founder, Lauren Lieberman, and she said, you need
to get in touch with Lauren. I had a few
some communication with Lauren and then her general assistants from
the camp who were wonderful, and they just supported me
to become a coach at the camp.

S14 (19:25):
So you've brought us a second part to this wonderful
set of, um, well, stories and insights really, which is
what we kind of do. And it is so nice
to be able to, to actually deliver on a two
part story.

S1 (19:40):
What could you possibly be talking about there?

S14 (19:42):
Oh, nothing in particular.

S1 (19:44):
Uh, Lauren, welcome to studio One. It is so good
to have you.

S17 (19:49):
Thank you so much for inviting me. Camp abilities is
a sports camp for children with visual impairments. It's an
overnight week long camp, and we focus on after school sports,
which in the US many high schools have after school
sports teams. We also focus on Paralympic sports that our

(20:09):
athletes will be able to play when they get older
and hopefully in the Paralympics. And then we also teach
them a lot of different recreation skills socialization, self-determination, independent
living skills, mobility skills. And we have an amazing time
doing it. I think a big thing is that many
people tell kids who are blind, they can't. So many

(20:30):
kids are told no and brought up with like the
fear factor and that second guessing them and like even
microaggressions being like you run A5K and so when you
go to a sports camp and you do a duathlon,
or you dive off the diving board for the first time,
or you stand up paddleboard by yourself in the Erie Canal.
That is empowering. And the kids also do it with

(20:54):
their friends that they're their same age. They also have
visual impairment. They're navigating using their cane independently. They're navigating
learning braille, and they're with other kids like them. That
is what brings them back. And that is why the
parents will bend over backwards to get them this experience.

S1 (21:19):
All right, Sam. Well, all that's left to do is
ask you, what's your number one show?

S2 (21:24):
Eyewear. Uh, it was such a understated show, and it
was all only friends. It was just friends that were
involved with this one. But it's for blind and visually
impaired people. Well, for mainly for vision impaired people. The
choice of what to wear, to wear glasses or to

(21:46):
try and struggle on without them, or if to move
over to contact lenses, is actually a rather important question.
And it's a funny one, is that we we've never
really covered it.

S1 (21:57):
No, we've spoken to, uh, ophthalmologists. We had made Chung
on last year. But you're right, we never really actually
spoke to our choir of angels. I agree with you, Sam.
It was a fantastic episode. More so because of your
editing than than anything else. I mean, I'm I've never
had to consider eyewear. So the topic itself wasn't something

(22:20):
that was relevant to me. But the way that you
stitch that show together, my friend. Superb. You deserve a
pat on the back and probably a drink for that.
So let's go to the bar after this and I'll
shout you 1A0.

S2 (22:31):
Well worth doing this show for nothing else but that.
It's about time I got a drink from you. Yeah,
I reckon so. So yeah. No. Again, the production was
a big plus for that as well. It was unlike
anything I'd ever done before. And yeah, it's, uh. You,
dear listener, you're probably going to get a few more
of these. Where? Yes, we let our choir of angels
be the stars, and, uh, we take a complete backseat. Anyway,

(22:54):
let's listen to more.

S18 (23:02):
When I was younger, before I had a say in anything,
the ophthalmologists and my parents got me wearing glasses, but
they were really thick. And the the difference that they
made at the time was so minimal that by the
time I was about 11, I got rid of him.

S10 (23:16):
And apparently.

S4 (23:18):
Uh.

S10 (23:18):
When.

S12 (23:18):
I was eight months old.

S4 (23:19):
I was fitted for.

S15 (23:20):
A pair.

S12 (23:21):
But of.

S4 (23:21):
Course, being.

S12 (23:22):
That small, apparently it was hard to. I've heard the description.
It was hard to find glasses that would fit my
button of a nose. I have seen a photo of
me when I was about two sitting on my grandpa's lap,
and I'm wearing glasses and it actually looks. The glasses
look like they should have belonged to Dame Edna. They
were a really pretty.

S3 (23:41):
Blue.

S18 (23:41):
Frame.

S3 (23:42):
With absolute.

S12 (23:44):
Coke.

S3 (23:44):
Bottle lenses in them.

S12 (23:45):
They made your eyes look like tennis balls because they
were so thick. They were awful. And because I had
the nystagmus as well. And my eyes moved. Yeah, you
looked pretty. They weren't like. Yep, yep. And went through many,
many years of bullying and just feeling, you know, different
I suppose, which is what we feel a lot of

(24:07):
the time. Girl nicknames like Four.

S4 (24:10):
Eyes.

S12 (24:11):
And All those other names that come with it. Just. Yes.
I was a target for not not all the kids.
But yeah, there were some kids who liked to tease
for the sake of teasing.

S19 (24:21):
I do remember getting my first pair of glasses in.
I think I was in junior primary, and while it didn't, uh,
totally correct my vision, which it does with the average
person in society, glasses gives them 2020 vision. My glasses
just helped that little bit that they enabled me to
see things and objects a little bit sharper.

S18 (24:43):
I've got a pair of reading glasses which I if
I sit in front of a window on a sunny
day with my book in the right angle, I can
read a book. So it just has to take a
little bit of, uh, takes a little bit of maneuvering.
I can't do it very long, though. About half an hour.
And I'm. I'm exhausted from it.

S12 (25:03):
Yeah. Once I hit high school again, you've got a
different set of children, older children who again like to
target those with glasses. So after about two and one
I said, mum, during the school holidays, please can we
go see about getting contact lenses again?

S19 (25:18):
I started wearing contact lenses when I, I guess went
to uni because I didn't want to look totally odd
in coke bottle glasses. I had to actually do.

S12 (25:31):
A mould of your eye. So you had this little
dish that went inside my eyelids, and then they squirted this.
Like I couldn't even tell you what it's like, but
it's like a a fluid that went into your eye socket, like,
and sat on your eyes to actually take a mould
of the shape of your eye. Oh, God. Yeah. And
my first set of contact lenses looked like little flying saucers.

(25:52):
They were like a little dish, and they sort of
had a little where they sat over the iris and
the and the, the pupil was like a little bubble.
So they were almost like a little dish that went
in your eye.

S10 (26:03):
Glasses over contacts.

S12 (26:04):
You can.

S10 (26:04):
Just you just.

S12 (26:05):
Put them on in the morning. You take them off
at night. Easier to travel with I guess.

S19 (26:09):
Because I am so short sighted. I find breathing easier,
taking my glasses off and just holding the print up
closer to my face with my lenses because they're so
corrected for distance. I've then got to wear reading glasses
if I want to read something like a menu. Yes,
which is a bit annoying because I don't feel my

(26:33):
reading vision with reading glasses on and contact lenses in
is as good as just taking my glasses off.

S2 (27:00):
That's a wrap for this week. Thank you for joining
us throughout 2025. And thank you to all our guests
and contributors this year.

S1 (27:06):
Next week it's International Braille Day. Once more we ask,
has there ever been a cooler time to be blind?

S2 (27:14):
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 and insight may help somebody
else who is dealing with something similar.

S1 (27:27):
You can contact us via email at studio one, at
studio number one at Vision Australia.

S2 (27:36):
Happy New Year, everybody.

S1 (27:37):
Happy new year.

S16 (27:49):
Studio one was produced in the Adelaide studios of Vision
Australia Radio. This show was made possible with the help
of the Community Broadcasting Foundation. Find out more at.

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