March 17, 2025 • 15 mins
This week while Damo returns from the CSUN Assistive Technology conference in California, Stephen speaks with Steve Monigatti, a Vision Australia Service Development Lead. The conversation includes:
- Steve’s 18 year history with Vision Australia;
- His current role;
- The various activities of Access Technology team members;
- Vision Australia’s involvement in the Federal Government Job access disability employment program (Https://www.jobaccess.gov.au ).
To access the program, presented each week by Stephen Jolley and Damo McMorrow you can go to varadio.org/talkingtech
To write to the show use damo.mcmorrow@visionaustralia.org
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:07):
Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition, available from
March the 18th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have
you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia radio, associated
stations of the Radio Reading Network or the Community Radio Network.
There is also the podcast to catch that, all you
need to do is search for the two words talking
(00:29):
tech and Danica. Nor come usually on a Tuesday afternoon
just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask
your Siri device or smart speaker to play. Vision Australia
radio talking tech podcast. Vision Australia radio talking tech podcast. Normally,
Vision Australia's national access technology manager Damo McMorrow was with me.
(00:51):
Damo is still tied up with Sea Sun, the International
Assistive Technology Conference duties, but he will be back with
us next week. In the meantime, one of demos team
is with me And that's Steve Moneghetti from Vision Australia.
I think you're located in Bendigo. Steve. Welcome.
S2 (01:12):
Thanks. Stephen. Yeah, that's right in in Bendigo, central Victoria.
S1 (01:16):
And your role is in access technology service development lead.
And I'm sure as soon as I've uttered those words
there are people screaming at me into their device saying,
Will you ask your guest what an access technology service
development lead does?
S2 (01:32):
Yeah. So I was previously an access technology specialist. So
the people who go out to to clients from Vision
Australia that go out to sea to sea clients and
talk to clients about their technology needs and their goals,
and now I've moved into the role as a technology lead.
So I actually mentor the Ats's, in particular in Victoria
(01:56):
and Queensland. So I do some training, I coach them
through different scenarios and and talk them through different options.
So it's a mentoring role with all the ATS.
S1 (02:08):
An ATS is.
S2 (02:10):
Our access technology specialist.
S1 (02:13):
You joined VA 18 years ago.
S2 (02:16):
Yeah that's right. It started a very originally as a
recreation worker at Vision Australia, but quickly moved into the
At role, the assistive technology role and have been working
in the field for about 17 of the 18 years.
S1 (02:33):
So how did you get interested in assistive or access technology?
S2 (02:37):
It was part of my background. So I'd completed a
postgraduate qualification in computing and had worked in that field
for a number of years. And then the opportunity arose
that we needed to expand the the ATS role in Bendigo.
And so the opportunity came up for the position in Bendigo.
S1 (02:57):
When you started to move into it and you had
to get your head around Using a computer in what's
not really a natural way for people who can see
to use it. How did that go for you?
S2 (03:11):
You're quite right. It's a very steep learning curve for
the first 3 to 6 months, you know, navigating jaws
and as you said, discussing all the acronyms for a start.
But then, you know, learning how to use the magnification,
the screen readers and then moving eventually into being able
to use some of the Braille devices as well. So
(03:32):
it was a 12 month learning curve to get up
to speed with, with many of those things. And then
it's a consistent process in just updating your skills, updating
your knowledge, and keeping you informed of of what's out
there and what's happening. My computer starts every day with
jaws running. So jaws is a screen reader for windows,
and I try not to touch my mouse throughout the
(03:53):
whole day, so I try and navigate my whole day
just using the keystrokes as a screen reader user would do.
S1 (04:00):
We've seen lots of change with access technology over the
time you've been with Vision Australia. What's really stood out
for you? Sort of some of the milestones along the way.
S2 (04:11):
When I started in the role, we spent a lot
of time teaching people around computers and windows computers and,
you know, to turn the computer off, press the start
button and things like that. And it changed remarkably the
day the the iPhone started to become popular and available,
and then the iPad and all the smartphones that followed.
(04:32):
So our role has really, really changed from, you know,
being PC based and PC centred to, you know, the
vast majority of our work these days is around tablets
and phones and, and connectivity and the different apps and
things that are available with, with those devices.
S1 (04:49):
I understand that the access technology role at Vision Australia
is about supporting people with their use of the technology,
Maybe in their personal life, in their education, in their employment,
as well as working with external organizations like educators and employers, etc..
(05:10):
Tell me about, in particular, the job access program of
Vision Australia.
S2 (05:17):
Job access is a federal government funded program, and it
enables people who are employed to get the technology they
need in order to be able to complete their work tasks.
People can access it through either their Disability Employment service,
if they're using a disability employment service can access the
job access funding when they get a job, or they
(05:39):
can apply directly to job access. Either them or their
employer can apply. And and that starts a process of
assessment around what their work tasks are and determining what,
what equipment they need for people to be able to
undertake the roles associated with their tasks at work.
S1 (05:57):
So someone might have been in a role for quite
some time. They become aware of a new piece of technology,
and they can get their employer to put their hand
up and investigate it through Vision Australia.
S2 (06:10):
That's right. And I've had some people, I think I've
done 4 or 5 assessments for over the years. So
you can certainly go back and as job roles change
or new equipment becomes available, then you can go back
to job access and have that review process and re-establish
what equipment they need and, and go through that process.
(06:32):
The great thing about job access is it's it's both quick.
So it, um, we only get 12 days from the
day we get notice of the assessment to actually having
completed the assessment. Often those reports are reviewed quite quickly
and the employee gets an answer about that equipment very quickly.
(06:53):
So within 3 to 4 weeks from lodging the application
They can. They can have that equipment working for them
in their workplace.
S1 (07:01):
Let's just look at some sort of fictitious example. My
boss contacts Vision Australia says I have a person who
has low vision or is blind. What are the steps
from there on?
S2 (07:15):
If Vision Australia is given, given the job, we'd make
contact and discuss their vision and their roles, and then
we'd go out to the workplace and actually conduct an
assessment and retake some, some equipment that we think might
be appropriate for their for their work tasks. And that
can that can be all sorts of things. So I've
(07:37):
been in dairies, in a cow cowshed, in a dairy,
looking at lighting and magnification in that setting. And I've
been at banks and head offices in, in Melbourne. So
it's a really a varied role. It's amazing the different
places I've been to in assisting in this way.
S1 (07:57):
Is it usually to support someone getting a new job
or in their existing job?
S2 (08:03):
Well, both. It's 50 over 50 on that. Certainly people
that are starting out can go through the process and
get the equipment they need. Or as I said, if
people's jobs changes or they need different equipment, we can
go back again and and have a look at that
equipment and conduct that review.
S1 (08:22):
Mhm. I guess the way you interact with the people
that you're visiting varies. Someone doing an ongoing job and
somebody starting out in a job when they're starting out,
the employer, potential employer is probably a little bit sort
of nervous about how this is going to work. Whereas
once that person has been in a role for quite
some time, as you know, had that connection with the organization,
(08:46):
they're wanting to make the best of things for him,
put the best technology in his hands.
S2 (08:52):
Yeah. That's right. So, you know, in that case with
a new employee. You know, we'd often sit down with
the employer as well, initially to start with and have
a chat and discuss the role and, and the job
access process so that they're familiar and understand how the
actual process works. Also, at the conclusion of the of
the assessment, get them back again and, you know, discuss
(09:14):
the equipment that's going to be recommended and what that
will do and usually quite often demonstrated as well. So
they've actually got an understanding of what we're talking about.
But as you said with with clients that are at
the workplace already, it's about usually about some sort of
modification and some different equipment. So the the process changes
(09:35):
a little bit.
S1 (09:35):
So somebody might be driving along somewhere in Australia listening
to this program casually and thinking, maybe we can do
more for one of the people in our team who
has low vision or can't see at all. Who would
they make contact with to explore the job access opportunities.
S2 (09:56):
There's probably two ways to go about that. They could
look it up online, either typing in to a search engine,
job access or the Employment Assistance Fund. And there's some
certainly some great information online. Again, that's the federal government site.
That's that's got that information. Alternatively, if they've got contact
at the local Vision Australia office, they could make contact.
(10:17):
And one of the job access panel members could actually
make contact and have a chat to them as well.
S1 (10:23):
So are there other organisations apart from Vision Australia who
are part of the job Access scheme?
S2 (10:30):
Obviously we're here today talking about people who are blind
or have low vision, but it's broader than that. So
it's all disability. So there are occupational therapists and and
other service providers that provide this service. And there are
other providers in the vision space as well.
S1 (10:48):
So there's a great opportunity for someone to contact that program,
or I guess they could contact Vision Australia directly and
find out more about the program. Is that right?
S2 (10:58):
That's right. Yes. Yeah. Yep. Uh, there's, uh, panel members across, um,
the eastern, the eastern states, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
There's panel members. Vision Australia has panel members in each
of those states. So they'd be able to talk people
through it.
S1 (11:15):
Mhm. Excellent.
S2 (11:16):
But the service is available in the other states as well.
But Vision Australia just provides a service across those states.
S1 (11:22):
Yeah. Yeah. So you're involved with the job access program.
What other things do you do in your job as
the the lead you talked about mentoring or leading other
access technology specialists. What sorts of other things do you do?
S2 (11:39):
We've just been running induction for we've had five new
access technology specialists this year, so we've just been running
induction for them, and there's a continual, um, training program
and building on their skills and knowledge over over the
next 12 months will be supporting them. And we also
do services into Tasmania and Northern Territory as part of
(12:00):
a contract with the Department of Education. So I go
up into Darwin every year and for a week and, uh,
provide assessments in the schools up in Darwin. And one
of the other team members, Kent, goes down to Tassie
2 or 3 times a year and provides the same service. Um,
we're also doing some consulting work as well. So at
the moment I'm working with a couple of external organisations
(12:23):
and providing some consultancy around accessibility on the computer.
S1 (12:27):
Steve, as an experienced hand, I nearly said an old
hand with access technology. What in your quiet moments are
you looking forward to in the next sort of 1
to 5 years?
S2 (12:41):
It's an enormous period of change at the moment, and
it will be interesting where the AI will take us.
I guess we're waiting to see where that will head.
Apps like Seeing Eye and Be My Eyes and other
apps where you can ask it questions and get a
picture described to you, and then ask it more details
about the picture. Jaws has got that smart feature function
(13:05):
where again, you can get a description of of an
image that's on your computer and things like that. So
that whole AI side of things is really going to grow.
We've seen the meta glasses and what they can do.
And as different options come out in that space as well.
So it's going to be more mainstream products that become
(13:26):
available using that, those AI features and that really expand
what what is available.
S1 (13:32):
Well, Steve, it's been great speaking with you today. Good
luck as you continue your work making a difference for
so many people around the country. Steve Moneghetti, who is
a Vision Australia Access Technology service development lead Based in
Bendigo in Victoria. Thanks for chatting with us on Talking Tech.
S2 (13:52):
Thanks, Dave and thanks for the catch up. It's been great.
S1 (13:55):
And before we go, a reminder that you can find
details of what we've been talking about in this and
previous editions of the program by going to VA radio.org/talking tech.
VA radio.org/talking tech and to right to the program Damon
McMorrow at Vision australia.org. Yes, he's still checking his inbox.
(14:18):
Damo McMorrow McMorrow R.o.w at Vision australia.org and Damo will
be back next week with a lot to tell us
about season. This has been talking tech. My guest was
Steve Moneghetti, a member of Damo team as an Access
Technology Service development lead. I'm Stephen Jolley. Stay safe. We'll
(14:42):
talk more tech next week. See you.
Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition, available from
March the 18th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have
you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia radio, associated
stations of the Radio Reading Network or the Community Radio Network.
There is also the podcast to catch that, all you
need to do is search for the two words talking
(00:29):
tech and Danica. Nor come usually on a Tuesday afternoon
just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask
your Siri device or smart speaker to play. Vision Australia
radio talking tech podcast. Vision Australia radio talking tech podcast. Normally,
Vision Australia's national access technology manager Damo McMorrow was with me.
(00:51):
Damo is still tied up with Sea Sun, the International
Assistive Technology Conference duties, but he will be back with
us next week. In the meantime, one of demos team
is with me And that's Steve Moneghetti from Vision Australia.
I think you're located in Bendigo. Steve. Welcome.
S2 (01:12):
Thanks. Stephen. Yeah, that's right in in Bendigo, central Victoria.
S1 (01:16):
And your role is in access technology service development lead.
And I'm sure as soon as I've uttered those words
there are people screaming at me into their device saying,
Will you ask your guest what an access technology service
development lead does?
S2 (01:32):
Yeah. So I was previously an access technology specialist. So
the people who go out to to clients from Vision
Australia that go out to sea to sea clients and
talk to clients about their technology needs and their goals,
and now I've moved into the role as a technology lead.
So I actually mentor the Ats's, in particular in Victoria
(01:56):
and Queensland. So I do some training, I coach them
through different scenarios and and talk them through different options.
So it's a mentoring role with all the ATS.
S1 (02:08):
An ATS is.
S2 (02:10):
Our access technology specialist.
S1 (02:13):
You joined VA 18 years ago.
S2 (02:16):
Yeah that's right. It started a very originally as a
recreation worker at Vision Australia, but quickly moved into the
At role, the assistive technology role and have been working
in the field for about 17 of the 18 years.
S1 (02:33):
So how did you get interested in assistive or access technology?
S2 (02:37):
It was part of my background. So I'd completed a
postgraduate qualification in computing and had worked in that field
for a number of years. And then the opportunity arose
that we needed to expand the the ATS role in Bendigo.
And so the opportunity came up for the position in Bendigo.
S1 (02:57):
When you started to move into it and you had
to get your head around Using a computer in what's
not really a natural way for people who can see
to use it. How did that go for you?
S2 (03:11):
You're quite right. It's a very steep learning curve for
the first 3 to 6 months, you know, navigating jaws
and as you said, discussing all the acronyms for a start.
But then, you know, learning how to use the magnification,
the screen readers and then moving eventually into being able
to use some of the Braille devices as well. So
(03:32):
it was a 12 month learning curve to get up
to speed with, with many of those things. And then
it's a consistent process in just updating your skills, updating
your knowledge, and keeping you informed of of what's out
there and what's happening. My computer starts every day with
jaws running. So jaws is a screen reader for windows,
and I try not to touch my mouse throughout the
(03:53):
whole day, so I try and navigate my whole day
just using the keystrokes as a screen reader user would do.
S1 (04:00):
We've seen lots of change with access technology over the
time you've been with Vision Australia. What's really stood out
for you? Sort of some of the milestones along the way.
S2 (04:11):
When I started in the role, we spent a lot
of time teaching people around computers and windows computers and,
you know, to turn the computer off, press the start
button and things like that. And it changed remarkably the
day the the iPhone started to become popular and available,
and then the iPad and all the smartphones that followed.
(04:32):
So our role has really, really changed from, you know,
being PC based and PC centred to, you know, the
vast majority of our work these days is around tablets
and phones and, and connectivity and the different apps and
things that are available with, with those devices.
S1 (04:49):
I understand that the access technology role at Vision Australia
is about supporting people with their use of the technology,
Maybe in their personal life, in their education, in their employment,
as well as working with external organizations like educators and employers, etc..
(05:10):
Tell me about, in particular, the job access program of
Vision Australia.
S2 (05:17):
Job access is a federal government funded program, and it
enables people who are employed to get the technology they
need in order to be able to complete their work tasks.
People can access it through either their Disability Employment service,
if they're using a disability employment service can access the
job access funding when they get a job, or they
(05:39):
can apply directly to job access. Either them or their
employer can apply. And and that starts a process of
assessment around what their work tasks are and determining what,
what equipment they need for people to be able to
undertake the roles associated with their tasks at work.
S1 (05:57):
So someone might have been in a role for quite
some time. They become aware of a new piece of technology,
and they can get their employer to put their hand
up and investigate it through Vision Australia.
S2 (06:10):
That's right. And I've had some people, I think I've
done 4 or 5 assessments for over the years. So
you can certainly go back and as job roles change
or new equipment becomes available, then you can go back
to job access and have that review process and re-establish
what equipment they need and, and go through that process.
(06:32):
The great thing about job access is it's it's both quick.
So it, um, we only get 12 days from the
day we get notice of the assessment to actually having
completed the assessment. Often those reports are reviewed quite quickly
and the employee gets an answer about that equipment very quickly.
(06:53):
So within 3 to 4 weeks from lodging the application
They can. They can have that equipment working for them
in their workplace.
S1 (07:01):
Let's just look at some sort of fictitious example. My
boss contacts Vision Australia says I have a person who
has low vision or is blind. What are the steps
from there on?
S2 (07:15):
If Vision Australia is given, given the job, we'd make
contact and discuss their vision and their roles, and then
we'd go out to the workplace and actually conduct an
assessment and retake some, some equipment that we think might
be appropriate for their for their work tasks. And that
can that can be all sorts of things. So I've
(07:37):
been in dairies, in a cow cowshed, in a dairy,
looking at lighting and magnification in that setting. And I've
been at banks and head offices in, in Melbourne. So
it's a really a varied role. It's amazing the different
places I've been to in assisting in this way.
S1 (07:57):
Is it usually to support someone getting a new job
or in their existing job?
S2 (08:03):
Well, both. It's 50 over 50 on that. Certainly people
that are starting out can go through the process and
get the equipment they need. Or as I said, if
people's jobs changes or they need different equipment, we can
go back again and and have a look at that
equipment and conduct that review.
S1 (08:22):
Mhm. I guess the way you interact with the people
that you're visiting varies. Someone doing an ongoing job and
somebody starting out in a job when they're starting out,
the employer, potential employer is probably a little bit sort
of nervous about how this is going to work. Whereas
once that person has been in a role for quite
some time, as you know, had that connection with the organization,
(08:46):
they're wanting to make the best of things for him,
put the best technology in his hands.
S2 (08:52):
Yeah. That's right. So, you know, in that case with
a new employee. You know, we'd often sit down with
the employer as well, initially to start with and have
a chat and discuss the role and, and the job
access process so that they're familiar and understand how the
actual process works. Also, at the conclusion of the of
the assessment, get them back again and, you know, discuss
(09:14):
the equipment that's going to be recommended and what that
will do and usually quite often demonstrated as well. So
they've actually got an understanding of what we're talking about.
But as you said with with clients that are at
the workplace already, it's about usually about some sort of
modification and some different equipment. So the the process changes
(09:35):
a little bit.
S1 (09:35):
So somebody might be driving along somewhere in Australia listening
to this program casually and thinking, maybe we can do
more for one of the people in our team who
has low vision or can't see at all. Who would
they make contact with to explore the job access opportunities.
S2 (09:56):
There's probably two ways to go about that. They could
look it up online, either typing in to a search engine,
job access or the Employment Assistance Fund. And there's some
certainly some great information online. Again, that's the federal government site.
That's that's got that information. Alternatively, if they've got contact
at the local Vision Australia office, they could make contact.
(10:17):
And one of the job access panel members could actually
make contact and have a chat to them as well.
S1 (10:23):
So are there other organisations apart from Vision Australia who
are part of the job Access scheme?
S2 (10:30):
Obviously we're here today talking about people who are blind
or have low vision, but it's broader than that. So
it's all disability. So there are occupational therapists and and
other service providers that provide this service. And there are
other providers in the vision space as well.
S1 (10:48):
So there's a great opportunity for someone to contact that program,
or I guess they could contact Vision Australia directly and
find out more about the program. Is that right?
S2 (10:58):
That's right. Yes. Yeah. Yep. Uh, there's, uh, panel members across, um,
the eastern, the eastern states, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
There's panel members. Vision Australia has panel members in each
of those states. So they'd be able to talk people
through it.
S1 (11:15):
Mhm. Excellent.
S2 (11:16):
But the service is available in the other states as well.
But Vision Australia just provides a service across those states.
S1 (11:22):
Yeah. Yeah. So you're involved with the job access program.
What other things do you do in your job as
the the lead you talked about mentoring or leading other
access technology specialists. What sorts of other things do you do?
S2 (11:39):
We've just been running induction for we've had five new
access technology specialists this year, so we've just been running
induction for them, and there's a continual, um, training program
and building on their skills and knowledge over over the
next 12 months will be supporting them. And we also
do services into Tasmania and Northern Territory as part of
(12:00):
a contract with the Department of Education. So I go
up into Darwin every year and for a week and, uh,
provide assessments in the schools up in Darwin. And one
of the other team members, Kent, goes down to Tassie
2 or 3 times a year and provides the same service. Um,
we're also doing some consulting work as well. So at
the moment I'm working with a couple of external organisations
(12:23):
and providing some consultancy around accessibility on the computer.
S1 (12:27):
Steve, as an experienced hand, I nearly said an old
hand with access technology. What in your quiet moments are
you looking forward to in the next sort of 1
to 5 years?
S2 (12:41):
It's an enormous period of change at the moment, and
it will be interesting where the AI will take us.
I guess we're waiting to see where that will head.
Apps like Seeing Eye and Be My Eyes and other
apps where you can ask it questions and get a
picture described to you, and then ask it more details
about the picture. Jaws has got that smart feature function
(13:05):
where again, you can get a description of of an
image that's on your computer and things like that. So
that whole AI side of things is really going to grow.
We've seen the meta glasses and what they can do.
And as different options come out in that space as well.
So it's going to be more mainstream products that become
(13:26):
available using that, those AI features and that really expand
what what is available.
S1 (13:32):
Well, Steve, it's been great speaking with you today. Good
luck as you continue your work making a difference for
so many people around the country. Steve Moneghetti, who is
a Vision Australia Access Technology service development lead Based in
Bendigo in Victoria. Thanks for chatting with us on Talking Tech.
S2 (13:52):
Thanks, Dave and thanks for the catch up. It's been great.
S1 (13:55):
And before we go, a reminder that you can find
details of what we've been talking about in this and
previous editions of the program by going to VA radio.org/talking tech.
VA radio.org/talking tech and to right to the program Damon
McMorrow at Vision australia.org. Yes, he's still checking his inbox.
(14:18):
Damo McMorrow McMorrow R.o.w at Vision australia.org and Damo will
be back next week with a lot to tell us
about season. This has been talking tech. My guest was
Steve Moneghetti, a member of Damo team as an Access
Technology Service development lead. I'm Stephen Jolley. Stay safe. We'll
(14:42):
talk more tech next week. See you.
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