January 6, 2026 • 28 mins
Join Sam for the first of our two part holiday series on Talking Vision.
This week you'll hear interviews from the first half of 2025 including Emily Shanahan, Theresa Rockley-Hogan, Elphie Coyle and Ben Harrington.
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Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:21):
From Vision Australia. This is talking vision. And now here's
your host, Sam Colley.
S2 (00:31):
Hello, everyone. It's great to be here with you. And
for the next half hour, we talk matters of blindness
and low vision. Welcome to the first of our two
holiday specials on Talking Vision. This week we cover the
first half of 2025 with four chats with music therapist
(00:51):
Emily Shanahan, Ben Harrington from Travellers Aid, Theresa Rockley Hogan
from ABC radio, who we chatted to for World Radio Day,
and Alfie Coyle, the founder of Lightmap Studios. I hope
you enjoy this special holiday edition of Talking vision. The
(01:18):
first voice you'll hear this week is Emily Shanahan. I
caught up with Emily right at the start of the
year in amongst the discussions around music and art therapy.
I began my conversation by asking Emily to introduce herself
and tell us about her work in the music therapy space.
S3 (01:39):
Well, I have been a music therapist for a very
long time now. I think where we first crossed paths
was about 24 years ago. The vibe in Burwood.
S2 (01:50):
That's right. Yep.
S3 (01:52):
And, um. Yeah, it sounds crazy that it's that long ago.
S2 (01:55):
It does. Really?
S3 (01:56):
I'm still. Yeah, I'm still working in the field, and
I've spent a fair bit of time in specialist schools
and paediatric hospitals and in early intervention. I've been doing
on occasions a bit of teaching at Melbourne Uni in
the subjects of clinical improvisation and simulated practicum. And I'm
currently working in early intervention in a community healthcare setting.
S2 (02:20):
Oh, fantastic. And, um, let's just go into a bit
about what we are here to chat about today. Now,
people have no doubt probably followed the news recently, in
the past few weeks with a lot of I guess
uncertainty is the word we'd use around the future of
(02:42):
music and art therapies going into 2025. So I'd just
like to get some thoughts from yourself, and I suppose
the sector and other colleagues of yours and how you've
reacted to this recent news regarding the funding changes.
S3 (03:02):
Yeah, I think I mean, you really hit the nail
on the head with the word uncertainty because it was
a complete shock when we found out about this, that
the funding was going to be cut. And as a result,
it's been a really challenging couple of weeks for music therapists,
but also for our participants who are now feeling a
(03:22):
little bit on edge, like there will be 8000 participants
who will be impacted by a funding cuts if this
goes ahead. And so, I mean, that is an enormous
number of people who are going to be really, seriously impacted.
The Music Therapy Association has been incredible. Like their response
is amazing. As registered music therapists, we're pretty used to
(03:43):
having to fight for our cause, but this has really
been extreme as a positive. I guess the support that
we've felt from each other and the community has been incredible.
And our petition to keep music therapy as an NDIS
funded therapeutic support is it's now reached 58,000 signatures.
S2 (04:03):
Oh my God, that's incredible. Yeah. No, that's, um, that's
really pleasing to hear that it's gotten such a really
amazing response like that, but it really does speak to
the importance of music therapy. And this ties into something
you and I are both acutely aware of. And that's
(04:25):
why music therapy is so crucial to so many people
in the community. Now let's go into that because there's
so much we can unpack here. There's so many different aspects,
and I know the impact that it's had for me,
but I'd just love to get your thoughts and go
to the heart of why it's so important and why
(04:47):
it really means so much to be involved in that sector.
S3 (04:51):
Yeah. Great question. I think I mean, music can have
such a profound impact on people. And you don't have
to be a musician by any means for that to
be true. But to use music in a therapeutic context
is such a privilege for me. I think what makes
music therapy so crucial is that it can be an
(05:12):
incredible way to connect with someone and to give them
a voice, when sometimes other therapies may not have been
the answer. And I think we're hearing a lot of
stories about this at the moment in the news. So
many participants saying I couldn't access other things. I couldn't
you know, I think music therapy can be such a
motivating way of achieving these functional outcomes. And look, that's
(05:35):
the language that's really important to funding supports like the Ndia.
Is that functional outcomes, those things like improved participation and
independence in daily practical activities. So this is what's being funded.
And as a therapist that we're really trying to prove
that what we're doing is impacting the daily lives of
our participants.
S2 (05:55):
And I must say, I'd vouch for that 100%. You know,
this is something I've gotten involved in since a very
young age. And I think without music therapy, there's a
bunch of doors that wouldn't have been open. Although, you know,
I have always been quite musically inclined. have had perfect
pitch and all that sort of thing. But responding to that,
(06:17):
when you're 3 or 4 and then people sort of think, oh, okay, there's,
you know, something there. So it moves on to the
next kind of thing. And having that involvement with other
people as well, that social element and, you know, making
music together. And and that's just been so fun as well.
And that was just, you know, have memories that last
(06:39):
a lifetime. And then one of those people is now
a world touring, you know, singer in a rock band.
And you just think, oh my God. Well, that just
wouldn't have been possible without music therapy. And there's so
much to unpack and so many great stories to share
and all that sort of thing as well.
S3 (06:59):
Would it be okay for me to say, Sam? Yeah.
So I think when you met me in 2001 and
we there was a choir and a few performances that
happened and a lot of laughing and learning. I think
from that group there are quite a number who are
working professionally in music.
S2 (07:16):
Yes.
S3 (07:17):
And I mean, that's just incredible that talking of functional
goals that, you know, people have it now is their vocation. Yeah.
I learnt a lot in that setting and look perfect pitch.
How amazing. Not a skill that I have, but so
many people at our vibe had these incredible skills that
that it was just beautiful using music to embrace that together.
S2 (07:43):
A couple of weeks later, I caught up with Ben
Harrington from Traveller's Aid to tell us all about the
services they offer for the blind and low vision community
to get around safely and accessibly on Victoria's public transport network.
And to start off with, I began by asking Ben
(08:05):
to give us an overview of Travellers Aid.
S4 (08:08):
The Traveller's Aid is a not for profit Nization that
is set up to assist people with mobility requirements or
mobility challenges to get around, essentially to navigate Melbourne and
the surrounds using public transport. And the services that we
offer are sort of designed for for people with mobility challenges.
(08:31):
So that can be a demographic ranging from people with
disability to older people who just need a bit of
support to get around. And so we operate out of
the sort of primary transport hubs in Melbourne. So it's
Southern Cross station and Flinders Street, and we're also up
at Ballarat and Seymour, and we're there stationed to assist
(08:53):
people coming through the sites and the stations to get
from from A to B and to engage with their
community in a way that people without those mobility requirements can,
or people with who are able bodied can. And as
we're sort of getting into today, that includes people with
vision impairments or low vision or blindness.
S2 (09:13):
And how long has the service been running for? I
understand it's been around for quite a while. I remember
as a, um, a younger person with low vision about
20 years ago, it was sort of it was even
around then. So it's been going on for quite a while.
But let's go back to sort of, I guess, the
beginning of things and how that all kicked off.
S4 (09:33):
Yeah, it definitely has been a while, more than 100 years,
as I understand it. It sort of actually started all
the way back in last century to assist predominantly women
who are navigating the city area during wartime. So, yeah,
obviously a sort of different beginning to to where we
are now, but it evolved over time to get us
(09:54):
to this point where we're helping primarily people with mobility
challenges and disabilities to navigate. So a long and storied history,
but that just means that it's become quite an institution
and has a lot of staying power in Melbourne and
has always been set up to help people.
S2 (10:11):
How can people Access travellers aid through those travel hubs
such as, you know, Flinders Street, Southern Cross, Ballarat and
Seymour that you've mentioned. What's the best way for people
to access it that way?
S4 (10:24):
Yeah, so it might be a good opportunity for me
to briefly explain some of the services that I can
get into the best way to contact. So at the
train site or the travellers aid hubs at the stations,
we offer connection assistance. So that's essentially getting for example,
if you're coming in on a on a v-line train
and you want to connect to a metro train, but
(10:44):
you're not super confident navigating Southern Cross Station, for instance,
by yourself, obviously, we know that public spaces are generally
not always where they need to be in terms of accessibility. Um,
I know this from first hand experience. I'm legally blind myself.
And so navigating Southern Cross Station, particularly when I wasn't
as familiar with it a few years back, um, was
just a bit of a nightmare, to be honest, because,
(11:05):
you know, not a whole lot of signage a lot
of times to bump into multiple levels. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Really easy to feel lost. Feel overwhelmed. Um, so whether
that's just personal guidance, getting you from A to B,
from a traveler's aid trained staff or volunteer, or whether
that's jumping on a buggy, um, which we have driving
(11:26):
around the station from personal experience, uh, I can really
commend that service for really easing a lot of that
anxiety that I have coming in and navigating and feeling
like I might be late because I've missed a visual
cue or some signage that I couldn't see without that assistance.
So yeah, that's a bit about connection and buggy assistance.
There's also a companion service where we have, uh, one
(11:50):
of our again, trained staff or volunteers assisting. If you
come in to the station, we can then help you
get out to where you need to go. So I'll
use another example. We had someone book a companion service
to help him get up to the Vision Australia store
at Kooyong, I believe. And so they came into Southern
Cross and met up with one of our volunteers or
(12:13):
staff at our hub there, and then they went together,
travelling via public transport to get him to his appointment
or to get him to the store there. And again, yeah, really,
really helpful just to know that it's there. But you know,
it extends to other events. We've been at the Melbourne
International Flower and Garden Show. We've been at the Grand Prix.
And as we help out the more of these events,
I hope it's sort of raising awareness for these events
(12:36):
organisers to know that it's really important to have services
there for people who need them. Um, so always keep
your eye out and see if Travellers Aid is that
event you're going to. We also offer disruption service. So
when there's maintenance happening on tram tracks or train tracks
and you're told to get off at one stop and
then make your way to another, and it kind of
is obviously, as we know, not super obvious to to
(12:57):
someone who's vision impaired, for instance, to know where the
next stop is. It's about Travellers aid offering that human
intervention and getting everyone who needs assistance from one stop
to the next that's been disrupted. So it is. Yeah,
I might emphasize that it is that human intervention side
of things. That is quite important to what we do
in this service because as we know and I'm sure
many listeners can attest to as well, but it's not
(13:19):
really where we need to be in a lot of
ways with accessibility of public spaces and public transport. We
have a really decent public transport network in Melbourne and
more widely in Victoria, with the amount of trams and
trains and buses and just sort of the options there.
But as we know, it's a bit of an uphill
battle to make sure that it's accessible for everyone. So
that's sort of where we come in to provide assistance.
(13:40):
But to your question on getting in contact and finding
out more about these services and booking a service if
you need to, you can either reach out to Travellers
Aid via email, at info at travellers, or you can
ring up our head office at 96542600.
S2 (14:03):
I'm Sam Corley and you're listening to Talking Vision on
Vision Australia Radio, associated stations of the Radio Reading Network
and the Community Radio Network. I hope you've been enjoying
this week's highlight package so far of the first half
of 2025 with Emily and Ben. If you missed any
(14:27):
part of those chats or you'd love to hear them again.
Talking vision is available on the podcast app of your
choice or through the Vision Australia library. You can also
find the program on the Vision Australia Radio website. Simply
head to VA radio dot. That's VA radio all one word.
(14:52):
And now our next guest is Theresa rockley Hogan from
ABC radio. I caught up with Theresa to celebrate World
Radio Day on the 13th of February. I started off
by asking Theresa to give us an overview of ABC
emergency services.
S5 (15:14):
Yeah, sure. So I'm one of the emergency broadcast leads
for the ABC. There are two of us, sometimes called
Eb1 and Eb2. My colleague Pat. Hello, Pat. And, um,
so what we are responsible for is coordinating the emergency
coverage across the ABC. But primarily, radio is the key
platform for our emergency broadcasting messages. And there's a few
(15:35):
reasons for that. And I can go into that more later,
if you like. But, you know, what we are doing
is broadcasting official messaging from fires, floods, storms, cyclones, tsunamis,
you know, any event where people's lives or property could
be at risk within Australia. So that's probably the simplest
summary that I can give you. Our work is to
(15:58):
help them, give them information to make decisions that could
save their lives.
S2 (16:02):
And I'd love to hear some more details about that
and why radio is so important. So let's focus in
on that from an ABC emergency broadcast perspective, why do
you believe the ABC emergency broadcasts are so important for
people around Australia? Really?
S5 (16:25):
Well, radio has been around for a long time, hasn't it?
So certainly 100 years in some places coming up to.
And um, you know, for Australia we have these this
the Australian Broadcasting Corporation has this great network of really
powerful transmitters, including some that have been in place since
World War two. They were built after that and they
(16:45):
can boom into communities across the country. ABC radio can
reach 95% of the population of Australia. So, you know,
there are a couple of areas where the population is
a bit thin that maybe transmissions not so great, but
for the bulk of Australians, we know that they can
hear the ABC radio when there's something going on that
(17:06):
might be impacting on their homes, their families or them.
So the emergency broadcasting role for the ABC has grown.
As climate change has taken its impact, and we're seeing
more and more impacts of fires and floods. You know,
just at this moment, you know, in the past few weeks,
(17:27):
we've seen emergency events kind of across the country, particularly
for Queensland and Victoria and Western Australia. Um, so people
in those communities need a constant flow of reliable information
that they can tune into to make their decisions. Do
they leave if they're in a fire prone area? Do
they know there's a flood coming and they can expect
water to, you know, potentially enter their homes? Can they
(17:47):
make preparations? You know, sometimes things move really fast and
they have to move fast. And so what we do
is often break in to programming. If there's local programming,
it's part of that. So if you were doing a
local program in Townsville in the last few weeks, for example,
ABC Radio North Queensland, they were very busy giving lots
of messages to their communities to help them through the
(18:09):
flood and storm event that was going on. But sometimes
the emergency team will jump in over the top of
a national program, for example, and break in to give
an urgent fire or storm or flooding message. So there
are a couple of ways that we can, um, break in.
But I guess the important thing for the listeners to
know is that if they tune to their local ABC
(18:31):
and there's something affecting them at a at a fairly
high level, you know, we can reliably be there to
give them that information.
S2 (18:38):
And that's a key word there, Teresa. Of course, reliability.
And it's that reputation that the ABC emergency Broadcast services
have built up over the past few decades. And as
you've mentioned, that goes back almost a century now, which is,
you know, testament to how central it has become to
the Australian experience, the way that radio, you know, has
(19:03):
played such a central role in providing informative coverage of
the environment around them. And that's, you know, the keyword
there informing. Yeah.
S5 (19:14):
It's funny with radio. We've been talking about how it's
been around for a long time and and it's reliable.
But you know, these days not everybody has a radio.
For those of us who love radio and work in
it and understand it. It's all you know. It seems
a bit odd, but one of the emergency messages that
agencies will encourage in the lead up to summer, or
the high risk weather season, as they call it now,
is for people to make sure they've got a battery
(19:35):
powered radio. So, you know, if you've been living in
an area affected by a serious flood or a fire,
often one of the first things that goes is your power.
And now, because all of our phones are connected to
the internet, we lose our communication so suddenly. No internet,
and often no phone or very sketchy phone. And, um,
you know, so all of our information sources that we've
(19:56):
been used to relying on are gone. And people need
to know that they that the radio is still there,
that will be broadcasting as best we can and sharing
that information. So it's a good thing to remind people
that radio is there, reliable source of information and that
we will be here and on other platforms as well.
You know, social media, TV, digital stories, their Facebook, but radio.
(20:18):
That's why I said right at the start is our
key platform for the emergency broadcasting role that we have
at the ABC.
S2 (20:24):
That's exactly right. A radio is ever present. It's reliable.
It's there. You have a battery powered radio. You can
take that anywhere. Doesn't rely on electricity, doesn't rely on internet.
And so I think that's why it has persevered well
into the 21st century as we become so ever connected.
And I think that's why radio still cut through.
S5 (20:47):
It's it's pretty robust, isn't it, to survive.
S2 (20:49):
Absolutely. Yeah, certainly. And, um, you know, remote areas as
you were talking about. And last but certainly by no
means least, it's Alfie Coil from Lightmass Studios. I began
my conversation with Alfie by asking him to give us
an overview of Lightmass Studios and their work in the
(21:12):
accessible technology space.
S6 (21:14):
Yeah. So like Mayor Studios is a video game studio primarily,
but we've also been supporting those who want to learn
how to make video games and want to learn social
skills as well through making and playing games. For the
last 17 years. So yeah, we've basically been very well
known within the game development, education and the broader disability
sectors over that time.
S2 (21:36):
Before that 17 years. So 17 years ago around that time.
How did Nightmare Studios come about? Where did the idea
spring from?
S6 (21:45):
Yeah, so I started in 2007 because I'd become financially
independent through a couple of phone shops and had just
really got obsessed with playing video games. And then after
a few months of trying to become a pro gamer
and failing miserably, I decided to actually combine my two
passions of games and business and create a game studio.
That's where it began.
S2 (22:04):
Okay. And, um, what's been the main things that Nightmare
Studios have been up to over the 17 years. Give
us a bit of a highlight package.
S6 (22:15):
Yeah, absolutely. So we started in a garage back in 2007, 2008.
We ended up moving into and purchasing an internet cafe,
and then we operated out of that internet cafe during
the day, and then at night it was internet cafe.
That's kind of our humble beginnings. We made a few
small titles, eventually got some success with the title called
(22:35):
Infinity Wars, and people have been playing it since 2011. Uh,
we've been going pretty much that whole time with that
game and continuing to to serve that across the world
to over half a million players have played our game.
And so that's one of the highlights during that time,
we also got the rights to, uh, Star Trek The
Next Generation and had that as part of our card
set as well. But the whole time that we've been
doing video game creation in the background, we've in the
(22:58):
foreground as well as the background, we've been making programs
for participants who want to learn either game development skills
or social skills. And so through that time, we've actually
helped over over 3000 young people gain qualifications and even
employment in game development. And a good third of those
are actually those with a disability.
S2 (23:17):
Oh, wow. And has like major studios, always had that
focus on, you know, disability and accessibility from day one.
Or did that organically develop over the time where you
sort of saw a niche and thought, you know, this
is something we really want to be a part of
and really get into that space and make a difference there.
S6 (23:41):
Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, the idea of actually working specifically
in disabilities wasn't something that we intended to do. We
had organically done that through, you know, having these participants
come in and do, um, game development courses with us
and traineeships and actually get paid to, to make video games.
And through that process, we noticed that there was a
large number of those, um, coming through that had some
(24:03):
form of disability. It turns out that the industry itself
has at least a 30% number of people who are
identified as having a disability. So it ends up really
lending lending itself well, particularly to those on the spectrum.
So yeah, we kind of stumbled into that fact that
we had helped so many people with disabilities and had
done that for years and years before. We even looked
at other ways we could directly help those with disabilities.
(24:25):
So we've only directly gone out to have programs that,
for example, could have participants in it using using NDIS services.
Only about three years ago. But we've been helping people
with disabilities that whole 17 years.
S2 (24:36):
Oh, wow. And had you or, you know, members of
your team had much experience with disability before encountering it,
with clients and people coming in and taking part in,
you know, the activities that, like Mayor Games had to offer.
And what was that learning curve like for you in
(24:57):
the team?
S6 (24:58):
Sure. Well, it wasn't that hard a jump for us
because we, like myself, I have ADHD and, um, a
number of our staff members have got, um, various disabilities
of some sort. So we found that we actually ended
up really resonating with those with the disability, particularly those
on the spectrum, very naturally anyway, because a number of us,
upwards of half of us had some form of something
(25:20):
on the spectrum or something that made us able to
relate to those who were coming through. So obviously, as
we've expanded to focus on those with a disability, we've
encountered people with different disabilities that we haven't come across before,
which obviously provided some accessibility challenges that we've had to
work through. But yeah, we've been very happy to work
through those and just, you know, even just feeling the
(25:40):
impact on the participants who have received our services and
have made a huge difference in their lives. Um, that's
definitely made. Any kind of, um, issues with, with trying
to get that coordinated? Very much worth it.
S2 (25:53):
So cool. And, um, following on from that, Alfie, I'd
love to have a chat about a couple of programmes that,
like Mare Studios, are involved with lately, starting off with
the Vibe coding initiative. Tell us a bit about that one.
S6 (26:09):
Yeah, so the Vibe coding initiative is a brand new initiative,
so I would need to talk about the broader group
that we're focusing on lately first. But basically we have
a social games community that connects our veteran game developers,
as well as community managers and even those who work
in various other roles in a clinical sense, with those
that are passionate about video games. And yeah, and then
(26:33):
a lot of those participants are actually secretly suffering from
loneliness and social anxiety as well. So the community basically
gets together and either plays games or creates games, and
then that allows a space for people to develop their
social skills whilst engaging with them, something that they love
as it could be like Minecraft or digital art or
(26:53):
game design, uh, even virtual Dungeons and Dragons that we
do as well. And so ultimately, our purpose is to
transform lives through games. And so we'll we'll find various
means to do that. And the latest one of those
is the vibe coding group.
S2 (27:13):
And that's all the time we have for today. You've
been listening to Talking Vision. Talking vision is a Vision
Australia radio production. Thanks to all involved with putting the
show together every week. And remember, we love hearing from you.
So please get in touch anytime on our email at
Talking Australia. That's talking vision all one word at Vision
(27:39):
Australia dot. But until next week it's Sam Coley saying
bye for now.
S1 (27:48):
You can contact Vision Australia by phoning us anytime during
business hours on one 384 74 six. That's one 384
74 six or by visiting Vision Australia that's Vision Australia.
From Vision Australia. This is talking vision. And now here's
your host, Sam Colley.
S2 (00:31):
Hello, everyone. It's great to be here with you. And
for the next half hour, we talk matters of blindness
and low vision. Welcome to the first of our two
holiday specials on Talking Vision. This week we cover the
first half of 2025 with four chats with music therapist
(00:51):
Emily Shanahan, Ben Harrington from Travellers Aid, Theresa Rockley Hogan
from ABC radio, who we chatted to for World Radio Day,
and Alfie Coyle, the founder of Lightmap Studios. I hope
you enjoy this special holiday edition of Talking vision. The
(01:18):
first voice you'll hear this week is Emily Shanahan. I
caught up with Emily right at the start of the
year in amongst the discussions around music and art therapy.
I began my conversation by asking Emily to introduce herself
and tell us about her work in the music therapy space.
S3 (01:39):
Well, I have been a music therapist for a very
long time now. I think where we first crossed paths
was about 24 years ago. The vibe in Burwood.
S2 (01:50):
That's right. Yep.
S3 (01:52):
And, um. Yeah, it sounds crazy that it's that long ago.
S2 (01:55):
It does. Really?
S3 (01:56):
I'm still. Yeah, I'm still working in the field, and
I've spent a fair bit of time in specialist schools
and paediatric hospitals and in early intervention. I've been doing
on occasions a bit of teaching at Melbourne Uni in
the subjects of clinical improvisation and simulated practicum. And I'm
currently working in early intervention in a community healthcare setting.
S2 (02:20):
Oh, fantastic. And, um, let's just go into a bit
about what we are here to chat about today. Now,
people have no doubt probably followed the news recently, in
the past few weeks with a lot of I guess
uncertainty is the word we'd use around the future of
(02:42):
music and art therapies going into 2025. So I'd just
like to get some thoughts from yourself, and I suppose
the sector and other colleagues of yours and how you've
reacted to this recent news regarding the funding changes.
S3 (03:02):
Yeah, I think I mean, you really hit the nail
on the head with the word uncertainty because it was
a complete shock when we found out about this, that
the funding was going to be cut. And as a result,
it's been a really challenging couple of weeks for music therapists,
but also for our participants who are now feeling a
(03:22):
little bit on edge, like there will be 8000 participants
who will be impacted by a funding cuts if this
goes ahead. And so, I mean, that is an enormous
number of people who are going to be really, seriously impacted.
The Music Therapy Association has been incredible. Like their response
is amazing. As registered music therapists, we're pretty used to
(03:43):
having to fight for our cause, but this has really
been extreme as a positive. I guess the support that
we've felt from each other and the community has been incredible.
And our petition to keep music therapy as an NDIS
funded therapeutic support is it's now reached 58,000 signatures.
S2 (04:03):
Oh my God, that's incredible. Yeah. No, that's, um, that's
really pleasing to hear that it's gotten such a really
amazing response like that, but it really does speak to
the importance of music therapy. And this ties into something
you and I are both acutely aware of. And that's
(04:25):
why music therapy is so crucial to so many people
in the community. Now let's go into that because there's
so much we can unpack here. There's so many different aspects,
and I know the impact that it's had for me,
but I'd just love to get your thoughts and go
to the heart of why it's so important and why
(04:47):
it really means so much to be involved in that sector.
S3 (04:51):
Yeah. Great question. I think I mean, music can have
such a profound impact on people. And you don't have
to be a musician by any means for that to
be true. But to use music in a therapeutic context
is such a privilege for me. I think what makes
music therapy so crucial is that it can be an
(05:12):
incredible way to connect with someone and to give them
a voice, when sometimes other therapies may not have been
the answer. And I think we're hearing a lot of
stories about this at the moment in the news. So
many participants saying I couldn't access other things. I couldn't
you know, I think music therapy can be such a
motivating way of achieving these functional outcomes. And look, that's
(05:35):
the language that's really important to funding supports like the Ndia.
Is that functional outcomes, those things like improved participation and
independence in daily practical activities. So this is what's being funded.
And as a therapist that we're really trying to prove
that what we're doing is impacting the daily lives of
our participants.
S2 (05:55):
And I must say, I'd vouch for that 100%. You know,
this is something I've gotten involved in since a very
young age. And I think without music therapy, there's a
bunch of doors that wouldn't have been open. Although, you know,
I have always been quite musically inclined. have had perfect
pitch and all that sort of thing. But responding to that,
(06:17):
when you're 3 or 4 and then people sort of think, oh, okay, there's,
you know, something there. So it moves on to the
next kind of thing. And having that involvement with other
people as well, that social element and, you know, making
music together. And and that's just been so fun as well.
And that was just, you know, have memories that last
(06:39):
a lifetime. And then one of those people is now
a world touring, you know, singer in a rock band.
And you just think, oh my God. Well, that just
wouldn't have been possible without music therapy. And there's so
much to unpack and so many great stories to share
and all that sort of thing as well.
S3 (06:59):
Would it be okay for me to say, Sam? Yeah.
So I think when you met me in 2001 and
we there was a choir and a few performances that
happened and a lot of laughing and learning. I think
from that group there are quite a number who are
working professionally in music.
S2 (07:16):
Yes.
S3 (07:17):
And I mean, that's just incredible that talking of functional
goals that, you know, people have it now is their vocation. Yeah.
I learnt a lot in that setting and look perfect pitch.
How amazing. Not a skill that I have, but so
many people at our vibe had these incredible skills that
that it was just beautiful using music to embrace that together.
S2 (07:43):
A couple of weeks later, I caught up with Ben
Harrington from Traveller's Aid to tell us all about the
services they offer for the blind and low vision community
to get around safely and accessibly on Victoria's public transport network.
And to start off with, I began by asking Ben
(08:05):
to give us an overview of Travellers Aid.
S4 (08:08):
The Traveller's Aid is a not for profit Nization that
is set up to assist people with mobility requirements or
mobility challenges to get around, essentially to navigate Melbourne and
the surrounds using public transport. And the services that we
offer are sort of designed for for people with mobility challenges.
(08:31):
So that can be a demographic ranging from people with
disability to older people who just need a bit of
support to get around. And so we operate out of
the sort of primary transport hubs in Melbourne. So it's
Southern Cross station and Flinders Street, and we're also up
at Ballarat and Seymour, and we're there stationed to assist
(08:53):
people coming through the sites and the stations to get
from from A to B and to engage with their
community in a way that people without those mobility requirements can,
or people with who are able bodied can. And as
we're sort of getting into today, that includes people with
vision impairments or low vision or blindness.
S2 (09:13):
And how long has the service been running for? I
understand it's been around for quite a while. I remember
as a, um, a younger person with low vision about
20 years ago, it was sort of it was even
around then. So it's been going on for quite a while.
But let's go back to sort of, I guess, the
beginning of things and how that all kicked off.
S4 (09:33):
Yeah, it definitely has been a while, more than 100 years,
as I understand it. It sort of actually started all
the way back in last century to assist predominantly women
who are navigating the city area during wartime. So, yeah,
obviously a sort of different beginning to to where we
are now, but it evolved over time to get us
(09:54):
to this point where we're helping primarily people with mobility
challenges and disabilities to navigate. So a long and storied history,
but that just means that it's become quite an institution
and has a lot of staying power in Melbourne and
has always been set up to help people.
S2 (10:11):
How can people Access travellers aid through those travel hubs
such as, you know, Flinders Street, Southern Cross, Ballarat and
Seymour that you've mentioned. What's the best way for people
to access it that way?
S4 (10:24):
Yeah, so it might be a good opportunity for me
to briefly explain some of the services that I can
get into the best way to contact. So at the
train site or the travellers aid hubs at the stations,
we offer connection assistance. So that's essentially getting for example,
if you're coming in on a on a v-line train
and you want to connect to a metro train, but
(10:44):
you're not super confident navigating Southern Cross Station, for instance,
by yourself, obviously, we know that public spaces are generally
not always where they need to be in terms of accessibility. Um,
I know this from first hand experience. I'm legally blind myself.
And so navigating Southern Cross Station, particularly when I wasn't
as familiar with it a few years back, um, was
just a bit of a nightmare, to be honest, because,
(11:05):
you know, not a whole lot of signage a lot
of times to bump into multiple levels. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Really easy to feel lost. Feel overwhelmed. Um, so whether
that's just personal guidance, getting you from A to B,
from a traveler's aid trained staff or volunteer, or whether
that's jumping on a buggy, um, which we have driving
(11:26):
around the station from personal experience, uh, I can really
commend that service for really easing a lot of that
anxiety that I have coming in and navigating and feeling
like I might be late because I've missed a visual
cue or some signage that I couldn't see without that assistance.
So yeah, that's a bit about connection and buggy assistance.
There's also a companion service where we have, uh, one
(11:50):
of our again, trained staff or volunteers assisting. If you
come in to the station, we can then help you
get out to where you need to go. So I'll
use another example. We had someone book a companion service
to help him get up to the Vision Australia store
at Kooyong, I believe. And so they came into Southern
Cross and met up with one of our volunteers or
(12:13):
staff at our hub there, and then they went together,
travelling via public transport to get him to his appointment
or to get him to the store there. And again, yeah, really,
really helpful just to know that it's there. But you know,
it extends to other events. We've been at the Melbourne
International Flower and Garden Show. We've been at the Grand Prix.
And as we help out the more of these events,
I hope it's sort of raising awareness for these events
(12:36):
organisers to know that it's really important to have services
there for people who need them. Um, so always keep
your eye out and see if Travellers Aid is that
event you're going to. We also offer disruption service. So
when there's maintenance happening on tram tracks or train tracks
and you're told to get off at one stop and
then make your way to another, and it kind of
is obviously, as we know, not super obvious to to
(12:57):
someone who's vision impaired, for instance, to know where the
next stop is. It's about Travellers aid offering that human
intervention and getting everyone who needs assistance from one stop
to the next that's been disrupted. So it is. Yeah,
I might emphasize that it is that human intervention side
of things. That is quite important to what we do
in this service because as we know and I'm sure
many listeners can attest to as well, but it's not
(13:19):
really where we need to be in a lot of
ways with accessibility of public spaces and public transport. We
have a really decent public transport network in Melbourne and
more widely in Victoria, with the amount of trams and
trains and buses and just sort of the options there.
But as we know, it's a bit of an uphill
battle to make sure that it's accessible for everyone. So
that's sort of where we come in to provide assistance.
(13:40):
But to your question on getting in contact and finding
out more about these services and booking a service if
you need to, you can either reach out to Travellers
Aid via email, at info at travellers, or you can
ring up our head office at 96542600.
S2 (14:03):
I'm Sam Corley and you're listening to Talking Vision on
Vision Australia Radio, associated stations of the Radio Reading Network
and the Community Radio Network. I hope you've been enjoying
this week's highlight package so far of the first half
of 2025 with Emily and Ben. If you missed any
(14:27):
part of those chats or you'd love to hear them again.
Talking vision is available on the podcast app of your
choice or through the Vision Australia library. You can also
find the program on the Vision Australia Radio website. Simply
head to VA radio dot. That's VA radio all one word.
(14:52):
And now our next guest is Theresa rockley Hogan from
ABC radio. I caught up with Theresa to celebrate World
Radio Day on the 13th of February. I started off
by asking Theresa to give us an overview of ABC
emergency services.
S5 (15:14):
Yeah, sure. So I'm one of the emergency broadcast leads
for the ABC. There are two of us, sometimes called
Eb1 and Eb2. My colleague Pat. Hello, Pat. And, um,
so what we are responsible for is coordinating the emergency
coverage across the ABC. But primarily, radio is the key
platform for our emergency broadcasting messages. And there's a few
(15:35):
reasons for that. And I can go into that more later,
if you like. But, you know, what we are doing
is broadcasting official messaging from fires, floods, storms, cyclones, tsunamis,
you know, any event where people's lives or property could
be at risk within Australia. So that's probably the simplest
summary that I can give you. Our work is to
(15:58):
help them, give them information to make decisions that could
save their lives.
S2 (16:02):
And I'd love to hear some more details about that
and why radio is so important. So let's focus in
on that from an ABC emergency broadcast perspective, why do
you believe the ABC emergency broadcasts are so important for
people around Australia? Really?
S5 (16:25):
Well, radio has been around for a long time, hasn't it?
So certainly 100 years in some places coming up to.
And um, you know, for Australia we have these this
the Australian Broadcasting Corporation has this great network of really
powerful transmitters, including some that have been in place since
World War two. They were built after that and they
(16:45):
can boom into communities across the country. ABC radio can
reach 95% of the population of Australia. So, you know,
there are a couple of areas where the population is
a bit thin that maybe transmissions not so great, but
for the bulk of Australians, we know that they can
hear the ABC radio when there's something going on that
(17:06):
might be impacting on their homes, their families or them.
So the emergency broadcasting role for the ABC has grown.
As climate change has taken its impact, and we're seeing
more and more impacts of fires and floods. You know,
just at this moment, you know, in the past few weeks,
(17:27):
we've seen emergency events kind of across the country, particularly
for Queensland and Victoria and Western Australia. Um, so people
in those communities need a constant flow of reliable information
that they can tune into to make their decisions. Do
they leave if they're in a fire prone area? Do
they know there's a flood coming and they can expect
water to, you know, potentially enter their homes? Can they
(17:47):
make preparations? You know, sometimes things move really fast and
they have to move fast. And so what we do
is often break in to programming. If there's local programming,
it's part of that. So if you were doing a
local program in Townsville in the last few weeks, for example,
ABC Radio North Queensland, they were very busy giving lots
of messages to their communities to help them through the
(18:09):
flood and storm event that was going on. But sometimes
the emergency team will jump in over the top of
a national program, for example, and break in to give
an urgent fire or storm or flooding message. So there
are a couple of ways that we can, um, break in.
But I guess the important thing for the listeners to
know is that if they tune to their local ABC
(18:31):
and there's something affecting them at a at a fairly
high level, you know, we can reliably be there to
give them that information.
S2 (18:38):
And that's a key word there, Teresa. Of course, reliability.
And it's that reputation that the ABC emergency Broadcast services
have built up over the past few decades. And as
you've mentioned, that goes back almost a century now, which is,
you know, testament to how central it has become to
the Australian experience, the way that radio, you know, has
(19:03):
played such a central role in providing informative coverage of
the environment around them. And that's, you know, the keyword
there informing. Yeah.
S5 (19:14):
It's funny with radio. We've been talking about how it's
been around for a long time and and it's reliable.
But you know, these days not everybody has a radio.
For those of us who love radio and work in
it and understand it. It's all you know. It seems
a bit odd, but one of the emergency messages that
agencies will encourage in the lead up to summer, or
the high risk weather season, as they call it now,
is for people to make sure they've got a battery
(19:35):
powered radio. So, you know, if you've been living in
an area affected by a serious flood or a fire,
often one of the first things that goes is your power.
And now, because all of our phones are connected to
the internet, we lose our communication so suddenly. No internet,
and often no phone or very sketchy phone. And, um,
you know, so all of our information sources that we've
(19:56):
been used to relying on are gone. And people need
to know that they that the radio is still there,
that will be broadcasting as best we can and sharing
that information. So it's a good thing to remind people
that radio is there, reliable source of information and that
we will be here and on other platforms as well.
You know, social media, TV, digital stories, their Facebook, but radio.
(20:18):
That's why I said right at the start is our
key platform for the emergency broadcasting role that we have
at the ABC.
S2 (20:24):
That's exactly right. A radio is ever present. It's reliable.
It's there. You have a battery powered radio. You can
take that anywhere. Doesn't rely on electricity, doesn't rely on internet.
And so I think that's why it has persevered well
into the 21st century as we become so ever connected.
And I think that's why radio still cut through.
S5 (20:47):
It's it's pretty robust, isn't it, to survive.
S2 (20:49):
Absolutely. Yeah, certainly. And, um, you know, remote areas as
you were talking about. And last but certainly by no
means least, it's Alfie Coil from Lightmass Studios. I began
my conversation with Alfie by asking him to give us
an overview of Lightmass Studios and their work in the
(21:12):
accessible technology space.
S6 (21:14):
Yeah. So like Mayor Studios is a video game studio primarily,
but we've also been supporting those who want to learn
how to make video games and want to learn social
skills as well through making and playing games. For the
last 17 years. So yeah, we've basically been very well
known within the game development, education and the broader disability
sectors over that time.
S2 (21:36):
Before that 17 years. So 17 years ago around that time.
How did Nightmare Studios come about? Where did the idea
spring from?
S6 (21:45):
Yeah, so I started in 2007 because I'd become financially
independent through a couple of phone shops and had just
really got obsessed with playing video games. And then after
a few months of trying to become a pro gamer
and failing miserably, I decided to actually combine my two
passions of games and business and create a game studio.
That's where it began.
S2 (22:04):
Okay. And, um, what's been the main things that Nightmare
Studios have been up to over the 17 years. Give
us a bit of a highlight package.
S6 (22:15):
Yeah, absolutely. So we started in a garage back in 2007, 2008.
We ended up moving into and purchasing an internet cafe,
and then we operated out of that internet cafe during
the day, and then at night it was internet cafe.
That's kind of our humble beginnings. We made a few
small titles, eventually got some success with the title called
(22:35):
Infinity Wars, and people have been playing it since 2011. Uh,
we've been going pretty much that whole time with that
game and continuing to to serve that across the world
to over half a million players have played our game.
And so that's one of the highlights during that time,
we also got the rights to, uh, Star Trek The
Next Generation and had that as part of our card
set as well. But the whole time that we've been
doing video game creation in the background, we've in the
(22:58):
foreground as well as the background, we've been making programs
for participants who want to learn either game development skills
or social skills. And so through that time, we've actually
helped over over 3000 young people gain qualifications and even
employment in game development. And a good third of those
are actually those with a disability.
S2 (23:17):
Oh, wow. And has like major studios, always had that
focus on, you know, disability and accessibility from day one.
Or did that organically develop over the time where you
sort of saw a niche and thought, you know, this
is something we really want to be a part of
and really get into that space and make a difference there.
S6 (23:41):
Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, the idea of actually working specifically
in disabilities wasn't something that we intended to do. We
had organically done that through, you know, having these participants
come in and do, um, game development courses with us
and traineeships and actually get paid to, to make video games.
And through that process, we noticed that there was a
large number of those, um, coming through that had some
(24:03):
form of disability. It turns out that the industry itself
has at least a 30% number of people who are
identified as having a disability. So it ends up really
lending lending itself well, particularly to those on the spectrum.
So yeah, we kind of stumbled into that fact that
we had helped so many people with disabilities and had
done that for years and years before. We even looked
at other ways we could directly help those with disabilities.
(24:25):
So we've only directly gone out to have programs that,
for example, could have participants in it using using NDIS services.
Only about three years ago. But we've been helping people
with disabilities that whole 17 years.
S2 (24:36):
Oh, wow. And had you or, you know, members of
your team had much experience with disability before encountering it,
with clients and people coming in and taking part in,
you know, the activities that, like Mayor Games had to offer.
And what was that learning curve like for you in
(24:57):
the team?
S6 (24:58):
Sure. Well, it wasn't that hard a jump for us
because we, like myself, I have ADHD and, um, a
number of our staff members have got, um, various disabilities
of some sort. So we found that we actually ended
up really resonating with those with the disability, particularly those
on the spectrum, very naturally anyway, because a number of us,
upwards of half of us had some form of something
(25:20):
on the spectrum or something that made us able to
relate to those who were coming through. So obviously, as
we've expanded to focus on those with a disability, we've
encountered people with different disabilities that we haven't come across before,
which obviously provided some accessibility challenges that we've had to
work through. But yeah, we've been very happy to work
through those and just, you know, even just feeling the
(25:40):
impact on the participants who have received our services and
have made a huge difference in their lives. Um, that's
definitely made. Any kind of, um, issues with, with trying
to get that coordinated? Very much worth it.
S2 (25:53):
So cool. And, um, following on from that, Alfie, I'd
love to have a chat about a couple of programmes that,
like Mare Studios, are involved with lately, starting off with
the Vibe coding initiative. Tell us a bit about that one.
S6 (26:09):
Yeah, so the Vibe coding initiative is a brand new initiative,
so I would need to talk about the broader group
that we're focusing on lately first. But basically we have
a social games community that connects our veteran game developers,
as well as community managers and even those who work
in various other roles in a clinical sense, with those
that are passionate about video games. And yeah, and then
(26:33):
a lot of those participants are actually secretly suffering from
loneliness and social anxiety as well. So the community basically
gets together and either plays games or creates games, and
then that allows a space for people to develop their
social skills whilst engaging with them, something that they love
as it could be like Minecraft or digital art or
(26:53):
game design, uh, even virtual Dungeons and Dragons that we
do as well. And so ultimately, our purpose is to
transform lives through games. And so we'll we'll find various
means to do that. And the latest one of those
is the vibe coding group.
S2 (27:13):
And that's all the time we have for today. You've
been listening to Talking Vision. Talking vision is a Vision
Australia radio production. Thanks to all involved with putting the
show together every week. And remember, we love hearing from you.
So please get in touch anytime on our email at
Talking Australia. That's talking vision all one word at Vision
(27:39):
Australia dot. But until next week it's Sam Coley saying
bye for now.
S1 (27:48):
You can contact Vision Australia by phoning us anytime during
business hours on one 384 74 six. That's one 384
74 six or by visiting Vision Australia that's Vision Australia.
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