Powering Your Independence: Norma

After losing her vision Norma moved from the city to the remote community of King Island and created a whole new life for herself.

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Episode Transcript

S1 (00:00):
Hello, I'm Stella Glory and welcome to Britain, Australia's Powering
Your Independence conversations. Where are we chatting with individuals who
are blind or have low vision who have an inspiring
story to tell while leading their independent and active lives?

(00:22):
What do you do when you're a bit of an
introvert or recluse, but your life changes so much you
lose your vision and then you move to a remote
community and you need to get out, get to know
the people and make some friends. This is what happened
to Norma, who, after losing her vision, moved from the
city to the remote community of King Island. It's a

(00:46):
small island where most people have been there for generations.
And I began by asking Norma why it was important
for her to let people know she had vision loss
and how she let them know.

S2 (01:01):
What I normally do is that I have a Vision Australia.
I have low vision badge on my jacket or on
my cardigan or anything like that, and it just makes
people know that I I can't always see that I'm
not asking to be a nuisance or anything. I'm only
I might be asking, where is something? You know, what's

(01:24):
the price of something? Because I can't say it. And
when they sort of realize that, you know, I'm for
real and that then they do go out of their
way and and help me. But sometimes people look at
me a bit strange to sort of say, You know,
you got my vision, you know, why aren't you with
the cane or why don't you have, you know, the
dark glasses and. And I just smile at them and

(01:46):
I just sort of like because I choose not to.

S1 (01:49):
Great answer. So now let's set the scene, tell us
a little bit about King Island. It sounds fantastic. It
sounds idyllic.

S2 (02:00):
Excellent. Well, in many respects, the locals call it paradise,
and lately that's the way I look at it too.
It's a small blip. In the middle of Bastardised, it's
about halfway between Victoria and in Tasmania. When you look

(02:20):
at Tasmania, you will see a little island off on
the left hand top left-hand side and another little island
on the top right hand side, where in the top
left hand side, that's King Island. The roaring 40s roll
over or die every day and. We call it I've

(02:40):
learnt to call the the winds here a breeze or different,
whereas before I was on Mainland Australia, it would be
a major gale warning. Most of the trees are standing upright,
probably because we get the wind from every direction. And
like today, it's a bit overcast. We have bursts of

(03:04):
rain and things like that. A bit like Melbourne's famous
bowl is like, you know, you have four seasons in
one day. Well, we can have four seasons in an hour.
This time of year, normally, I mean, you know, tricky
decks and winter weather and everything like that. But when
we have a burst of warm days, which occasionally we

(03:27):
do have all the locals that are out in their
shorts and singlets, and I'm still there in my checking
decks

S1 (03:35):
because you're originally a Queensland up.

S2 (03:38):
Well, actually, no, really. I'm a new south Welshman. Oh,
I moved to to Queensland and been in Queensland for
the last 15 odd years, so my blood seemed really nicely.
And then I had the opportunity of moving down here
and I am deferred for two years before I took

(03:59):
the plunge. And my main concern was that I didn't
have the infrastructure and the support that I have on
my main Australia. But. I've learnt that when you talk
to people, you explain that you do have a disability
that you can't see well and and that's and that's

(04:22):
why you, you know you need the community cow or,
you know, you stumble in the street or things like that.
People go out of their way to accommodate me and
to help me. And every day I go out, it's
quite amazing, and they tend to to seek me out
and sort of say, do you need help with your

(04:42):
shopping or things like that? And it's not asked for.
But it is appreciated occasionally.

S1 (04:48):
Oh, that's great. Now we're going to talk a little
bit about what life was like for you before your
vision loss, because when I asked you to describe yourself,
you said that you were retired and living a good
life full stop now, which hints that maybe not everything

(05:12):
was always that great for you.

S2 (05:15):
Well, before I was, I had this major vision loss
and and that I drove when, whenever and wherever I
wanted to. I, in fact, I drove myself from Sydney
up to Queensland when I relocated up there. It was

(05:36):
sort of it was a shock to the system when
I started falling down the space in broad daylight and
all falling out to space to I lived in a
townhouse and as you can imagine, the stairwell on the
bottom area would have been in darkness. And so you
walk out, you walk inside from the bright sunlight and

(05:59):
the top top story of the townhouse is full of
bright light. But the bottom story, and especially the staircase,
was in darkness. And the first couple of times it
didn't even think I just started walking down and then
ended up. I picked myself off the ground at the
end and thinking, Well, you know, gee, that's all. What did?

(06:21):
How did I do that? And I just didn't see
the space, and I just thought that I forgot that
there was days, the slight my mind told me everything flat.
You're not on stage. You're on flat ground. Just walk.
And I learnt that when I came in from outside,

(06:42):
I had to turn the light on and my brother
put up a bright light on the stairwell for me
so that I could see the space and I didn't
keep on falling down. But that was after I contacted
Vision Australia and learnt the things on what to do
and that.

S1 (07:01):
And so it was around about this time you decided
that something had to be done. You couldn't keep living
like this. So how did you happen to hear about
Vision Australia and what prompted you to go to Vision Australia?

S2 (07:20):
Well, it's funny. I'm a firm believer that you know
when you need something, the universe comes and make sure
that you get the information you need to know. Obviously,
sort of said to myself, I can't live like this anymore.
I need help. But I didn't know who to contact,
and I often when I'm home by myself, I listen
to the radio and there was just this one. It

(07:42):
kept coming. All this one dad's vision Australia comes, you know,
there'd be they help people with low vision or blindness.
And I think it was a fund raiser or something
like that. And it just played over and over again
and I thought, Okay, that's it. I've got to contact
these people. So I looked up in the local phone

(08:03):
box and the phone book and found them. There were
down at Ribena on the Gold Coast and I rang
them up and explained to them what was happening and
made an appointment. And at that time they looked at
my eyes and they sort of saw what I could
see and what I couldn't see inside and outside. And

(08:23):
they recommended that I get like, These are the glasses
that were ambas, so I could see better when I'm
inside and it was too bright and things like that.
And they recommended a. A black and yellow keyboard with big,
big letters in that for me, so I can hook

(08:44):
it into my computer. And there was a book thing
that I said I could put my book on to
read at the right angle and things like that.

S1 (08:54):
And did they all help?

S2 (08:57):
They helped immensely. It sort of it sort of. It
helped for a while and especially the book thing. But
it got to that point that I couldn't see the page,
the writing in a normal novel or anything like that.
So my girlfriend, who's the computer nerd, she let me

(09:19):
her Kindle. And she said, You know, it showed me,
she's bizarre. You can make the font really big and
showed me how to use it. That was a godsend.
I think she had about 150 books or something on it,
and I read that in about a week and I
just couldn't put it down. It was sort of like, Oh, wow,
this is fantastic. So my brother for my Christmas or

(09:43):
something like that, he went out and got me a
Kindle for myself. And I've still got that Kindle after
all these years, and I still have about 207 books.

S1 (09:52):
Still read what other things did. Vision Australia teach you
or give you. So I understand you had an O anim. instructor.

S2 (10:03):
All up I had about school. I had the first one.
His name is Steve A. Oh God, you you.

S1 (10:10):
When you went through them, or what do you mean
you had four? Did you scare them away or something
like it?

S2 (10:17):
Well, the first I see he come to my house
and he showed me. How to get there from like
a footpath onto the road, and because at that time
I lived in a complex, we had a lot of
speed bumps in the road and everything. So he showed
me how to and he taught me how to sort
of use the cane to gauge the the depth of

(10:41):
the data and the height of a of a speed
hump and an even sort of direction on where I'm walking,
whether I'm walking down or uphill and instead of sort
of swinging the cane, you know, really wide, you know,
six feet in front of me and everything like that,

(11:01):
like I used to do. They taught me that I
only need it, you know, for the few seats just
in front of me. Just that it. My getting from
A to B is a lot simpler, so instead of,
you know, walking out the whole population inadvertently with my time.

(11:22):
And that and it was. He taught me that, and
then he he said, Okay, I'm going to leave you
for a couple of months, I have to go like
into round or acts in the country and whatever, and
I'll come back and and see you and everything like that.
And I don't know what happened, but I didn't see
him for a while, and so I just left to

(11:43):
go and muddled on by myself. And then we moved
a couple of times on the Gulf Coast, and then
I contacted them again and sort of said, Look, I
live in the Logan area of Queensland. Somebody help me
sort of help me find my way on buses and
things like that because I don't drive anymore. And. And I,

(12:07):
you know, I'm tired of being at home. So that's
when I met Lisa and an English lady, and she
was absolutely fantastic. She got me on and off buses,
on and off trains. She showed me how to start
to cook again for myself, how to make myself a

(12:28):
copper without sort of, you know, spilling hot water everywhere.
And she encouraged me to get out and about and
talking to people and and everything like that. And the
most amazing thing was that kids would come up and
sort of say, You know, what are you doing? Why
you got that? And having that understanding of why I'm

(12:52):
doing it and explaining it to them in just ordinary language,
you know, the kids would then in the local area
would I'll be walking along and suddenly these young boys
will be the height of their high. You, Darren. And
the mom and dad will say, Really, you know, her
son or she's guy. And I thought, Wow, that's great,

(13:13):
you know? But. And it was sort of. It was
the uranium instructors that sort of gave me the confidence to.
To get out and walk and and talk to people
and sort of instead of thinking that somebody is going
to mug me because I'm I'm low vision or I'm

(13:34):
going blind, that Rebecca to walk with my head held
high and just like a normal person. And I've just
got that eye in front of me that it just
tells me whether the, you know, the road is smooth
or there's a bit of a hole or something. And
you know, so I don't fall over and make a

(13:55):
fool of myself.

S1 (13:58):
Tell us a little bit about what your life was
like before vision loss.

S2 (14:04):
Oh, my life, I suppose my life was like everybody
else's life. I drove, I had erred, was afraid and
I had a job. Several. I did cooking. I did.

(14:25):
It was just to me, it was just a normal
life and that I could see I travelled all around Australia,
I went camping, I made plans to go overseas and
and everything that didn't happen, but. One day we'll get there,
and but then. With the vision loss and the loss

(14:50):
of my life, my night vision first and then usually
then after that, my die vision. The world shrank for me.
I lost my job. I had to I was told
I was illegal to drive after a couple of near-misses

(15:10):
and so my world shrunk to from being sort of
the world's my always still. The unit I lived in
for the house I live did was my my world,
and any time I wanted to go out, I relied
very heavily on family to take me out or in.

(15:35):
And then when I went to visit in Australia and
I make my own name, instructors and everything like that.
I was very confident with them. But then when they
went home and everything they said, you know, you go
out and you try this tomorrow or something, all by yourself. Well,
I didn't do it. I. I was too scared, and

(15:59):
I thought that, you know, instead of the neighbors being
nice and friendly like they were before, I lost my vision.
I majored in and they like me to, you know,
to rob me. And it was supposed to launch that
we all get that, you know, the victimized or something.
And why me? And so when I sort of I

(16:22):
said to them, you know, look, they said, Oh, you
have an improved when I saw them next time and
I said, Look, I've got to be honest, I don't
go out. I mean, I'm really scared to because I'm,
you know, I. I think somebody is going to, you know,
knock me over the head or something, and it took many,

(16:43):
many months of going out on a regular basis with
them and meeting my neighbors and explaining to them that, yes,
I have low vision and that's and if they see
me out and about, can they just sort of say, hi,
all or something like that? So I'm not alone. And
everybody was very good. And my confidence grew and. It

(17:09):
took me in many respects for me to become the
person I am today, and that because I went really, really,
really in a dark place. I had depression. I wouldn't
I wouldn't talk to people and I miss people because
I love people. But when you can't see them after being,

(17:34):
after being able to see them and interact with them
and you can only hear them, then you're not quite
sure which direction they're coming in to you. You sort of. Good,
disorientated and you to. Do you run away? And that.

(17:55):
But it was only through like. Meeting Lisa and whatever,
and she lived on the Gold Coast like I did.
And she would often meet me up and sort of say, Well, look,
I've got a day off. How about we go for
a walk in the park or something like that? I'm
there in 10 minutes. And she really gave me no

(18:16):
choice but to to get out of myself for that.
And I thank God that she did because I wouldn't
be here otherwise.

S1 (18:26):
When you say. You've become the person you are today.
So who is this person now, who's norma today? What?

S2 (18:38):
No, not known. Today's arrest bag. He talked to everybody.
She knows the animals, the key to dogs. She says
hello to everybody. And she surprised Carnegie raised her badge
to say that I have low vision and that and

(18:58):
she proudly sort of explains to people what low vision
means to me and and how to, um, especially the
older people here. They I think they they get the
good economy due to old age net and and they

(19:19):
become a recluse and everything. They said, Oh, I don't
see well and everything. And I, I tell them, you know,
you've got to get out, you've got to, you've got
to push yourself. And, you know, if I can help you,
I've got some spare times and everything like that. I'll
show you how to use them. Will you know, how
can I help you? And it's it's like. It's like

(19:45):
it's my job now to just to be friendly to
and to educate people that people with low vision or
people who are blind are no different to anybody else.
But we just. Leave a little bit differently, and we
view the world a little bit differently than a normal
sighted person.

S1 (20:10):
Vision Australia is a leading national provider of blindness and
low vision services in Australia, supporting people to live life
on their terms. To find out more about how we
can help you call Vision Australia on 1800 eight four
seven four six. That's one 300 eight four seven four

(20:32):
double six.