00:06 S1
One of the first things I do, it wouldn't be looking in the eyes of my beautiful wife, because I always see how beautiful she is. Oh, but the first thing I'd like to do is like, maybe take her for a cruise around the the country. You know, I'd sell everything up and buy a big, um, Winnebago or one of those camping trucky things, and, like, we'll just tour around and, uh, I'd like to be able to just drive, you know, or or get on a motorbike and just ride it until the wheels fell off. I tell you.
00:36 S2
What a suck.
00:38 S3
I agree, that's why I love him so much. Please.
00:43 S4
This is Studio 1 on Vision Australia radio.
00:50 S2
Hello, I'm Sam.
00:51 S3
And I'm Lizzie.
00:52 S2
And this is Studio 1, your weekly look at life from a low vision and blind point of view - here on Vision Australia Radio.
00:58 S3
This week, despite the fact that it's highly unlikely we fantasise about what it would be like to wake up without a disability.
01:06 S2
In this age of miracles and wonders, what would you do if that miracle did happen? And what does that say about us?
01:13 S3
As we always say at this point, please do get in touch with the show. Whether you have experience of any of the issues covered on this week's episode of Studio 1, or if you think there's something we should be talking about, you never know - your story and insight may help someone who is dealing with something similar.
01:30 S2
You can email us - studio1@visionaustralia.org - that's studio number one at Vision Australia dot org.
01:36 S3
Or of course, you can drop us a note on our Facebook page by going to facebook dot com.
01:45 S2
Hello, Lizzie.
01:46 S3
Hello, Sam.
01:47 S2
It's one of those strange weeks. In fact, it's been one of those strange fortnights. Really? Because unlike a lot of other jobs, when you have public holidays, at least for me, my week doesn't sort of have holidays. It has. Well, everything happens... whether there's days off or not. So this week, for example, it's a three day week, and everything I normally do in five days is being done in three days, and I don't know whether I'm coming or going. How have you been, though?
02:17 S3
I've been okay. I've been all right. I thoroughly enjoyed Easter, spent lots of time with family and at church and all the Easter y things that one does. But, you know, I was I was talking with my support worker on the way up here, actually, public holidays, long weekends, Christmas, New Year. They all screw with my feng shui just that little bit, you know, like, because I am the kind of person that lives by their routine and my routine has been affected. Therefore, I'm all over the spot, you know that. Plus going through some medication changes at the moment. Yeah I'm not feeling great.
02:53 S2
Mm. And we're of course changing from the warmer time of the year to the colder time of the year, which also yes plays havoc with me personally.
03:01 S3
That doesn't bother me. I love the cold.
03:03 S2
I just don't understand the whole point of winter. I mean, it's a lot more civilized where I come from, where there's two seasons. Well, two and a half seasons. But we're not talking about those things we are talking about. Well, an issue we've covered quite a number of times, but it seems to attract a lot of people's imagination. And that is what would happen if suddenly you woke up one day and you could see or see normally, in the case of some of us who are vision impaired. The reason why we keep on covering it is because we keep on getting material from it. When we point a microphone in somebody's face and ask them that question. Well, they give us a whole lot of good answers.
03:40 S3
I think it's something that people think about a lot, Sam, like, I don't offer ponder that specific question, but when I do, yeah, I get really in depth with what I imagine, what I'd be doing and things like that. So I guess it's something that people do think about.
03:56 S2
I think also in this country where a driver's license is essential, really, it affects us a lot more. Yeah. So and this is the theme that we're going to pick up in. Well, when we do ask a few people our choir of angels in inverted commas. So let us go to Carlie.
04:18 S5
I really don't know. I think I was at the stage in my career as well. I always wanted to be a paramedic... or work I love. I love high energy. High. I'm very got to be amongst it. Yeah. I love a job with excitement. So I think the where I was eight years ago coming up nine years ago, I had two young children as a single mother and couldn't really go any further with where I was at. I was at the top of where I could go in that job, and it was something I was thinking about later on to go back and become a, um, a registered nurse and then see where it took me from there.
But yeah, I... really don't know. It wouldn't have been down. Probably the counselling mentoring role. And I believe things happen for reasons as bittersweet is that as that is, I've had to accept it and I'm kind of happy where I've ended up. Like, I didn't find this. It found me, if that makes sense.
05:22 S3
Yeah, I get that. Yeah. I have to agree with her. I think I would do the same. I'd... find some chaotic job that needed a chaotic person, and I'd dive headlong into it. What about you, Sam? What would you do if you had, like, complete vision?
05:44 S2
Well, Carlie's got an interesting thing here, and that is... she's sort of taken it also to what happened. What would have happened if she'd never lost her sight, which is, I think, something that people who have acquired this disability will often think about themselves of, you know, where they were beforehand. You know, they've most likely just dropped their life into two chunks, one before getting the disability and one two afterwards. And I don't know whether it's easier or harder in that way, but... she seems to be quite happy with where she is because she's gone on the whole journey for it.
Me personally, I really don't know, because I think part of what makes me into me is my disability. And, um, I mean, I had this conversation a long time ago with my uncle, and I was rather frustrated with the way things were going at the time. And I said, you know, the opportunities that I've had and the things that I've done, despite the fact that I'm legally blind, what could I have actually done if I'd been able bodied? He probably said you'd probably be in jail, like a lot of the rest of my family have been. So it's one of those things is a lot of the opportunities I've had have been because I've been legally blind.
07:08 S3
Yeah. It's interesting you should say that. I mean, I've never been able to see. I've always been blind. I've had a lot of opportunities that have come up just because I'm vision impaired like this. For example, I would not get to share a studio with you or amplify the voices of wonderful people you know, such as those that are in this community. If I wasn't vision impaired. I also wouldn't get to have gone on like Braille music camp and things like that.
And I mean, sure, there are plenty of other opportunities out there for able bodied individuals, but the experiences that we've had that shape us, that make us who we are and the gifts that we we have, the talents that we have, I think that's what makes us us. And I'm with you. My blindness is a great part of my identity, and I really don't think that I would have it any other way at this point.
08:00 S2
And for the listeners sakes, we're in a different studio to what we normally are. So and I've got the squeaky chair. So all fun and games as far as that goes. And what's happened? What's happened to you?
08:12 S3
My chair keeps going down. Thanks.
08:14 S2
Oh, this is what happens when you've moved to a different studio. Anyway, let's hear what Emma's got to say.
08:24 S6
Oh, if I could get my sight. Even if it's just a little bit of sight. I reckon the first thing I'd do is walk around the city checking everything out. But if I could get my full sight back. Oh my goodness. Oh, the possibilities are endless. I'd get my own car. I would load the paddle board onto the car without any questions asked, spontaneously drive down to the river, unload the paddle board, and just go for a nice bike trip along the river by myself. know support workers know nothing. Just me. The freedom. Oh, I love that. Celebrate my freedom. You know, if I could get my full site back, just get in the car and just go off. No plans, no nothing. I love that.
09:21 S3
You know what I have to say? This is a little bit unrelated. I was just saying to a friend of mine earlier today that the one thing I miss about having a functioning seeing eye dog is the ability to just go and walk by myself. So that freedom I can completely understand. I miss the freedom and the independence that comes with having a fully functional guide. Lacey, you disappoint me. But yeah. No, freedom - freedom galore, I understand that. I've never done paddleboarding, though.
09:52 S2
She covers something that is, it speaks a lot to, I think, all of us. And that is if you have all your senses and you have you're fully able bodied, you can just go and do something. You can just say, you know what, I will slack off work and yes, go for a swim somewhere. I will drive down the coast. I will do something just because I can. We can't... you know, it doesn't matter if you're totally blind or have low vision like myself. You need to plan ahead for this kind of thing. You know, if you want to just dip off somewhere for the weekend, you still have to plan ahead. You've got to work out how to get somewhere and all that sort of stuff.
So, I mean, I think that really is a big thing. As I said, that just that's something that would I don't know. I mean, is there something that you would do in that nature, something that you just can't do now, even, you know, even with a guide dog?
10:49 S3
Well, I remember the last time you asked me this question. It would be to get go take my bike and go for a ride. But, you know, at the moment, I actually think that I would just go for a hike. And not only that, but I would take enough things with me that I could either stay overnight somewhere if I had money. Obviously I'd find a way to get to a motel like hotels or hostels along the way, and I'd just go on a backpacking trip. I'd just hike everywhere because I've always loved hiking and I think it's extra special.
Just going back to what you said about having to plan ahead, I think it makes those people that make it possible extra special, and it makes us appreciative of what they they do for us. Like when I had my hiking partner Marek, who used to take me on these amazing hikes that I would have never been able to experience without him, I can fully appreciate the time and energy and everything that he invested to to make that a possibility for me. And it was it just makes it even more special because it's not something that we can just do at the drop of a hat. We have to plan it. And I'll always cherish those memories forever.
12:02 S2
So next up we have Jodie. And as usual, she's got a slightly different take on things.
12:12 S7
Oh, my. So this sort of came up on a Facebook... site the other day. My dream job back when I was in school would have been to be a... TV camera person. But, you know, they always said, Oh, with your eyesight, you wouldn't be able to focus a camera. And generally, if you're like a news cameraman, the... cameraman usually drives the car. So obviously, you know, I can't do that, but... that would have been my... preferred career if I'd had a chance.
12:45 S6
Wow.
12:45 S3
That's amazing. TV camera person.
12:48 S7
Yeah. Oh, I was right into the old television back in the day, and, yeah, I used to go and watch a couple of quiz shows be filmed, and I just really fancied being a camera person. But anyway. Yeah.
13:05 S2
I sympathise with Jodie. I would probably love to work in TV myself. That kind of thing. But we work in TV without pictures. That's the way I see it. And I think in a lot of ways, what we do is better.
13:18 S3
Yeah. I'd like to create an audio drama. Would you mean...
13:21 S2
I would definitely be in... I've actually written a few of them in the past, so... it would be interesting to actually do that and play around with the softwares that we've got here. Yeah. So yes, I can see how that would work. And yes, it would be fun. Maybe we can do a Christmas play. That would be... amazing.
13:37 S3
Oh yes. Let's try and write something and tee it up. Who do we have next, Sam?
13:42 S2
We have a Sammy C, otherwise known as Sam Colley.
13:49 S8
Well, I'd probably, if I could say normally I'd learn to... drive a car. That'd be pretty cool. I've always been into... motorsport and racing and cars and all that sort of thing, so I think that'd be a fantastic thing if I could see like 100% normally. And... with that, the reaction times would improve and, you know, the otter brain and all that sort of thing. If that, you know, if that sorted itself out, that's probably certainly one thing I'd love to be able to do in terms of, you know, independence and being able to get around and mobility, that's... one of the main things.
And...although I live somewhere with fantastic public transport in my neighborhood, I think that'd just be really great because, you know, my... one of my parents lives quite far away and being able to sort of drive and visit... them and... relatives who live nearby, that'd be really good because, you know, out in the country, if you don't have a car, it's extremely difficult. So... that would be a fantastic thing to have.
15:08 S3
I'd be an outdoor ranger, like a park ranger, while we were listening to Sam because, you know, Jody and Sam and Carlie have been talking about the jobs they do. I was sort of just brainstorming my list of jobs that I would have if I was cited. And I think given that I love hiking so much and cycling, one of the ones that I would pick is to be a park ranger. Like, I could just imagine me working at Anstey Hill, you know, running around and checking the tracks and telling people off for doing silly things. Can you imagine me doing that?
15:39 S2
I could for some reason. Yes, yes. Okay. Something that Sam did cover, though, is... getting around in the country, as it were. My mother and stepfather live in Berry Springs, Darwin River, which is an hour out of Darwin itself. And for a while there I was, living there myself. And my God, it was a nuisance because there's no public transport whatsoever. You're completely reliant on other people. And at the moment it's actually rather rather tricky because my mother's having health issues and if I went back there then I would be no use whatsoever. So I'm still here while all that's going on up there. All right. So I think we know who you are, who we're talking to. Next up...
16:27 S3
Yes, we're talking to the lovely Lisa.
16:30 S2
And she starts with, well, the obvious answer.
16:38 S7
Drive public transport. I'm driving.
16:43 S3
But what would be the one thing that you would do straight away?
16:46 S9
Go to the top of a mountain, whatever one's nearby here and have a look at the like. Everybody keeps telling me, like this. The view of the city is wonderful. From the Mount Lofty. That's it. But I can't see it. I just have to imagine it. And so when people say, Oh, I'd love to see that, you know, people from where I live, people say they can see this city skyline. I'm like, That would actually be because those are so beautiful. And I'd like to see that. So I think it'd be something along those lines of just going and seeing what other people can see that I'm missing out on now. Oh that's amazing, I love that.
17:23 S3
Mine was very selfish. It was to get on a bike and not stop riding. Just just ride down the road.
17:30 S9
Having had done that, I could see I could see how you'd want to do that. But I just like, yeah, I just want to see what everybody else sees, just so that I got that perception in my mind. Even if, like somebody said, I'm going to give you slightly 24 hours, go do what you want, but that's what I'll be doing. Good, I love that, I love that.
17:50 S2
You know what I'd take that to just... give me a day or so to experience things normally.
17:55 S3
Well, I think if I had a day or two, it wouldn't be enough, because I'd have to get used to the stimulus of seeing. So it'd take me a day or two just to be able to open my eyes without having a complete meltdown.
18:08 S2
I reckon I would suggest as well... I mean, even even me, I mean, I've always had this eye condition. It's I'm guessing as I've got older, it's probably got worse. But... yes, this has always been the same thing. So I think probably the first couple of days would just be completely overwhelmed and going, Huh?
18:22 S3
Yeah. Maybe if the miracle worker out there is listening, if you're going to do this right, maybe you don't do a day or a week, just like I'm going to give you sight for whatever amount of time it is that it takes you to get your affairs in order and do what you want to do, then whammo! We're back to square one.
18:38 S2
Yeah, I think that's fair.
18:38 S3
Yeah, because a day it's not going to cut it for me. I reckon every time I open my eyes I'm going to freak out because I want to know what I'm looking at. Well, I need more than a day.
18:48 S2
Well, my my standpoint really would be is that. Oh, my God, I'd just be standing there looking at a whiteboard or something like that from the other side of the room and going, You can actually do this.
18:57 S3
I think I'd check myself out in the mirror. Oh yes. Yes, because I actually don't know what I look like. Like, forget other people. I don't give a stuff about you. I just want to know what I look like.
19:07 S2
All right, so I think you know who we're talking to next, Lizzie.
19:11 S3
Yeah, I believe it's Stephen Kemp. The other Stephen.
19:14 S2
Yep.
19:16 S10
So I think employment would be the biggest one there, I think. So I think my reason I got into massage is anatomy and physiology and sport. So obviously I'd ride a single bike and quite enjoy that. But what I've got into riding bikes, possibly not would I've got into massage because I enjoy anatomy and physiology, probably because going to hospital and having eye surgeries and being interested in anatomy and physiology of the body and the eye because of my impairment or whatever else. Or possibly not.
But I think, yeah, I probably would have pursued a... medical employment of some sort, whether it be nursing or doctor or any of those things, if I could say, but who knows, I might have ended up being a truck driver or a taxi driver. Who knows? But yeah, I would have opened up many more. More options. So yeah, would have definitely changed my life. But who knows in in which sliding door you would have walked.
20:23 S3
I wonder if Lily agrees.
20:25 S2
Yes. All right, well, let's see if Lily got to say.
20:29 S11
Wow, what a question. Mm, okay. All right. This has gone through my head a few times. If I could see again, I would... I'd get my kids in the in the room, and I'd just sit them down, and I'd stare at them, and I just... I mean, I can see them a little bit, but... I'd check my kids right out. You know, and see what they looked like. You know, even though I do know what they look like, just really see what they look like. You know, that's. I really would love that. They don't have their own children yet, but if they did, I would want to, you know, look at the babies. Yeah. I think that that's something, I really... I can still see their faces, but I would love to see their, the real detail of... them.
I would either buy or hire a mustang convertible and I would go on a big road trip in it. I'd me doing the driving. I would love... I always had a dream to own one and drive one. A Ford Mustang convertible. Wow. Yeah. The driving, I guess, was a big thing for me because I used to drive, so I do miss it. So I would like that experience and that feeling and that exhilarating feeling of driving again, I did. It's because I did like to drive. I would ride a solo bike... a solo bicycle. I you know what? I don't think I would want to do it at any sort of level, but I think I would like to just go on a coastal ride on a solo bike, maybe with a bunch or maybe on my own. Yeah, I'd kind of like to do that.
I'd like to swim in the ocean on my own. I would like to do that. I do miss that. I do it tethered now, and I when I do an ocean swim. But... I would like to be able to wade out into the ocean, splash around and come back and be able to see back to my towel. That seems a really that seems a really trivial thing to do, but I miss being able to go out in the ocean in the summer, have a really good swim, duck under a few waves, then turn around and be able to make my way back to my towel. I can't do that now. Now I yeah, I would do that. Wow. Yeah. Gosh, so many things. I... don't know that I'd travel solo because I do like traveling with other people, but I'd like to at least have the opportunity to be able to do some some solo travel. But I still think I would like to... travel with other people.
But yeah. I don't know. Is he... that's, it's hard. There's so much. But the fact that I'm even struggling to find things off the top of my head makes me think that I have made a big adjustment to not having those things, in my life. But I am a big lover of... oh, gosh, you know what? Except for the driving of the car and looking at my kids faces, I want to see the night sky. I, as a kid, was a bit of a stargazer. I would like to see the stars in the sky. That I would like to see them. Yeah, yeah.
23:43 S3
One of the things that strikes me about some of the answers, one of the common threads that I've noticed is that people want to do things solo or alone. Oh, yes. And I think again, that comes back to what we talked about earlier of having being so reliant on people. So we spend a lot of our time with other people doing activities that we'd rather do alone. So I get that. I think I'd spend like most of my life alone if, if that were the case. I'm quite a hermit, really. I mean, if I had it my way, if I could see. I think apart from being a park ranger, which, again, you don't spend heaps of time with heaps of people, it's not like a customer service job. I would spend a lot of time alone.
24:25 S2
I do like my own time. Me too. And yes.
24:29 S3
I like my own company.
24:30 S2
When I first moved from Darwin to Adelaide, one of the reasons I moved down here was because I was feeling quite isolated where I was. The funny thing is, when I moved down here, I really didn't have a lot to do with other people anyway. But there was the option to be around other people living down here, and that was really what it came down to. So and I think that's the thing is, when you have no disability or no easily recognisable disability, you've got choices.
24:58 S3
Yeah I agree.
24:59 S2
All right. We're going to talk to Maddie.
25:03 S12
Yeah, I've I've thought about it before. Yeah. I think if I could fix my vision, probably going out and driving would be the first thing that I would do.
25:13 S2
Gino. And also said that.
25:15 S3
Everyone else said that. Except for me. I'd rather ride. Yeah, I'd just get a motorbike. Yes. Honda Fireblade.
25:27 S12
Oh, my God, we could get into moto racing. Yeah.
25:29 S2
Is there anything else you'd like to sort of go out and do or see or anything you feel that you're sort of missing out on?
25:33 S12
Yeah, definitely. Just the driving like the day to day driving, just having the freedom to have your own car and just have all your stuff in your car and not have to carry a backpack around and just go wherever you want, whenever you want. So I feel like that's something I miss out on even like cycling day to day. You know, anyone can just get out on their single bike and go and ride wherever they want to. Where I'm restricted to not being able to do that unless we're on the tandem. You know, like, there are things that I'd like to do, like mountain biking and, you know, riding a motorbike and that kind of stuff that. Yeah, I just can't do. So that's a challenge sometimes.
26:15 S3
We could ride motorbikes together, Maddie. Yes, we could, because I. That's something I'd love to do. Um, my dad rides motorbikes, my grandfather rode motorbikes. My best friend rode motorbikes. I've owned a couple of motorbikes. And Steven as well. I think that's something I'd do, is I'd ride a motorbike. But not a Harley, Steven, not a Harley. Okay. I'd want like a a Honda Fireblade or a Kawasaki or, you know, one of them Japanese bikes.
26:45 S2
I think we are going to leave the last say on this episode to Sheryl because, well, she's got some news for her.
26:59 S13
Exactly. Well, I'd revisit looking at my family and friends faces that I seen when I had foresight and those that I haven't seen. And I get my licence and drive my car around Australia.
27:11 S14
Now, this is actually a kind of a possibility for you, isn't it?
27:14 S13
Sure is. There's a... possible synthetic cornea transplant that might be suitable for me that may give me back most or with glasses, all my vision and put me on the legally blind without glasses, but fully sighted with glasses on, which would give me these abilities.
27:32 S14
What car do you think you'd drive?
27:34 S13
Volkswagen Bora blue grey interior, manual air-con with all sorts of bells and whistles that I wanted for 30 years, which I just got delivered, by the way.
27:43 S14
Well, the bells and whistles.
27:44 S13
Oh, well, the whole package.
27:46 S14
Oh. Very cool. When's this going to happen?
27:48 S13
Well, I'm waiting to see my ophthalmologist to get a referral to the specialist in Sydney. And then I can go and meet them and have the tests done and find out.
27:57 S14
Are you scared of what you might see?
28:01 S13
No, I don't really know. I'm... I know a lot has changed and things will be different. And I probably haven't remembered everything as it is, but no, I'm. I am truly believing that if it's if I'm suitable for this surgery, that it will work for me.
28:15 S14
Because you actually had full sight when you were a young one, didn't you?
28:18 S13
I was born fully sighted. And it was a retinoblastoma bilateral that took one eye and then came back and scarred the front of the other eye, which has caused, like a bathroom window frosting over the eye, which means everything is, like, blurry.
28:37 S14
So do you have any memories of having full sight? Yes. You must miss it.
28:40 S13
I do.
28:41 S13
It's been an adjustment having to relearn a lot of things from the almost totally blind aspect. And, you know, the coffee jars bouncing and rolling and the blueberry explosions and all the accidents that happen when you can't see and you miss things all the time. But there's tools and gadgets out there and, you know, liquid level finder and talking kitchen scales. And what's the other one? That colour detector and the little camera stick I've got. I don't know how I ever managed without them.
29:08 S14
When are you going to have to relearn how to be sighted again if it comes to fruition?
29:11 S13
Yeah, probably take 3 to 6 months to... retrain my eye. The good one. The only one I had to... learn to see and read and be quick enough to to do what a sighted person can do.
29:24 S14
Well, I wish you the best of luck.
29:26 S13
Thank you very much. And... well, I hope there's hope out there for other people as well.
29:30 S2
That's a wrap for this week. A big thank you to our Choir of Angels: Stephen, Carlie, Emma, Jodie, Sammy C, Stephen K, Lisa, Lily, Sheryl and Maddie.
29:41 S3
And of course, a big thanks to you for listening. You can download the podcast of this program, plus some extra content on Apple, Spotify, Google or your favourite podcast platform.
29:54 S2
Next week it's International Guide Dog Day. We ask, what would your dog say if it could talk?
30:01 S3
We also speak to Lester Crane from Seeing Eye Dogs Australia and we hear from a few dog guide handlers.
30:08 S2
But between now and then, please do get in touch with the show. Whether you have experience of any of the issues covered on this week's episode of Studio 1, or if you think there's something we should be talking about, you never know - your story and insight may help somebody else who is dealing with something similar.
30:23 S3
You can email us at studio1@visionaustralia.org - that's studio number one at Vision Australia dot org. Or of course, you can find us on all the good social media platforms by looking for VA Radio Network. This program is made possible with the support of the Community Broadcasting Foundation. To find out more, go to [?]
30:44 S2
Bye for now.
