Christo Sarantakis of Vision Australia

Speaker 1 00:04

With information on the latest developments in assistive technology and initiatives from the studios of 2RPH in Sydney, RPH Australia brings you AbleQuest.

Speaker 2 00:20

Thanks for watching!

Speaker 1 00:23

Our guest today is Christo Sarantakis. He is totally blind with his vision lost in a humidity crib way back in the 60s when tiny infants were given too much oxygen. It saved their lives but sometimes caused blindness.

Speaker 1 00:38

Christo spent his early years in boarding school, living at the Royal New South Wales Institute for Deaf and Blind Children at North Rocks. He later attended mainstream high school and worked as a switchboard operator and for nine years was a volunteer receptionist for 2RPH.

Speaker 1 00:56

His role now is frontline customer support officer for Vision Australia. Elaine Wziontek asked him about how he uses technology in his work and life and what has changed over his lifetime.

Speaker 3 01:09

Krista, you've been a friend of 2RPH for a long while now and it's great to have you on the program, NeighborQuest.

Speaker 2 01:17

Thank you Elaine, it's really good to be asked to be on the program.

Speaker 3 01:22

So you've been totally blind since birth, so you must have learnt typing schools at school using Braille. What was that like?

Speaker 2 01:30

I first learned Braille from the age of five. I started learning the letters of the alphabet, and then there were word signs and things like that. And then grade two Braille, which is like contractions, which is like certain contractions would be a whole word as Braille takes up a lot of space.

Speaker 3 01:55

Uh -huh, and was that difficult to learn?

Speaker 2 01:58

The same is probably as a child who learns to read or write.

Speaker 3 02:05

And were there talking typewriters back then?

Speaker 2 02:08

Not that I know of, back in 1974 when I started school, we just learnt Braille on a Perkins Brailler.

Speaker 3 02:19

And what school were you at?

Speaker 2 02:21

Northrucks Imperial School for Deaf and Blind Children.

Speaker 3 02:24

And after school, what was your first job?

Speaker 2 02:28

When I turned 18, I had my first job working in a solicitor's office out at Mount Druid. I used to travel on one bus and two trains to get to work. I used a white cane back then.

Speaker 3 02:46

And was there any tech back then?

Speaker 2 02:49

There was, I didn't use any computers or anything like that in my job on the switchboard. I didn't have to take any notes or anything, it was just transferring calls. I used a light probe which was a little thing that I held in my hand like a pencil and I'd run it over the lights on the board and when a light lit up or when I found the light that I had to flick the switch to answer the call, it would make a different sound.

Speaker 3 03:24

So you had some vision or some light sense at that point.

Speaker 2 03:29

Well, I had light perception, but I couldn't see the board. I had to use the light probe to tell me where the lights, the one to which would be above the actual lever.

Speaker 3 03:43

So phones have improved a lot in your time. We've got screen readers and larger type. So it's opening up a bigger world for you, isn't it?

Speaker 2 03:53

it is. It's changed a lot since when I was at school and Braille's still important and even though it was the only thing that I used throughout my schooling it still is important because it is our language like print is for a sighted person.

Speaker 2 04:16

The screen reading software is another means of being able to use a computer but Braille is still important because it teaches you your spelling and your grammar and all that kind of thing where when you're using a screen reader you do know what's on the screen when you're typing but it doesn't give you the same or doesn't give me the same as what I am when I'm reading Braille it's a different experience.

Speaker 3 04:50

It's a bit like sighted people having the feel of a newspaper on reading articles online.

Speaker 2 04:57

probably would be. It exercises your brain a bit. You feel totally different when you're reading Braille. Just got back into it during COVID because I didn't have any Braille devices and a friend of mine from work at Vision Australia was a proofreader and she got me into it and then I just went from there.

Speaker 3 05:23

Mm -hmm.

Speaker 2 05:23

and bought one of my own.

Speaker 3 05:26

And now you're working at Vision Australia, I believe you've been there about 14 years.

Speaker 2 05:30

I have.

Speaker 3 05:31

and you're a frontline customer support officer.

Speaker 2 05:34

That's it.

Speaker 3 05:35

And what does that involve?

Speaker 2 05:37

I answer calls from the general public, different professions, some are families, people themselves that are losing their vision and doctors and people from all different walks of life. Losing your vision, it doesn't matter what age, it can happen any age, not necessarily someone who's old.

Speaker 3 06:03

Well, for you, you were a baby, weren't you?

Speaker 2 06:05

Yeah, the one thing that's interesting though is that you don't hear much about people losing their sight in humidicribs these days. A lot of it now is either macular degeneration or glaucoma or even accidents, trauma and things like that.

Speaker 3 06:25

Would you say technology is a major part of your life, because I understand you're into Google devices, Google Home and Alexa and the Daisy devices?

Speaker 2 06:35

Oh yes, I live on my own, so I've got to have something to do. I like to fiddle with things, and I just got into these Google homes and Alexa devices just recently. A friend of mine who's had them for about five years has been trying to get me onto them.

Speaker 2 06:53

But I tend to use my iPhone and my iPad a lot. More so the iPhone, I tend to use it for emails and text messaging and making calls. It's really come a long way, technology, and although as far as computers, like anybody, when it's not working, it's not good.

Speaker 2 07:16

But technology is wonderful. It's really made a big difference to blind and people who have a vision impairment.

Speaker 3 07:28

I looked at the website for Vision Australia and they talked about all those talking books as talking microwaves and now talking bathroom scales.

Speaker 2 07:37

I've actually got a set of them myself.

Speaker 3 07:40

Oh, what made you do that?

Speaker 2 07:42

I just got it in the cupboard upstairs and I get it out when I feel like it. Sometimes I don't feel like it because I don't really want to know how heavy I am.

Speaker 3 07:51

What about the talking microwave?

Speaker 2 07:54

No, I don't have a talking microwave. I actually was listening to a program, a podcast actually, on, it was a Breville, it was called a CombiWave, which it was a three in one. And I got someone, a friend of mine sent me a document with, because he had one himself, and he sent me the manual in Word, and I copied it and pasted onto my Braille device.

Speaker 2 08:24

And then I actually made some notes of my own on how to operate it. And it's a microwave, an oven and an air fryer, all three in one. And it works for you. Thank you.

Speaker 3 08:41

It does. What about digital talking books?

Speaker 2 08:44

I tend to use audible a bit.

Speaker 3 08:47

Mm -hmm.

Speaker 2 08:48

And I also belong to another book platform called Bookshare, which is in America. And I subscribe to that and I'd get my Braille books from there and also from Braille House up in Queensland.

Speaker 3 09:06

So, what do you think about the NDIS? Do you get any assistance from them to buy any technology?

Speaker 2 09:12

I do. I've got one of my Braille devices through NDIS. I bought the other one out of my own pocket, which I didn't mind doing. They're quite pricey. One was about $8 ,000. And it's the same as the Mini one I've got now, but it's just a smaller version.

Speaker 2 09:31

And I've got my Braille Sense Mini through NDIS, which I take with me everywhere so I can write with it or I can just read with it.

Speaker 3 09:43

So is there a technology associated with Braille?

Speaker 2 09:46

that there is the Braille sense. There's a lot of different devices with a Braille display. You hook that up to a computer or you can Bluetooth it to a mobile phone or you can have standalone devices which are more or less like a Braille computer.

Speaker 2 10:05

So you actually have to switch it on and it boots up and then you've got your different programs like your own word processor and file manager and all that sort of thing. And so you can write on that.

Speaker 2 10:22

And it has a Braille display which is all the Braille cells below the keyboard.

Speaker 3 10:31

So has technology helped you manage other challenges, such as you mentioned that you live alone, so you can't ask somebody for help if you can't see your way somewhere. And what about holidays? Can you have holidays when you're blind?

Speaker 2 10:43

you can. I haven't been on a lot lately. I did go with a support worker up to Darwin for five days and that was pretty good.

Speaker 3 10:56

Yeah.

Speaker 2 10:57

And another time, actually, I've got to tell you, my first time I went away and met people at the other end and stayed with people. But I've got to tell you about the time I was driven, driven as in my determination.

Speaker 2 11:14

I had a friend who I went to school with in high school, I went to a mainstream school and he was living in Perth. He moved over there. And so it gave me the determination to go over there on my own.

Speaker 3 11:33

Mm -hmm.

Speaker 2 11:33

And it was quite scary, actually, because I got on the plane and I thought, Oh my, what am I doing? Cause I wasn't meeting anybody at the other end, although I had somebody who was driving me to the hotel and I stayed in the hotel and I was on my own and, and I was there for five days and I did a few trips and I actually had a, a chauffeur like from a called air link.

Speaker 2 11:58

And, uh, I had him for a few days and he picked me up from the hotel and we went down to Fremantle and then one day we got the ferry over to Rottnest Island. And there was one day I did go on my own and got a cab down to the wharf there somewhere in the city there and got a, a captain cook crews up that the, uh, swan river up to the canning river, which was about a three hour cruise.

Speaker 2 12:30

And then came back when I got back to Sydney, I was really, uh, you live on adrenaline all the time when you're on your own and, um, I honestly don't know how I did it. I probably wouldn't do it again.

Speaker 2 12:44

Now it took a lot of, it took a lot of energy.

Speaker 3 12:48

We talked before that you've been a friend of 2RPH for a long time, so do you still listen to 2RPH?

Speaker 2 12:53

I do and I got to know about 2RPH when I was in high school. My science teacher, I had Ty Summers, he was a reader on 2RPH and also Alex McNish, he was a blind gentleman who was on the board and he's no longer with us now but people with 2RPH would remember him.

Speaker 2 13:19

He was my careers advisor at high school. They told me about 2RPH and I just got a bit involved in volunteering as a receptionist in the year 2000 and I was there for nine years and I really enjoyed it.

Speaker 2 13:39

That's met a lot of people and still keep in touch with people today. It's like family and becoming a member again is like joining the family again.

Speaker 3 13:52

Welcome back to the family and thanks very much for your time today.

Speaker 2 13:56

Well, thank you, Elaine. It was really good to be on. Thank you. Bye.

Speaker 3 14:01

and that was Christo Sarantakis, former volunteer with 2RPH, who now works for Vision Australia.

Speaker 1 14:14

You have just been listening to AbleQuest, a program that looks at developments in assistive technology and initiatives. From Elaine Wziontec and Barbara Sullivan, thank you for listening, and goodbye till next program.