Domestic violence, assistive tech, yoga, special sports and non-stop talking!

00:05 Lisa

Hi, I'm Liam Toomey, a member of the Australian Paralympic Team and a member of the Paralympic Australia Athlete Commission. And you're listening to Leisure Link with Peter Greco on the Vision Australia Radio network.

00:40 Peter

It's just gone 5:00 and it's been quite a bit of Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta and Summer Lovin, had me a blast. Well, certainly. Hopefully the next 90 minutes will be a blast for you, as we edge towards summer here on Leisure Link on Vision Australia Radio. Radio 1197 AM in Adelaide... online at VA radio.org via Radio Digital in Adelaide and Darwin through the TuneIn radio up - look for Vision Australia, Radio Adelaide... your favourite podcast or streaming service. Our friends listening through 103.9, Hope FM in Esperance in Western Australia. And of course, thanks to Australian Disability Media, you can get us through their web platform as well: Powered Media, p o w e r d dot media.

Coming up very, very shortly... We'll speak to, Liam Toomey who's just back from Paris, our paratriathlete. But also he's just joined the Athletes Commission who tell us a bit more about that. We'll speak to Ed Hossell, captain of the English blind cricket team there in Australia. How have they gone against Australia in the Blind Ashes? Look. So catch up with Wayne Arnott talking wheelchair tennis. Wayne's actually playing pellet tennis in Western Australia. We'll find out more about that. Cameron Reed will join us from Blind Golf SA. An invitation to attend a come and try day That's coming up your way. We also have Allison Davies from Allison Davies combo here, talking about people who just can't stop talking at Christmas time - you might be catching up with some of those saying What do we do? We'll find out from Alison.

Reeva Brice will conduct a regular yoga segment. [?Looks] I speak to Ashton Wood, a great idea - if you've got a mobile phone that you're not using, it can go to really good use helping people, maybe trying to escape domestic violence. And adjunct Professor Denise Wood will be here from USC talking about some great news as far as Be My Eyes go, and also must be Black Friday - so this has got a little toy that she'd like to tell us a bit about. 

Well, if there's something I admire about athletes, it's their resilience. And certainly Liam Twomey has shown plenty of that. Liam, great to catch up with you, a little while now back from Paris. But welcome.

03:03 Liam

Thanks for having me.

03:03 Peter

What's it like, do you kind of reflect? Yeah, a couple of months afterwards, I guess those of us that enjoyed it do talk about it. What about for athletes?

03:13 Liam

Oh, yeah, definitely. Still a bit of reflecting on it. It's a bit of a surreal experience to think about something and train toward something for, you know, nearly a decade, and then all of a sudden you're there and just as quickly it's over and you're back. Back to reality a bit. But no, I've definitely had a bit of time to reflect and look back on it. So it's been a nice experience. Yeah, yeah.

03:36 Peter

We talked about, or I talked about, the resilience - it's a very admirable quality. And of course you just missed out in Tokyo, or going to Tokyo. That must have been a, well, a bitter pill to swallow. I mean, to recover from something like that, that that's pretty tough.

03:50 Liam

Yeah, it was... a little bit disappointing. I obviously was a bit of a long shot, and yeah, I didn't get as close as I needed to to qualify. And then. got injured during the end of the qualifying period pre Tokyo. So that was a very bittersweet to sit at home and watch my mates race, and I just sort of could have felt sorry for myself at that point, but I just thought, you know, look, if I put everything into the next three years and I make the team, that'll be amazing. But if I didn't make the team and I'd done everything, I would have been quite happy with that in some respect because I couldn't have faltered my effort. 

So it's great to have both come together and make the team and not be able to fault my effort. But yeah, I had... parallels of how I've raced or felt pre-Tokyo as compared to how I felt post-Paris.

04:39 Peter

What about... getting you through those tough times? I mean, obviously you got to dig within, as it were, but sort of outside help or support in that area the sort of recovery or the resilience, the mapping the next three years.

04:52 Liam

Yeah. Look, I'm really fortunate. I've got a pretty good relationship with my coach that I trust and sort of work with quite a lot every day. And then my, um, probably sort of bigger supporter outside of that, sport wise, has been my sports psych, who I do spend a lot of time talking to in the last few years when I've needed it. And, uh, he's definitely helped me find a lot more perspective that whilst I love what I do and it is really important to try and be successful in that, that there's a lot more on offer as well, and I can really take the opportunity to seize those moments outside of sport that can help me have a bit of perspective that yeah, what I do on a race course is vital to me, but it's not actually the end of the world. And there's a lot more... going on around me if I stop and look.

05:37 Peter

I guess if you're a racehorse, you take off the blinkers. Is that the kind of... ?

05:40 Liam

Pretty much. Yeah. Just have a bit more balance, you know, not be so focussed on where I finish or who I'm going to beat or anything like that. That stuff doesn't serve me very well as an athlete, but thinking about how I can perform well and look after myself. So I enjoy it and I have more longevity and sort of have other things on my plate. So it's not all just about sport... yeah. Makes life really... beautiful, I guess. 

06:07 Peter

And talk about things on your plate, how was Paris? Not just from the cafe point of view, but... overall, how was the experience?

06:15 Liam

I loved it, I loved it, it was sort of, it's hard to comprehend. Like walking into the village for the first time, because there's not really anything like the village anywhere else or any other sporting event. And yeah, I think I was really lucky. Obviously doing triathlon, we... had a pretty iconic race course. We had to swim in the Seine River and ride on the Champs Elysees and run through the city near the Pont Alexandre Bridge and finish up there, which is all a lot of monuments and a lot of very distracting things going on. But... yeah, like I'm really like, I'll look back on it and I'm pretty fortunate to have done what I did.

06:53 Peter

I was going to say you talked about being single minded and very focussed. Then you talk about all this, the sights that you're doing, that kind of didn't happen, Liam.

07:01 Liam

Yeah. Look, a quick glimpse of the Eiffel Tower as I was riding on the bike course was enough. The couple days beforehand, but I made sure on the race day my head was down. But that's how it goes.

07:11 Peter

What about the actual event itself? For yourself. How do you feel? You went and you talked about putting everything in place to make sure you give it your best shot - on reflection, did that happen?

07:21 Liam

I put everything in place for it, but unfortunately, just the way the cards fell on the day I didn't have a day I was very... happy with or a performance I was very happy with. I didn't really do the things I do well, very well. And yeah, just sort of got caught out a little bit. And yeah, I'm pretty disappointed by how I raced on the day, but it's really hard to look back on it and be objective - that whilst I didn't have the day I wanted there, I did everything else perfectly, So sometimes that's just how it works. You know, you turn up and you're just not there. And I unfortunately had that happen on a very important day. So I've had to yeah, I'll probably think about that for the next few years. Yeah.

08:05 Peter

I mean without being sort of too trite about it, it's kind of part of being a human, I guess. Yeah. You know, you can have everything in place, and then I know it's a biorhythm. So what is it that made the subtitles on the day just doesn't turn out?

08:18 S1

Yeah, I think that's exactly it. The hardest thing about trying to be on is that we're trying to be on once every four years to our best capacity, and there's a lot that goes into it, not just skill, talent, training, all that, but it's just sometimes good luck and opportunity and having everything in the lead up work for you. And yeah, that's the beauty of it. And the exciting thing is sometimes you don't know if you're going to have a cracker. It just happens. And unfortunately it goes the other way as well, where you don't realise if you're going to have a shock either. So it's the excitement of it.

08:51 S2

It's sort of fascinating, isn't it? I guess if you knew what you needed, you know, like you could sort of plan for it. But sometimes, as I say, you know, you can have the best laid plans and they still don't come off.

09:04 Peter

Yeah, exactly. And that's like, if I knew exactly what was going to happen every race, that probably wouldn't be as much. So it's much more exciting lining up thinking, Geez, anything could happen in the next hour and I could be anywhere or anyone. So that's nice. I like that, actually. You talked about the same. I think there was a story the other day about the person who cleaned up the sign, has taken on the task, or he's going to take on the task of cleaning up the Brisbane River. Did you see that? What are your thoughts?

09:32 Liam

No, I haven't seen that. I haven't seen that the... for all the cleaning they did, in the end, we still had our race delayed due to the water quality the day of the race. So, look, I didn't get sick, so I'm happy with that, But to be honest, as triathletes or doing a race in a major city in a major river like that, it was always going to be a bit of a risk. But the cleaner the better. But, you know, I'll swim anywhere.

10:01 Peter

Yeah, well, I guess that's the... attitude, isn't it? Anytime, anywhere. And the Australian team as a whole did well. I mean, you kind of get a chance to sort of share in Lauren Parker's success in a sense.

10:13 Liam

Yeah. I think those are pretty immaculate in what she's done as an athlete, especially at this games and since she's started her Paralympic career. And I think for us it's pretty special. There's, you know, only we're pretty small and new sport in triathlon. And for us to be one of the flag bearers for us on the closing ceremony is pretty iconic achievement - on top of her medal success. And I think it's really cool to celebrate that and just appreciate that she has put in a lot of hard work to get those results that haven't hasn't come easy to us. So yeah, I think it's... really cool to be a part of that. And yeah, celebrate not just her success, but the team's success as well, because, yeah, I think we had a pretty good campaign.

11:00 Peter

So a bit of a team within a team, if I can put it that way, that the athletes...

11:04 Liam

Yeah, pretty much I think for a lot of us, a lot of new members on the team, there's a few guys that have been around at Tokyo. But since the sport's only started at Paralympic level since Rio in 2016, there's only been a handful of athletes that have made a Paralympic team. So we pretty much doubled the size of our para-triathlon team in the last 3 or 4 years, which is great, and it's exciting to see that there's probably a lot of athletes that will try and go on and continue that and have some more success, because we do obviously want to be a world's best sort of program and team. And yeah, hopefully that can happen. 

11:40 Peter

Well, I'll ask you about that in a second. But you're listening to Leisure Link here on Vision Australia Radio, 1197 AM in Adelaide and across the Vision Australia Radio network. And we speak to Paralympic athlete, our triathlete Liam Twomey. Liam, you talked about other things to life other than racing. You've joined the Athletes Commission. Tell us a bit about this.

11:59 Liam

Yeah I have. Yeah I have. I'm pretty lucky to have been voted onto the Paralympic Australia Athlete Commission just recently, with a couple other new members and some returning members. So yeah, it's really exciting. It's a big group. There's a lot of... talent and experience, not just as athletes, but as... officials on the committee. And I'm really looking forward to sort of learning a lot. I very much feel like a small fish in a big pond there. Good opportunity for me to sort of see what I can gain from it and how I can help and what I can bring to the table.

12:31 Peter

Small fish in a big river. What... appealed to you about it? Well, what appealed to put your hand up?

12:36 Liam

So I'm currently just like, I think I'm probably very outspoken at times - whether that works well for me or against. For me, I'm not sure. But I think being on the commission, sort of need to have a bit of a ability to have an opinion and not be afraid to have a voice and sort of stand up for things. If you're not too sure that you agree with them or are comfortable with that. And I've had a bit of experience with that within my own sport. And I think just that step up to a Paralympic level in that committee is... something I wanted to learn from a lot and see how I can help and support not just my current cohort of athletes, but for the athletes coming through in the future. And yeah, just see whatever I can do to help out.

13:23 Peter

What makes you think like that? What... makes you kind of the big-picture guy, as well as the focussed person on the focussed athlete on the day?

13:31 Liam

Oh, I think it's really not just it's not a selfless thing, because obviously some of the things, if they do benefit everyone, they benefit myself as well. But I think it's... more about the fact that it's sort of me doing something that is a little bit less about myself. No sport's very... I think for me, sports are very selfish. I think about myself a lot and how to get the best out of myself. But looking at this other stuff for the bigger picture, I guess I can sort of try and look back on that and see how I can, I guess, help others a little bit more and give back a little bit to a sport.

Because I have gotten so much from it and I'm only in the position I'm in and the sport I'm in, because I've had previous athletes that have reached out to me or helped me with something, or spent time with me or told me to go down this direction, and I think you just have to continue to pass that on. So I've got the opportunity now, so why not give it a crack?

14:29 Peter

Well, that's a fantastic attitude, Liam, you talked about being outspoken and I personally I admire people that are outspoken because if it wasn't for people like you, probably people like us wouldn't have what we have today. But where does that come from? Is that sort of, going way back when, into your DNA? Yeah, how has that sort of that spikiness come in? 

14:46 S1

Yeah... I've always had a big mouth. I don't... think it served me very well as a teenager at school. Got me in a lot of trouble at school, definitely in the back of the classroom. And I think just with the work I do, and I just feel like I have a lot to say, which may I feel like what I think about most people agree with. They're just probably not as comfortable talking about it. And I just think with my life experience over the past, sort of ten, 15 years of being less shy about saying that whether it's the right thing or it's very blunt, I see things very black and white. So I just think if I want to do something differently, why don't we try doing something differently and seeing what happens? And yeah, I think it does definitely, definitely run in my blood a little bit.

15:32 Peter

Yeah, we might pursue the school kid another time. I just like the little metronome of hadn't come back the next time we speak to you. Hey, that kind of spike. And this. That. I call it advocacy. Is that something you'd like to take sort of to other parts of your life and maybe other parts of the community? In the future? I guess I'm saying he may be interested in getting into politics.

15:53 Liam

Yeah. I don't know about I don't know if politics would suit me. I think the dress code is a bit too sharp for me. But I get you. If you'd asked me a few years ago if I was interested in advocacy, I would have said, it's probably not my cup of tea. But I've sort of just naturally fallen into it or leant into it a little bit more. So the last few years and have really, I guess, enjoyed it. And it does feel nice to stand up for a group or an idea or a symbolism of something and have a change of attitude on that and have a, I guess, a positive outcome when we're trying to make change or something. And yeah, that's been really, I enjoy the reward of it definitely, but I enjoy. Yeah, yeah, speaking up for people, definitely.

Peter

Well we go round Australia on the Vision Australia Radio network. There might be some political party listening in to this and thinking, Oh yeah, we want to check this guy out and see if he might be interested in joining us. I think we need more people like you, and I mean in the area of disability and the area of sport, etc. I think those sort of things can make a huge difference. So... don't never say never, Liam. And if you get there, yeah. Remember who suggested to ... you, whatever. Yeah.

17:03 Liam

Never forget. Never forget your roots. Yeah, that's all right.

17:05 Peter

Well, great to catch up. It's a tremendous perspective you bring to sport and certainly to your role on the Athletes Commission. We wish you well that, wish the entire group well. Obviously it's a very important role. And I talked about Brisbane in 2032. I mean that won't be too long before it gets here. I know there's plenty between now and then, but always great to catch up with you. Congratulations on all you've achieved, again on your resilience after not making it for Tokyo, to get to Paris is a tremendous achievement. We wish you well and I look forward to the next time we catch up.

17:34 Liam

Thanks, Peter. I appreciate you having me.

17:35 Peter

Glad to be there. What a... more than just an athlete. And isn't it great to get to know these athletes just a bit more about, uh, than just their performance on the track on the day? Well, the Blind Ashes have been on in Australia in more recent days. Let's chat to the captain of the English team and speak to Ed Hossell. Ed, welcome and thanks for joining us here on Vision Australia Radio.

18:02 Ed

Thank you so much for having me.

18:03 Peter

How's the time been now? You had a bit of a a bit of a rocky start with the weather, didn't you, with the series?

18:08 Ed

Yeah we did. Unfortunately we lost... three match days to to rain. So here's us Brits thinking we're coming out to Australia, it will be glorious sunshine the whole time. And who knows? Oh, we brought the rain with us. That had to say We don't get rain like this back home. It was... torrential.

18:26 Peter

And they're sort of consistent.

18:28 Ed

Persisted for a while. So it did enough to get a storm. And then it clears up in Queensland. 

Peter

But not this time.

18:33 Ed

No. Sadly not. Yeah. we hear often it's overnight, isn't it? But then by the... daytime, it sort of dries up. But yeah, I guess we just just unlucky when Australia won the series. But we won't talk too much about that, because that's not the sort of person I am. Probably the other players would be. 

Peter

But... just a bit about... cricket, particularly for people blind or low vision, in England. It's been around for a long, long time. I remember going back years and years, and they used to talk about the fact that you guys used to play with the soccer ball. That's probably before your time at...

19:00 Ed

Well, actually, no, we do still have that going on. So our domestic structure is quite different to the to the version that's played internationally. So the way it's played internationally, it's with the hard plastic ball and the ball is bowled underarm. It's got ball bearings in it. There's obviously a few more few more rule changes there. But what we played domestically in England is a size three football with ball bearings in it, and it's bowled overarm. So similar to, I guess, the normal game of cricket. Obviously both versions have their upsides and downsides. The kind of the version we play in the UK generally has a bit more... is a bit easier for kind of an inclusivity... perspective because the ball doesn't travel quite as quickly. But there are certainly different skills that are required for both. 

But yeah, I believe in Australia the domestic scene is with the... small ball that we play with internationally. So I think the Australian team, you mentioned that they won. So congratulations to the Australian team. But I think their success is obviously their skill level and they played very well. So credit to them there. But it's certainly also that they have a domestic structure in which they're playing with the small underarm ball that, you know, they're put in pressure situations. The guys are getting the opportunity and having to perform their skills under... high pressure situations. And I think we've seen the... result of that.

20:13 Peter

So most players kind of introduced to the game in England would play with the larger ball first, would they? 

20:18 Ed

Yes. That's correct. Yeah.

20:19 Peter

And then if you show talent or sort of the pathway then is to play for play for the country. 

20:25 Ed

Yes. And then there's obviously there's... an element of learning that comes with that because it's obviously effectively a different sport. There's a few kind of things that you can kind of translate over. But yeah, it really is a... different sport. So sometimes someone might enjoy one format of the game and not the other format of the game, or vice versa.

20:43 Peter

What about as far as travel goes? Because you know, cricket's played all over the world, but not necessarily too many places close to the UK. Is that a bit of an issue? I mean, often in Australia we hear about the fact that, you know, Europe and the US is a long way away for athletes to travel. It's kind of the opposite in England, because there's not a lot of countries that play that are in the Europe area.

21:03 Ed

Yeah, that's that's definitely true. So international series, we generally... I mean Covid has completely messed up the routine of it. But previously we would generally get one tour a year, which we're obviously very lucky for and grateful for the ECB for that. And you talk about geography when you talk about domestically, we don't have quite the same challenges that you guys in Australia will do, you know. You know, if... Queensland wanted to play against Western Australia, you've got four and a half, five hour flights to get over there, which is obviously, you know... but for us that that isn't a concern, and we are able to kind of meet up a lot more as an England team, whereas I believe the Aussie boys aren't able to meet up nearly as much as we are. 

So there's sort of benefits within our internal geography. But, yeah, I think getting over the jet lag coming here was... tricky. But, you know, it's an amazing opportunity.

21:52 Peter

What about support from the ECB? I know in Australia, Cricket Australia, particularly in more recent times, has been very supportive of the players in terms of financially supporting them and at least mitigating a lot of the costs. What's the ECB... contribution to the game like?

22:07 Ed

It's been brilliant. It's really improved over the time that I've been involved as a player and as captain. So we're really lucky and grateful for the for the support that the ECB give us. You know, we get to, um, you know, expenses covered when we travel to and from training camps and we get training camps provided generally once a month, even over the winter. So, I mean, I'm sure many of the Australian players would be chomping at the bit to kind of get those sorts of... have that sort of contact time. So we're really grateful for that. And then obviously, you know, a kind of expenses are covered when we go abroad and we got, you know, great support staff and yeah, so it's... really fantastic.

22:46 Peter

What about as far as the popularity of the game in terms of getting people involved. How's that?

22:49 Ed

I think that's certainly a challenge. And that's certainly something that we really want to increase the popularity of or increase the opportunity to play. As I mentioned, we don't play this version domestically. You know, it's not certainly not as simple as kind of swap it overnight, because I think there's many people that really benefit from and enjoy the current domestic format. But certainly improving the pathway in to the England team and kind of creating more opportunity to play this version of the game is something that really, uh, you know, we and many other people within the UK, not just the England team, just many people that want to play this version of the game would benefit from.

23:25 Peter

And it is popular. I mean, you know, mainstream cricket is very, very popular still in Australia. I'm assuming in the UK got the Ashes coming up next year. That will be much anticipated. Does that kind of transfer over to people who are blind or have low vision wanting to play?

23:40 Ed

Yes, definitely. I think domestically we we probably have... I'm not sure exactly the numbers, but sort of anywhere between 500 to 700 people on a, registered on various cricket clubs around the country. So yeah, there's certainly you know, challenges that team sports kind of and obviously with cricket the surfaces and availability of grounds, there's kind of elements there which which are quite tricky, let alone the weather having to deal with the English summer. But yeah, it certainly is popular. It's it's really great that we can kind of, we've seen the game grow and grow, and I think there are more clubs kind of sprouting up most years. So yeah, it's it's really positive in that sense.

And lastly, of course, at the IPS, the Games in Birmingham, we had three international teams playing play women's cricket or women's cricket. That's a sort of another area of potential recruitment.

24:31 Peter

Absolutely.

24:31 Ed

Yeah. It was fantastic that they had the opportunity to to play that... in the IBSA World Blind Games, we were able to kind of host women's cricket as well. It was a hugely successful tournament in that sense. And with the final of both the men's and the women's of the cricket, the World Blind Games being hosted at played at the Edgbaston Cricket ground, so on, you know, such a prestigious grounds, you know, that holds host international games to then host disability international games of the men's and women's, was a... great moment for the... sport.

25:06 Peter

I've mentioned a few times, but the Prime Minister of India, Modi, tweeted that the Indian girls had won the the World Cup for that particular event. I guess that's a great way to mainstream the message. As far as you know, blind cricket goes when someone of that profile, if you like, you know, gets the information that things run. I mean, there's nothing like a politician getting on board a winning team.

25:27 Ed

Absolutely. But no, that that really is a huge moment. And it's, you know, there are many issues that that people who with disabilities and particularly visual impairments and who are blind, you know, have to deal with in certain countries around the world, you know, in the UK, we're lucky and I'm sure in Australia as well, the support is kind of really, you know, quite high, you know. Sure. People say it'd be better, but you know, there are certain things that, that people in, in other countries around the world might, might have to struggle with. 

So to have that kind of recognition and to see what the kind of the pride that that can bring to people's families will be enormous. You know, the sense of pride that those those players will have. So to have that level of recognition is absolutely fantastic. And, you know, it can only be good for the sport.

26:08 Peter

And as you mentioned, Covid threw a lot of spanners in work. So what about internationally and World Cups? Is there any sort of solid news as far as what might be coming up in the next little while on that sort of front?

26:20 Ed

Unfortunately, I don't really know that it would be amazing to... yeah, to get some information around that. I believe the schedule or talks around schedules might be kind of discussed within the next couple of months. So we always keep our fingers crossed as players that we get opportunities to kind of fit for international tours. But as you can understand, funding isn't always kind of reliable or consistent, so we just take it where we can get it.

26:47 Peter

Terrific, and great to catch up. Really appreciate the little snapshot of blind cricket in England. We appreciate you speaking to us. Thank you for making the time for us. And just remind me, who won the series?

26:58 Ed

I can't quite remember at this point. I must still be struggling with jet lag.

27:02 Peter 

OK, good, that's it. Thanks again. And we wish you well.

27:05 Ed

Brilliant. Thank you so much for having me.

27:07 Peter

That's Ed Hossell there, the captain of the English blind cricket team, who have been touring Australia or been at the Gold Coast playing blind cricket in Australia - and Australia just nudged them out as far as the Blind Ashes go.

27:20 Michael

Hi, I'm Michael Roeger, Paralympic medalist, marathon athlete and multiple world record holder, and you're listening to Leisure Link with Peter Greco on the Vision Australia Radio network.

27:32 Peter

Well, if you like golf, or maybe you'd like to like golf, we've got some opportunities coming up for you in the next week or so. Let's chat about it with the Player Development Manager from Blind Golf SA, Cameron Reid. Cameron, great to catch up again.

27:44 Cameron

Thanks for having me on Peter. Great to be back. Cheers.

27:46 Peter

Now you've got a Come and Try day coming up on the 7th of December.

27:49 Cameron

Yep we do from 1 to 3 p.m.. We're doing juniors from 1 to 2 and adults from 2 to 3 p.m.. We've only got about one position left in the adult section, but we've got a few positions left for the juniors. So come on out people, and enjoy the outdoors and find out what blind golf has to offer.

28:09 Peter

All right. Where's it being held?

28:10 Cameron

Down at West Beach Golf Academy - with Anne-Marie Knight as our coach, who's been such a good friend to Blind Golf SA.

28:16 Peter

Yeah, yeah, I noticed that really [?bad], Anne-Marie... like it or Anne-Marie is certainly very well qualified in terms of coaching people with disabilities. So it's not just someone that wants to do the right thing, but someone that's an excellent player in their own right, but also coached or has had tuition in the area of coaching.

28:33 Cameron

Well, she was an LPGA player in her own right, won an event, I think, in Germany, and she was actually one of the first all abilities coaches, PGA coaches in the country.

28:44 Peter

Fantastic. Yeah, just a bit about the day then. Well, first of all, what constitutes a junior? What's your kind of definition of a junior?

28:51 Cameron

Oh anybody up to 18 years old. You know there's a lot of difference. Some clubs have juniors up to 23, 25 years old. You know, anybody from, you know, 3 to 18 years old is...  more than welcome.

29:05 Peter

And obviously males and females.

29:07 Cameron

Yeah of course. Yep.

29:08 Peter

Probably shouldn't need to ask that these days. But anyway. No no.

29:12 Cameron

No no. No. Everybody's welcome. And... we supply all of the equipment. But if you have your own clubs and you've played before, please feel free to bring them along. And... yeah, have a hit. We do a number of different skills trainings, like a bit of stuff on the driving range, a bit of putting, a bit of chipping. So we try to mix it up a bit to give people as much, you know, exposure as possible. 

29:34 Peter

Now, we haven't spoken to you for a little while, but for people who might be new to the game of blind golf, I mean, there are different categories in blind sport. As a golfer, you're catered for in that area as well.

29:46 Cameron

Uh, yep. There are B1, B2, B4 classifications, B1 being 99% blind and B4 being up to... borderline, legal blindness. There are three different categories in... the B4 classification. I know that B4 isn't common amongst blind sports. Blind tennis, I think being one of the few exceptions. So there are different areas of vision that qualify for B4. So regardless of your level of vision. Come and give us... a try.

30:19 Peter

And obviously, as you say, if the equipment is provided free, then there's no cost. Which is also important because sometimes you might want to play, but you know, there's a cost impairment that can be incurred and that can sometimes put people off.

30:30 Cameron

Well, we provide all of the equipment for the clinics that we put on, and, and all of our clinics are free of charge to two participants. We also do a lot of petitioning amongst the golf community in South Australia, clubs and individuals to see if we can get sets of second hand clubs. And we've had a lot of success in the past in that area. The Vines Golf Club at Reynella being one of our biggest contributors, they at one point gave us about eight sets of youth clubs, which we passed on. You know, we've got a mixture of women's and men's clubs. So yeah, we clean them up and pass them on to participants. It's because one of the most prohibitive parts of getting into golf can be the cost of equipment where, you know, we're not... going to sugarcoat it, golf can be an expensive sport to get involved in. 

But yeah, so we do everything that we can to try and mitigate the costs of people who want to get in at at least the beginner level and, and try and sort them out with some clubs. We've got a lot of junior clubs as well, which we can pass on to people. Uh, the only thing that we ask is if we've passed these clubs on to you, and you either upgrade or decide that golf isn't for you, that you pass them back to us, and that's pretty much it. So we can pass them on to the next person who comes along.

31:42 Peter

If you've got a parent who might have a child, you know, we talk about juniors in particular, who might be blind or have low vision and want to get involved with golf... can the parent kind of come along and, well, not oversee, but kind of, you know, be part of the induction, if I can call it that?

31:55 Cameron

We actually promote that, rather than just I try to tell parents that... I'm not a babysitter service, for lack of a better phrase.

32:05 Peter

Mm.

32:06 Cameron

No, we actually prefer that parents get involved because ultimately, blind or vision impaired golfers. They decided caddie anyway to spot their ball, give them an idea of distance, line them up to the flag, that sort of thing. So we like to get the parents in, at the very beginner stage with, with their kids... just so that they know exactly what's going on. And, and the best way that they can help and be involved, what might be a bit of kind of... parent-child bonding as well, that can kind of develop from that. 

Peter

And I guess both the parent and the child maybe get to meet other people who might be blind and have low vision, because one of the things that happens these days is, you know, Cameron, with a lot of mainstream education, sometimes, you know, the person who might be blind, have low vision, you know, might not know that there are other people out there with a similar condition. So it's a great way for that peer support or just that... cross-pollination of ideas.

32:55 Cameron

Well, exactly right. And personally, I'm a product of that system. I had no idea. I've been vision impaired my entire life, and I had no idea that blind sports existed up until my early 30s. Yeah, I was in a mainstream school, and I got minimal support. You know, like educational support. But nobody mentioned blind spots at all. So it's... a revelation to come across the sports and the communities that are involved. And it's amazing. It's awesome. You, unless you're involved in that community and and you're a part of it, you don't know that it... exists. Like when you come across a lot of mainstream golfers on the course, they have no idea that something like Blind Golf exists. So, no, we're proud to promote the sport and proud to give people the opportunity to to at least give the sport a try. And, you know, golf is one of those sports you either love or you hate, but, you know, not both.

33:50 Peter

Not both at the same time. Exactly.

33:52 Cameron

Right. And I yeah, I'm guilty of that. It's, yeah, it can be frustrating, but it's, you know, it's those exceptional shots that keep you coming back regardless of how few are few and far between they may be, I can imagine.

34:06 Peter

Now you've got to Come and Try day on the seventh, but you've also got some junior clinics early in the new year.

34:10 Cameron

We do. We do have some junior clinics on January the 7th and 9th, again with Anne Marie. And yeah, we'll be sending out the flyers for that in the next few days to places like Charles Campbell and Society as well. And yeah, we we hope that... kids can come along and find out what the sport has to offer and see how they go.

34:32 Peter

Yeah, well, those particular days are at West Lake, West Beach as well.

34:36 Cameron

They are at West Beach. Yeah. We're finding it difficult to get find public courses, especially at the moment with reasonable practice facilities. So it's... and look, Anne Marie again has been an amazing friend. And the facilities down at West Beach, for our purposes, are exceptional.

34:53 Peter

The seventh and the ninth are a Tuesday and a Thursday, I reckon.

34:56 Cameron

Yeah. Exactly right.

34:57 Peter

All right. Well, if people do want to find out more, how can we get in touch? 

Cameron

As you say, uh, looks like the... adults, if you, like, are maybe booked out for the 7th, but I'm sure there's a white list. Or you can squeeze one more in, as they like to say. 

Peter

How can we find out more?

35:11 Cameron

You can give me a call on 0416 800 766. That's 0416 8 double-0, 7 double]-6. Email me at Blind Golf SA at gmail dot com... or check out our Facebook page Blind Golf South Australia - all of our contact information is there.

35:28 Peter

Cameron, always great to catch up. You do a tremendous job. Keep up the good work and I look forward to the next time we speak.

35:34 Cameron

Thanks very much, Peter. Appreciate the opportunity. Take care.

35:36 Peter

Cameron Reid there, who is the Player Development person at Blind Golf SA. You've got those details - and if ever you miss them, you can either call us here at the station or check out our show notes.

35:46 Program ID

You're in elite company, listening to Leisure Link here on Vision Australia Radio and [?Gate] Radio, digital radio.org and through the TuneIn radio app.

35:56 Peter

Let's go to Western Australia to welcome Wayne Arnett, who's playing tennis a rather unique way. Wayne, great to meet you and thank you for your time.

36:04 Wayne

Yeah. No problem. Thank you.

36:05 Peter

Now you're playing wheelchair tennis. How did you get into it?

36:08 Wayne

I started playing about 7 or 8 years ago. I went up to... an open day they had at Tennis West, and I met... David Hall, and David Hall saw some potential in me and decided that I should carry on playing. So I decided to carry on playing. 

36:20 Peter

Of course, David Hall, I think he's in the Hall of Fame, isn't he? For tennis?

36:27 Wayne

Yes, yes, yes. He won a gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in the singles.

36:31 Peter

Well done. Yeah. Good. Good information there. Have you played the game before?

36:36 Wayne

I played normal everybody tennis before. When I obviously before I was disabled, I played tennis, but not at a high level. I played basically just local leagues around here, local pennants around here around Perth.

36:49 Peter

And what about you? Happy to talk a bit about your accident or how come you came to play in a wheelchair?

36:54 Wayne

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. What happened was, is I had a blood clot in the lower left leg, and they did surgery on it. and then afterwards they found out I had a factor five mutation, which is a blood disorder which you inherit from your father or your mother. And then basically it basically gives you blood clots in your legs unless you take blood thinners. But we didn't know that at the time, obviously. And then they had to amputate because whatever they tried to fix it, it just would not repair.

37:23 Peter

So from your father in a sense, but just unlucky that it turned out the way it did.

37:27 Wayne

Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. 

37:28 Peter

Did you try other sports after your,... you know, had your leg amputated? Did you try other sports?

37:35 Wayne

I did try other sports. I actually currently play... AFL, wheelchair AFL as well. Yeah, I'm in the in the local Subiaco team. In Perth here we have a local league which is based on the WAFL teams. And I'm in the Subiaco team now and that's, the finals are this weekend.

37:50 Peter

Oh well good luck. We wish you well - actually that... wheelchair, [?I thought] that's pretty big isn't it? Most states are very well supported. I know in South Australia, the people support them. And the WAFL, obviously it's great when you get that umbrella support, isn't it? 

38:04 Wayne

Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. I think our team, the WA state team, has just come back from Brisbane, where they took the wheelchair nationals over there against the States, which was good.

38:14 Peter

Yeah, terrific. Well, one of the things that... intrigued us, Wayne, was that you play Pennant Tennis, over in Western Australia.

38:22 Wayne

Yes, I do, yes. Yes, I play against able bodied players, which is... unique for a wheelchair player. There's... the problem we had is especially over in Western Australia is that we don't really have the competition when it comes to wheelchair tennis. Yeah, we have a few, like, people that have started out playing wheelchair tennis, but they're not up to a standard where they're going to be competitive with somebody that plays competitive tennis a lot. So we decided to approach Tennis West about it and say, Look, can we play wheelchair tennis against an able-bodied player because we need the match practice. 

That's the most important part of any sport. You can train as much as you like, but it's the match practice where you're going to get better. So that's what we decided to do, and I think it took about two years for them to actually say Yes, okay, we're going to let you do it.

39:12 Peter

That's fairly unique, isn't it, Wayne? Because I know that we have a number of wheelchair tennis players in Australia. But as you say, in terms of getting competition, that can sometimes be an issue, particularly, you know, with such a big country as far as different states go. It's hard to get competition in your own state. 

39:28 Wayne

Yeah, it is. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. That's one of the hardest parts. And obviously over in WA we're obviously the furthest away at the moment. And we don't have any wheelchair competitions over here at all, which makes it harder to actually play competitively. Which is why obviously we decided to go down the route of playing tennis.

39:47 Peter

So a couple of years lobbying, if I can put it that way. Yeah. How did it sort of turn out as far as the final decision being made?

39:55 Wayne

Well, the final decision was made by... someone who had wished he was in charge of Pennants. We we sent through a load of emails and then the club captain where I play also sent through a load of emails saying, Can we get this done? And if not, why can't we get it done? And they had no answers as to why there was no reason for us not to play tennis. Fair enough. So they decided that we can play tennis, but we can only play singles in the first year, because there's still logistics that need to figure out with regards to playing doubles. Are you allowed to have the second bounce playing doubles? Are you allowed to you that they're worried about somebody injuring themselves and running into the chair? 

So there was a little bit more logistics they need to figure out with regards to that. But it's a step in the right direction at this stage for sure.

40:42 Peter

So I know there are different rules, particularly in wheelchair tennis. You talked about second bounce and stuff like that. So how do you go when you're playing against the [?navobod]? Do you kind of play, you know, in a sense under two separate rules or different rules?

40:54 Wayne

No, we play we play the same rules, basically that I get the two bounces on my side if needed. Yep. I don't have to play two bounces and the other player still plays the one bounce on their side, so their rules are exactly the same. All they've done is adapted it to allow me to play as well.

41:10 Peter

And what's the acceptance been like, Wayne?

41:12 Wayne

Oh, good. Actually, a lot of players... obviously they sent out a lot of emails to all the clubs in the division to say that there is a new wheelchair player playing in the league now, and if there was any obstacles with regards to... getting to the tennis courts, toilets, all those kinds of things to let tennis players know, and they would figure it out and they would make an exception. If I couldn't play that club, then I'd play their home games.

41:39 Peter

Fantastic. So it sounds like the way your tennis club and Tennis West overall have been very supportive of something like this.

41:44 Wayne

Yes they have. Yes. And now, apparently now, because at the club I play at now is Safety Bay Tennis Club, we don't actually have a disabled toilet, but now the city of Rockingham has decided that... obviously we're in the spotlight a little bit more now that they are going to just give us a grant for 320,000 to actually get a wheelchair toilet put in. 

42:05 Peter

Well, I guess, you know, it's the sort of thing that maybe should be happening anyway in terms of... accessible toilets for people who might be... living with a disability. It's kind of almost like a human right, wouldn't it be fair to say?

42:18 Wayne

Well, yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. I don't see why any public building then and now, especially nowadays, is not wheelchair accessible. You go to a courthouse or you go to anywhere else the government building, whether it's the Department of Transport, they've all got access to those buildings. So why doesn't tennis club, why don't sporting facilities have that exactly right?

42:39 Peter

How do you feel about all this way? Because you've got a little bit of publicity over the last few weeks. Have you kind of enjoyed it? I mean, it's a great way to sort of bring a message to the general public who might not think about this sort of stuff in their everyday lives.

42:51 Wayne

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. That's the good thing, is that about it, is that it's not about the personal accolades for me. It's about the inclusion and for everybody to see that just because you were a wheelchair athlete doesn't mean that you're not an athlete as such. You know, the whole idea of what we're trying to do is we were trying to... get people to realize that a wheelchair athlete is still an athlete, so treat them as an athlete rather than as somebody with a disability.

43:15 Peter

Have your opponents had gone against you? Why have you given them a bit of a stitch up?

43:19 Wayne

Yeah I have, yeah, yeah. And a lot of them are stand-ups. When I first meet them they're like, very accepting. They're like, Oh absolutely. Let's play. You know if they... understand the rules, you have to explain beforehand and say, listen, I get two bounces and you get the one bounce on your side and they're like, Yep, that's fine, let's go. You know, so nobody's actually come up to me and said, Look, I don't want to play against a wheelchair player, which is, you know, it's people being more they're trying to include people more, which is the whole idea of what we're trying to do. 

43:49 Peter

Yeah, let there be more of it. Why whine, of course! Over the summer, there's lots of big wheelchair tennis events, particularly in the eastern states. Are you up for those, or not going this year? Or what's the situation?

44:00 Wayne

The problem I have is the funding part of it. I'm self-funded and over here in WA, I've tried to get sponsorship from... numerous large companies, but the problem is, they won't sponsor individual athletes, so they'd prefer to sponsor a team, whether it's basketball, netball, you know. So that's always the hard thing. And when you're self-funded you go over, these trips costs two $2000 to $3000 for a weekend, which is a lot of money for somebody that's not actually working at such. I do have a job, but the job I do is basically just to get sponsorship.

44:33 Peter

Well, it's certainly tough. Well, I've enjoyed talking to you. We wish you well with the tennis. I'm sure we'll speak to you in the future, but thanks for sharing a very positive message and good on you for the work that you've done, because you're a bit of a trailblazer, and something like this could lead to even more accessibility and more inclusion in the future.

44:50 Wayne

Yes, that's what we're hoping. So hopefully that's the message gets across and people become more inclusive and accept people more readily than they do at the moment.

44:59 Peter

We wish you well, Wayne.

45:00 Wayne

Thank you so much.

45:01 Peter

So why not? If they were playing tennis at the appellate level, even though he plays wheelchair tennis, he's been accepted. And obviously a lot of good advocacy and lobbying work to make that happen. We wish Wayne will.

45:14 NETWORK ID

Keep in touch with Vision Australia radio in Adelaide on 1197 AM.

45:27 Peter

Normally, this time of the year we talk about being naughty or nice - and next guest is certainly Nice personified, multiplied and amplified. Allison Davies from allisondavies.com.au. Hello, Ali.

45:46 Allison

Oh. Hi, Peter. Now the intro is just getting better and better.

45:50 Peter

Oh, just a bit shy then. You didn't know how to respond to that, did you?

45:55 Allison

Oh, I'm just like, I, just, you're... I just get a bit speechless because your introductions get better and better. And each week, each month, I think What's he going to say this time? And it's always right. It's always a winner.

46:06 Peter

Certainly a challenge for next year. And we'll talk about that before we finish. My topic is about people who can't stop talking. I guess with Christmas time and sort of getting together time, we probably all either know or fear what that might be like, that sitting at our table.

46:22 Allison

Yeah, well, this is a great topic because I'm definitely one of those people who can talk a lot, but I'm also someone who can pull back and realise when I'm talking a lot and also listen... to others without butting in, so I can do that dance. But it's really interesting because especially in the neurodivergent world, for example, a lot of autistic people will have a special interest, and whatever the thing is that they're passionate about, they will just, it's called Info Dumping. So Info Dumping is when you just talk and talk and talk and talk and talk about your favorite thing or something that you're very passionate about. 

And in the autism world, we say that Info Dumping is a love language, because when we feel safe enough to talk and talk and talk to someone else about something that we're passionate about, it means that there's some level of relational safety there. So if you find yourself at the Christmas table and the cousin or the uncle or someone is just talking and talking and talking about something that they're interested in, and they might not have recognised the cues, that you might not be interested, but you're still sitting there listening... just know that there's a sense of relational safety in the fact that they can open up in that way and info dump. 

So there's something very... it's a very special form of communication. Even though we might laugh about people who talk too much, there's a real... closeness that can come from being available for someone who talks a lot.

47:57 Peter

That's an important thing, isn't it? That's kind of... that's a compliment to you as a listener, isn't it, that someone is feeling that comfortable that they can do that? 

48:05 Allison

Yeah. And it's it's also okay to... you know, to walk away when you need to, but don't don't let it get so that you're uncomfortable. However... yeah, you don't even have to be interested. But if you can hold space for someone who's talking about their things, that's a really beautiful way of just being, you know, in friendship or family with someone. And there's some other cool things about people who talk a lot. There's actually been a lot of research done on the effects of hearing our own voice and there's some... research that says public speakers like myself... tend to like the sound of our own voice. And that is because when our brain hears our own voice, it feels safe, because it knows our, the sound of our voice very, very well. 

So when we are talking out loud, our ears hear our voice, the sound of our voice goes to our brain and our brain goes, Oh, that's us. We must be in control right now. And if we're talking and no one else is talking, the brain will also go, Oh, I'm talking, and no one else is talking. That means I'm being listened to. So I'm really in control right now. So the brain gathers a lot of cues around its safety based on determining what it can hear. And if it can hear us talking and it can hear that other people are listening because they're not talking back, then it gets a lot of it. It gets a lot of safety in that. So talking can be a way, even subconsciously, without us knowing it... talking can be a way of asking ourselves.

49:52 Peter

What about the inverse of that? If there's a lot of people talking, can that kind of be the counter to that, that you're not going to feel safe because there's sort of too much happening?

50:01 Allison

And I imagine that a lot of people relate to this... a lot of people who have families, they get together at Christmas, and you basically have to shout to... speak over each other, to get a turn to be heard. And it just gets louder and louder from all corners of the room.

50:16 Peter

You know, in my house, you've been in my house at Christmas time.

50:20 Allison

Sorry. It's very common. Yes. I haven't been spying on you, but it's very common, so it doesn't surprise me. So that can lead us to feel unsafe. It leads us to... get feelings that many of us have, have felt all throughout our lives with our family, which is like, I'm not being heard. I'm not after being seen. I mean, they are pushing in, they're being listened to, but I'm not think thoughts like that can pop up based on those kinds of dynamics. 

Another thing that can happen when everyone's talking constantly is sensory overload. So we talk a lot about sensory overload in the autism world because it's very common. Sent through differences in autistic people is very common. But for anyone, when we're feeling a bit antsy or stressed or tired, our sensory systems can overwhelm us. So if we're at Christmas and everyone's talking and we're struggling to be heard and and there's just noise coming from all directions, we can start to feel what's called sensory overload. And that is when our brain just goes a little bit into survival mode because there's so much noise, it just can't pick up on all the cues and it doesn't know... how safe we are. 

The brain likes a lot of order, not chaos... so chaotic conversations can be really fun, this isn't a, it's not a problem if we go to a place where there's lots of people talking. It can be hilarious and fun and enjoyable. But for many people, they do also experience this sort of anxiety or sensory overwhelm that can come from there being just so much noise and so much happening all at once, all at the same time.

51:53 Peter

And sometimes you sort of say, Well, I might just go outside and get some fresh air or... you know, go to another room and just chill. That's kind of okay too.

52:01 Allison

Oh, very, very important. I think it's great to have a quiet place you can go to. And if you can just sort of sneak off and read your new book on the couch by yourself or just go and, you know, then then it's important to have spaces where you can go and just decompress and have some quiet time. And I think everybody understands that. So for the most part, I think people are really accepting of that kind of need. But sometimes the little ones, the children don't recognise when they need that, and they can be equally as overwhelmed from all the noise and all the chaos and all the talking, And they might be the ones doing all the talking, but they might not recognise, Oh, I'm experiencing some overwhelm now. I need some quiet time. 

So if we've got little ones in our lives who who experience overwhelm from all the noise, it can be helpful for us to instigate some quiet time with them in places that aren't so noisy. But yeah, the whole people who talk too much type situation is actually common. It's not a problem. It's not actually somebody talking too much. It's just that when we get together and we're excited, our sort of social rules tend to slip and we we lean into just the excitement of chatting with people we love and move out of the whole sort of social rules of conversation that we would normally do in small talk with people.

53:23 Peter

And the talks are the sort of thing, dare I say, that can be impacted by alcohol.

53:28 Allison

Oh yeah. Totally. Absolutely. So yeah, keep that in mind. Whether you're the drinker or the person who's listening to someone else who's been drinking, that definitely amplify it. That definitely can... amplify that. We lose our sort of sense of trepidation, I guess, and we're more likely to talk about the things that we want to talk about, and less likely to think about whether the other person is interested or not. But then there's other things, like, for example, on Christmas Day, especially if we eat a lot, we're going to get sleepy. And as we get sleepy, we're less inclined to talk. So things start to get more quiet in the afternoon sometimes. Yeah. 

So it definitely, the dynamics are constantly changing. But when you're around someone who talks a lot, just be aware that your your sensory needs might mean that you need some quiet time intermittently throughout the, the day or the the event, but also holding space for someone who has something interesting that they're interested in talking about is a really, really beautiful way of being in relationship with someone, even if you're not interested.

54:34 Peter

Yeah, no.

54:35 Allison

Just pretend.

54:36 Peter

Yeah, well, even if only for a tiny little while.

54:39 Allison

Yeah, exactly. Because it usually is. Especially if you're just catching up with someone you don't see a lot. Yeah, in my life, there's a lot of autistic people, so I'm very, very used to info dumping. And I really enjoy watching and hearing someone talk passionately about the things they're interested in. And that gives me enough joy to genuinely want to hear all about it, even if it's something that I don't understand or I'm not that interested in myself.

55:03 Peter

Alli, you're wonderful. Now, people can get a lot more information about some of the things we talk about, and also other things that you have got on your website. Allison Davies dot com dot AU is your website. Now, we were just chatting before coming to where this ends, your fifth year with us, which is... a pretty spectacular performance.

55:20 Allison

Remarkable. I can't believe it's been five years. 

55:24 Peter

Well, yeah. I talk philosophy and having fun.

55:25 Allison

It does. Yeah.

55:27 Peter

The important thing is - and I don't take rejection very well, Ali, I've got to put it out there. You're going to come back next year?

55:33 Allison

I would love to. 

55:35 Peter

Oh, well, we'd love to have you back. We'd love to have you back, because you give us a different way of thinking and some of the stuff that you say, well, all the stuff you say is what you think, but some of it you think, Oh, yeah, of course. And other things you think, I've never thought of it that way. And I like it when people say things that you think, Well, I've never looked at it that way. I never thought of it that way. That is such a cool thing. So you do that better than most.

55:55 Allison

Thank you so much. It would be an honour. I'd love to come back.

55:57 Peter

All right, well. We'll give you December off. You can kick back and look after your kids and your husband and everyone else, and we look forward to where you were telling us that you've had a great Christmas and all the best for 2025, and we'll catch up with you towards the end of January in that year.

56:11 Allison

Thanks, Peter.

56:12 Peter

Allison Davies - allisondavies.com ... You check out Ali's website - and, well it's been five great years. Let's hope there's maybe another 55 or something to come. On the Vision Australia network through your favorite podcast service on 1197 AM in Adelaide, you're listening to Leisure Link. It's fabulous. 

Welcome to the program. Our yoga expert been with us for many years and is back with us for the last time this year. She'll be back next year. Reeva, great to have you back. Thank you for your time.

56:53 Reeva

That's all right, Peter. 

Peter

End of the year there. Incredible - Christmas. 

57:00 Reeva

And because it's the end of the year and Christmas, people start to run around a lot and don't realise, you know, they're getting stressed out and becoming anxious. So I've decided to do Pranayama. Yeah. And that's a breathing technique. Prana means life fall. Yama means breath control. Breath, life and energy. Our interests are getting. Having trouble getting my tongue around, but they're connected. And Pranayama for yoga is the single word for all three. 

It's a series of breathing techniques which aim at stimulating and increasing vitality and mental focus, and expands consciousness. The breath accesses bridge to our nervous system, and by exploring Pranayama practices, we can observe how deeply it is connected to the mind. Our breathing alters depending on our mood and psychological state. It's simple when we breathe better, we feel better. And that's something to keep in mind. Sometimes we don't realise that we're getting anxious anyway. 

What we do is sit comfortably. Now, if you're sitting, if you sit in a chair, make sure your back is straight. Knees together and feet together, flat on the floor after your hands resting comfortably on your thighs, thumb and index finger lightly touching. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Breathing in and out through your nose. Listen to the sound of your breath and movement of your chest as you breathe in and out. You might not be able to hear your breath that much at this time, but you're going within. After a few rounds, start to breathe more fully. Lengthen your incoming breath and outgoing breath. Do not force, the sound of your breath will alter. As with the movement of your chest. As she clung still and empty as she breathed in and out. 

Now, after a few rounds... I think I should start to breathe more fully, lengthening the incoming breath and outgoing breath. And don't force. That's important. You don't want to sort of, you know, so you got to keep it nice and quiet. Now, count your incoming and outgoing breath as visual focus your mind. The outgoing gross should be a little longer than the incoming and continue for a few rounds. Then inhale. Hold the breath in for a count of three or up to five. Then slowly breathe out. Lengthen your breath and hold it out for a count of 2 or 3 before inhaling again. 

Continue counting your breath for a few more rounds and slowly release, letting your breath flow in and out, settling back into its own rhythm. And that should be aware of the quietness within you and slowly open your eyes. And when you're ready for it, start to move and stretch. Is that the basic? said Peter. Counting your breath does your mind, and if your mind starts to, you know, move away, you bring it back to your counting. And, as I said, it must be no, no, no forcing at all. And with time you get used to a fuller exhalation and holding that breath in, and then slowly out and down and holding it out. And it's practice anyway. If... look at the benefits.

1:00:39 Peter

Yep.

1:00:40 Reeva

Conscious breathing brings oxygen and energy to the cells and enhanced all cellular processes. Reduced blood pressure, heart rate, emotional blocking and negativity that sometimes we don't. Our emotions play a lot onto ourselves, and we don't realize that at a lot of time. Reduces anxiety and stress. Fosters a positive outlook. Ability to focus on the present moment and create harmony between breath, mind, and body. It's all about practice, practice, practice and we get all those benefits there. Now I've mentioned sitting down, but it can do to the standing, particularly if you start to feel anxious at all. It will calm and focus you. 

And if people aren't going to notice, you just stand quietly. You don't necessarily have to close your eyes, but keep your eyes still. Focus on something and you know you need 2 or 3 rounds and then you feel better for it. Yeah, I've used it at times, and sometimes we don't realise how uptight we're starting to get.

1:01:51 Peter

That's so true.

1:01:52 Reeva

And then. Yeah, it is. And just three minutes that it can be used any time really, if to relax you and bring that calmness and stealing within yourself. And that's important. Otherwise we get high blood pressure and all sorts of things happening to it. So making wrong decisions because we're in a hurry, you know, maybe snapping at people. So a lot of that isn't necessary.

1:02:20 Peter

Knowing good advice. Would you like to take us through it again, Riva?

1:02:23 Reeva

Yeah, I will. So you sit comfortably, and if you're sitting in a chair, make sure your back is straight. Knees together and feet together. Flat on the floor and the hands resting comfortably on your thighs. Thumb and index finger lightly touching. Now, throughout this, some people have trouble sitting with their legs crossed or other positions. So during this, if they need to move at all, you move quietly, but close your eyes and focus on your breathing, breathing in and out through your nose. Listen to the sound of your breath and move it off your chest as you breathe in and out. 

After a few rounds, start to breathe more fully, lengthening your incoming breath and your outgoing breath. Do not bore the sound of your breath will alter, as will the movement of your chest, every lung full and empty as you breathe in and out. Now with that to count the incoming breath and the outgoing breath. And this will focus our mind. The outgoing breath should be a little longer than the incoming. I continued for a few rounds, just having a pause before the incoming and outgoing breath and before you breathe in again, and then inhale and hold the breath in for a count of 3 or 5 and slowly breathe out. Lengthen your breath and hold it out for a count of 2 or 3 before inhaling again. 

Continue counting your breath for a few more rounds and slowly release, letting your breath go in and out. Stepping back into his own rhythm and be aware of the quietness within you. If merely open your eyes and when you're ready, gently They move and stretch and you're ready for your day or for your sleep. Whatever time of the day that you do it with prana yama. They say that the best time is early in the morning and around ten, and sunset early in the morning. It is because the air is still fresh. Mm. And I'm not sure about the sunset. Yeah. Maybe, you know, it starts to cool down, but it can be done any time that they say that's the best time. 

And if you're walking, try and walk in a reserve or a park or somewhere where there's a lot of greenery that you're not walking close to a road where there's a lot of traffic. And I always feel the outer part there. I walk through it a lot, and as soon as I cross over one the road there, it's like, ah, I'm here, you know, all these beautiful... greenery, trees, everything is just so quiet and still. It's wonderful. So just keep that in mind, people.

1:05:20 Peter

Reeva, you are wonderful to know. Thank you so much for your wonderful segments throughout the year. And we're very, very hopeful that you're going to say yes to you coming back next year.

1:05:31 Reeva

Oh yes. You can't get rid of me.

1:05:34 Peter

Well, we'll never get rid of you, Reeva. Reeva, have a great Christmas and all the best for New Year. Thank you so much again for all you've done. We really appreciate it. And you look after yourself.

1:05:44 Reeva

Thank you, Peter, and all our listeners, to enjoy your Christmas and New Year.

1:05:49 Peter

That's the Reeva hashtag. Campbelltown Senior Citizen of the year. If you want to contact Reeva, 0412 826 096.

1:06:01 Pierre

Hi, I'm Pierre Cummings, CEO of Special Olympics Australia and you're listening to Leisure Link with Peter Greco and the Vision Australia Radio network.

1:06:14 Peter

Well, it's that time of the year that maybe you're changing your phones over or getting a new phone. You can do something really, really important and powerful with your when you're getting rid of. Let's chat about it with Ashton Wood. Ashton, great to meet you and thanks for your time. 

Ashton

Thank you Peter. 

Peter

Now you have come up with a fantastic idea, a fantastic thing for people to do if they have a find that they don't need and particularly for corporates. 

1:06:38 Ashton

Yeah that's right. I'd love to say that I came up with this idea all by myself with a big plan... but I didn't. I literally cleaned up my house and... had some old things I didn't need anymore. Like some phones. And I was speaking to an ex-police senior sergeant about it. And she said to me, she desperately needs phones, to give to victims of domestic violence to take home and hide. Yeah. I was a bit surprised. I said, What do you mean? Why would they need to take a phone home and hide it? And she said, Well, quite often their main phone is being tracked and monitored or taken during domestic violence. And it leaves them with no way to call for help. It's a part of the isolation that can happen in domestic violence.

So I handed her my two old phones and she said Well, these can save lives. So... yeah, we're calling on anyone with old phones out there to please get them across to us, and we will test them. We'll fix them. If we can't fix them, we'll recycle them. And then we give them out for free to over 350 police stations, safe houses and hospitals across the country now.

1:07:39 Peter

Wow. That's a powerful message, isn't it? I mean, you know, those of us that perhaps don't experience something like this and we're fortunate enough not to we kind of don't appreciate some of the quote unquote stuff that does go on in the community.

1:07:51 Ashton

That's so true, Peter. When I started it, I thought I knew one person who was a domestic violence survivor. And when I reached out to my network, my corporate network on LinkedIn and said, Hey, look, I'm doing this, please send me your phones. I'm shocked at how many people came back that I have worked with for years that have been victims themselves, or their mum or their sister or even their brother, because it does happen to men. And I'm like, Well, wait, why didn't you talk about this? You never told me this. And they're like, Well, when would we bring it up? Like, wow. That's such a good point. 

So it starts a conversation and I think that's what we need to do, because in Australia, there's over 2 million victims of domestic violence. One woman is killed every four days in Australia. So it's, the stats are not good. And so I think the more we can talk about it, the more we can let people know there is a lot of help out there. Our services are obviously, the free mobile phones, that's the part we do, which we then give to agencies to provide to the victim survivors as part of their plan. But there are so many support services out there that can help people going through this.

1:08:53 Peter

That's a great point you make about who you give the phones to because people say, Oh yeah, look, here's my phone, you know, go, go away and do whatever you want with it. But you've got to make sure it kind of gets into the right hands or the people that are going to get the most benefit from it.

1:09:05 Ashton

Yeah, that's right. That's why we give them straight to the agencies that... help survivors directly, because we know we can do the phones. But quite often in domestic violence, there's, you know, what about, what's the person going to live? Mm. How are they going to get food transport? Where are their kids going to go? What about the pets - are there any pets that need to be rehomed? So there's a whole lot of things that need to be worked on that, we don't have the skills, or people or funding to do so. We do the phones into the agencies and police stations, safe houses and hospitals, and then we leave it for them to decide who gets the phones and all the other wraparound services they can offer as well.

1:09:40 Peter

Technology is such a great thing, but you know, if it's in the wrong hands, if I can put it that way, it can also be abused. And I guess that's the sort of thing you were talking about. People in that situation holding the phones that you give them because you know, that can't be tracked or people that they might be... in contact with it, they don't want to be in contact with, don't have that number.

1:09:59 Ashton

Yeah. You're so right, Peter. You know, phones today, they're so good. You know, if you lose your phone, you can look up and see where it is. If you've got children, you can see where they are to keep them safe. But unfortunately all their technology can be weaponised. And that's exactly what's happening out there is perpetrators are weaponising the phones that the, their victims are using so they can see where they are, what they're doing and who they're talking to. And it's just yeah, it's... a real sad state of affairs that it's been done. But like you said, our phones, the idea is that the perpetrator never knows they exist. 

So the victim survivor has our phone with them when they're out travelling and, or getting help or escaping. And the beautiful thing is, we never need our phones back. Yeah. Once the survivor is safe, they keep our phone forever. And we actually recommend they put a hammer through their old phone and recycle it. Because, like you said, it's probably being tracked.

1:10:49 Peter

And in terms of the the timing of the year, I mean, I guess there's no good time or whatever time, but I mean, I guess those sort of messages kind of hit home to us a bit more at sort of Christmas holiday sort of festive times. 

1:11:02 Ashton

Yeah. They do so well right now is actually, 16 days of activism, which is something a lot of the corporates do. So they want to do something with their staff for 16 days this time of the year. And staff can use volunteer days to get involved in community based programs. And this is definitely one that we encourage all corporates to do, because quite often the corporate donors are much better condition than the phone has been through the family. Mum and dad, kids in the bath. 

As we saw with the phones that come from corporate and normally in a lot better condition, so we can turn that around a lot quicker. But just like you said, Christmas is coming and it is. We find it's the season where people are more likely to give, whether it be little donation or maybe they're getting a new phone for Christmas. So consider us for the old one. Or maybe they're looking for a gift for someone who's got everything, and they could donate to us on that person's behalf. Yeah.

1:11:53 Peter

Great point Ashton. What about in terms of, you know, people in more rural and remote areas? Because that can be, well, equally important, I guess, rather than more important or less important, but equally important.

1:12:04 Ashton

Yeah, the stats say that people in rural, remote areas are 24 times more likely to be hospitalized. So it's actually the violence in those areas is more physically damaging than in metro and remote metro areas. But yes, we provide phones to agencies right across the country and into some pretty remote areas as well, which, believe it or not, some of those areas the agencies ask us for what they call light phones. Or dumb phones. We call them, you know, not a not an Apple phone or something like that, because they said, people could be literally walking down the street with one of their phone, one of those phones in their hand, and they might get bashed for that phone. 

So they said, please send us the phones that look the cheapest but still function well. So yeah, we we can certainly cater for the kind of phones that people need in different regions. Whereas capital cities, it's more about let's get the survivor the same kind of phone they used to using. So they're used to using an Apple phone. Let's get an him. Apple. Samsung. Let's get him a Samsung. So that way they don't have to try and relearn how to use a phone. You know when they need it for an emergency.

1:13:08 Peter

If your phone is in working order, you want it. I mean, assuming people have got another one to replace their web, but you know what I mean.

1:13:14 Ashton

I know they're working on it.

1:13:16 Peter

All right. I'd be more than happy to give up their work phones if they were working over this Christmas period. How can we get in touch? Ashton, what do we need to do?

1:13:25 Ashton

Well, the best way is our website, which is DV safe phone org. If people go there and go to a button called Donate Phones, there's a map of Australia and there's over 950 collection points around the country. People can drop their old phones too. So lots of Fernwood Fitness gyms and car dealerships and banks and all sorts of places they can drop their phones to. And if someone needs a phone, then they go to a website and go to get help. And that has another map, which is all the agencies in Australia who receive our phones so they can reach out to one of those agencies, get one of our phones and also all the other support they can offer them. 

1:13:59 Peter

I was going to say not just the phone, but that other support. Because sometimes, you know, that's the first step is the most important step or to kind of to say, look, I need some help. You know, what can you do? Absolutely. Just give us that web address and we'll put that up with our show notes.

1:14:12 Ashton

Jason w w w dot DV safe phone - that's d v s a f e p h o n e dot org.

1:14:21 Peter

We'll put that up with our show notes. Ashton, congratulations on the initiative. It might not be your idea, but you're promoting, which is the great thing. Let's hope that, well, if it helps one person, Indeed if it saves one life, how powerful a message is that? So thanks for sharing a bit of time with us.

1:14:36 Ashton

Well, thank you so much. Peter, thanks for your time. Appreciate it.

1:14:38 Peter

That's Ashton Wood there from uh, DV Safe Phone. We'll put those details up in our show notes, but a very powerful message and certainly at this time of the year, a very sobering message as well. What a wonderful contributor Denise Wood has been... for close to 20 years. Adjunct Professor Denise Wood from USC. Denise, welcome back. Great to speak to you again.

1:15:04 Denise

Lovely to speak to you too, Peter.

1:15:07 Peter

What have you got for us as a kind of finale for the year?

1:15:11 Denise

Well, it's probably a good news story because we've spoken several times. I think about some of the wonderful developments with the the company be my eyes that so obviously develop that app that, um, uh, connects people who are blind with or low vision on a live video call with a sighted user, volunteers from all around the world to help identify objects or locate, um, objects in the house and... so on. So, and we've seen some really fantastic developments with the team from Be My Eyes. 

So... on the news front there, they have teamed up with Microsoft to help Microsoft train its new Artificial Intelligence model. And so the way that they're collaborating with Microsoft is, they're providing anonymised. That's the really important thing. It is de-identified video data to improve the understanding from Microsoft accessibility-focussed AI model. In other words, really sort of sharing with artificial intelligence developed by Microsoft, some of the experiences, I guess, of... a vision impaired user and through the eyes, I guess, of a sighted user. 

So the data that Be My Eyes is providing Microsoft will include things like objects, lighting and framing that represents that lived experience of the blind and low vision community, with the intention of making Microsoft's artificial intelligence more inclusive for people with vision disabilities. So, now they really do emphasise that all personal information is scrubbed from the metadata that's handed over to Microsoft. And it will not just to reinforce, they will not use. Microsoft won't use that data for advertising. It will only be used to train its AI models. 

And this isn't the first time that A Be My Eyes has collaborated with Microsoft. They also work with Microsoft to help develop the artificial intelligence behind Microsoft's Disability Answer Desk. So that's a GPT four AI version of an assistance product to help people with vision disabilities to navigate Microsoft products such as Microsoft Office, Windows, and Xbox. Now, not to end collaborations with just Microsoft, Be My Eyes is also recently created a partnership with the Hilton chain to help link dedicated hotel staff with blind and low vision people who are staying at Hilton Hotels and accommodation to help them adjust their thermostats. You know, make coffee. Yeah. So fantastic. 

So... Be My Eyes is most certainly doing some really exciting things. And not to end there, they've also recently entered a partnership with Meta to help with the accessibility software for blind and low vision community in the Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses. So the collaboration will bring the idea of that call to volunteer that we've now got on the app to the glasses, and this integration will be really quite a unique partnership. And the first, in this kind of innovation. So it's starting out initially in the US and then will come to Australia, Canada, Ireland and the UK. So you'll be able to use the Be My Eyes by your Ray-Ban glasses. 

So this is an experience initiated entirely by voice command. So by... saying, Hey Meta, call a volunteer on Be My Eyes. This will create that connection to one of the volunteers... who will speak the user's native tongue through a one way video, two way audio call enabled, and they'll be able to see the volunteer will be able to see what the vision impaired person is looking at through the lenses of the glasses that they're wearing. Isn't that amazing?

1:19:30 Peter

That is extraordinary, isn't it?

1:19:31 Denise

And it will use the glasses, open air speakers. So, but they're saying it will be useful for many everyday tasks. So really exciting. And as we know, Be My Eyes has just grown from strength to strength. It now has a worldwide network of over 7.7 million sighted volunteers. So quite a tremendous initiative. And to see nearly 8 million people across the world volunteering to provide their assistance to people who are blind and and vision impaired. So really, really great work that we're seeing coming out of that company and in collaboration with many other companies.

1:20:15 Peter

Well, if any of those are listening in, I hope you have a great festive season because I've used it. I've spoken to you before. Totally. Yes. Independently of any... you know, agreement of anything. But they are all wonderful. And, you know, you know, before they finish, like, is there anything else I can help you with, or is that enough? I mean, they are... whoever does the training is... gold star for them because they are fabulous.

1:20:38 Denise

It is. It's a it's a wonderful example. And now that we're seeing them leveraging all of that information to improve the capacity of artificial intelligence. As we know, that's a that's a new step. A new generation which will provide even greater independence for people with with disabilities. So really exciting developments there.

1:21:01 Peter

Can I ask how appropriate to your last segment for the year? You talk about AI. That's kind of been the theme for the last... well, I guess nearly two years now, hasn't it?

1:21:09 Denise

And I'm sure it's going to continue that way. In fact, you know, we've just had all the Black Friday elves and my laptop was pretty much dying. So I've just invested in a new on Black Friday, the new Snapdragon X elite, uh, laptop, which has got the built in AI. And it's quite remarkable.

1:21:29 Peter

I got to say, first impressions.

1:21:30 Denise

Very, very, very impressed. It's the speed of this thing is unbelievable. It's, you know, 32 gigs of, you know, Ram and a terabyte of storage, but the Snapdragon X elite speed, it's, you know, they sort of stay around 3.44MHz per second or whatever. But it's fast, it's sharp. It's it's the shape of the technology to come. Peter.

1:21:55 Peter

Dennis, you've been with us for about 20 years. I actually lost count. But you are such a wonderful resource for us. You give us such up to date, excellent information. I mean, if I say thank you, that's not enough. But thank you. And, uh. Well, I'm kind of hoping you might come back next year. In fact, if you did, I'll be very upset, yes sir.

1:22:14 Denise

It's my pleasure and honour, Peter. I enjoy catching up with you every month. And, yes, it's been a long journey. And what amazing technology developments we've seen in that time. 

1:22:25 Peter

We're just getting started Denise. 

1:22:28 Denise

Yeah. That's absolutely right. So all the best to you and your listeners for the festive season. Stay safe, stay cool and enjoy whatever technology you have access to over this holiday period.

1:22:42 Peter

Cheerio Professor there, Denise Wood from USC. 

Just a message through from Cameron Reed from Blind Golf SA that come and dry day for adults has been booked out on December the 7th, so you can still get in touch with Cameron - I guess you can maybe be squeezed in at another time, but great news that that day has already been booked out. If you're a junior, you can still go along. So if you would like to get involved with blind golf, get in touch with Cameron. 

Also didn't mention at the beginning of the program, but this program of course comes to you from Ghana land. A couple of quotes before we go. Margaret has sent one through or Margie, who calls herself Peggy. Couple of kind of... food-related quotes today or sayings, Peggy says, Why do people say you can't have your cake and eat it? If I've got my cake, what's the point of having it if I can't eat it? So thanks to Peggy for sending that through. And one from Carl who sends a little bit more of a serious one through, he says, Rather than saying, I have to bite the bullet, wouldn't it be better to say, I'd like to taste that beautiful banana? So thanks to Carl for sending your quote through. 

Some birthdays before we go by - Vernon having a birthday, one of our mighty Aussie Steelers. We spoke to Brad Dubberley last week on the program, didn't we? One of the coaches a couple of weeks ago now. So happy birthday to Bo, AFL footballer and also AFL coach and also a member of the Aussie Steelers... Tracey Cross having a birthday. The person who took the athletes' oath at the Sydney Paralympic Games also having a birthday... and Gail Melissa, the very talented artist and also administrator Gail Moelis and advocate having a birthday as well. Gail, a very happy birthday to you.

If you're listening through 1197 AM in Adelaide, don't touch that dial. Coming up very, very soon is Vicki Cousins with Australian Geographic, a program not to be missed. Sam Rickard, thanks so much for your help. Pam Green, thanks so much for yours. Reminding you that Leisure Link is available on your favorite podcast platform. If you liked the program, spread the news - we always got room for one more listener. All being well, let's look back at the same time next week. Be kind to yourselves, be thoughtful and look out for others. This is Leisure Link on Vision Australia Radio.