Kathy Riesson

00:15

S1 (Speaker 1)

On Vision Australia Radio. this is Vision Extra with Peter Greco.

S2

Well, I'm delighted to welcome the program. Kathy Riesson, who was very recently advised that she'd won the TAMI Actress and Lifetime Achievement Award from the Round Table. Cathy, congratulations and welcome.

S3

Thank you very much, Peter.

S2

How do you feel about it all? I've got a feeling you'd probably be very, very modest and a little bit humbled and shy by it.

S3

I'm quite yes, from what I think I think is a good expression. I was delightfully pleased, but yes, quite humbled because its past recipients are very, you know, very worthy past past recipients. And I can still name, you know, half a dozen people who work who are future worthy recipients.

S2

It's interesting you say that, Cathy, because I was actually looking at the website earlier and I noticed some of the past winners and in fact, all the passwords. And I thought, you know, without sounding too cliched or too cheesy, whatever the term might be, they're all such decent people, you know, Tom McMahon, Ramona, Mandy and others that have been recognised, you know, they're so deserving of that recognition. Your name will now sit very comfortably amongst us as well.

S3

Thank you. Yes, just very honoured.

S2

Tell us how you got involved. Hell, well, it might be almost giving away race, but that doesn't matter. We've got to celebrate. I just. These days. Just a bit. How and when you got involved?

S3

I got involved. Oh, we're in about 1988. It was around about then. One of my sisters was a teacher at what was then towns in school. And she said to me, Cathy, you should learn Braille. You'd be good at it. And that's really where it started.

S2

So what do you think? Might I say that...

S3

That they would needing a new transcribers. And she sort of said, Why don't you learn Braille? And I reckon you be a shoe-in. So did.

S2

What do you what do you think she said that what was it about you that she thought you'd be a bit of a natural at learning Braille?

S3

She knew I was a maths geek, that I enjoyed maths. But I have a mind that I like to think about things. I like patterns, I like problems, I like solving problems. And it was a time that I was home with three young children ready to look at re-entering the workforce. So it's sort of the timing was good and I think Fiona just saw saw the potential in me.

S2

Did she have to take all the credit for it now?

S3

Yes. 

S2

Kathy, it's interesting you talk about your geekiness as far as the goes because there is a little bit of maths involved with with bras. The way that the alphabet is set up, there's kind of a nice the word synchronicity to it, to how it was developed.

S3

I think it's looking at patterns, you know, sort of doing, you know, the coding side of it, the pattern side of it. I also learnt music Braille very early on that was one of the parrots was to, you know, sort of look at music and, you know, music has a pattern to it and the Braille has a, you know, the brown music code I consider it is absolutely brilliant in how it works. It was just sort of, yeah, it's all fitted together for me.

S2

It's interesting. I was looking at the website as a saying in the first Lifetime Achievement award was awarded in 2009, which the anniversary of Louis Burrows birthday. And you know, thinking about that, you talked about the brow music. We've got computer Braille. We got refreshed with Braille. I mean, obviously he wouldn't have been aware of all this sort of stuff back when he invented it. But it's incredible. He did a fantastic job to invent Braille, if you like. But then the way that it's been adapted and it's adjusted to the changing times has been quite remarkable as well.

S3

And it's still adapts and adjusts. Yeah, I think it's it's it's not static. There's always changes to language, which means there's always changes to the need for Braille, you know, sort of how Braille works or the coding that you use. And, you know, Braille adapted itself to really well every language in the world, you know, sort of Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, you know, even those that have a different script to do English and other languages, which is the Roman alphabet, Braille adapted itself to that. It's adapted itself to, you know, technical material, as you say, music, all of it. You know, it is just so, yeah. Louis Braille did a brilliant job.

05:09

S2

And of course, you know, with Braille note takers and that sort of thing coming along these days, we've got the, you know, scientific calculators. And, you know, again, that just kind of the next step. And for students in particular or people that are working is so vital, isn't it? 

S3

It is. And I think constantly, you know, you can't, you know, sort of when you talk to people and they say, what do you do? And you you say they say, isn't Braille becoming obsolete because of, you know, voice and whatever. I said, no, Braille is actually, I think Braille used even more than when I started because of analogy, because there's refresher Braille displays, which means Braille readers don't have to wait for somebody to meticulously transcribe something for them. They can get it transcribed for themselves, you know, sort of in real time. It's become a very powerful tool.

S2

I'm sure many of those listening in now, Kathy, would be saying, you know, back in my day, you know, I had to wait a term to get books about and before I could get my hands on them and, you know, such a disadvantage compared to my peers, as you say, these days, it's almost instantaneous, which is, you know, a wonderful boon. And obviously, you know, that sort of putting people on equal terms with their peers.

S3

Absolutely. And I think probably my working career, which is now completed, I'm retired, you know, sort of saw the whole change from, you know, from going from manual transcription through to the automatic transcription. Now that seeing the whole change and and moving with it, you know, it actually has been a very exciting time. The challenge is now are your technical codes, you know, sort of making things a lot more automatic and and dealing with a lot of the diagram, you know, the diagrammatic work, trying to make that automatic, you know, sort of having electronic versions of diagrams and things that are, you know, friendly but electronic at the same time. You know, that's that's one of the big challenges coming up. It never change. You know, there's always a challenge ahead, which is exciting, actually.

S2

Exciting, as you say, and challenging because technology moves so quickly in a sense. And we kind of touched on it with the with the way that Braille has kind of adjusted as well. But you talked about the diagrams and the graphics that I know at least two different organizations that are working on sort of multi lines of refresh with Braille. I mean, I've had a little play with those and they are most exciting for us old people who kind of try to get ahead around this new sort of way of doing things.

S3

Absolutely. You know, sort of I think, you know, that's where a lot of the time and effort and research and whatever we'll be going with, you know, sort of the fact that, you know, sort of Braille words are accepted, you know, sort of a freely accessible but tactile diagrams are, you know, the next step forward.

S2

And it gives students an opportunity to say, well, look, I'm really interested in this sort of area of work or this area of study. You know, why shouldn't I be included to have that opportunity as well?

S3

Absolutely. And to get stuff in real time rather than having to wait for somebody to read it to you, you know, behind time. And as as anybody in the education field knows, you know, working with vision impairment, that, you know, teachers don't always put material in to be transcribed well ahead of time. It often occurs, you know, on the spot. And, you know, the more you can produce on the spot, the better off the students are.

S2

Kathy, have you received your actual award yet?

S3

I have. It was at the roundtable conference. It was last Monday night. Last week? Yeah. I attended the dinner. The conference dinner to receive the award, yes.

S2

Do you want to kind of explain the trophy? It's a  lovely trophy and a lovely kind of... Oh, no. What's the word? Synergy or lovely inclusiveness about it as well? 

S3

It is. And I sort of get a bit of Googling this morning and this is what this is. This is what's written on the round table website because it gives a good description. So it's in the form of a twin plaque. Each memento comprises two separate rosewood timber circular plaques, 24cm in diameter. The plaques are connected with a metal hinge, allowing if preferred the two plaques are stand upright. When resident angle on the front of each plaque is a silver metal plate on which it has the round table logo, which the round table logo is a circle with a map of Australia, including Tasmania and New and New Zealand within the circle. And the following words are written there. Roundtable on Information Access for People with Disabilities. The Tammy Wilson Lifetime Achievement Award. Cathy Riesen 2023. And why two plaque? Because one plaque, the words are in print and on the other plaque they are in Braille.

10:21

S2

It's in a sense, simple, but at the same time so powerful, isn't it?

S3

It is, you know, and it's lovely that it's in Braille and my grandchildren are quite intrigued by it.

S2

Fantastic. 

S3

I mean, I personally know people obviously, that have benefited from the work that you did. And I think, as I said at the beginning, you know, when it's someone that you kind of know and feel like, you know, it's even more special when they get recognised. As you said. Also, there's probably a number of people that would be very worthy recipients in the future.

S2

But you're the you're the one that's been chosen for 2023. And that's the important thing for now.

S3

Yes, I knew beforehand because in fact I wasn't going to attend Roundtable this year being retired. But when was rung up to say you've been nominated for the award, I then decided I really do need to go and attend. And it was actually very good because it meant that I caught up with people that over more than 30 years I've developed a relationship with and whatever, and there hasn't been a face to face round table for three years. So it was just nice to catch up with all of those people that I've really worked with and worked alongside and, you know, really enjoyed, you know, sort of, yeah, it was very worthwhile to go to the round table.

S2

Yeah, well, I think it's a mark of respect to what the award is about. When there were the only online conferences, they decided to put it in hibernation and to bring it out for 2023 when it was all back together in person. And for you to receive. But I think it's a lovely recognition as well. It was.

12:08

S3

Very nice. And in fact, at the dinner there were six other former recipients of the award there to sort of there with at the dinner. So that was very good. It meant a lot. It also meant a lot that it's the Tammy Axelsson Award because which is named in honor of Tammy Axelsson, who the former administration officer of of Round Table. And Tammy and I both attended our my first round table was probably the early 1990s. It was in Adelaide and Tammy's first round table as well. And over the years we developed quite a, you know, relationship talking about our children, our work. Tammy started as a transcriber and then moved on to be the admin officer of Round Table. And when she died in 2015, it was just sort of really it was devastating. And so it is lovely to have received this award which carries her name as well.

13:06

S2

Kathy It's been lovely. It's been a privilege talking to you. Thank you so much. Enjoy the moment and thank you for sharing some of those wonderful memories.

S3

Thanks, Peter. Thank you very much.

S2

That's Kathy Riesson there, the 2023 recipient of the Tammy Axon Lifetime Achievement Award. That is it for the program. If you've missed some of it, if you'd like to hear it again, you can search for an extra on the iTunes store on Spotify or your favorite podcast service.