Annette Ferguson

00:15

S1 (Speaker 1)

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

S2

The Dog Guide Handlers Association Australia have got their conference coming up in August. Let's find out a bit more about it, maybe a lot more about it and speak to the President of Dog Handlers Australia or the Chairperson and also the convenor for the conference Annette Ferguson. Anne, lovely to catch up. Good to speak to you.

S3

Hi Peter. A long time, no speak.

S2

It is a little while, now this is happening. Let's establish the date and where first, then we can talk about some of the features.

S3

So the date of the conference is the fourth, fifth and 6th of August. The conference starts on the Friday night, the fourth with a little expo and a it's not a cocktail party. It's a dog tail party this time. So we'll have some some dog tails and some mocktails as well for people who don't drink. And we've got a little expo with some stalls, just, you know, mostly assistive technology. We've got a couple of O and M's, we've got Guide Dogs and Vision Australia showing some of their products and yeah, so that should it'll start with a fun night and then we go into Saturday and Sunday where we've got a jam packed program full of guest speakers and workshops. 

And on the Saturday night we have our dinner where we award somebody with our Gold Harness award. And on that night we're also having Australia's first inclusive raffle. We haven't actually got any prizes yet, but it's going to be a very inclusive raffle. We're making raffle tickets with the help of Vision Australia. We'll have raffle tickets that are large print and have Braille on them.

S2

Oh terrific.

S3

I don't know if you've ever, you know, bought raffle tickets and then thought, oh, I don't know if I've won or not because I can't see the numbers.

S2

Yep. Been there, done that for sure.

S3

We thought we'd get around that that issue with making some. Yeah. Large print and Braille raffle tickets. So yeah we've got a really good program lined up now.

S2

Registrations have just opened, I think.

S3

Registrations opened at, I think at the end of April the registration fee is $250 and everyone who's going if you know, if you're bringing a support worker or a partner or a friend, everybody has to to register. And you can do that online at dot org. AEW I think there's a link to the conference registration page on the front page of our website, so it shouldn't be too hard to find.

S2

And if people have difficulty with that, we'll give you an email address as well. And I guess you could always email people back the registration details. So if they find it easy to fill it out that way, they can do that as well.

S3

Absolutely. You can email us at Daegu and we will very happily send you a registration form in the form of a word document or a document, whatever your preference is. Ericka Webb will help with that and.

S2

She's very good with stuff like that.

S3

Yeah, she is. She's very good. And if you want some help with registering online, Erica is very happy to help you with that as well.

S2

Did we say where it is, or did you say where it is?

S3

It's at Royal on the park in Brisbane.

S2

Terrific. Now I think there's some fringe activities or a bit of add ons before and after the event as well out there.

S3

There are some of them are still being organised, but we're hoping to have a dog training workshop on Friday, maybe a couple of social events as well, and we've definitely got locked in on the Monday and a Gagliardi Scratch is a dog trainer and she's going to do some a workshop on communicating with your dog.

S2

So yeah, we've spoken and she's very, very good with stuff like that. Yes. Wonderful insights actually. Yeah, yeah. Now without wishing to upset to too many people of course August in Brisbane if we've nearly had enough of the cold southern winter. A lovely time to get away.

S3

Yeah, we're really looking for... I'm from Dubbo, I'm looking forward to some warmth already so yeah. Should be a good time of year and royal on the park as the name indicates is right across the road from a big park. So one of the activities that we'll be doing is going for a couple of walks around the park. So we're not we're trying to make it so that we're not just sitting in a conference room all day. So, you know, particularly on the Saturday afternoon, there'll be a walk and we'll do a group photo and that sort of thing just to get people up and about.

S2

Good for dog God, Good for handler.

S3

Yes. Yes.

05:06

S2

And they're obviously going too much into it depending on people's individual setups. But you talked about the NDIS. People on an NDIS plan may well be worth investigating some of the opportunities for something like this.

S3

Yes, absolutely. If you have it within your goals to learn more about dog guide handling or connect more with your peers, you can, you know, speak to your support coordinator or your lack and definitely claim the conference fees on NDIS. It is an individual thing. You know, it's not a definite for everyone, but if you have NDIS and that it fits with your your goals, your personal goals. Yes, definitely. It's a, it's a, you know, peer led activity and very informative and it will definitely help you with your relationship with your guide dog and you get to meet lots of other people with sorry dog guides, not guide dog. So it should be claimable for for many people on NDIS.

S2

And the other good thing about something like this, you talked about that technology and we often talk about technology on programs like this, but the I guess the the way they can make a difference to people's orientation and mobility can't be underestimated. I mean, there's so much out there that can now be very, very helpful. You know, whether you use a dog guide or a cane or whatever. But there's so much out there literally at your fingertips or, you know, you can wear in your ears, that can be very, very helpful as well.

S3

Absolutely. And so having a dog guide gives you a lot more freedom than you may otherwise have. And at the conference, we have a session on technology for mobility. So we've got Bindi maps, we've got human wear, and we've got Vision Australia all doing a little 15 minute presentation on technology that you can wear technology for outdoors, technology for indoors. And then after that there'll be a session where the audience can ask questions. So we're really looking forward to that. We've got three great people speaking and each one is speaking on their specialty, so they'll be able to answer any questions you have on, you know, technology that you can use with a guide dog. With a dog guide. Sorry.

S2

That's all right. Habits die hard. I mean, it's the sort of thing that, you know, it just increases your independence and your feeling of safety and confidence with things like this. And, you know, a lot of people into technology these days for those that aren't. Certainly worth exploring. And if you get someone to kind of explain it to you, you know, a good thing to take up or good thing to think about taking up at least.

S3

Yes. Yes, definitely. Another thing that will feature at the conference, Dog Guide Harnesses. We've got Doug Ritchie from Guide Dogs, New South Wales, speaking about the research that guide dogs New South Wales have done into the harness. And we've also got Doug from Guide Dogs and Vision Australia on the Friday night at the Expo who are there to show anyone who wants to have a look at all the different harnesses that are available. So you know, that's another aspect of dog guide handling is what harness you use and it can make quite a difference.

S2

Speaking about harness and the Gold Harness Award, it's time honoured and we've had the pleasure of speaking to a number of winners over the years and I'm sure there'll be an equally worthy winner announced this year.

S3

Yes. Yes. We've got a little secret Golden Harness Business Committee working on that. So have no idea who's even in the running. But yeah, it's always an exciting night. We have a beautiful trophy that we give out for that award. And yes, Saturday night is usually a really good night because we focus on the Golden Harness Award in the raffle and then the rest of the night is just socializing, which is, you know, we don't have a keynote speaker or anything and we, we keep it so that it can just be very social and people can, you know, get to know each other. And yeah, we're hoping that, you know, we can have the award winner there on the night. Sometimes they can't make it, but that's going to be a great feature of the conference and...

S2

It's fantastic that it's face to face. Two questions. One is, will people be able to kind of join in remotely or the second one, will there be recordings of the conference available afterwards for those who may not be able to make it?

S3

So we we deliberated over the ability to log in and stream the conference live and we decided against it in the end because it's, you know, it's just not the same if you're not there. And many of the committee, you know, have the experience of not really enjoying hybrid events where some people were online and some people there in person. So we decided that we're recording the conference, We've got professional recordings and we've we've done the recording thing in the past and it's always on our website a couple, usually a couple of weeks after the conference. So. So people can listen in. They can't, you know, obviously ask questions. But we do have our Facebook group, which is very active. And if you wanted to ask questions about any of the, you know, conference topics or connect with people, our Facebook page is a great place to go. So.

10:22

S2

Well, that's a good compromise, isn't it? So it's great, obviously, you know, with the troublesome of times of Covid, it's great that we can get back together face to face, as you say, for those who can't make it for whatever reason, do you have to sort of watch it on catch up, as it were, off the website, you know, listen to the recordings. That'll be a nice little compromise for those who can't actually be there, which is great. Definitely anything in particular that either you're looking forward to it or that's been, you know, a little bit challenging as far as putting together goes.

S3

To be honest, Peter, there hasn't been too many challenges. It's all going very smoothly. I did see on on our registration spreadsheet, I think we've got about 12 or 13 people who've never been to a conference before. Terrific. So we're attracting lots of new people. We've also got some old hands who've been to every conference like myself.

S2

Really.

S3

I think I've missed one somewhere along the line, maybe 2016 or 17 or something. But, you know, it's fantastic that we're attracting so many new people and we've got new people signing up to every month. And we've also got a lot of new people coming to our Facebook group, which is where it all happens when when we're not at a conference. Our Facebook group is our little community. So yeah, it's I'm really looking forward to the new people coming and enjoying the conference because I know the first conference I went to, I had only had my first guide dog for six weeks and everyone said, No, it's too early, don't go yet. But I went and I had a fantastic time and yeah, now I'm the president. So that worked out really well.

S2

It's a bit like the old line about the guy who used to product of the company. He liked the product so much he bought the company. Yeah. Do you like the product so much? You've become president of the organisation, so that's going to say something for it.

S4

Yeah. Terrific.

S2

Yeah. All right. Well, give us those details again. What we'll do is we'll put them up on our Facebook page and we'll catch up with you or someone else perhaps a few weeks before it just to get a bit of a beat on how it's all going. But it sounds like it's going to be most, most worthwhile. And as you say, great for the I was going to say the old guy for the experience, the dog handlers of the of the past, but also for newbies coming along for the first time to to meet and I guess get a bit of an idea of what other people are doing because peer support is just so important in any walk of life. It is.

S3

It definitely is. You can't beat peer support and it's all the rage at the moment. So we're doing the right thing.

S2

Well, you know, if you hear from someone that's been through it or going through it or being through it and come out the other side, it, as I often say, without being too critical of occupational therapists or professionals, they can know the theory, but it's nice when you get the practical for someone who is a, you know, walked in those shoes, as it were, so or held that harness.

S3

Yes. Held that harness. That's right.

S2

Give us the details of the Internet.

S3

So you can email us on at Daegu or visit our website at npr.org, Dot AEW or look for a Facebook group on Facebook.

S2

All right. And the details as to when and where, again.

S3

The details are from 5 p.m. Friday, the 4th of August, until I think we ended around 4 p.m. on Sunday, the 6th of August. And it's at Royal on the park in Brisbane.

S2

And it's I saw someone say, you know, if you maybe have a day or two before and a day or two after, you can really have a lovely week off and thaw out from the winter of the South and go back, your vitamin D levels up and your energy all up and thought out, ready for the Southern spring. So the timing could be really, really good. A good time to hold in August. And again, thank you so much for your time. We'll keep in touch and we'll as I get you back, either maybe you're late June, early or early July just to see how all the numbers are coming along. But it sounds like it's going swimmingly.

S3

Thank you, Peter. Thank you for having me, and I'll look forward to speaking to you soon.

S2

That's Annette Ferguson, the President of Guidelines Australia, and Annette is also the conference convenor. That conference coming up in Brisbane in August. 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.

14:41

S2

On Spotify or your favorite podcast service.