What is Studio 1?

00:45 S1

This is Studio 1 on Vision Australia Radio.

00:55 S2

Hello, I'm Sam.

00:56 S3

And I'm Lizzie.

00:57 S2

And this is Studio 1, your weekly look at life from a low vision and blind point of view. Here on Vision Australia Radio.

01:03 S4

Did you just ask, is Braille dead? Did you just say is Braille dead? Over my dead body.

01:11 S5

By the turn of the century, there was a Braille code well established and used in Australia. For example, in the United Kingdom and the United States were still settling on which tactile code for reading it would use. And by 1932 the United States has established the Braille. Standard. American Braille would be used.

01:39 S2

So that was that different to the, what we I mean, it was like American Sign Language, for example, which is actually different to what we see in Australia for.

01:47 S5

All practical purposes. The the Braille used for, literary... material was the same in the United Kingdom and the United States, and therefore it was the same in other English speaking countries Canada, Australia, New Zealand and then other places like sort of India, Nigeria, South Africa, where where English was commonly used.

02:13 S6

On occasions when I've travelled to Melbourne and I don't know what it is about me being on a tram as a long cane user, it seems to evoke a discussion somewhere nearby of people deciding whether they'd rather be blind or deaf. And one day I'm going to go over to those people and say, you know what? I agree with you. I'd rather be deaf too, because then I wouldn't have to listen to this stupid conversation.

02:36 S7

The way I teach my students is if that pan is centered above the heat source, the top of the rim of that pan is going to be completely equally hot all the way around. Touch it for a second, but let's say I'm stirring like spaghetti sauce or something like that, and I accidentally bump it and I don't know it. Okay, the part of the pan that is now exposed to the heat source, because the heat is now traveling up the side of the pan, it's no longer covering it. So when I touch the top right side of the pans, like, oh, this is hotter than the left on the heat source at all, and also slow down, it's cooking. You'll be able to hear it not cooking as much. 

So then all you have to do is correct. It is to move it towards where the pan is the hottest at the top to once again get it underneath and you just keep checking. Nope, I didn't move it far enough. Let me do it a little bit more. Oh, I moved it too much. Now the left side is too hot and eventually you can get it safely and confidently that the that the pan is now centered again.

03:34 S8

But actually, the moment I got on, I realised it's not just me at the front pedalling away. It's a team. And in a way, you don't get cycling on a solo. And Lily and I have learned to work together in the most amazing way. And you will know. I'm sure you'd understand that when when you just all come together and get him in a corner doing a Greek descent. There's nothing like it. And it's a fabulous pose. I've put some of my personal goals to one side, but I feel like I've lost anything. In fact, my goals because we're a team are the same as Lily's. It's not my goals or her goals that our goals. And when we achieve it together, I think we get more of a buzz from that than you ever do just doing something on your own.

04:14 S9

So teamwork really does make the dream work now.

04:18 S8

So lately, I'm not. So lately.

04:20 S10

My race pilot is interstate in Brisbane. Yeah. And so I've got a handful of training pilots, if I may, who I might do some local races with... out on the road and some training rides. Obviously everyone has limited time and their own work commitment and life commitment. So yeah, I'm lucky to get out once a week and do do a long ride. I save the long rides for the the on the bike and do the intensity inside on the trainer and go from there.

04:50 S9

The other thing I sort of wanted to touch upon briefly was you are vision impaired. So how do you go with interacting with training platforms?

04:58 S10

So I found one that works for me with some vision. I've been asked by a few people who, you know, I know a few people use Trainer Road. Yeah. And find that reasonably accessible. But the most popular, which is Zwift, is, uh, is inaccessible. Exactly. Yeah. And they're taking their time to even acknowledge the fact it is.

05:23 S2

I can't believe you talk me into this. Who? Aren't you having so much fun, though? Oh, we've only just missed. I think next time I will ride on the front. Oh, mate.

05:33 S9

You don't know what you're missing out on. This is a dream. I've always wanted to be a pilot.

05:38 S11

The church that we were attending at the time were not particularly pleased about our relationship, so.

05:43 S2

Oh, why was that?

05:44 S11

To quote the church or the person that was leading up the section or the young adult section? Now, when I started dating Laura, my now wife. That were afraid or that she would take advantage of my disability. There was not mine or hers. They thought that she was going to take advantage of me and I'm going like I'm mid 30s. So about 34, 35 and... I'm going like, okay, you're worried about me, I get it. But I'm 35 years of age. I'm sure I can make up my own mind if whom I want to start developing a relationship for and all the rest of it. But yes, they were concerned, but I felt like the... teenager who, when you're young and in love, they go like, don't you go out with that wild boy or that bad boy. He's going to treat you wrong and he's going to corrupt you and all the rest of it. And they were worried at that stage that this is what she will do. Now. I'm like, sometimes you can't help who you fall in love with.

06:45 S12

I started as a clerical assistant, which is the lowest level in the New South Wales public service. I actually started answering the telephone and telling people the winning lotto numbers. And of course you need a law degree to do that. And I was made redundant from that job by an answering machine.

07:03 S2

So your number was actually called up and they...

07:05 S13

Yeah, I was about yeah. So there's 12 jurors and I was number eight and a couple, a couple dropped out when we got in there. Because when you get in there they then read you the charges. And every single person that's involved in the case full name, where they work, all sorts of stuff. So and if you know any of them, you then have to go and talk to the judge and let them know. Look, I know so and so and, you know, is this going to be a problem or I work at the same place or, you know, and then the judge will make a call as to whether you stay or go, and that's even before they start pulling names out.

07:41 S2

So things changed though. So you already said that your parents weren't able to look after you. And so and your father had the same eye condition as you. So that's sort of understandable. And your mother left when you were, what, 13? 13. Yeah. 13. Yes. So my... mother and my father got separated when I was 13. And basically I didn't really see that my mother that much right after that. And then a year later, I moved down to Melbourne to be with my aunty and uncle due to my grandparents not being able to look after me forever. Obviously they're getting older and they've got their own lives to live. And basically when I was 17, my aunty and uncle had enough of me and they didn't want me, and they said, get out. 

And that's sort of when I became homeless and it would be days where I'd be sleeping at Southern Cross Station or a random station on the B-Line network, where I could just travel and try and keep warm every night and all that will go to my grandparents for a couple of nights. It wasn't fun, but you know, I survived. One of the questions we often ask, just in general, is what's the point in travelling if you can't see, what is the point in travelling?

09:03 S14

Well, you can still have a real good time, but it does help if you've got somebody who's willing to. Would you say to describe and show you what's about and. That they are also very capable of doing that because, I mean, you know, you meet normal people. I mean, I went to Disneyland three times.

09:29 S2

Yes, I was there. One of them.

09:30 S14

At the time he was there, one of them. Yes, you know, sort of thing. And... did a fair few other different ones like Niagara Falls went, went there, you know, tried to get in the barrel, but they wouldn't let me.

09:46 S1

Vision Australia Radio gratefully acknowledges the support of the Community Broadcasting Foundation for Studio One.