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Many young Australians visited Canberra the other week as part of the annual ABC Heywire Regional Youth Summit, a three-day event which brings together youth from all corners of the country to speak about the issues of living and working in regional and rural Australia.
As part of the program, Heywire includes a storytelling competition which involves submitting a script for a three-minute radio story about what life is like for young people who live outside the country’s major cities.
Powerd sat down with some of this year’s winners to discuss the experiences young people with disability face in regional and remote areas.
In 2021, Cyclone Seroja tore through Perenjori, Western Australia - the hometown of 17-year-old Justice.
She believed the damage was contained to buildings and debris, until she woke up two days later unable to see out of her left eye.
“All of the specialists that I went to ended up ruling it out as PTSD and said that my site would return in a week,” Justice recalls. “It's going on five years now. My eye is perfectly healthy, but I still can't see.”
When the opportunity to enter the competition presented itself via a high school English task, she decided to write about her experience.
“I nearly couldn't get my learner's permit because of it, because I need to have a certain amount of peripheral vision, so I've got special precaution,” the student explains. “When I'm walking around, I always run into door frames and if anyone comes from my left side, I get startled.”
Whether or not her sight returns, Justice says she’s been able to adapt to her surroundings.
I've gotten used to it. I'm happy.
Justice
Justice isn’t the only one of this year’s Heywire recipients to speak about acquiring a disability. 18-year-old Queensland tradesman, Declan, explains how he was just two years old when he lost several fingers in wood chipping accident.
“I was with my grandpa. We were in the backyard, and it was just split second. He was holding me, so he stopped paying attention for half a second, and curiosity got the better of me. I put my hand out, went straight in the chute and there were blades going.”
Reflecting on the difficulties he encountered growing up, Declan says he has a different view of it now.
“It was definitely a massive insecurity, and don't get me wrong it is different. I can accept that. I'd be different, which is something that I've had to learn. I was very much in a mindset where it's ‘I'm different, I'm never going to fit in. No one's ever going to accept it for what it is.’ And that, especially as a younger kid, it's pretty hard to always see the bright side of things.”
I've grown up with it. I can adapt to pretty much whatever's thrown my way.
Declan
If you would like to know more, you can find all the Heywire winners here.