All In - Episode 6

Phoebe 00:00

Music

Zoe 00:13

welcomes all in the show that celebrates the incredible world of disability, arts, culture and advocacy, where creativity knows no bounds, and voices are amplified. My name is Zoe Simmons, and I'll be one of your co hosts today.

Phoebe 00:26

Hello. My name is Phoebe, and I'll be one of your co hosts today. Happy International Day of people with a disability.

Shannon 00:32

And my name is Shannon. This week, we are marking International Day of people with a disability with an extremely special show. Yes,

Zoe 00:40

that's right. And we'll be joined by artist Larissa farlin, who is going to be discussing all things disability pride. And we also caught up with award winning composer and pianist NAT bast On this International Day of People with disability week. Get ready for a ride through creativity community and change, because in the world of all in everyone's invited first though, welcome to our arts and culture segment access all this is where we celebrate the vibrant world of disability creativity. This week, we are spotlighting the incredible musician NAT barch. NAT is a twice ARIA nominated pianist, composer and producer from Melbourne. She is known for creating soothing, beautiful music that blends near classical composition with jazz harmony, improvisation and etheral ambient effects. Adam recently caught up with Nat via zoom. Take a look.

Adam 01:31

Hi and welcome to the studio here today, my first question to you is, congratulations on being into the ARIA Charts recently. That's obviously massive achievement. How do you feel about that?

Nat 01:45

Really great. I've released a few albums that have found their way into, like, the genre specific charts before, because, you know, you have the jazz and blues chart and the classical chart. So in that kind of world, I've had some moments of being charted, which so I've had that through before, but this time was really special, because the album I released debuted on the all Australian Albums Chart, so across all the different genres. So it means that even though it's just number 61 it's not even sort of like a published list. But receiving that email that said that that's what had happened just absolutely reassured me that the album I've made is being listened to by other people, like I'm not bothered by what number it is. So much is just hoping that, because you put so much work into making an album and releasing it absolutely, yeah, yeah, to know that there are people listening to it like that. It's just so thrilling.

Adam 02:54

I guess your music and all the different ways you go about it, LBC will be influenced by the autistic impacts that you have as a neurodivergent artist. So I assume not only the fact that you can jump around based on how you're feeling that time, but have obviously a creative control over it.

Nat 03:18

Yes, yeah, yeah, absolutely, you've absolutely hit the nail on the head. Because, I mean, I think I felt a lot of confidence to create music that's a bit like outside the norm and between genres, because I felt like a fish out of water everywhere anyway. Oh yeah, I really struggled to learn other people's music. So when I was studying jazz, I struggled to sit and practice music that was written by other people because I couldn't remember the theoretical concepts behind it. And I also got really anxious about the lack of structure that you have in playing jazz music and but then classical repertoire, like playing Bach or Mozart or something. I also felt a little bit bored by by, you know, the repetitiousness of that type of practice, and so I just started composing, because I think that was a way of passing, firstly, passing my degree, you compose your own music. You can kind of play it yourself straight away, to some degree. So it helped with that. But then I think really, it tapped on this need to kind of express myself in my own way and not feel like I have to fit in and be able to do stuff exactly the same way as other people like. It was very empowering. And starting my own label, I realized just how important having autonomy and sense of control kind of is, which sometimes I think is really important. I mean, I guess a lot of autistic people need to have a sense of autonomy with

Adam 04:57

your new record forever change. Can you tell us some of the themes that you explored throughout?

Nat 05:04

Yeah, so this is my ninth album. It's the first one that I've released, I guess, kind of really fully understanding who I am as a person, because it's since been diagnosed as autistic and ADHD. So for this new album, forever changed, I decided to kind of go back to the music therapy community, but also talk to the neurodivergent community, and kind of think about how to make an album that might explore the sensory experience of music for other autistic and ADHD people, as well as myself. And you know, because I realized that for me, if I am dysregulated and I need to sort of calm myself down, I'm not going to put on soothing, quiet piano music, like I'm listening to electronic music or like sugar or such, yes. So ultimately, I ended up creating this album that has this sort of meditative compositional style, but there's all these extra layers in the music. So there's, there's a lot of ambient effects and strings and harp and synthesizers with like arpeggiators and patterns going around. So the idea is that it's in surround sound, and it's very immersive, and you can kind of, hopefully regulate your emotions and sensory needs a little better. Well, at least if you have a similar sort of sensory profile to me, perhaps it will, it will have an extra sprinkling of fairy dust beyond just thinking it's a nice album or something. And

Adam 06:48

if people wanted to reach out to you, where can we find you and your music?

Nat 06:54

Yes, good question. Um, I'm My website is natpart.com

Adam 06:58

thank you for thank you for this interview and also Back to Studio. Be sure

Zoe 07:05

to listen to nats incredible body of work available on all streaming platforms, including her most recent record, forever changed. We're now joined by our regular guest movie and TV buff James Harkness, who is here to review the 1963 film. A child is waiting. James, why did you pick this film?

James 07:31

Look I picked this film. It's directed by John Cassavetes. It stars Judy Garland and Bert Lancaster, and has a young child actor playing the part of a child with an intellectual disability. Now John Cassavetes, the director, is regarded as a pioneer of American independent film. He financed and wrote and directed a bunch of films, and he's what you'd call an actor's director. He loves actors, and he likes it like to improvise with them, and he would actually employ documentary techniques with, say, the camera work, you know, really focusing on people's faces and their emotions and that sort of thing. And look, this particular film is John Cassavetes was actually had a contract with one of the big studios, and so it's a much more mainstream film than his independent films. But there are still those sort of those, those elements in this mainstream film of a much more independent filmmaker. And look, I just think it's a great representation of people with intellectual disability. It was really ahead of its time. Yeah.

Shannon 08:55

I mean, I haven't seen the film, but I have watched the trailer, and it looked incredibly heavy and very deep. How did you come away from this film?

James 09:04

Look, it's sad. It's a sad film. It's it's sentimental. That was actually John Cassavetes had a falling out with the producer during post production, during the Edit, the edit of the film, and he at the at the end of the entire process, he sort of disowned the film and thought that it was too sentimental and this sort of thing,

Shannon 09:29

where can people see, this is it. I've not come across it before. Go

James 09:33

to it's Melbourne's last remaining DVD shop. I'll do a bit of a plug. It's called Picture search on Swan straight Richmond, and they've got everything

Shannon 09:43

as a stack up to, you know, modern films that try and tackle disability, and things like, I reckon,

James 09:50

John Cassavetes philosophy towards this film, he was, he was preempting the social model of disability. It's got these kids with intellectual disability and. And they're non professional. So they're, they're children with real intellectual disabilities. And his philosophy towards the film was pre empting the social model of disability. He's, he's a big hearted guy, and had a very empathetic, compassionate view towards those kids. Yeah, it

Zoe 10:18

was actually intellectually disabled kids that were involved in making it not just a non disabled actor pretending to be disabled. So

James 10:26

true, especially for back then, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely, exactly it was. It was ahead of its time. You know. Thanks

Zoe 10:32

so much James for coming along. Thank you very much. So great to have you and you your movie recommendations throughout this whole series. Thank

James 10:39

you.

Shannon 10:40

Yeah, no, it's been a pleasure. You've always got such insight to these movies. It's been really great to hear your take on them. I've

James 10:46

loved it. It's been a great experience. Yeah, thanks. Thank you.

Shannon 10:53

Celebrated on the third of December each year since 1992 this week, we are celebrating International Day of People with disability. This year's theme is amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future. We are the 20% of the population, and often we are underrepresented, and our stories go untold. Zoe and Phoebe, I'd be curious, what does International Day of People with disability mean to you guys? Sure can.

Phoebe 11:20

Yeah, for me, I feel like coming from a social media background, it's a really good opportunity for everyone to kind of get exposed to the amazing work that people do. But outside of social media, it kind of doesn't do enough. So I feel like I'm a little bit biased in that the work that I do, I get to interview and talk to amazing people about the work they do. My feed gets flooded with all that, but then the next day, it's gone, and it hasn't really done much, especially, like, I'm very involved in the kind of space community in Melbourne, and so many people who identify as having a disability work in that community, but they aren't recognized for the work they do, because they are some amazing people, yeah, some pretty

Zoe 12:01

complicated thoughts. Like, I do love that it's a chance to embrace disability. But for one, the even the theme is not that, you know, accessible to a lot of people.

Shannon 12:11

Myself, I went wordy, like, couldn't we

Zoe 12:14

just say, amplifying the leadership of disabled people? But anyway, I'm not the one who makes the theme, but I think it's just disappointing that it's often not represented outside of the disability community. Same with Disability Pride Month, anything disability related really, whereas, you know, queer pride, for example, has a whole month, and everyone's very excited, and that's amazing. But I really wish we could see that on disability related days, and that people would stop asking us to work for free, please.

Shannon 12:42

Yeah, no, you're it's actually a really fair comparison. I mean, you think of Pride March, for example, and you get allies marching there, you know, that are really keen to get involved and support, you know, the LGBT and it feels so inclusive. Yet you look at, you know, disability, pride and International Day of People with disability, and it is crickets. It's, you know, we sort of sit there and go, yay us, but where's all our supporters there. It's like they don't want to and if they are there, it feels so tokenistic. It feels like they're there because they have to be, because they're from an organization or a government body who is doing the bare minimum to represent us and include us. You know, you're seeing examples of events that are taking place, and quite literally, I saw one where it was sensory hour at the library. I'm thinking, this is something you do every week. Why is this part of your international day, you know, like, it just doesn't make sense to me. It's like, oh, no, we've just put a few things there under this beautiful banner that we've created to show you how inclusive we are. But then where's your actual inclusion? Yeah, I'm

Phoebe 13:53

really curious to know what you think we could do to make it so that being engaged with this day doesn't feel like something only for people with a disability, you know, with all the allies for the queer stuff, it's

14:02

not how I should word it, but

Phoebe 14:04

yeah, for like, Pride March and stuff, you have a lot of people turn up because they're really supportive. But when we talk about disability, people feel like they can't touch it if they don't have a lived experience. I think people feel

Zoe 14:13

really uncomfortable with disability. They don't want to say the wrong thing after people don't even think we exist, which is ridiculous when we're 20% of the population, and there are so many kinds of disabilities. How are you feeling?

Shannon 14:24

JB, like,

Phoebe 14:24

I just feel like there also needs to be a conversation had about the fact that not everyone is born with a disability, so just because you don't feel involved with this community now doesn't mean in the future, you won't have someone in your life who becomes disabled, or yourself develop a disability for whatever reason, and then kind of need to find your place in the community. And then there should be a conversation around that, about how we can engage people into this day, beyond this day, into this community, because it really does involve everyone. And

Shannon 14:51

something I was I heard from someone somewhere, once upon a time, people need to remember they're temporarily abled for them. Most part, everybody will experience disability at least one point in their life, and they need to, sort of, I think, the non disabled community, they need to sort of think, how would I want to be treated and included when this inevitably happens to me, or if this was to happen to me, people need to reconcile with the fact that it's you're not always born with a disability. It's often acquired, and when that happens in your life could be at any moment.

Zoe 15:26

We're now going to hear from disability advocates, including Angel Dixon, Graham Innes and Dinesh palapana and more about what International Day of People disability means to them and what attitude they wish would change for people with

15:39

disability. One attitude. I hope to see change. I hope to see a shift in people seeing disability as something they need to fix, to understanding that it's part of the human diversity. We need equal access and inclusion. I don't want pity, and I don't want to be an inspiration from living for living, day to day. My

Dinesh 16:04

name is Dinesh palpana. For the first 10 years of my life, I grew up in a country that was torn apart by war. The war happened because people focused on what separated themselves from each other. That's the one attitude I'd love to see change towards people with disability. I'd love to see a world where human beings don't see people with disability as someone different, but rather the same human being that deserves the same access to education, good health, employment, everything else that a human beings should be able to enjoy in this beautiful world that we live in, and that's what idpwd means to me. It's a reminder that we're working towards a world where we don't need this day anymore.

Liz 16:55

Hi, my name is Liz Wright. I'm a Paralympic medalist and reporter with ABC sport, and I'm so excited that International Day of People with disability is finally here. I was born with my physical disability, limb difference, which means that I faced many barriers throughout my entire life, including attitudinal ones, and probably the biggest attitude that I really wish would change within our community is the beliefs around what we are capable of. I've had so many people not believe me when I say that I'm capable to do certain things and that just can be so frustrating. And I know that if people believed in what we could achieve and be and do that our our lives would absolutely change. For me, International Day of People with disability is like Christmas. It is a chance to celebrate who we are as people, to join together as a community, share our life experiences and push for change. Hello,

Graham 18:00

I'm Graham Innes, first chair of the attitude Foundation Australia. The attitude that I'd like to see change is all of the negative and limiting assumptions made about us as people with disabilities. Stop assuming that we can't because we know we can. Just let us show you we've got this. For me, the International Day recognizes that there are more than 20% of us in society, in Australia, we're not victims, we're not heroes. We just want the chance to live our lives in a community that does not have barriers which stop us doing that, you can make this happen. Hi,

Angel 18:42

I'm Angel Dixon, and this International Day of People with disability, I would just love everyone to expand their understanding of disability and just bust any attitudes that you're holding in your brain, because disability means so many different things, and there are so many moving parts, and no one knows everything. There's always more to learn. And I think that's why this day is so important. I think it highlights that we're a community, that there are personal things involved in this, but there are things we can all do together to make change. I

Zoe 19:26

Our next guest is Larissa McFarlane, who is a proud, disabled artist and activist of Scottish descent, living on the unceded lands of the Kulin nation in Melbourne's west. They work across a printmaking, street art, performance and community art practice, and use their experiences of a 25 year old brain injury to investigate disabled culture, community, identity and pride. Welcome, Larissa,

Larissa 19:49

thank you. It's great to be here. It's

Zoe 19:51

great to have you. So I want to ask you about the disability pride model you created. Can you please tell us about that? Oh,

Larissa 19:57

where do I start? I. Hi, the Disability Pride mural. There's been many, actually, but I think you're referring to the one in Footscray that was created in 2017 It was many years of working on the idea of disability pride and encouraging people to join me. That mural was the first one in Australia, possibly the world. Unfortunately, it had a tricky life, because a week later, on International Day of people with a disability, it was accidentally destroyed by the council who removed it. So then we came together and worked very hard to put up another one nine months later, which is, well, yeah, which was fabulous, and it was there in Footscray until just last year.

Zoe 20:50

It's too bad it's not there anymore. We definitely need more Disability Pride murals.

Larissa 20:55

Well, there is actually a new disability pride mural right in the center of town, in royal lane, just off, just off the mall, actually. And, yeah, I'm very proud of that one, that one's there to stay. You know, council have are not removing it anytime soon.

Phoebe 21:11

And what does Disability Pride mean to you? Wow,

Larissa 21:14

it means so many things. Disability Pride is complicated, and it's a journey quotation marks, I guess for me, essentially, Disability Pride is an opportunity to challenge the negative ways that we think about disability. It's reclaiming disability as a point of pride, of identity, of community, of culture. And really important to understand about disability pride is it's a practice so it there's many ways you can practice it, and it comes and goes, but essentially, if you practice disability pride, the things you do in your life become easier as a disabled person,

Zoe 22:00

I would love to know, how has your disability impacted your art making practice, and how do you explore disability or art?

Larissa 22:10

Well, I should say that I am actually only an artist because of my disability. So I had no artistic inclinations growing up, I acquired a disability when I was 29 and had a brain injury, and since then, I've acquired some chronic illnesses. And yeah, I my world changed. That was 26 years ago, and one of the ways that it changed was the world looked different. And I mean, I did Lou, the things that were important to me, like writing and reading and music, they all disappeared. They all went so I guess I was looking for a new way to express myself. But the world really, truly looked different. Colors were different, shapes were different. I was fascinated by it, and so I started trying to draw. I was very bad at it. I wasn't overnight, really good at anything, so it was a lot of practice. But I do believe that, you know, talent is overrated. I think that talent is actually being gifted, the passion to do the work and the practice to make to be get good at something. And I had that, that desire and passion, and over many years, I, you know, tried lots of different things and practiced and eventually fell into printmaking and then into street art, when I got frustrated with the contemporary art world and and parley street art was in was relevant to me, because making work in the contemporary world disability is not really encouraged to be explored, or it wasn't, you know, when I was trying to learn how to make art. I hope it's better now, but I suspect it's still a challenge. So I felt like I needed to, you know, leave the contemporary art world and go out into the street and bring my community with me. That's always been a big part of my community. My art practice is working with other disabled people to explore ideas so beautiful.

Shannon 24:12

I love that. Such a beautiful concert. We've been talking about International Day of People with disability today, and that's been our theme for this episode. What does a Day mean to you? Oh, my

Larissa 24:23

goodness, it's a complicated answer. It is. It is essentially, I think international disability, International Day of People with disability, is important, but I think it's

Shannon 24:38

at risk of tokenism, exactly.

Larissa 24:39

I mean, it is a day invented by the UN and often promoted by governments, particularly local governments and disability organizations, which aren't necessarily disability led, because most aren't, and it does risk being this sort of yeah tokens tick box, but also an opportunity for them to. Present an inspiring person. Yes, it almost feels like a day for non disabled people to

Shannon 25:06

feel good about themselves. Yeah, I understand, because it is a complex issue, and I very much align with that. I think it's great that there's a day that's set aside for us to celebrate our disability and to, you know, demonstrate pride in our disability, and we can kind of claim that. But on the flip side, with people who are not disabled, it does, it does feel very tokenistic. It feels like they're going, Oh, here's a day Hi. It's like, Mother's Day or Father's Day. It's like, Oh, I love you on this day and this day only. And you're right, councils and, you know, governments and that are going and going, oh, yeah, we've done that. Now we can move on. You know, wave a little, fly go. Yep, there. You guys rock, and then move on without taking any real action towards inclusion and acceptance of disabled people.

Larissa 25:51

That is true. And I'm, as you speak, I'm reflecting on how the the growing movement of the Disability Pride month in July over the last I mean, that's been around a long time, but it's only really been in Australia for the last few years, and I feel like, you know, that's a time we own that, yes, disabled people own that we lead, that we do. I actually think my experience of that excitement of having Disability Pride Month is making me look differently at International Day with people disability, because it's making me go. We need to claim that as our own. We need to be running it. Yeah, and, well, nothing

Shannon 26:30

about us without us, right? Well, yes,

Larissa 26:33

yeah. So yeah, I think I'm currently thinking more favorably about international day, because I'm going to own it.

Zoe 26:39

Thank you so much for joining us, Larissa, it's been so great to have you here. If you want to see Larissa Disability Pride mural, you can check it out in royal Lane in the CBD of Nam Melbourne. You've been watching all in. Thank you so much for watching our sixth and final episode of the year and Happy International Day of People with disability week. My

Phoebe 26:59

name is Phoebe, thanks for tuning in.

Shannon 27:01

And I'm Shannon, and we want to thank special guests, Larissa McFarlane and Nat Basch, as well as their regular film reviewer, James Harkness

Zoe 27:09

and I'm Zoe Simmons. This is very sadly, our final week of all in we hope to come back to you next year. Fingers crossed. Someone fund us, because when it comes to all in, everyone's invited you