An effective Disability Inclusion Plan at RTRFM

Simon Miraudo [00:00:07]:

A few years ago, we wanted to do an accessibility report on the station, and we always had in our mind that because we don't have a very accessible way of getting into the station, we're located at the top of 2 staircases, that that was the be all and end all of accessibility. And the report really revealed that, well, accessibility is a milion different things. What we did was we engaged a group of people and formed a disability inclusion advisory group. And it was really important this be disability led.

Eleanor Ingram [00:00:35]:

I've been really proud of helping RTR take its first steps towards inclusion work. They're an amazing community based organisation that is very genuine and authentic about building community. Engagement was one of the key findings and increasing the amount of authentic and genuine engagement with people in the disability community and particularly those working in the arts and music sector.

Simon Miraudo [00:00:59]:

The DIAG for the last 3 years has been really at the forefront of a lot of the projects and they helped us develop disability inclusion plan and that has extended to everything from how we put on our events, the kind of programming we have on the air, the voices that we seek to prioritise, and then also Breaking Sound Barriers, which is a disability focused podcasting and broadcasting course.

Jason Bodle [00:01:25]:

So the Breaking Sound Barriers program gives people with disability the opportunity to learn how to make and produce and put out podcasts and broadcasts.

Simon Miraudo [00:01:37]:

It was important to us that it be free to access. So we worked with Carers WA to basically fund the training course.

Zoe Warwick [00:01:46]:

For 12 weeks, we took them through everything from planning, writing, vocal care, editing, producing, uploading. We also did marketing and distribution.

Simon Miraudo [00:01:56]:

The graduation outcome is a 7 minute podcast that can be any story they want. So my podcast gives people with disability a platform to educate the community on what it's like

Jason Bodle [00:02:06]:

to walk a mile in their shoes. My first episode that I made was my lived experience on the autism spectrum. 

Clip from Breaking Sound Barriers podcast [00:02:15]:

Imagine a world where every person was issued an instruction manual at birth that told them everything they need to know about how to conduct themselves in life. How to understand others' actions, how to cope with external stimuli, how to interact with others, etcetera. Now imagine being the only one without that instruction manual.

Jason Bodle [00:02:35]:

I'm just over the moon that people found, value in it.

Simon Miraudo [00:02:40]:

By having someone take the time, learn how to clarify and articulate their own experience, it allowed for such greater empathy and insight into what someone like Jason, what he was actually going through. It just became this incredibly helpful piece of audio for ourselves as a staff and a community at RTRFM, and then for our listeners when we rebroadcast it.

Jason Bodle [00:02:59]:

I was actually lucky enough to have an audience member write in and tell me that she found the episode really insightful for her son with autism. Well I've already actually been given some exciting, opportunities to further my public speaking career and I've also recently been given the opportunity to assist a globally led panel in helping people with autism, have an easier time going through university at one of the universities here in WA.

Nathan Moir [00:03:38]:

Growing up, I was always fascinated by the media, whether it be TV or radio, but I never pursued it. And then was obviously doing my job in retail. Had a couple of setbacks. My support work company, Enable, they presented this opportunity to me. They were like, would you like to jump on the RTR Breaking Sound Barriers? And I was like, absolutely, I've gotta do it. As you can obviously see with the Eagles shirt being on, I was like, I've gotta do an an Eagle podcast.

Clip from “Flying through the Archives” podcast:

He sets himself up. He kicks the goal from the boundary line in one of the great grand final goals. You will see to quote Dennis Cometti, that goal was centimeter perfect.

Nathan Moir

This opportunity has already provided so much for me because not only did I do the Breaking Star Burrows podcasting course, that led me to the broadcasting course where I have actually done a couple of live shows on up late. So for the opportunity that I've been given, I wanna make the most of it. Let's pump some music up. What do you reckon?

Isabella Choate [00:04:44]:

I didn't recognize that I was disabled for a really, really long time and a big part of that is because I didn't have representation or I didn't see or hear the lived experiences of other young people. And I think that if I had had that at a much earlier stage, I would have connected with my community about 7 years sooner. My podcast is called Unapologetically Disabled, which I co host with one of my dear dear friends, Anneka Bodt.

Clip from Unapologetically Disabled

When I was 16, I became very unwell and was later diagnosed with myalgic encephalitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome.

Isabella Choate

The premise of it is that a lot of people with disabilities in Australia are never told how to be proud of their disability. You know, we're often told we need to be fixed or we need to conform in a certain way. And so, you know, in our own journey together, we learnt so much about taking care of ourselves, about advocating for ourselves, and we thought we need to share this with someone. We need to be able to share the wonderful pride we have in our community.

Isabella Choate [00:05:48]:

Throughout this podcasting course, I really got to learn and hone in on my skills in storytelling. And I was really, really excited, that recently my TED Talk was just released. It's called Disability is Not a Bad Word.

Clip from TED Talk

Often people are scared of the word disability. They think that the prefix 'dis' means none, as in no abilities. In this case, 'dis' actually means different. We have different ways of doing things.

Isabella Choate

You know, I really attribute, being able to do that talk and being confident enough to do that talk to some of the lessons that I learnt from this podcast. At every single point of the program, our access needs were always considered and it was really beautiful to be a part of a program that was run by someone with lived experience because at all points they could relate to our experiences and even if, you know, they didn't have the lived experiences that we had, they were aware and able to open up those conversations.

Zoe Warwick [00:06:49]:

Here, we've got limitations of stairs. The thing I love about RTRFM and the way that they look at this program, it's like, okay. How do we do it? Rather than we can't do it.

Simon Miraudo [00:07:01]:

Reiterating that accessibility isn't always just about coming into our radio station. RTR FM as a community radio station is a tangible physical place, but it's not always just here.

Jason Bodle

We had lessons on podcasting and broadcasting in the carers WA building. They were kind enough to host that for us and also be involved in the program.

Zoe Warwick [00:07:21]:

Oh, there are so many reasons why programs like this are important because everyone deserves to have a voice. As a CMTO trainer, I've trained all across the country with a range of people who probably haven't disclosed their disability and who have gone through the mainstream training. I wonder if some of the struggles and the barriers that they may have had at times may have been because they didn't have a course that was as flexible as breaking sound barriers.

Simon Miraudo [00:07:49]:

RTRFM as a community, we've been around for 47 years now. We've always thought of ourselves as very open minded and and having open arms, and and I do affirm that is the case. But it wasn't until we had this disability inclusion advisory group and our plan and breaking sound barriers that we really welcomed in a big part of our community that was able to say with their own voices or from their own perspectives what it would mean to them to join this community. And that has just made us so much more welcoming, I think.

Jason Bodle

It's a real family environment here. I found just complete acceptance.

Nathan Moir [00:08:27]:

The whole RTR team are absolutely supportive. They are beyond incredible. They're amazing.

Eleanor Ingram [00:08:34]:

For any organisation that is centred around community, if they're not engaging with, the disability community, then they're not engaging with the full community.

Jason Bodle [00:08:44]:

It's to show people with a disability that they are, you know, capable of achieving great things, that they are wanted, that they're valued, and that they're a part of the community. I have this saying, life isn't about what you think you deserve. It's about what you're willing to achieve. And, yeah, I'm definitely glad that I've learned this lesson for this course.