0:10

On Fishing Australia radio. You're listening

0:13

to the singing show with me,

0:15

your host, Harriet Moffatt. Today,

0:17

in recognition of International Women's

0:20

Day on March the 8th, I've

0:22

got two guests talking about International

0:24

Women's Day. The first is

0:26

clear Oppy with seeing eye dog Mabel. We're

0:28

going to be talking about inclusion,

0:31

what that means to her, and how she uses

0:33

her Instagram to document

0:35

her life and her story and

0:38

educate the public, as well as

0:40

her followers about using

0:42

seeing eye dogs, blindness and low vision.

0:45

And then I am joined by Linda

0:47

Blake, another senior handler with Seeing

0:49

Eye Dog. Kevi. We're going to be talking about

0:51

her life, her story, and what an

0:53

International Women's Day and inclusion means

0:55

to her. There

0:57

are so many wonderful women at seeing

1:00

eye dogs in the staff,

1:02

volunteers and clients and

1:04

our general broader community. So

1:07

we would like to wish all of those

1:09

women a very happy International Women's

1:11

Day. So now let's kick off

1:13

to my interview with Clare Opie, talking

1:15

about International Women's Day and her

1:17

Instagram account. Hi,

1:26

Claire. Thank you for joining me on the show today.

1:28

Thank you for having me.

1:30

So just we are going to talk a little

1:32

bit about, um, I guess, International Women's Day

1:34

and the theme of International Women's

1:36

Day this year is inclusion.

1:38

So what does the word inclusion

1:40

mean to you?

1:42

Supposed inclusion means for me, like a world

1:45

where everyone's made to feel equal and

1:47

part of the world, whether they're working or not

1:49

working. I think it just means everyone

1:51

should be included.

1:53

So when we're talking about inclusion

1:55

in society, education and awareness

1:58

can help with that. And for people

2:00

to understand things like, for example, disability

2:02

or, and the importance of, of

2:04

access before you

2:06

lost your vision, were you always

2:08

aware about blindness and low vision and even

2:11

working dogs?

2:13

I always knew that were there. I didn't

2:15

ever need to pay attention to what

2:17

they were doing, what inclusion

2:20

meant for blind people. I honestly didn't,

2:22

um, come about what that was until

2:25

perhaps I put my hand up to get,

2:28

um, mobility training on the cane. And then

2:30

I got Mabel, and it's all sort of come

2:32

around, and I really understand what it means now.

2:36

So how do you use social

2:38

media to help

2:40

educate people now,

2:42

and why do you think that that's important?

2:45

Well, I started my social media in

2:47

the beginning to for my family and friends

2:49

so they'd know what it was like to live

2:51

every day with a seeing eye dog.

2:54

Um, and as it progressed,

2:56

I started educating

2:58

people on, like, my mum wanted to

3:00

know how to talk to somebody in a wheelchair

3:03

or people want to. People didn't

3:05

know what to say when they saw me with

3:07

my cane and they would ignore

3:09

me, whereas they see me with my guide dog

3:11

and they can't talk enough to me. So

3:13

there's a lot of different parts to it. And,

3:16

um, I suppose I document that.

3:19

Um, so people with

3:21

that are going through their early days

3:23

of going through, um, losing

3:26

their vision, have got somewhere to look

3:28

and, and get information, I suppose, that

3:31

I didn't have when I was going through

3:33

it in the early days.

3:34

And I guess kind of having gone through that

3:37

journey yourself, thinking about,

3:39

I guess, what someone else might be thinking or

3:41

wondering or the questions that they might have, which

3:43

you've, you've discovered is, um, is

3:46

really helpful because it's that that's your personal

3:48

experience that someone might be able to relate to

3:50

rather than, you know, words on a paper about

3:52

people in general.

3:54

Yeah, that's right. I've got some people that follow

3:56

me and they see me in the streets and they say, thank you

3:58

for telling me to say my name when I come up

4:00

and say hello to you. That's just a really

4:02

small thing that's so helpful.

4:05

So when we're talking about, I

4:07

guess, social media, and that's one of those

4:09

things that actually, um,

4:12

I think that it can be done really, really

4:14

well and a little bit poorly. Um, in

4:16

terms of accessibility. So, um,

4:18

what are some of the things that we can do to

4:20

make social media more accessible? Um, in

4:22

particular for people who are blind or have low vision?

4:26

So what I've started doing, and I didn't do

4:28

it from the beginning because I didn't know I was

4:30

uneducated myself. But what I've been doing

4:32

now is putting

4:34

a description of what the picture or

4:36

the image looks like with the video, so that

4:38

people that do have low vision, that

4:41

have screen readers, they get an overall

4:43

view of what the what's going

4:45

on in the background and they can read. They

4:48

screen reader will tell them the words and

4:51

it is more inclusive.

4:53

And I guess that, and I guess that kind of,

4:56

um, takes a bit of into

4:58

part of the fact that everyone's vision is different.

5:00

So even for you, you might be able

5:02

to, I guess, um, see

5:05

or understand parts of what you are

5:07

looking at. Um, and then there are people

5:09

that can see potentially almost the opposite.

5:11

Um, and then there's someone that can see absolutely nothing at all.

5:14

Yeah. That is, that's right. Even

5:16

though I can see a small bit on the screen

5:18

sometimes reading the video

5:21

captions and, um, it's

5:23

helpful in like, I

5:25

can see a small amount, but I can't see

5:27

what's going on in the background, and it's really helpful.

5:31

So how do the access rights

5:33

of a dog handler such as yourself

5:35

relate to the idea of inclusion?

5:39

Um. Well. My

5:43

dog is allowed to go most

5:45

places. There's not many places she's not allowed.

5:47

Most people know that and I

5:50

don't get excluded

5:52

very often. But it does help. It does

5:54

often happen on, um,

5:57

sometimes transport. I don't look blind.

5:59

So people may think my dog's

6:01

just not a proper seeing

6:04

eye dog. Um, people don't understand

6:06

that. People don't have to look blind

6:08

to be blind. That blinds the spectrum.

6:10

So I think education is really important

6:13

in showing people that not all blind people

6:15

wear dark glasses and look blind.

6:18

And I suppose in terms of when we're looking at

6:20

things like, um, you know,

6:23

accessing public transport and

6:25

just kind of hopping on a bus is something

6:27

that, you know, people can really take for

6:29

granted. But as someone who's got to sing

6:31

it or gets your mobility aid and actually

6:34

she needs to go on with

6:36

you, it's not a case of just, oh, you can tire

6:38

at a bus stop and then get on yourself and then pick

6:40

her up on the way back.

6:41

That's exactly right. She needs to be with me

6:43

everywhere I go. She's my

6:46

mobility aid. My eyes,

6:48

like she gives me confidence.

6:50

She gives me independence. And

6:53

I can catch a bus. I can catch a train,

6:55

a tramp. Catching a flight tomorrow

6:57

to Sydney. Um. She

6:59

makes it all very possible for me to

7:01

do everything.

7:03

So you've also been involved with something

7:05

called the Dirk or. Or maybe

7:07

just call it Dirk. Um, could you please

7:09

tell me a little bit about Dirk and what

7:12

that means in your work on there?

7:14

Okay. Dirk. The disability Inclusion

7:16

Reference committee, and it's part of the Bendigo

7:18

City Council. And

7:20

we've been doing a lot of work in

7:22

making the streets more accessible and

7:24

Bendigo more accessible. The playgrounds.

7:26

And that's not just for disabled

7:29

people. Um, it's for

7:31

so disabled people being

7:33

blind people, wheelchair people, but it's

7:35

also helps people with prams

7:37

or if the, if the,

7:40

um, streets are more

7:42

accessible for people with

7:44

a disability, it's going to help people that don't

7:47

have a disability and it'll help the whole

7:49

community.

7:50

So what are the types of things that you're,

7:53

I suppose, looking at and who's on the council?

7:57

Um, the things we are looking at doing

7:59

is one of our projects was looking at

8:01

how we could make the, um,

8:03

Bendigo Easter Fair, um, more

8:05

accessible to everyone. And I got a little

8:07

win up on that one because, um, this year they're

8:09

going to do an audio version of

8:12

the fair that goes past so that

8:14

blind people can really

8:16

enjoy it, as well as people that can see.

8:19

That's amazing. So it'll be

8:21

kind of basically a bit of

8:23

a reading out of what is going

8:25

on for so everyone can understand,

8:28

um, I guess that's right.

8:29

Yeah. So you don't even have to be at the fair.

8:31

You can. It's the radio

8:33

stations doing it. Unfortunately, I don't know which

8:35

radio station at the minute. I've just been told it's

8:37

going ahead. Um, but

8:39

anyone can access it. Like people

8:42

in aged care homes. They can enjoy

8:44

it as well.

8:45

Oh, cool. So the local.

8:47

Community, I guess, um, will benefit from

8:49

that greatly. Of those people who weren't really

8:51

able to access the fair before are now going

8:53

to be able to be included in, um,

8:55

the Easter celebrations.

8:56

That's exactly right. And I'm really happy about that.

8:59

Well, what an exciting win for you guys. Thank you,

9:01

thank you. Are there any other kind

9:03

of, um, I guess, projects or

9:05

things that you're working on, um, that

9:08

you'd like to tell us about?

9:09

We've been working on, um, just some

9:11

playgrounds around Bendigo and making

9:14

them more accessible for not

9:16

just blind people, uh, wheelchairs,

9:19

baby prams, that sort of thing.

9:22

Um, toilet blocks around town are

9:24

very inaccessible for a lot of people. So

9:26

we've been working on that. So we've got a few

9:28

little projects on the go, which is fun.

9:31

And it's really cool because it's not, um, from

9:33

what you were kind of telling me before we started recording

9:36

is that it's it's kind of taking into

9:38

account, um, you know, the voices

9:40

as well of not just

9:42

you as someone who's blind, but other people with

9:44

other disabilities, so that it's

9:46

it's not just someone saying, okay,

9:48

well, we're going to do this for disabled people. It's

9:51

actually, um, you guys being

9:53

able to say what we need.

9:54

It's a committee of disabled people and

9:57

some council people and some people that are really

9:59

passionate about, um, inclusion.

10:02

So it's a good part of the community

10:04

to be part of.

10:05

And, uh, yeah, something super cool to

10:07

be able to kind of, um, I guess learn

10:09

a bit more about and then, um, and then make

10:11

some real change. So it's, it's amazing that you can already

10:14

actually, I guess, understand

10:16

the impact of the work that you're doing.

10:18

Absolutely. And I feel really proud

10:20

to be part of it.

10:23

So what is the kind of

10:25

role of your seeing eye dog, Mabel, in

10:27

your feelings of empowerment about

10:29

being able to live the life that you choose?

10:32

When I first got Mabel, I we've

10:34

just been through Covid and we

10:37

stopped being out in society a lot,

10:39

and I really lost my nerve. That says

10:41

my eyesight was deteriorating over

10:44

that time, so deteriorating

10:46

over that time. And, um,

10:49

the moment I got Mabel, I said to myself,

10:51

I'm not going to say no anymore. I'm going

10:53

to put myself out there and

10:55

she's going to help me do it, and I'm

10:58

just doing it now. That's why I started my Instagram

11:00

page.

11:02

And so for anyone who is not aware of

11:04

your Instagram page or how to find it,

11:06

what is your handle?

11:08

My handle is Claire and Mabel.

11:11

I mean that really. It's quite

11:14

creative, isn't it? Your name? Your

11:16

dog's name.

11:17

Thank you. Very creative. And I'm actually

11:19

finding it a really good, um, outlet

11:22

to be able to. Some days I'm angry

11:24

if things happen and people are rude

11:26

to me. Some days I'm really happy.

11:28

And that's what the vibe I give off. Um,

11:31

mostly it's, um, I suppose

11:33

empowering for me to be able to

11:35

put that content

11:37

out and for people to see it.

11:39

I've got quite a few

11:42

puppy raisers watching me, and for

11:44

them to see the finished item

11:46

on what Mabel can do for me in my

11:48

life, I think that's really important.

11:50

And also for people that are maybe starting

11:52

their journey on blindness, to be able to see

11:55

life doesn't end by losing

11:57

your vision. Life can still be fabulous.

12:00

Speaking as a public carer, I know it's I think

12:03

it's wonderful to be able to, I guess, understand

12:05

really what the final product is

12:07

and also not just it being an abstract

12:09

person, but, you know, um, you

12:11

as someone who's using a seeing eye dog

12:13

or, you know, you're doing the particular things that

12:15

you're doing and being out and about, it's pretty

12:18

cool to be able to, I guess, put, you know, faces

12:20

to names and, and, you know, it's not just

12:22

anonymous dog handler. And so for someone,

12:24

I'm sure, who's blind,

12:26

who's following your page and is not sure about what

12:29

the next steps are or whether seeing artwork

12:31

is right for them, they can also put themselves

12:33

into your shoes kind of watching those

12:35

videos. So it's, um, really valuable for, I

12:37

think, people to be able to understand,

12:40

I guess, that, you know, everyone

12:42

is an individual who's using a dog or

12:44

who's a woman or who's blind,

12:46

um, or has a vision and that is

12:49

that's really special. So thank you for sharing that

12:51

with them, with us all.

12:53

Thank you very much.

12:54

And thank you for joining me on the show as

12:56

well.

12:57

Lovely to be here.

13:04

We've been listening to the Seeing Eye dog

13:06

show on Vision Australia Radio. That

13:08

was my interview for Clare Opie

13:10

about International Women's Day. Now

13:13

I'm joined by my second guest, Linda

13:15

Blake, to talk to us about her experiences

13:18

and what inclusion it means to her.

13:20

Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy.

13:22

Hi, Linda. Thank you for joining me on the show today.

13:25

Thank you for asking me.

13:26

So can you please just start off by

13:28

introducing yourself? You know a bit about your

13:30

family, hobbies and interests, work or anything

13:32

you like.

13:34

All right, so I'm Linda Blake, and

13:36

I'm totally blind. I'm

13:38

from Geelong. And

13:41

hobbies? Hobbies. Family, family.

13:43

I'm, uh, husband

13:45

David and three

13:47

children. Three adult children now, and

13:49

three grandchildren that

13:51

are in their teens. All of them.

13:54

So, um, hobbies. I'm.

13:56

I love the theatre. I

13:58

love, you know, life plays, and

14:01

I love going to concerts and things like

14:03

that. Um, love

14:06

Irish music. I love Irish

14:08

whiskey to.

14:09

Irish music in particular.

14:12

Are you Irish? No, not.

14:13

Really, but. But felt very at home

14:15

when I travelled to Ireland. So,

14:18

um. Yeah. No, always, always had

14:20

a love for the music, but,

14:23

um, quite like the food

14:25

and the alcohol.

14:29

If there's one thing you can say

14:31

about kind of people from the UK and Ireland

14:33

is, um, not, not people,

14:35

but that there's a pretty rich good culture

14:37

of like whiskey in that type of stuff.

14:39

I think that's right. That's for sure. That's

14:41

for sure. So and always very welcoming

14:43

people to, um, you

14:45

know. So, um,

14:48

other hobbies, fundraising. I like to do

14:51

a bit of fundraising, uh, good

14:53

coffees, um, catching up with girlfriends

14:55

and, uh, just supporting

14:57

people in general with, uh, you

15:00

know, all sorts of things. If there's something I can do

15:02

for somebody, I'll go out of my way to do

15:04

it.

15:05

And could you please introduce your seeing eye

15:07

dog are.

15:08

My seeing eye dog is. He's, um,

15:10

under the table. He's very good boy.

15:12

He's a beautiful black golden retriever.

15:16

And his name is Kev

15:18

Kevi. So Kevin is

15:20

actually named after a girlfriend's

15:23

husband who passed away. That was my husband's, you

15:25

know, one of my husband's best mates, and

15:28

he never got to see my previous

15:31

dog and but always would say

15:33

to me that he would, uh, he'd,

15:35

he'd look after me. He'd be my, my,

15:38

my seeing eye dog guide, dog slash

15:40

dog guide. And,

15:42

um, so I did change

15:45

this dog's name, and,

15:47

um, I thought, Kev. Kev. Yeah.

15:50

No, that's what we're having. And and

15:52

it really fits. Um, people say,

15:54

oh, what a cool name, you know?

15:56

Yeah.

15:56

And it says a fitting tribute. But he does. He

15:59

is like Big Kevin.

16:00

Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's right, that's right. Yeah.

16:02

Because he's kind of big and hairy.

16:04

And he is very big. He got like a fox

16:06

tail. People ask me

16:08

if he's a Newfoundland. And

16:11

I said, oh, from what miracle

16:14

of a Newfoundland is not

16:16

what Kitty is. So I don't.

16:18

Know. He's a bit he'd be probably a

16:20

probably another 20 kilos bigger. But.

16:22

Oh yeah.

16:23

I got him when he was 16 months old. Very

16:25

young, but excellent working

16:27

dog. Excellent work. You know, he's 20 months old

16:29

now.

16:30

So it is International Women's Day today.

16:32

Um, could you please tell me a little bit about

16:35

what International Women's Day and inclusion

16:37

means to you? Well.

16:38

Um, I'm

16:41

no feminist by any means, but,

16:43

um, I do like

16:45

a good gathering of women and,

16:48

you know, females. And I think

16:50

every year I try to go to

16:52

the breakfast that they have in Geelong this

16:55

year. Um. Committee

16:59

for Geelong usually host this or

17:01

genu one of those um,

17:04

and nine times out of ten before

17:06

I've, uh, scored

17:09

a ticket without having to buy

17:11

a ticket. This year, however,

17:13

I did pay because I felt

17:15

that, uh, you know, Dokic

17:18

was the speaker. Very

17:20

worthwhile. The

17:22

the presidents room at the

17:24

Gmhba Stadium in Geelong was

17:26

filled to capacity. It was all

17:28

sold out. Brilliant speaker.

17:31

And really, um,

17:34

it just goes to show that,

17:37

um, when you

17:39

when there is something well worth,

17:41

you know, women have such good

17:44

stories and they need telling and

17:46

when to have the triumphs

17:49

and disappointments

17:51

that you're going to have had and

17:53

to come out on top and be so positive.

17:57

That's what this International Women's Day is all

17:59

about. Is, is positive outcomes

18:01

for women, um, that have.

18:03

Gone before sort of thing, telling us about

18:06

them, reminding us that there's nothing that

18:08

we can't do. And, you know, we're sitting

18:10

there thinking about, you know, Eleanor

18:12

was Eleanor was telling her story of

18:15

how bad it was for her and

18:17

that she wakes up every morning with a smile

18:19

and a positive attitude. And I think,

18:23

oh, here I am. I've got, you know, I

18:25

had these a couple of little issues. Well,

18:28

they weren't little. I didn't think they were little.

18:30

But thinking about what Eleanor went through

18:32

that's mine are nothing compared to hers,

18:35

you know, and I think I

18:38

just think women coming together like that,

18:40

filling a room with

18:42

700 women, all there

18:44

to to, um, being

18:47

not inspired, I'm not going to say inspired. And,

18:49

you know, those, those words of inspiration

18:51

and amazing and all those sort of things. That's

18:53

not what Eleanor was all about. And that's not I'm

18:56

not about that either. And but

18:58

it was it's just a great feeling

19:00

that one day of the year, we

19:02

can all come together. We're all there for the

19:05

for one reason. And that's because

19:07

it's International Women's Day and

19:10

it's just the right way to start.

19:13

That day is a breakfast

19:15

with that many women. And

19:18

I think, oh, sorry. I think as a,

19:20

as a person with a disability

19:23

to be at

19:25

a table that you don't know who you're going to be sitting

19:27

with. I used to I

19:29

used to think to myself, I'm not good enough to be

19:31

at that table, these tables. But

19:34

I have since realized

19:36

my worth is as

19:38

much as theirs and

19:40

that, um, somebody

19:43

will talk to you regardless of whether I

19:45

mean, I don't look visually impaired or blind, and

19:48

they don't know until they either catch

19:51

a glimpse of the dog or

19:53

I reveal the fact. So

19:55

today, nobody knew until

19:57

this fella came out from under my chair.

20:00

And, um, then

20:02

they were apologizing to me and I said,

20:04

I don't apologize. She said no, but I asked her to pass

20:06

me something. But, um,

20:09

so I do feel comfortable

20:11

now with that. Sitting

20:14

in a room eating breakfast

20:17

with a knife and fork in front of

20:20

all these people. All these women

20:22

who sided with me. Yeah.

20:24

Are there any, um, challenges

20:26

that you face specific to being

20:29

a woman with a disability? Look.

20:33

Not me. No, I think

20:36

I, I call it as I see

20:38

it, so to speak. I,

20:41

I, I don't take

20:44

crap from people,

20:46

um, and I,

20:48

I if people,

20:51

what people see is what they get.

20:54

No, what, what people get is

20:56

what they say. I don't I

20:58

don't have airs and graces. Um,

21:02

I, um,

21:04

and if I think that

21:07

something's not right, I will speak up about it.

21:10

Um, no, I don't

21:12

I don't think, I

21:14

don't think I've been discriminated

21:17

against. But

21:19

there are times where I've felt

21:22

it's me. It's just me that I have felt

21:24

not worthy or not, um,

21:27

comfortable to be. Should

21:29

I be here? You know, that sort of thing. But

21:32

where I have, I've moved into

21:34

a retirement village now with my husband,

21:36

and there's a women's

21:38

group every Monday, every

21:41

once a month on a Monday. And

21:43

I thought, oh, I'd really like to join

21:46

it. And I thought, well, if

21:48

I just, I should, I shouldn't.

21:50

I and I walked up very gingerly

21:52

the first day and they said, are

21:54

you looking for something, Linda? And I said,

21:56

uh, is this the talking

21:58

group? They said, yes. And I said,

22:01

oh, beauty. And they said, do you want to sit down?

22:03

And it was no issue.

22:05

No, no, no questions. No.

22:08

It's just come and see. Just say, here's a seat.

22:10

And it was, you know, and

22:13

I didn't feel intimidated. And

22:15

um, I thought, oh, it's not

22:17

too bad. They were just so they would pull

22:19

a question and say, well, you know, I

22:21

think the question the first question was,

22:24

was, um, have

22:26

you told, uh, a lie lately

22:28

or when what was the last lie you told?

22:31

And I just and I just went, oh.

22:34

And they said, oh, so you've told a lie.

22:37

Who'd you tell? No, no, no, I'm

22:39

sorry. And you've got to be honest and tell

22:41

them. And, and I was, you know, and it

22:44

just and I

22:46

was a little bit dirty that I had to miss this week's,

22:48

um, catch up. But I

22:51

feel comfortable with

22:54

sighted women now because I feel as

22:56

though I'm their equal now.

22:58

And I guess kind of getting getting to that realization

23:00

is probably quite freeing in some

23:03

ways.

23:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't

23:05

feel intimidated anymore. Whereas I would walk

23:08

into a room before and I would slink

23:10

into a corner. But now

23:12

I will match up to a counter or,

23:15

you know, as if we're having a coffee

23:17

morning or something like that. I will just go

23:19

and sit at any table now, whereas before I

23:22

got to be invited. They might not want you there. So

23:25

what was.

23:25

The what was the kind of change or

23:28

how did you.

23:29

I just figured I just figured that if

23:31

you want to succeed in a place like

23:33

the village, you know, a retirement village.

23:35

Yeah, it is what you make it. And

23:38

if I only had one, I only have

23:40

one friend in there who's blind. But

23:42

you can't be with that one friend all the time.

23:45

You need to branch out.

23:47

Yes. And have there are there are people

23:49

there that that want to do the same things that I want

23:51

to do. They want to go for a walk. They want they've got

23:54

dogs. They want to do this. They want to do that. And

23:56

I figure if I'm going to do these things

23:58

and be involved and

24:02

have some sort of a decent life in this

24:04

village, I have to be involved and step

24:06

forward and, you know, but

24:09

prior to that, I would wait to be asked

24:11

or, um, you

24:13

know, have to get to know people really well

24:15

before I would do anything but not never

24:18

quite, you know, okay, about going

24:21

and sitting down at a table with them and those sort of things.

24:24

So you mentioned before that you

24:26

have kids or adult kids now

24:28

and grandkids. So as a, as a kind

24:30

of mother and grandmother who's

24:33

blind, were there any adaptations that you made

24:35

when raising your kids? Um,

24:37

and was there anything that would kind of surprise

24:39

people about being a mom or even a grandma with

24:42

your bonus and addition?

24:45

Probably. There was one occasion

24:47

when my son was a baby. Brand new baby.

24:50

Um, I lived

24:52

in Melbourne in the suburbs

24:54

of Melbourne then, and I can remember

24:57

being at, um, coming out of

24:59

Princess Bridge station back in those days,

25:01

and I bumped somebody with my

25:03

pram. And

25:06

so I had vision then from somebody

25:08

with the pram and I said, oh,

25:10

I'm sorry, and proceeded

25:12

again and bumped him again. Well,

25:15

he got stuck in and

25:17

it turned out that there was a policeman

25:20

in the middle of the, the, um,

25:23

you know, uh, crossing, directing

25:26

traffic. And he actually came

25:28

over to the curb and

25:30

wanted to know what was going on. And I said, look, I said

25:32

I was sorry that on vision impaired.

25:35

And he wanted then wanted proof

25:38

that the baby in the pram was mine. Oh,

25:41

if you're blind, how come you've got a baby? How come

25:43

you've got a baby? And

25:46

I said to him, this baby's seven weeks old.

25:49

I don't care anything. I don't have

25:51

anything. And he said, you must have something.

25:53

Well, you you don't get a birth certificate

25:55

overnight. I didn't have a

25:57

you know, it was just the

26:00

child in the pram and saying it

26:02

was my baby.

26:03

Where else would you have got this baby?

26:04

Well that's right, that's right. Anyway, I

26:08

look I don't know what

26:10

went on from that, but you know, there

26:12

have been times where people say, you know,

26:14

in, in, you know, recent, recent

26:17

years, people will say, you've got children.

26:20

I say, yeah, yes. And they say,

26:22

oh, oh. And then

26:24

when you say, you know, you used to babysit your

26:26

grandkids, how did you how did

26:28

you do that with no sight. Well,

26:31

it's I did wonder before

26:33

I ever had children how I was going to do

26:36

it. But, you know, you speak to women

26:38

who have had babies prior to you and

26:40

they say, oh, you did this, you did that and put bells on.

26:42

You do this, you do that. And I

26:45

mean, my kids are grown up. If you can get

26:47

them to 21, then you've done a good job. I

26:49

think you fed them, you've clothed them, you've educated

26:51

them, and they've gone out and they've got

26:53

work, they've got houses, they got married,

26:56

they've got babies. You know,

26:58

you've done well.

26:58

They've been well adjusted.

26:59

That's right, that's right.

27:01

Something's gone.

27:01

Yeah. And you don't need sight to

27:03

be a mother. The times

27:05

it would be fantastic. And

27:08

I always felt like a what they call

27:10

a helicopter mother these days where

27:12

you're always wanting to know what the kid's doing. Yeah.

27:14

Whereas sighted person can look out

27:16

and see that they're poking a fork in the the

27:19

electric socket.

27:20

Hopefully not.

27:21

But me, I had to go

27:23

over and see if they were poking that point or something.

27:25

That and that's you know, that that

27:28

encroaches on their privacy, their personal

27:30

space. Yeah. Um, but

27:33

yeah, look.

27:34

I guess they just have to grow and realize that that's

27:36

what. That's right. The reality is, and.

27:38

There was no special treatment because

27:40

mum and dad had a vision impairment. You know,

27:42

the kids will walk in the door, drop their bag in the

27:45

on the floor and you'd fall over if you

27:47

didn't. That was it. But yeah. So

27:49

no, no special treatment. I

27:51

think you got more respect from their, their

27:54

peers than you did from. Yeah. Yeah.

27:56

Well, that kind of makes sense.

27:57

Yeah. That's right.

27:59

So do you, you so

28:01

I, I think you've maybe mentioned.

28:03

You are retired now. But what did you.

28:05

How did you find your working life?

28:07

Um. As a woman who's

28:09

blind has low vision.

28:11

I think when I did work. So I worked

28:13

in the, um, back

28:15

in the 70s. So,

28:18

um, I was married in 79, so

28:20

I was very lucky that I didn't have

28:22

to continue working after I had

28:24

our first child. So,

28:27

um, as

28:29

a blind woman, I think

28:31

I worked with a lot of women. I worked as

28:33

on a switchboard with a, you know, a telephone

28:36

list. Um, not

28:38

too bad, but I think a little bit like

28:40

schoolgirls. You know, there was always this. There

28:42

was a picking at you. There was a, um,

28:45

you know, look at me. You

28:47

know, you're not. You're not looking at me. You're.

28:50

I'm over here. So there were the odd

28:52

women that sort of give you

28:54

a bit of. Yeah. Uh, correct.

28:57

But I didn't look

28:59

it, I didn't care, could

29:01

brush it off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um,

29:04

these days. So previously,

29:07

um, probably,

29:10

uh, the first year of Covid,

29:13

I was working with

29:15

NDIS prior to that for 5

29:17

or 6 years, and that was

29:19

in the recruitment, um, area.

29:21

So, um, sitting in on

29:24

interviews, um, for,

29:27

um, you know,

29:30

candidates being interviewed. So people.

29:32

Looking for NDIS support.

29:34

No NDIS appointments.

29:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um,

29:39

and that was if

29:42

there was a job that is was

29:44

valuable. That was one that I thought

29:46

was, uh, probably the most

29:48

important job I'd ever had in my

29:50

life. Yeah. Um, these

29:53

days they don't have anybody doing

29:56

well. They do have people with disability

29:58

on some of the panels,

30:00

but not all. I believe that all disability

30:02

organisations and service providers

30:05

should have a person on every

30:07

interview panel that has a disability

30:10

if you're employing for disability, and

30:12

that's my personal view. But,

30:14

um, lived experience

30:17

is I

30:19

just say that that that should be happening,

30:22

but it's not. Um,

30:24

so I was six years with NDIS,

30:27

um, and that was travelling all over

30:29

Australia with interviews and

30:31

different people. So I got to work with

30:34

various levels of

30:36

um, uh,

30:38

staff from, you know,

30:41

planners right up through to,

30:43

um, not CEOs,

30:45

of course, but, but, you know,

30:47

ones and twos and those sort of things so

30:49

fairly high and you know, directors

30:52

in some cases as well. So

30:54

um, that was really good. Really enjoyed

30:57

that. I also then, you

30:59

know, I'd been doing um, consultancy

31:02

work with, uh, individual

31:05

areas that, you

31:07

know, Deakin University, I do,

31:10

um, I speak to four

31:13

year, four OT students just

31:16

in relation to, uh, vision impairment

31:18

and where they might want to take their OT skills

31:21

into the future. Um,

31:23

a bit of work for you with

31:26

their aged care.

31:28

And, um, when they're training

31:30

staff to go out and work with

31:32

clients.

31:33

What's tenu is that a genu.

31:35

Is a service provider in Geelong. Okay. Yeah.

31:37

Sorry. Um, and

31:39

just, um, in the past, I,

31:42

I had a business with

31:44

a girlfriend, and we did a lot of, um,

31:47

disability awareness through, um,

31:49

the Gordon TAFE in Geelong and,

31:52

um, different organisations.

31:54

Just, uh, on giving out the disability

31:56

awareness stuff. So.

31:58

Um.

32:01

And then, then the, the other stuff that I

32:04

and I'm about to get back into again

32:06

is, is volunteering. So I've always

32:08

volunteered. Um,

32:11

who have I volunteered. So I have volunteered

32:14

for Guide Dogs Victoria, I have

32:16

volunteered for, um, the Red

32:18

cross, and I am

32:20

about to take up a volunteering,

32:24

uh, one day a week with,

32:26

um, the magpie nest. That

32:29

is a, um, Collingwood

32:31

initiative that works out

32:33

of um Bourke Street in Melbourne,

32:36

feeding the homeless and,

32:40

uh, you know, organising lunches

32:42

and those sort of things. I won't be doing that. I'll be I'll be

32:44

attending on a Wednesday when they have what they call

32:46

a community day, and they have

32:48

organisations come in and

32:50

just mingle with people who are there.

32:53

And I feel that, you know,

32:55

the dog will probably be more

32:57

beneficial out of harness,

32:59

of course, to people than me

33:01

trying to serve a meal that I might. Still

33:04

in their lap. So.

33:06

And that's organised through Collingwood.

33:08

It is. Yes. Yes. So I'll be doing that

33:10

obviously doing that in the next month.

33:12

So yeah.

33:13

So how.

33:14

Um how do you kind of find that Chevy

33:16

helps you get out about doing

33:19

that kind of volunteer work?

33:20

I think look, a dog is

33:22

an icebreaker, and,

33:25

um, and I, you know, some

33:27

people don't like the fact that somebody will get in

33:29

a lift and say hello to the dog, whereas

33:32

it doesn't bother me. There's the there's

33:34

the there's the, um, ice broken

33:36

straight away. You know, they might say

33:38

good looking dog. And I say, no, thank you very

33:40

much. It goes on to another

33:42

bit of conversation. It,

33:44

um, he he,

33:48

um. Look, I don't think

33:50

he'll have any problems, um,

33:52

handling, um, the

33:55

nest. Because we'll

33:57

walk from Southern Cross Station, straight

33:59

up Bourke Street to where it is. Yeah.

34:02

Um, and look, he's he's

34:04

very good at doing what

34:06

he's told. You know, if it's sit and stay,

34:08

he'll sit and stay and he'll

34:10

sit and stay for as long. But

34:12

I've forgotten him once or twice and. No, I've said sit

34:14

and stay. And he's still sitting there when I come in. Oh,

34:17

mate.

34:18

Where did you.

34:19

Get. Where did you go?

34:20

Yeah.

34:21

That's right, that's right. But, um.

34:23

Um, so, look, I think

34:26

he's really going to

34:28

help in his own way too. So

34:31

looking forward to that.

34:32

So do you have any messages for women

34:35

who are blind or have low vision in particular

34:37

about inclusion? Ah.

34:41

Inclusion. I think it's

34:45

being confident enough to,

34:47

um. Know

34:51

that that you're worth is

34:53

as much as theirs. Don't ever think that

34:55

it's not. I mean, for a long time, I didn't

34:57

think I was worthy, but,

35:00

um, you know,

35:02

you see women day

35:04

in and day out that, um,

35:07

that have achieved

35:11

unbelievable things, you know, um,

35:14

things that I think

35:16

that I could never do that could never do that. But

35:18

you don't know until you're in that position. And

35:20

I think if you strive

35:23

for if you want inclusion,

35:26

you have to put yourself forward. There's none

35:28

of this halfhearted inclusion. It's it's

35:31

you're either in or you're not.

35:33

It's you know, there are some people

35:35

who want, um, when it

35:37

comes to they're

35:39

happy to be involved, but the next minute

35:41

something goes wrong or I'm

35:43

vision impaired or I. Well,

35:45

that's not that doesn't cut it. You

35:48

know, there's no sense,

35:50

um, wanting to be on their level

35:53

but then dropping back into the

35:55

the woe is me level.

35:56

I guess embracing kind of any mistakes too,

35:58

because everyone's human. That's right.

36:00

That's right. Yeah. It's,

36:02

you know, put your put your right foot forward

36:05

and just, you know, dip

36:07

it in the water first. And if it's,

36:09

if it, it'll feel good, you

36:11

know, and I think just,

36:14

just have the courage and

36:17

um, I think

36:19

it will make all the difference if

36:21

you can just,

36:24

um, start a conversation,

36:27

um, and just see where it goes.

36:29

It it leads to amazing

36:32

places. It really does.

36:34

And just to finish off, do you have any

36:36

messages for the general public, um,

36:39

including kind of any supporters of volunteers

36:41

and stuff of seeing items.

36:44

Do I have a message? Uh,

36:48

I think, um, the

36:52

message I would leave is if you

36:55

if you want to do something worthwhile, um,

36:59

give something like dogs a call in puppy,

37:01

raise a dog or puppy raise a pup.

37:03

I've seen these little puppies and they're so

37:05

cute. And they

37:07

turn into the wonderful. Most of them

37:10

turning to what I've got under the table

37:12

here. Beautiful, working,

37:14

seeing eye dog. Um,

37:16

if you want to volunteer in another capacity,

37:18

Ring Vision Australia or seeing Eye Dogs,

37:21

um, to the public,

37:25

um, I think, um,

37:29

so if you see a blind person in the street

37:32

visually impaired or a blind person in the in the street,

37:34

don't assume, don't

37:36

always assume that we need help, because

37:39

sometimes we do, sometimes we don't.

37:41

If you help without asking, you're

37:43

probably going to get your head bitten off. Um,

37:47

me, I

37:49

obviously have this look that I get

37:51

that says to people she's

37:54

lost or she doesn't know where she is.

37:56

Um, that always gets people

37:59

to say, are you right? And as

38:01

soon as I say it, I say, no, let me take you up.

38:03

So, um, I'm not

38:05

scared in asking for help either. I will quite

38:07

often ask people in the street for help,

38:10

but I think, um,

38:12

the rule of thumb is don't assume

38:14

we need it. Always ask if

38:16

we need it or how you can help

38:18

me with what I might need.

38:21

That's about it, I think.

38:23

Well, thank.

38:24

You so much for coming

38:26

on site and, uh, bringing Kevin

38:28

and, um, and joining me on the show

38:30

today.

38:31

Not to worry. Thank you very much for having me.

38:33

And a happy International.

38:34

Women's Day. Thank you.

38:42

You've been listening to the Seeing Eye Dog show

38:45

on Vision Australia Radio. This

38:47

has been our International Women's Day

38:49

special with guests Claire Oppy

38:51

with her singing dog Mabel, and

38:53

Linda Blake with her sing Idol Chevy.

38:56

If you'd like to find out more about seeing idols,

38:59

The work We do, or how you can help,

39:01

head to our website at said Vision

39:03

Australia dawg. This

39:05

has only been the first part of

39:08

my interview with Linda, as we

39:10

had a lot to chat about this

39:12

interview, so if you'd like to find

39:14

out the rest of the interview with Linda

39:16

and listen, it will be online

39:18

on our podcast platform, on the FM,

39:20

or your preferred podcast provider

39:22

at the Singing Dog show. So

39:25

head to that preferred

39:27

podcast provider and listen to the rest

39:29

of the interview, as well as a

39:31

number of great other Vision Australia radio

39:33

shows and Singing idols episodes.

39:36

Thank you for listening and don't

39:38

forget to tune in Same time next

39:40

week for another episode of The Seeing

39:42

Eye Dog Show on Virgin Australia Radio.