0:13

From Vision Australia. This is talking

0:15

vision. And

0:18

now here's your host, Sam

0:20

Collins.

0:23

Hello everyone. It's great to be here

0:25

with you. And for the next half

0:27

hour we talk matters of blindness

0:29

and low vision.

0:30

Things like orientation around a

0:32

room or a clinic room or a busy

0:34

ward is intimidating for everybody.

0:37

And then if there are additional supports

0:39

that somebody might require, or that experience

0:41

might be pretty stressful. So the DLO

0:44

can help in those kinds of situations.

0:47

So we would work directly with the individual

0:49

and talking to them about what they might need,

0:52

what kind of orientation they might need around

0:54

the environment they're in. And

0:56

we would also communicate with

0:58

us with the staff members around that person.

1:00

Welcome to the program. We've

1:02

got a couple of exciting interviews

1:04

for you this week featuring Christine

1:07

and Jill from the Disability

1:10

Liaison Officer Program,

1:12

a program through the Victorian

1:14

Government to enable people with

1:16

disability to access

1:18

the health care that they require.

1:21

Now that interviews coming up

1:23

very shortly. So make sure to

1:25

stick around to hear more from Christine

1:27

and Jill. Then after you hear

1:29

from them, we've got Jordan Ashby

1:31

from the Telling Program.

1:33

He's here to tell us all about the

1:36

January Tell a link special

1:38

interest program, in particular,

1:40

three webinars with prominent

1:43

figures from the blind and low

1:45

vision community achieving

1:47

really cool things. And then

1:49

to wrap up, Frances Kalen

1:51

joins us with a way to recommend

1:53

it, and we finish with some

1:55

news and information. I

1:58

hope you'll enjoy this week's episode

2:00

of Talking Vision. For

2:06

people who are blind or have low vision,

2:08

or for people with disability

2:10

more generally, they may have experienced

2:13

issues in the past with accessing

2:15

the health care they require

2:17

and face a series of concerns

2:20

or frustrations when trying

2:22

to receive health care that is accessible

2:25

and meets their needs. That's

2:28

where our next two guests come in.

2:30

Their names are Kristen and

2:32

Jillian, and they are both disability

2:34

liaison officers working

2:37

together with the Victorian

2:39

Department of Health to overcome

2:41

these barriers in the health care

2:43

sector. And they join me now

2:45

to talk all about it. Joe,

2:48

Kristen, thanks so much for being with

2:50

us today.

2:51

Thank you. Thanks so much.

2:53

Kristen will come to you. Firstly, tell

2:55

us a bit about the Disability Liaison

2:58

Officer program.

2:59

Sure. So the Disability Liaison

3:01

Officer program or the DLO program,

3:04

um, commenced in 2020. And

3:07

this year, um, the Victorian state

3:09

budget has committed a further funding

3:11

to continue the program for at least another

3:13

three years. So we have Delos,

3:16

um, a based in health services across

3:19

both metropolitan and regional Victoria.

3:21

And we work to provide direct and indirect

3:24

support to people with disability

3:26

so they can access the health care that

3:28

they need.

3:29

And, um, Kristen, could you tell our

3:31

listeners a bit about what a disability

3:33

liaison officer does?

3:35

Yeah, sure. So the disability

3:37

liaison officers, um, work

3:39

here in the hospital to support people with

3:42

disability to get access to the

3:44

right healthcare at the right time

3:46

in a way that suits them. So very

3:48

patient centered. We do a

3:50

lot of things, um, different things. And this

3:52

will largely be dependent on what the

3:55

person identifies as they might need.

3:57

Um, so some examples,

3:59

uh, like advocating for longer appointment

4:02

times or, um, noting

4:04

down patient preferences and how they

4:06

can receive their health care. Um,

4:08

and including things like communication

4:10

preferences and that can support

4:13

staff to know how best to communicate

4:15

with the patient and with

4:17

the healthcare staff, in addition to

4:20

working one on one with people, the dialogue

4:22

is also champion and support delivery

4:24

of service improvement activities.

4:26

Um and dealers um have the

4:28

skills to lay out or carry out strategic

4:31

activity where the objective of that activity

4:33

is to support equitable and

4:35

optimal access to healthcare

4:37

so we can do things in the space

4:39

of influence or advocate advocate

4:42

for systemic change, support

4:44

the delivery of disability action plans

4:46

within health services. Provide

4:49

some broader staff education to

4:51

build disability confident workforce,

4:54

and partnering with other health

4:56

services in the department to deliver

4:58

on some of the um service

5:00

improvement activities in inclusive Victoria,

5:03

the State disability Action Plan.

5:05

And Jill, did you have anything to

5:07

add there?

5:08

I'm going to give a little example actually, on

5:10

when Christine spoke about the disability action

5:12

plans. Most of the health services

5:15

that have done a disability action plan now have

5:17

made sure that the plan itself is

5:19

accessible to all users

5:21

or readers. So we have the screen

5:23

reader technology built in. Some of

5:25

the health services have been able to have their

5:28

disability action plan developed into

5:30

what we call an easy English or easy read version.

5:32

So there's simplified language

5:34

and with some pictures to go

5:36

with the language. And

5:38

then we're also aware that some it's

5:40

separate to disability action plans in terms

5:42

of actual wayfinding around hospitals,

5:45

one of the health services in metropolitan Melbourne

5:48

has been able to implement the bendy maps,

5:50

so that I'm sure

5:52

listeners are aware of indie maps, but

5:55

they provide a whole lot of information about wayfinding

5:57

through a hospital, such as where to find lifts

5:59

or where to find wayfinding information.

6:02

So I think they're great initiatives

6:04

across health services that are really trying

6:06

to break down some of those barriers that that people

6:09

who visit hospitals may experience.

6:11

Now, Jill will stay with you.

6:13

Give our listeners a bit of info about

6:15

where the DLO program

6:17

primarily operates at the

6:19

moment.

6:21

Yeah, sure. Thanks, Sam. As Christine said,

6:23

we are in many of the public

6:25

hospitals around Victoria. We're

6:27

not in every health service,

6:29

but we certainly try and cover

6:31

the state as best we can. So most

6:33

of the major metropolitan hospitals

6:36

have a DLO presence,

6:38

as do the big the regional

6:40

areas. Sometimes you'll find

6:42

a DLO in in a place like Kyabram,

6:45

um and Colac, which would not necessarily

6:47

be the normal expectation for a program

6:50

such as this. And they do great work

6:52

with their local communities and are very connected.

6:54

So I was thinking before about how to

6:57

share information about how to find out about

6:59

whether your local health service has a DLO,

7:01

and probably the best way is to go to the home page

7:03

of your local hospital or health. Service

7:06

and search for disability liaison officer.

7:08

And that would probably give you information about

7:11

whether there is a DLO in your local health service

7:13

or not, and how to contact them.

7:14

All right. Perfect. And, um,

7:16

could you give some examples,

7:19

Jill, of where the DLO has

7:21

worked with some members of

7:23

the blindness and low vision community

7:25

in particular?

7:27

Yeah, we'd be happy to. I'd probably

7:29

also.

7:29

Worth saying that Delos, in that

7:32

patient facing role, might be that that

7:34

person is an inpatient, or that might

7:36

be that person's at an outpatient trying

7:38

to come into hospital for to access an

7:40

appointment. So we would work across

7:42

the board regardless of where the person

7:44

is. We can help people navigate

7:47

the health system. So a couple

7:49

of examples might be

7:51

and it talks to how we were referencing

7:53

the maps before or providing information

7:55

about wayfinding. So we

7:57

think about how communication might

7:59

be provided to somebody, whether

8:01

they're in the community or whether they're an

8:03

inpatient on a ward, and whether that information

8:06

is accessible to them. And we

8:08

can speak to the ward staff, or we

8:10

can speak to the specialist clinics teams

8:12

and so on around providing information

8:14

in a way that people can actually access

8:17

it and find it easily.

8:18

Um, we were thinking, too, that there was we've

8:20

had some.

8:21

Scenarios where if someone

8:23

might have or experienced blindness

8:26

or low vision, but they may also

8:28

experience another disability, another

8:30

disability, such as an intellectual disability

8:33

or cognitive or sensory disability.

8:35

And when there's these experiences,

8:37

the barriers to healthcare can quickly

8:39

multiply and things can

8:41

become even more challenging. So

8:44

things like orientation around a

8:46

room or a clinic room or a busy

8:48

ward is intimidating for everybody.

8:51

And then if there are additional supports

8:53

that somebody might require, or that experience

8:55

might be pretty stressful. So the DLO

8:58

can help in those kinds of situations

9:00

to advise or educate

9:02

the staff that are supporting the patient.

9:05

We might think about,

9:07

as Krista mentioned earlier, the care needs

9:10

or preferences of that person has. And

9:12

we think about how how those might be best

9:14

met in the hospital environment.

9:16

So we would work directly with the individual

9:19

and talking to them about what they might need,

9:21

what kind of orientation they might need around

9:23

the environment they're in. And

9:26

we would also communicate with

9:28

us with the staff members around that person.

9:31

So as a situation, I remember where a

9:33

person lived in a supported

9:35

residential facility and

9:38

the staff at that at that house were really

9:40

concerned that this particular person wasn't going

9:42

to have their needs met when they came to hospital, because

9:44

they might have difficulty communicating their needs

9:46

and because of their blindness. So

9:49

we worked with the person, the ward staff.

9:51

We gave them some general orientation and

9:53

communication strategies. We

9:56

did things like remind the staff about where to put

9:58

the call bill, for example. Really simple

10:00

things, but could be quite a challenge for an

10:02

individual. We encourage

10:04

them, I guess, around supporting that person

10:06

to mobilize and to feel safe

10:08

in that ward environment, to get up and go

10:11

to the toilet and those kinds of things. We

10:13

checked in directly with the person about what would make them

10:15

feel more comfortable and safe. And

10:17

then we made sure that this was written in the care

10:19

preferences section of the that

10:21

person's hospital record. We

10:23

also have some communication boards

10:26

at the at the head of a of

10:28

a patient's bed. So popping

10:30

some lights up there for the staff to say.

10:33

Oh, that's very pleasing to hear

10:35

the case studies and successful

10:37

outcomes that the DLS

10:39

have been able to accomplish

10:41

in those sort of situations,

10:44

especially with those intersections

10:46

between blindness, low vision

10:48

and, you know, other disabilities

10:50

there. So that's some quite pleasing for

10:53

sure. Now, Kristen, I'd like to

10:55

just come to you now, what are

10:57

some examples and case

10:59

studies from your side of things that

11:01

you'd like to let our listeners know

11:03

about?

11:04

I think probably the Jill's probably

11:06

covered off on a number of the kind of

11:08

common, more common ones.

11:10

I think the patient care preferences,

11:13

which I mentioned earlier, is probably

11:15

that. And versions

11:17

of that across the health network

11:19

really help that communication

11:21

between the staff

11:23

and the patient and understanding,

11:26

um, those adjustments in care that

11:28

can really, um, improve the experience

11:31

for the patient while they're an inpatient

11:33

or while they're receiving outpatient services.

11:37

Well, that's pretty much covered off

11:39

on everything. So thank

11:41

you very much, both of you, for

11:43

that. I've been speaking today with

11:46

Kristen and Jill from the Disability

11:49

Liaison Officer Program

11:51

about how the DLS

11:53

can help people with

11:55

various disabilities to access

11:57

the health services they require

11:59

in hospital and health care

12:02

situations. I'm

12:10

Sam Culley and you're listening to Talking

12:13

Vision on Vision Australia Radio,

12:15

associated stations of RPM and

12:18

the Community Radio Network.

12:20

I hope you enjoyed that conversation

12:22

there with Christine and Jill from the

12:25

Disability Liaison Officer

12:27

Program. If you

12:29

missed any part of that interview,

12:31

or you'd love to hear from Christine and

12:33

Jill again, Talking vision will

12:35

be available on the Vision

12:38

Australia Radio website at RVA

12:40

radio.org. That's RVA

12:43

radio.org. You can

12:45

also find the program on the

12:47

podcast app of your choice or

12:49

through the Vision Australia library.

12:52

And now let's find out

12:54

a little bit more about the January

12:56

special interest program with Jordan

12:59

Ashby. I'm here today with

13:01

Jordan Ashby, volunteer coordinator

13:04

in New South Wales, and eyesight

13:07

also involved in the telling

13:09

program and in particular the

13:12

upcoming January webinar

13:14

series, which he'll be hosting

13:16

quite a few of. Jordan, welcome

13:19

to Talking Vision. Thank you very much

13:21

for your time.

13:22

Thank you for having me, Sam. As usual.

13:24

Now, Jordan, let's some let's get

13:26

into those webinar series. You've

13:29

got three coming up in January.

13:31

So tell us about those.

13:34

Yeah. So the webinar series in January

13:36

is going to be um, it's going to have a focus

13:38

on, uh, the changing perceptions

13:41

of blind and low vision people

13:43

in mainstream media. Um,

13:46

so we've got some really interesting speakers

13:48

on that topic. Uh, first

13:50

off, the ranks will be Alister Lee,

13:52

who's a is based in

13:54

Sydney. He's a voiceover artist,

13:56

and I like to call him the man of

13:59

a thousand Voices and accents.

14:01

So he's a, uh, as

14:03

I said, a voiceover actor, and he is

14:05

blind, which I think is what we're trying

14:07

to sort of get across as well, is that a lot of these,

14:10

uh, people that are coming well, the three webinar

14:12

speakers that we've got are blind and

14:14

low vision people that are changing

14:16

these perceptions out in mainstream

14:18

media. So Alister Lee is

14:20

the first one that we're doing. Second

14:22

one will be Steph Green,

14:25

who's a New Zealand based,

14:27

self-published USA today

14:29

prize winning author

14:31

of over 30 titles.

14:34

Um, more importantly as well, too, she's going to be speaking

14:36

to us a little bit about her self-help books

14:38

around, uh, assisting other authors

14:41

in self-publishing. Uh,

14:43

and obviously, as I said, she's

14:45

blind as well, which provides her a unique

14:48

insight to, uh,

14:50

our audience around who may

14:52

be interested in getting into writing and

14:54

things like that. Uh,

14:56

our last speaker for this

14:58

series is, uh, somewhat of a coup.

15:01

Uh, his name is Joe Strick.

15:03

Uh, he's had a very storied career.

15:05

Uh, so he started off as a blindness consultant

15:08

on the Netflix series, uh,

15:10

Daredevil, uh, where he came

15:12

in and trained Charlie Cox on how to play

15:15

the character. He then moved on to

15:17

become a associate producer on

15:19

the Apple TV series called sea

15:21

with, uh, Jason Momoa as the lead.

15:24

Uh, and he's also an associate producer

15:26

on the recent Netflix series,

15:29

uh, All the Light we Cannot See. Huge,

15:31

huge advocate for blind and low

15:33

vision actors and was involved in

15:35

casting the two main leads for

15:37

all the light we cannot see.

15:39

Now, Jordan, tell us a little bit

15:41

more about Alastor. Well, would

15:43

people have heard his voice before?

15:45

Most likely.

15:46

Yeah. So he has like a large portfolio

15:48

of, uh, TV commercials.

15:52

Uh, he's sort of dipped his

15:54

feet into audio description as well.

15:57

Uh, he's also done a lot

15:59

of work around sort of TV roles

16:01

as well, just back up TV roles

16:03

as well. So he's got a bit of a storied

16:05

career, done a lot of radio. Yeah.

16:08

Oh, cool. And with Steph,

16:11

she's, um, released quite

16:13

a few books. She's quite a prolific

16:16

author, as I understand. What are some

16:18

sort of books, in particular

16:20

the self-help titles. But in

16:22

terms of some famous or

16:24

like, quite well known titles

16:26

that she's written? Yeah.

16:28

So as I said, she writes,

16:30

um, gothic romance novels.

16:32

Oh, wow.

16:33

There you go. So she, uh, under

16:35

she's under the. Well, she writes under the

16:37

name of Stephanie Holmes for

16:40

her actual portfolio of books.

16:43

So with her sort of books, they,

16:45

as I said, she found it very, very

16:47

hard to break into being an author.

16:49

She was getting knocked back a

16:52

lot. So she she delved

16:54

into the publishing, the publishing,

16:57

self-publishing field, uh,

16:59

and some of the sort of more recent ones

17:01

that she's done. Um, she had a

17:03

title in 2023 called You're

17:05

So Dead to Me. She's had Of

17:08

Mice and Murder, which was the USA

17:10

today winning book. Oh, wow.

17:12

Um, so she's got a large sort of list

17:14

of books. She's got about 30 to 35

17:16

books that she's published. Right?

17:18

Um, so very, very prolific.

17:21

Um, based in New Zealand, as I've touched on. So

17:23

the fact that she's gotten so big in the USA

17:26

is a big coup for her as well. Very,

17:28

very busy author.

17:29

Yeah, it's fantastic news and really

17:32

great to have these people

17:34

on the line in January.

17:36

So looking forward to seeing how

17:38

that goes. And just before

17:40

we move on, I think there's some

17:43

other exciting news with, um,

17:45

Joe Strecker. One of his

17:47

shows has actually been

17:49

nominated for a Golden

17:51

Globe. So that's quite incredible.

17:53

And, you know, as you've said, quite a coup.

17:56

So that's really sort of going gangbusters,

17:58

hasn't it?

18:00

Yeah. So all the light we cannot see was based.

18:02

It's a four part series directed by

18:04

Shawn Levy, who, uh, worked on,

18:06

uh, The Good Guy and is currently working

18:08

on Daredevil with Ryan Reynolds. So

18:11

very, very known producer Joe

18:13

cast Aria Marie Liberty

18:16

as the lead role in that particular

18:18

show, which she'd never done acting before.

18:20

And she's blind and low vision, so she's. Never

18:22

sort of got into acting. This was just a

18:24

really sort of her first dip in the

18:26

water, basically. And she's,

18:28

uh, she's starring alongside Mark Ruffalo

18:31

and, uh, Hugh Laurie.

18:33

So a very, very, uh, very, very

18:35

big cast for this Netflix series.

18:37

Yeah. No. Yeah. And it's

18:40

an incredible four part series.

18:42

Okay. Uh, four episodes

18:44

currently on Netflix at the moment. All audio

18:46

described. And it's based on the

18:48

prize winning books. All the light

18:51

we cannot see.

18:52

Oh, perfect.

18:52

So, um, follows a

18:55

blind girl in the midst

18:57

of World War two who, uh, strikes up

18:59

a connection with a German soldier. And it's a very,

19:01

very interesting story. I'd encourage anybody

19:03

who's listening to this to go and watch it on the Netflix

19:06

series. It's very, very good.

19:07

Okay, there you go. All the light.

19:10

And that's what he's, uh.

19:11

He was initially booked for the first, uh,

19:13

first Monday in January, uh,

19:15

that we come back, uh, however,

19:17

I had to move it because that's when the Golden Globes

19:20

is on. So. Yeah. Right.

19:21

There you go. So, um, in regards

19:23

to that, let's get the

19:25

dates that these three will

19:28

be appearing. So, um,

19:30

we'll start off with Alister.

19:32

What day and time can people

19:35

expect to catch up with him.

19:37

So the first webinar series

19:39

now with that change in

19:41

schedule, is going to be the,

19:43

uh, 15th of January

19:46

at 2 p.m., Dallas Daly

19:48

joining us from Sydney. Uh,

19:51

the second second webinar

19:54

with Steph Green is going to be at 2

19:56

p.m. on the 22nd,

19:59

uh, Eastern Standard Time, of course. And

20:01

the final webinar is now going to be on the

20:03

29th of January at 2

20:06

p.m. with Joe Straker.

20:07

And how can people register

20:10

to head along to

20:12

the zoom webinars?

20:15

Yeah. So, um, if you're if

20:17

you were to sort of call up, uh, Vision

20:19

Australia, you can register up with tele link

20:22

and they can give you that information. So

20:24

yeah, if you go over onto the Vision Australia

20:26

website and you just search for

20:28

the Summer tele link series,

20:31

it'll come up with all of our interesting

20:33

webinars. All right.

20:34

Cool. And that website

20:37

again is Vision australia.org

20:40

Vision australia.org

20:42

and search for tell

20:44

link. Jordan thank you very

20:47

much for your time today. I've been speaking

20:49

today with Jordan Ashby,

20:51

the volunteer coordinator

20:54

from New South Wales, and I say

20:56

also responsible for

20:58

the telling program and facilitator

21:02

of three exciting upcoming

21:04

January webinars with

21:07

three very important people

21:09

from the blind and low vision community

21:11

doing incredible things.

21:13

Jordan, thank you very much for your

21:15

time today. It's a pleasure to catch up.

21:18

Thank you for having me on again, Sam.

21:23

And now here's Francis Kelland

21:25

with a reader recommended.

21:27

Thank you Sam. The book today

21:30

was the first book in an incredibly

21:32

successful series, the Outlander

21:34

series, which went on to become a

21:36

successful television series as well.

21:39

The first book in the series is called

21:41

Cross Stitch, and for those

21:43

of you who like a good historical

21:46

fiction, read with a little bit of a time

21:48

slip happening, you'll enjoy

21:50

this series and Scottish history as

21:52

well. Cross-stitch is by Diana

21:54

Gabaldon. In 1945,

21:57

a Claire Randall, a former combat

21:59

nurse, is back from the war and reunited

22:01

with her husband on a second honeymoon.

22:04

Their blissful reunion is shattered

22:06

when she touches a boulder in one of

22:08

the ancient stone ruins, and

22:10

is instantly transported to a Scotland

22:12

torn by war and raiding border

22:14

clans in 1743,

22:17

we'll clear find her way back to her

22:19

own time. Or is her destiny

22:21

forever linked with Clan Mackenzie

22:24

and the gallant James Fraser?

22:26

Let's hear a sample of Cross-stitch,

22:29

part one in the Diana Gabaldon

22:31

Outlander series. It's

22:33

narrated by Denise Kirby.

22:35

It wasn't a very likely place

22:38

for disappearances, at least

22:40

at first glance. Mrs.

22:42

Baird's was like a thousand other

22:44

Highland bed and breakfast establishments

22:47

in 1946, clean

22:49

and quiet with fading floral

22:51

wallpaper, gleaming floors

22:54

and a coin operated water heater

22:56

in the bathroom. Mrs.

22:58

Baird herself was squat

23:00

and easygoing, and made no

23:02

objection to Frank lining her tiny

23:05

rose sprig parlour with the

23:07

dozens of books and papers with

23:09

which he always travelled. I

23:12

met Mrs. Baird in the front hall. On my way

23:14

out. She stopped me with

23:16

a pudgy hand on my arm and patted at

23:18

my hair. Dear

23:20

me, Mrs. Randall, you

23:22

kind of go out like that here.

23:25

Just let me tuck that bit in for

23:27

you there. That's

23:29

better. You know,

23:32

my cousin was telling me about

23:34

a new perm. She tried, comes

23:36

out beautiful and holds

23:38

like a dream. Perhaps

23:40

you should try that kind next time.

23:43

I hadn't the heart to tell her that

23:45

the waywardness of my light brown curls

23:48

was strictly the fault of nature,

23:50

and not due to any dereliction

23:52

on the part of the permanent wave manufacturers.

23:55

Her own tightly marked celled

23:57

waves suffered from no such perversity.

24:00

Yes, I'll do that, Mrs. Baird,

24:03

I lied. I'm just going

24:05

down to meet Frank. We'll be back for

24:07

tea.

24:08

And that was Cross-stitch, part one

24:11

in the Outlander series by

24:13

Diana Gabaldon. And there are

24:15

all of the books in the series

24:17

in the collection. It's quite a

24:19

long series and it has so

24:21

many fans, so if you would like

24:24

to get that book or any other of the wonderfully

24:26

long series that we have in the collection, or short

24:28

books, short stories, anything

24:30

you're after, give the library a call

24:32

on 1300 654 656.

24:36

That's one 306 54656.

24:40

Or you can email library at

24:42

Vision Australia. Org that's

24:44

library at Vision Australia.

24:47

Org.

24:54

And now, finally, before we go,

24:56

some news and information on

24:59

behalf of the Australian blind and

25:01

Low Vision community Vision Australia

25:03

wish to pay tribute to the life

25:06

and achievements and recognise

25:08

the outstanding community contributions

25:11

of Doctor Kevin Moffatt OAM.

25:15

Over the course of his life, Kevin

25:17

created a lasting legacy

25:19

for his contributions to Vision

25:21

Australia, Blind Citizens

25:24

Australia, World Blind Union,

25:26

Asia Pacific and numerous

25:28

other areas and initiatives

25:30

that have had direct and positive

25:33

impact for the blind and low

25:35

vision community. Prior

25:37

to the formation of Vision Australia,

25:40

Kevin served as Vice President

25:42

of the Royal Victorian Institute

25:45

for the blind. He also

25:47

gave 12 years of dedicated

25:49

service on the board of Vision

25:51

Australia, including ten years

25:53

as chair. Kevin

25:55

was also a director on the

25:57

Disability Services Board of

26:00

the Victorian State Government, and

26:02

in 2006 he was conferred

26:05

his Doctor of Philosophy from

26:07

Deakin University, with his

26:09

research focusing on diversity

26:12

and employment. In

26:14

2002, Kevin received

26:16

a Human Rights Award from

26:19

the Australian Human Rights Commission

26:21

for contributing to the Disability

26:24

Discrimination Act. In

26:26

2017, Kevin was awarded

26:29

an OAM for his extensive

26:31

service to the blindness and low

26:33

vision community. Ron

26:36

Horton, Vision Australia CEO,

26:38

said Kevin would be remembered as

26:40

a pillar of the disability community

26:43

across Australia and the world.

26:45

Today is a sad day for our community.

26:48

Not only was Kevin instrumental

26:50

in the formation of Vision Australia,

26:53

his years of selfless service across

26:55

the blind and low vision community have

26:57

had a massive impact that will never

26:59

be forgotten, Ron said. From

27:02

everyone at Vision Australia, we

27:04

offer our condolences to Kevin's family

27:07

and friends and our thoughts are

27:09

with them, he said. And

27:12

that's all we have time for today. You've

27:14

been listening to Talking Vision. Talking

27:17

vision is a production of Vision

27:19

Australia Radio. Thanks to

27:21

all involved with putting the show together.

27:24

And remember we love your feedback

27:26

and comments. So please do get in touch

27:29

on Talking Vision at Vision

27:31

australia.org. That's

27:33

talking vision all. One word

27:35

at Vision australia.org.

27:37

But until next week it's Sam

27:39

Culley saying bye for now.

27:45

You can contact Virgin Australia by

27:47

phoning us anytime during business

27:49

hours on one 308

27:51

4746.

27:54

That's one 384

27:56

746 or

27:58

by visiting Vision australia.org.

28:00

That's Vision Australia call.