0:13

From Vision Australia. This is talking

0:15

vision. And

0:18

now here's your host, Sam.

0:20

Colleague.

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. Welcome

0:32

to this special holiday edition

0:34

of Talking Vision. Today

0:36

we feature two interviews from

0:38

the year just gone, starting

0:40

off with Matt Foremost and the

0:42

star of surfing in the

0:45

dark, the first book in

0:47

the three part Big Vision

0:49

series, which launched earlier

0:51

this year. Matt joined me

0:53

along with his mum Lorraine to catch

0:55

up just after the book launched

0:58

and you'll hear from him once

1:00

more very shortly. Then,

1:02

after you hear from Matt and Lorraine,

1:05

I spoke with Nicole Lee,

1:07

president of people with Disabilities

1:10

Australia, who I caught up with

1:12

early in October following

1:14

the publication of the final

1:17

report from the Disability

1:19

Royal Commission on the

1:21

29th of September. I hope

1:23

you enjoyed this special holiday

1:26

episode of Talking Vision.

1:33

I began the interview with Matt by

1:35

asking him about the

1:37

motivation behind surfing

1:39

in the dark and why he got involved.

1:42

Very honoured and grateful that

1:44

Vision Australia reached out to me to to be part

1:46

of the series, to sort of showcase my life

1:48

and some of the, I suppose, the ups

1:51

and the downs that I've had. But um, why

1:54

wouldn't I be involved? It's such, such an honour

1:56

to be part of this, to be featured

1:59

in the first ever book in Australia

2:01

that features both text, images

2:03

and Braille. Um, it's

2:05

simply an honour and I'm just grateful to

2:07

be a part of it.

2:09

And let's go back to

2:11

the very beginning, when

2:13

you sort of got involved with surfing

2:15

at a very young age, but you're also

2:18

grappling with the vision

2:20

loss diagnosis at age five.

2:22

What was that like to sort of be

2:25

balancing all the active things

2:27

you were doing with, you know, rugby

2:29

and surfing and what have you, and

2:31

being an active little boy,

2:33

but also with the vision loss,

2:35

what was that like to cope with?

2:38

I mean, it was it was challenging. But I think,

2:40

you know, all anything in life you can look at as

2:42

a challenge or as easy.

2:45

But when my mum's here with me today,

2:47

my family, her and my dad would was

2:50

not about your blind. You can't

2:52

do that. It was let's just do it.

2:54

And if there's a problem, we'll work

2:56

it out. So that was what the focus wasn't. Wasn't

2:58

on the fact that I was blind and there

3:00

was challenges. The focus was more on what

3:02

do you want to do? Just like my siblings and

3:05

friends. So, um, I didn't

3:07

focus on it too much, to be honest. I was just focusing

3:09

on having fun and playing with my friends.

3:12

And so, Lauren, what was

3:14

that whole time period like for you

3:16

as well as a mum? You'd probably have

3:19

a few worries and things

3:21

here and there about, oh, you know, what's

3:23

going to happen and like, what

3:25

can Matt do? But it's also a credit

3:28

to you and the family for saying,

3:30

you know, Matt can do this. There was never

3:32

that whole phrase of Matt can't

3:34

do that, Matt can't do this. And

3:37

I think that really speaks to me.

3:39

And it's something really important to spread

3:41

that message as well.

3:43

Well, I was asked when Matthew

3:46

was diagnosed at five, the

3:48

district nurse rang me and said,

3:50

do you want to come and talk

3:53

about it? And I said, no, Matthew's

3:55

very capable child. I'll just

3:57

go along with him. And when he has problems,

4:00

then we'll talk about it. And Matthew

4:02

was so adept at everything. We never got

4:04

to that conversation.

4:06

Oh that's wonderful. That's really good to

4:08

hear. So also, Matt,

4:10

I just want to come back to you now. One

4:12

of the main purposes of the book is

4:14

to help children who are blind or

4:16

have low vision, understand that

4:18

living with blindness or low vision doesn't

4:21

have to be a barrier to achieving

4:23

their goals. And it's really

4:25

important for people with lived experience

4:28

of blindness or low vision to

4:30

have that representation in

4:32

children's materials. Was

4:35

that another reason as to why

4:37

you did get involved?

4:39

Well, I'm just sort of honored to

4:41

be part of it. It was as soon as I was asked

4:43

to be part of this, I said yes, and I'm just privileged

4:46

to be part of it. But, I mean, obviously, I'm very honoured that

4:48

my story is being showcased. There's so

4:50

many stories, I think, of people

4:52

with blindness and low vision in

4:54

Australia and globally that could showcase

4:57

resilience and could showcase the can spirit

4:59

and not focus on can't. Um,

5:01

so, you know, I just want to acknowledge

5:04

that, you know, I'm very privileged that my story

5:06

has been showcased and that there

5:08

are lots of other stories that could have been in that

5:10

situation. And, look, I

5:12

take it as a great privilege, but also as a responsibility

5:15

to, you know, help educate the

5:17

next generation that it's not all gloom.

5:19

There are just if you want to do something, you can

5:21

do it. You just have to find a way, and your way might be

5:23

a bit different to somebody else's way. And

5:25

that's just not. That's not just because you're visually impaired, that

5:27

this could be because you live further out of town.

5:30

We're all different as human beings. And,

5:32

you know, we all have to approach things in different ways.

5:34

And, Matt, we've talked about the importance

5:36

from within the blind and low

5:39

vision community, but there's also

5:41

perceptions from the general

5:43

public that still do need to

5:45

be changed a little bit about what

5:47

people who are blind or have low vision

5:50

can achieve. So what sort of

5:52

experiences have you had from

5:55

that side of things with sort of people,

5:57

from the general public having certain

5:59

perceptions of what you can and can't

6:01

do? Is that sort of come across your

6:04

wavelength at any point?

6:05

Yeah, a lot. As a

6:07

businessman, I work in, in the corporate

6:09

space for, for a ICT organisation,

6:12

but I also sit on a few

6:14

boards and I'm obviously heavily

6:17

involved in as an ambassador in

6:19

multiple disability sectors. But

6:22

I think there's two parts to it. There's the community

6:24

at large and large organisations

6:27

not understanding what blindness

6:29

is and and what it isn't. But there's

6:31

also, I think, a lot of misconception within the blind

6:33

and low vision community around what

6:35

is possible. So and I think they both need to

6:37

be addressed. The peace around,

6:40

um, the community at large

6:42

understanding is really tricky.

6:44

And I think this, this book series

6:46

is a great step towards educating people

6:49

as to, you know, it

6:51

showcases someone that goes surfing and cycling.

6:54

Um, someone who's, who's who's a chef

6:56

and uses feel and and smell

6:58

and someone who's an artist and makes

7:00

beautiful garments using texture and

7:02

feel. And I think it's showcasing

7:05

the benefits of the disability

7:07

that is really important to help

7:09

the community. It's also to, to showcase

7:11

to to organizations that are employing

7:14

people with disabilities. I mean, I

7:16

grew up not being able to read.

7:18

I'd never learnt Braille. So I went and I went

7:20

through mainstream schooling in the 80s, which was not

7:22

done at the time. But because of that,

7:24

I listened and ask questions through my whole education.

7:27

So by the time I had finished school, I

7:29

had a 20 year degree in sales. I've

7:31

been asking and listening, you know, so I

7:34

think we're not going to be very successful in sales. And

7:36

my corporate career and my counterparts

7:38

just could not have had the experience that I have in,

7:40

in, in listening and asking questions,

7:42

which I was forced to attain because of my disability.

7:44

So I think if we focus more on what the

7:47

benefits of, of our diversity.

7:49

So because we're different and we have a,

7:51

uh, one of our parts doesn't work, it means that we

7:53

have to make other parts work better. And if we

7:55

can showcase that to the community and to corporates

7:57

and to anywhere we're going in life

8:00

and focus on the positives, I think that's

8:02

the way forward. And I think this book series

8:04

is a great way to start that conversation.

8:07

And Lorraine will come to you.

8:09

Now, what sort of things do you

8:11

have to say about, you know, the importance

8:13

of letting your son or daughter,

8:16

who might have low vision if there's parents

8:18

out there listening and the sort of maybe

8:20

at the early stages of working

8:23

through diagnosis and what it all

8:25

means, what do you have to say, I

8:27

guess, around that.

8:28

Well, I just think that experiencing

8:31

everything. So as Matthew said, textiles.

8:34

Well, even just going out

8:36

and feeling nature and being

8:38

so going, walking, allow them to

8:40

be in the park and

8:43

going like walking or climbing

8:45

or all those things, so that even

8:47

with low vision that they can just feel

8:49

and not being, I think as a parent

8:52

it is very scary for them and the

8:54

unknown, like, what is this child going to

8:56

do? Like we were told Matthew wouldn't be able

8:58

to drive a car. He'd never have much

9:00

of an education. He'd never play sport.

9:02

Well, that all was wrong, but that's what we

9:05

were told. Um, so I think

9:07

you've got to.

9:07

Drive a car.

9:08

I know he will in the future, get a

9:12

car that drives itself.

9:13

That's right. I'm looking forward to that day. Yeah.

9:16

Um, so my feeling

9:18

is just you as a parent can feel

9:20

what's right and

9:23

give the child as much opportunity

9:25

to experience as much as they can

9:27

in their world. So don't intimidate

9:30

them by being too protective. Just

9:32

give as much space. So normally,

9:35

just keep opening the fences

9:37

till they can get out in the big wide

9:39

yonder. So that would be my advice

9:41

just to give them as much experience

9:43

and as much, you know, freedom

9:45

as is capable, that the child won't

9:48

harm themselves.

9:49

If I can just add to that, I think there's a and I didn't know

9:51

about this until I was an adult, but when I started

9:53

playing rugby league football, dad was talking

9:56

to a few of the other dads and they said, Does Matt

9:58

have any friends that want to play rugby league?

10:00

Because the their son's team needed

10:02

a few extra players and he said, oh, Matt

10:04

will play. And the way that

10:06

these dads responded to him was saying, oh

10:08

no, Don, your son's visually impaired. He's he's

10:10

blind. He won't be able to to play.

10:13

He'll get hurt. He'll be you're putting. And so

10:15

the I suppose the narrative of that is there's

10:17

telling him that he's putting his son in

10:19

harm's way and he's a bad parent because

10:21

he's putting his child in harm's way.

10:24

And I think that's a fear as well for parents

10:26

that they not just that their

10:28

child might get hurt, but they could be seen to be being

10:30

reckless, letting their child with a disability

10:33

do something where they might get hurt. But

10:35

I think the reality if you flip, that is

10:37

what my dad was doing by letting me play rugby

10:39

league and my mum was doing was giving

10:41

me an opportunity rather than putting

10:44

me in harm's way. And, you know, I went and played that sport

10:46

and I was very good at that sport. I ended up playing that at a representative

10:48

level. But if they never

10:50

took that risk and the risk was

10:52

obviously that I could get hurt, and the risk is that they

10:54

could look like reckless parents because they were putting

10:56

me in harm's way, then they

10:58

wouldn't have given me that opportunity, which, you know, I think

11:00

that opportunity has set me up in my life.

11:03

I got to play in that team, which taught me about the,

11:05

you know, working with the team, uh,

11:08

being responsible, you know, ownership,

11:10

turning up on time, all these things that you learn

11:12

when you're a part of a team. And I think

11:14

also training hard. And that set me up to be the

11:16

athlete that I am today and cycling and surfing.

11:19

All right. And Matt, we'll talk

11:21

about the book a little bit now

11:24

and I won't give too much away. I

11:26

want people out there to check

11:28

it out and give it a read and. Hear

11:31

all about your story, but you

11:33

speak in there about how the ocean

11:35

tells you things, that speaks to

11:37

you when you're out on the water. So

11:40

could you sort of go into a bit of

11:42

detail around that? Because that's quite interesting.

11:45

Yeah.

11:46

So I mean, people always walk up to me and say,

11:48

how do you surf? Because I've got on my

11:50

on my wetsuits and my rash face. I've

11:52

got Blind surfer and really big text. And,

11:54

you know, some people know who I am. So they kind of say, how

11:56

do you surf when you can't see? It's crazy. I don't understand,

11:59

but most sighted people that surf

12:01

really well will end up staying out one day.

12:03

And we say when it's pumping and that means the waves are really

12:05

good. And they'll say until the sun goes

12:08

down into the dark and then they end up surfing in the

12:10

dark. I just surf in the dark every day.

12:12

And that's, I think that's it's a very apt name for the book

12:14

surfing in the dark. And I say to them, well,

12:16

what what did it feel like when you were surfing in the

12:18

dark? And they said, oh yeah. It was this feeling of weightlessness.

12:21

I was just floating. And because I can't see the wave,

12:23

and that's what I feel every day when I surf. So the

12:25

way the ocean talks to me in ways of their

12:28

sound and the energy. So as I'm paddling

12:30

out through the waves, instead of seeing

12:32

the white water coming towards me, I hear it.

12:34

And then at the last minute I feel the water sucking

12:36

towards the wave because the white, the wave actually

12:38

sucks water back towards it as it gets close to you.

12:41

And then as a wave is coming, it goes, you know,

12:43

I'm sitting at the back, it goes up and down

12:45

and I feel there's a bigger waves coming. You go

12:47

down further and up, it's a

12:49

bigger drop, and then you go up steep

12:51

because the waves wanting to break on the bank. So there's

12:53

all these little, little nuances that you learn

12:55

to over years and hours and hours and hours. And,

12:58

you know, for me, thousands of hours of surfing.

13:00

I'm now dialed into the ocean

13:02

through sound and feel,

13:04

and I can navigate through the ocean using

13:07

sound and feel as well, or better than a lot of sighted

13:09

people.

13:10

So the books are being sold across

13:12

Australia, and the proceeds from sales

13:14

do go towards supporting

13:16

the vital services that Vision

13:18

Australia provides for people who

13:20

are blind or have low vision.

13:22

And as you've mentioned, they'll

13:24

feature Braille, so they allow children

13:27

or parents who are Braille readers to

13:29

read along together and

13:31

and so they are available now

13:34

for people to go and pick

13:36

up a copy and have a read

13:38

and share with their kids or, you know, people

13:40

in their friend groups who may be interested

13:43

to hear about these stories. So

13:45

we do encourage people to get

13:47

out to their retailer, but also

13:49

go through the Vision Australia library

13:51

or the vision Store to pick

13:53

up a copy of surfing

13:55

in the dark featuring Matt Thomsen,

13:58

who have been speaking with today

14:00

alongside his mum Lorraine.

14:09

I'm Sam Corley and you're listening

14:11

to Talking Vision on Vision Australia.

14:13

Radio associated stations

14:15

of RPA and the Community

14:17

Radio Network. I hope

14:20

you're enjoying this special holiday

14:22

edition of Talking Vision. We

14:24

just heard from Matt and Lorraine Foreman.

14:27

They're chatting all about surfing

14:29

in the dark, the first edition

14:31

of the three part Big Visions

14:34

book series, which launched over

14:36

the course of this year. As

14:39

always, if you missed any part of

14:41

the episode today or you'd love

14:43

to listen to it again, Talking Vision

14:45

is available on the

14:47

podcast app of your choice

14:49

or through the Vision Australia

14:52

library. And now

14:54

here's Nicole Lee, President

14:56

of people with Disabilities Australia,

14:58

chatting to me about the

15:01

recent Disability Royal commission.

15:04

I began by asking Nicole

15:06

to give us a quick overview of

15:08

the Disability Royal Commission

15:10

and the final report in

15:12

particular.

15:13

Yeah, sure. So the Disability Royal Commission

15:16

was established back in 2019.

15:18

So it's been going for four and a half years roughly,

15:21

um, where they've held public hearings,

15:23

including through lots of Covid lockdowns.

15:26

So they had to pivot to doing a lot of things online.

15:28

They've had private hearings and issued

15:31

lots of papers. So I think there's 7944

15:33

submissions that they received, 17,824

15:38

phone inquiries, 14 issue papers

15:40

published, 70 responses to

15:42

issue papers and 1785

15:46

private sessions were held in that four

15:48

and a half years. So it's quite

15:50

a substantial piece of work that they've

15:52

undertaken over the last four and a half years.

15:55

And so that's resulted in the report that

15:57

was handed down last Friday, the

15:59

29th of September, that contained

16:01

222 recommendations.

16:04

And it was roughly was it 13 volumes?

16:06

I think, from memory. So quite a big

16:08

report, you could say.

16:10

Absolutely. And I think

16:12

it's worth touching on those

16:14

222 recommendations.

16:17

And, you know, what were the sort of

16:20

key findings and outcomes with

16:22

those recommendations that have

16:24

emerged from the Commission

16:26

that you'd really like to let

16:29

people know about and to highlight

16:31

some.

16:31

Of the really big ones, you know, in there, which

16:33

really are ultimately the low hanging fruit,

16:36

I guess, in regards to, you know, disability

16:38

rights is, you know, to establish a human

16:40

rights framework and a Disability Discrimination

16:42

Act, you know, a disability rights framework within

16:45

Australia. So, you know, that

16:47

isn't something we ultimately, in my opinion, needed

16:49

a Royal commission to work out that that was

16:51

something we needed to do. But irrespective

16:53

of that, we've got, you know, recommendations around that.

16:56

And the other one was around, um, you know, abolishing

16:58

forced sterilization of women and girls with

17:00

disability. Again, that is not something

17:02

that should have taken a royal commission to come out with

17:04

that recommendation. And that is something that's

17:06

been advocated for for many, many,

17:08

many years. So, you know,

17:10

we have to see it as a win to actually get it into

17:12

this report. And hopefully that that recommendation

17:15

definitely does get actioned on

17:17

as soon as possible with limited

17:20

time, I guess. You know, it's not something

17:22

we need a long plan of action for.

17:24

They are. They do right now.

17:26

Easy. There should be no arguments in regards

17:29

to kind of recommendations. There

17:31

was the talk around the segregated

17:33

education, which unfortunately there was

17:35

a divide amongst the commissioners, and there seems to be

17:37

a fair amount of debate within the community

17:39

around, you know, what is segregated education

17:42

and that, you know, some commissioners didn't want it. Some

17:44

people in the community don't want it. But ultimately,

17:47

you know, the disability community does want to

17:49

see an end to segregation. We do want to see

17:51

integrated and full inclusion within

17:53

the whole of society. Unfortunately,

17:55

the timeline around your abolishing segregated

17:58

education is 28 years.

18:00

So kicking the can down the road,

18:02

so to speak, you know, we need to be making.

18:04

Yeah, it's a long it's a

18:06

it's an unambitious very

18:08

unambitious 28 years. I mean who can think

18:11

that far ahead. Exactly. Yeah.

18:13

Yeah. And and it also leads to

18:15

your another several lots of

18:17

generations of children being segregated.

18:19

You know we've got to look at that as being a basic

18:21

human right. Not segregating children based

18:24

on difference. You know, we wouldn't do this for

18:26

any other cohort. Why should we do this for disability?

18:29

You know, and if we want to look at the drivers of violence

18:31

against disability segregation is that

18:33

big driver of violence against us.

18:35

And we want to shift community attitudes

18:37

towards people with disability. Well, we're not going to do

18:39

that if we're not visible in the world around

18:41

us. So if we're telling children as young

18:43

as five or under that those kids

18:46

are different. So therefore they learn over there in

18:48

that classroom or in that school

18:50

over there, and not in the same classroom as you.

18:52

And we're telling disabled children that

18:54

you're different and you don't belong. Well,

18:56

we're setting in stone already

18:58

at a young age, the fear

19:00

of disabled people, discrimination of

19:02

disabled people and reinforcing those

19:05

stigmas of difference of. People,

19:07

rather than seeing us as just kids alongside

19:09

other kids playing in the playground. So

19:12

that's a really important piece that we, you know,

19:14

we want to see worked on. But the 28 year mark

19:16

is far too long. That needs to be

19:18

a much more ambitious timeline

19:20

for that one. And the other sort of bits and pieces

19:23

around segregated housing.

19:25

Everybody should have the right to choose

19:27

where they live, who they live with,

19:29

and how they live their lives and the environments

19:31

in which they live in. So abolishing

19:34

group homes is really, really vital

19:36

now. Like just like anybody else leaving

19:38

home, some people want to go and live in a share

19:40

house, but they get a choice in who they live in that

19:42

share house with. It's the same for disabled

19:45

people. Some disabled people might want to live with

19:47

others and share an environment and

19:49

share a home, but having choice

19:51

and control over who is in that environment,

19:53

who lives with you, is the vital

19:56

piece here that needs to be worked

19:58

on, that hopefully that that is something that will

20:00

be prioritized. You know, with the government

20:02

task force that's been announced that they're looking

20:04

to set up, unfortunately, we don't have a lot

20:06

of details around what they mean by that government task

20:08

force. So far, on the surface value,

20:11

it has been very much committing to government

20:13

departments with advice from the disability

20:15

community. You know, we don't want to be advising

20:18

from the outside into a task force

20:20

that's looking at implementing the royal commission.

20:22

You know, we want broad representation in

20:24

the room alongside government on

20:27

how we're implementing this royal commission and

20:29

its recommendations. So, you know, that

20:31

task force is a vital piece of the puzzle

20:33

here so that we are in the room,

20:35

we're with the decision makers and we

20:37

are overseeing what do we mean,

20:39

how do we define segregation on

20:41

our terms and not what other people

20:44

define as segregation for us?

20:46

And that's been a bit of a debate around,

20:48

you know, education and what other people

20:50

assume or classify as segregation,

20:54

um, which isn't necessarily the same as what how

20:56

we conceptualize segregation.

20:58

You've given us quite a great

21:00

deal of ideas, perspective,

21:03

and your perspective individually,

21:05

just there in response to

21:08

the findings. So thank you very

21:10

much for that. But I also

21:12

understand, and I believe you would

21:14

have been speaking to quite a few

21:16

organizations and individuals

21:18

over the past week, following

21:20

on from the publication of

21:22

the final report. So what

21:25

have been the feelings there from

21:27

your side of things, but also

21:29

from those who you've spoken to

21:31

in the sector over the past week?

21:33

I think one of the things that's really

21:35

I shouldn't be surprised, but I'm kind

21:37

of shocked at that I've seen coming out

21:40

and from other people in the sector

21:42

is the fact that we don't have a section

21:44

on women and girls with

21:46

disability, considering we experience

21:48

much higher rates of violence and neglect

21:51

and abuse than other cohorts in the community,

21:53

including, you know, quite high rates of sexual

21:55

violence, we have the lowest rates of

21:58

education inclusion, and we have

22:00

the lowest employment rates out of the entire

22:02

community. Yet there was no discussion

22:04

in the Royal Commission around bringing up

22:06

that gender equity piece. So that's

22:09

kind of disappointing if I can put that sort

22:11

of side around gender and gender based

22:13

violence into perspective. Victoria had

22:15

a Royal Commission into Family Violence that handed

22:17

down a report in 2016.

22:19

Now, considering that this is just

22:21

a royal commission into violence,

22:24

gender based violence in one state,

22:26

so one area of our lives, it came

22:28

out with 227 recommendations.

22:30

Ten of those were dedicated to people with disability.

22:33

Now, it's disappointing to see

22:35

that women and girls and gender diverse people are only

22:37

mentioned across four recommendations for,

22:40

you know, the Disability Royal Commission, which

22:42

is meant to be investigating violence

22:44

that spans the course of our lifetime.

22:47

So from birth to the day we die.

22:50

So it's disappointing to see that that

22:52

hasn't come through. And this is where we

22:54

need that representation in the room with that task

22:56

force, because that conversation needs to be had.

22:58

Well, yet we want to end violence against all people

23:01

with disability, but we also want to bring

23:03

up the equity of women and girls with disability

23:05

who are experiencing higher rates

23:07

of violence and sexual violence than other areas

23:10

of the disability community. And what

23:12

can we do around prevention and

23:14

safeguarding for women and girls with disability?

23:16

So that was one of the big reflections

23:18

that I've seen come out of the community,

23:21

you know, noting that, you know, gender based violence is something

23:23

that I sunk my teeth into when I came

23:25

into activism as a family

23:27

violence survivor. So it's something that is very

23:29

core and personal to me. And it's also the

23:32

hearing in which I gave my own personal evidence

23:34

to as well, around the experience

23:36

of violence against women with disabilities, including

23:38

my own experience. So that's an area that

23:40

is lacking that needs to have some

23:43

uplift in regards to it.

23:45

And I guess it's good that we're

23:47

looking at how do we reduce restricted

23:49

practice, how do we move away

23:51

from using seclusion and

23:54

restraints against people with disability? But

23:56

I don't feel that it quite goes far enough.

23:58

We don't want to be using language around reducing

24:01

restrictive practices. We want to be using language around

24:03

abolishing restrictive practice. We

24:05

want to be looking at. Pathways with dedicated

24:07

time frames around, well, how do we end

24:10

the use of restrictive practice, seclusion

24:12

and restraint? How do we do that in all

24:14

environments in which our lives are, you

24:16

know, situated, including group homes,

24:18

schools, health and mental

24:20

health settings across the board and in

24:22

the justice setting as well, so that all

24:24

areas are safe for us to engage

24:26

with because at the moment they're currently not.

24:29

And unfortunately, it feels like there's

24:31

just different language being put to

24:33

services justifying the use of these

24:35

practices, which do already exist,

24:37

and they will continue to justify the use

24:39

of it unless we actually give clear boundaries

24:42

around no, we don't want to be reducing, we

24:44

want to be abolishing, and you need

24:46

to be looking at and addressing the environments

24:49

in which people are existing in or

24:51

engaging with services in that lead

24:53

to an escalation of distress

24:56

that then leads to the use of restrictive

24:58

practice. So that's again why we

25:00

need to be in the room. We need to be defining what that

25:03

looks like. We need to be putting the language to that.

25:05

And we need to be setting some clear boundaries around

25:07

what do we actually mean by, you know,

25:09

abolishing these things, and how do we go

25:11

about doing it? And, you know, what are the steps

25:13

that need to be taken? And the language

25:15

used to draw a line very clearly

25:17

in the sand, that there's not going to be any excuses

25:20

moving forward, that these measures have to be taken

25:22

and just, you know, putting other words around

25:24

how to justify the continuation

25:27

of these forms of practices need to be

25:29

stamped out.

25:30

And if people want to get

25:32

in touch with Pueda

25:34

and talk to somebody about

25:36

their experiences or their feelings

25:38

about the final report and the outcomes

25:41

from the Royal Commission, what's

25:43

the best way for people to get in

25:45

touch with you?

25:46

I guess via our email channels, which

25:48

can be found on our website, to make

25:50

contact with the organisation or if

25:52

you need support, with individualised advocacy on

25:54

different issues. But the other one, like if

25:56

you just want to sort of discuss

25:58

struggling with what the report contains or

26:01

a lot of emotions that are sitting with this report,

26:03

is that Blue Note is still offering counselling

26:05

moving forward for people, and they're a really

26:07

good service that support people with complex

26:09

trauma. And they were involved in the commission

26:12

and supporting people who were giving evidence. So,

26:14

you know, there's always blue not to go to,

26:16

to discuss what you're going through or,

26:18

you know, just even debriefing on how you feel

26:20

about the report. But I guess always, you know, sort of reach

26:23

out to people via email with your

26:25

thoughts. We will be putting together

26:27

possibly some surveys moving forward to ask

26:30

people some questions around what are their priorities,

26:32

what do they feel needs to be actioned

26:34

on quicker over others so we can get a sense

26:36

from the community around what it

26:38

is they want us to be advocating

26:41

for as a priority above other

26:43

things. So that is something that will be coming

26:45

out further down the track once we've had

26:47

a bit more of a chance to really, you

26:49

know, go over all of the report

26:51

and its recommendations and put something together

26:54

to engage with the community to get their feelings

26:56

and thoughts on the commission. And where do we

26:58

move to first?

27:00

I've been speaking today with

27:02

Nicole Lee, president of people

27:04

with Disabilities Australia,

27:06

about the recently published

27:09

final report from the

27:11

Disability Royal Commission.

27:20

And that's all the time we have for today

27:22

on this holiday special edition

27:25

of Talking Vision. Talking

27:27

vision is a production of

27:29

Vision Australia Radio. Thanks

27:31

to all involved with putting this show

27:34

together every week and

27:36

as always, we encourage any

27:38

feedback and comments, so do feel

27:40

free to get in touch anytime

27:42

at Talking Vision. At Vision

27:45

australia.org. That's talking

27:47

vision all. One word at

27:49

Vision australia.org to

27:51

have your say. This is Sam

27:53

Colley, wishing you all a very

27:56

happy and safe holiday

27:58

period and a fantastic

28:00

new year. So until

28:02

next week it's bye for now.

28:08

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