0:13

From Vision Australia. This is talking

0:15

vision. And

0:18

now here's your host, Sam

0:20

Colley.

0:23

Hello everyone. It's great to be here with

0:25

you. And for the next half hour,

0:27

we talk matters of blindness and low

0:30

vision. Welcome to the program.

0:32

We've got a little bit of a different show

0:34

in store for you this week as we

0:36

present a few interviews from

0:39

the carnival day, broadcast live

0:41

from the opening day of Midsummer

0:43

Festival at the Alexandra Gardens

0:46

in Melbourne. Midsummer

0:48

is the preeminent festival in

0:50

Victoria for the Lgbtqia+

0:54

community, and today

0:56

we've got three interviews from

0:58

the guests on the program

1:00

over the three hours. Starting

1:02

off with Blind Ambassador

1:05

Karen Negroni followed

1:07

up with Nilsson Govan

1:09

from Vita Veritas, who's here

1:11

to tell us all about some audio.

1:13

Describe tell us of the festival.

1:16

And last but certainly not

1:18

least, we're joined by Lina

1:20

mona from women with disabilities

1:22

Victoria, who are committed to

1:25

creating a safer and more inclusive

1:27

state for women with disabilities.

1:30

I hope you'll enjoy this special

1:33

Midsummer Festival edition of

1:35

Talking Vision. And

1:41

now his man test with Karen

1:43

test kicked off the interview with Karen

1:45

by asking him about his

1:47

low vision journey.

1:49

Absolutely. So I live with Usher syndrome.

1:51

That's a combination of retinitis pigmentosa

1:53

that causes blindness and partial

1:56

hearing loss as well. So you're probably going

1:58

to see me walking around with my cane and my

2:00

hearing aids in. It's a degenerative

2:02

condition. So I was diagnosed when I was about

2:05

13. And now at 37,

2:07

I have less than 3% of

2:09

sight remaining. And in a few years that'll be gone too.

2:12

But you live with what you have,

2:14

and I, you know, I

2:16

can't can't even think of being happier

2:19

other than having a disability.

2:21

It's an interesting, you know, it's because I

2:23

was born blind and so I never had any

2:25

sight. And so I never really knew,

2:27

you know, what it was like to have sights that must have been

2:29

quite an adjustment for you.

2:31

You know, that's a really interesting question. Someone actually

2:33

asked me once, would you rather be born blind

2:35

or born sighted and lose your sight?

2:38

And I didn't know how to answer that question to be

2:40

honest with you, because I was

2:42

confused. So I looked it up and then I started watching

2:44

stuff on YouTube, and there was this, uh, talk

2:46

show where they had a fully blind person that was born

2:49

blind, and someone who has retinitis pigmentosa

2:51

that has lost their sight over time. And

2:53

the person that was born blind said, I would rather be

2:55

born blind, because if I lost my sight over time,

2:57

I'd be really pissed off. And then the person

2:59

who was born fully sighted and started

3:02

to lose their sight said they would rather be

3:04

born sighted and lose their sight slowly

3:06

over time because at least they got to

3:08

see something. So I would yeah,

3:10

like to throw that back onto you. What do you

3:12

think about that?

3:13

Well, I think I agree with the with

3:15

the born blind. In some ways it would have been lovely

3:17

to see some of the wonderful things in, you know, being

3:19

able to see things like sunsets and colors and,

3:22

you know, rather than just imagine them. But also it would have

3:24

made my life so much difficult, so much more difficult if

3:26

I had lost my sight later. So,

3:28

yeah, I think I think it sounds like

3:30

we're, you know, we're happy with we're happy with how life

3:32

turned out. Yeah. Which is a good thing. Yes.

3:34

It's a great thing.

3:35

Absolutely.

3:36

It's tricky for me because I'm right in the

3:38

middle. I've always, um, had, um,

3:41

that problem where I've just. I

3:43

have had vision conditions my whole

3:45

life but been, you know, regarded

3:47

as quote unquote, not blind enough,

3:49

but, um, I think being able

3:52

to see artworks and scenery

3:54

and landscapes and things, at

3:56

least having those memories that have stuck

3:58

with you for the rest of your life, just

4:00

in some ways that can cheer you up.

4:02

In some ways, you just think back to

4:04

a good time when you had that sort of experience.

4:07

But, um, it is definitely a

4:09

very tricky question because, um, as

4:11

I said, with some with low vision, at some

4:13

it's right in the middle. But, um, Karen

4:16

will come back to you. You've mentioned

4:18

previously the need to come out twice.

4:20

So could you explain what that's about?

4:23

Absolutely. So, well,

4:25

first things first, I meant mid-summer. So the

4:27

obvious first one is being gay. Uh,

4:29

I think growing up, um,

4:32

back then, there was a certain perception that if

4:34

you're gay, you're supposed to be flamboyant or,

4:36

you know, you've got to be loud

4:38

and out there. And for me,

4:40

I didn't fit that mold to me. I just looked at myself

4:42

as a normal guy who happens to be gay. So

4:45

when I met people, you know, it

4:47

was like, oh, well, you don't look gay or you don't act gay.

4:49

And I was like, what does that even mean? And then

4:51

the second closet being, because my eyes look

4:53

normal, and then people see me with a cane

4:55

and when my cane is away, when I

4:57

used to manage without my cane and I would tell them

4:59

that I'm blind, they wouldn't believe me. So

5:01

I would have to sort of convince them and explain

5:03

the whole blindness is a spectrum thing to them,

5:06

and it almost felt like coming out of a closet, because

5:08

I hid my blindness for a really long time,

5:10

because I felt a sense of shame. I'm not going

5:12

to like growing up, you know, as a gay

5:14

guy in a world where there's

5:16

so much emphasis on the way you look now,

5:19

you add to that having a disability that requires

5:21

me having to use a cane. So I felt a sense of shame

5:23

back then. Obviously, I don't feel like that anymore.

5:25

But yeah, I did feel like I had to come out of the

5:27

blind closet because I would have to hide

5:29

it, uh, because I didn't want to be judged. And

5:31

then I would tell people and then explain the whole thing.

5:34

Would you say there needs to be a bit more awareness

5:36

of blindness and low vision still?

5:38

Absolutely. This is why I'm on a mission to raise

5:40

awareness. And I started my

5:42

work as an advocate about two years ago,

5:45

and that started from me having

5:47

to give up my marketing career, a career

5:49

that depended extremely on my side because I

5:51

was a graphic designer, a filmmaker,

5:53

and when I reached the stage

5:55

where I could not use a laptop. Now, don't get

5:57

me wrong, blind people can use laptops, but blind

6:00

people cannot use a graphic

6:02

design software like Photoshop or film editing

6:04

software. That's quite complex. So I had

6:06

to quote unquote, retire from that

6:08

career. And then I felt like I sort of

6:10

hit rock bottom. That was not a really good time for me

6:13

mental health wise, because I really felt lost.

6:15

And that was, I guess,

6:17

my calling when it came to being an

6:19

advocate. And I was so sick and tired

6:22

of people telling me that I don't look blind, and

6:24

that came with judgment. It wasn't,

6:26

you know, uh, some people said, you don't

6:28

look blind, as if it's a compliment. I'm like, what does that

6:30

even mean? And I said, would you tell someone from

6:32

China, you don't look Chinese? Would you tell someone

6:34

from America, you don't look American like, you know, what

6:37

does that even mean? And that's what led me

6:39

to. Raise

6:41

awareness. And I guess that's why I'm sitting here today.

6:43

So I'm glad it worked out in that

6:45

sense, you know.

6:46

Well, you know, um, one of the, the main

6:48

themes for this live broadcast is really

6:50

talking about the intersectionality between

6:52

the queer community and the community of people with

6:54

disabilities. So, I mean, as, as

6:57

a gay man with a disability, I mean, what are

6:59

some of the the challenges that

7:01

you've been faced with?

7:02

I could write a book. I mean, I don't even know where

7:04

to begin. There's, you know,

7:06

there is so much judgment

7:09

out there. It's it's so like it's

7:11

not for the faint hearted. I've said this before, you

7:13

know, uh, a lot of people think people

7:15

with disabilities are weak. And I'm like, dude, like, you

7:17

have no idea how hard it is. Like, if you

7:19

have a disability and you're out there living life,

7:22

you're strong. Like, don't ever underestimate

7:24

a person with a disability.

7:26

And do you think every person living

7:28

with blindness or low vision

7:30

should be an advocate for their community,

7:32

or what's your sort of perspective

7:35

on that?

7:36

So look, I will say this, I'm

7:38

really passionate about it, but it's

7:40

it takes a toll on your mental health. You know,

7:42

it does.

7:43

Yeah.

7:43

When you're constantly talking about it, there are days

7:45

where I get tired and, you know, because

7:48

I don't have a big following at all like that on

7:50

social media, but like I do have a bit of a following. And

7:52

like, if I don't post, you know, for a couple of

7:54

days, I'll get messages that you okay, you haven't

7:56

posted. I look forward to your messages. And

7:58

there are times where I hit, uh, I guess,

8:01

um, fatigue as an advocate. And

8:03

I don't think it's for everyone. You don't have

8:06

to be an advocate if you want to be an advocate,

8:08

be an advocate. But my only my

8:10

only suggestion is be proud, you know, don't

8:12

don't live in shame. Uh, you

8:15

are who you are for a reason. And this is your destiny.

8:17

And, you know, that sounds really philosophical, but

8:19

you don't have to be an advocate, but

8:22

don't live in shame. And it's also not

8:24

easy to not live in shame, because I lived in shame

8:26

for a long time.

8:27

And you know that that message, you know, don't live in.

8:29

I mean, that's just that's applicable to to everything

8:31

that we are celebrating and promoting

8:33

and raising awareness of today. So I mean, that's just

8:36

a fantastic quote. So you moved

8:38

to Melbourne last year. Is that right?

8:40

Correct. Uh, February last year.

8:42

So I've been here for about almost a year now.

8:44

So have you felt welcomed by the

8:46

Melbourne queer community or maybe a bit on

8:48

the outer? What's what's been your experience with that?

8:51

Absolutely. So look, back in

8:53

Perth, I was really bad gay. I

8:55

didn't do a lot of gay things. I didn't go to gay festivals.

8:57

Didn't do, didn't do.

8:59

Okay, I don't know. You know, there's.

9:01

Such a thing. Trust me, I was not I was

9:03

not, you know, one of those people that was out

9:05

there at pride events and. No, not at

9:07

all. Um, and I think partly to

9:09

do with my side. And then I was approached

9:11

by, um, a lovely

9:13

person called Emma from

9:15

Chillout Festival in Daylesford, and she

9:18

invited me to attend as ambassador

9:20

when I was in Albany in WA.

9:22

And that sort of opened my eyes. And

9:24

that's when I was first introduced to the queer

9:26

community in Melbourne, and so welcoming

9:29

and so lovely. And, you know, I

9:31

just sort of started thinking I had this fear in

9:33

my head that I'll be judged, you know, for being

9:35

a person with a disability. And now look at

9:37

me. I'm sitting at midsummer with you awesome

9:39

people talking about life as a gay blind

9:42

person, you know? So I'm so thrilled,

9:45

uh, and I'm a little mad at myself for not

9:47

doing this sooner, but I think everything happens

9:49

for a reason at the right time.

9:51

Certainly it does. And it's a it's

9:53

a new year. I don't know if some

9:55

new year, new year kind of New Year's

9:57

resolution time, but, um, are

9:59

you energized or exhausted at

10:01

the thought of fighting the fight?

10:03

What are you talking about? I'm always exhausted. Even

10:07

sometimes I'm so exhausted from being exhausted.

10:10

You know, like, it's just one of those things where I just want

10:12

a day off. Absolutely. And then after the

10:14

day off, you want a day off because you had a day off.

10:16

Day off from.

10:17

The day off.

10:17

Yeah, yeah. Look, when you live with a condition

10:20

where you can't see and you can't hear properly,

10:22

it's quite taxing. Uh, it gets

10:24

quite tiring. Um, and,

10:27

you know, as an advocate, I feel like

10:29

I have to be strong for other people all the time.

10:32

Uh, so does, you know, there are definitely times

10:34

where I feel so tired that I just need to

10:36

hide in my house with the doors closed.

10:39

Yes.

10:39

Yeah. Of course, I sometimes feel

10:41

exactly the same way, if I'm honest.

10:43

So.

10:43

Yeah, I'm sure that's wonderfully validating for

10:45

a lot of our listeners.

10:46

Absolutely.

10:47

It's okay to be antisocial.

10:49

It's okay to not want to see anyone.

10:51

Yes. And can you tell us why

10:53

you decided to become an ambassador

10:56

at this year's mid-summer?

10:58

Well, I, you know, well, firstly,

11:00

they asked me and I'm thrilled. And I

11:02

guess the reason I'm thrilled is because a

11:04

young Karen would have never believed

11:07

that a disabled Karen would be

11:09

an advocate at such a

11:11

big gay festival, you know? So

11:13

when the opportunity came along, it was just like

11:15

it wasn't even a, um, I was like,

11:17

yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, because

11:20

I want to be that person that I

11:22

didn't have when I was a kid.

11:24

Of course. Absolutely.

11:25

Well, I'm sure young, I'm sure young Karen would be

11:27

extremely proud. Um. Of

11:29

what? Of what older Karen has achieved.

11:31

Yes. Minus the weight gain. But, yeah.

11:33

We've all done that.

11:35

Oh. So. Yeah.

11:36

Uh, especially after, um, the

11:39

festive season. All the wonderful

11:41

meals and bits and pieces and, you

11:43

know, letting your hair down and having

11:45

having a bit of fun.

11:46

And that's what Carnival is about, really. It is

11:48

it is celebrating the diversity in

11:50

in our community is what Virgin Australia is also

11:53

about. And, you know, people of all

11:55

shapes and sizes, genders, sexualities,

11:57

you know, abilities, you know that that's what today

12:00

is all about. And that's why we're

12:02

so happy to be celebrating the just how

12:04

glorious that is 100%.

12:06

And you've talked about young Karen, which

12:08

is, ironically, the old Karen, but

12:10

we'll work that out later. But how

12:12

can we follow 2024?

12:15

Karen, you know, how can we support

12:17

him?

12:17

Well, when I find that, I'll let you know,

12:19

uh, because I can barely keep up with what's going

12:21

on. But what? I guess

12:24

I'm on a mission now to do

12:26

things that I didn't think I would

12:28

do. Perfect example, being sitting

12:30

here today at a midsummer festival as

12:32

a proud gay man with a disability. So

12:34

my my plan is to keep going. I

12:37

am blessed to have, uh, two jobs,

12:39

one being at Guide Dogs Australia,

12:41

which is where I get to share

12:43

my lived experience to raise awareness,

12:46

and then my own job, which is life

12:48

as an advocate, which is where I get to

12:50

create content with my own twist,

12:53

because I'm not one of those serious advocates,

12:55

and I often get in trouble on Instagram

12:57

because my sense of humor is a little strange.

12:59

I guess. You know, I would post things and then people

13:02

either love it or they're like, dude, what are you what are you doing?

13:04

That makes no sense, you know? So I guess

13:06

2024 Karen, you can follow me on Instagram

13:09

if you like. It's just my first

13:11

name, last name with an N in the middle. So it's Karen

13:13

and Granny, and,

13:15

uh, what I do is I share my life

13:17

as someone with retinitis pigmentosa usher

13:19

syndrome. I use my graphic design skills

13:22

to simulate what it is

13:24

that someone like me does see, and I found

13:26

that that's really helping people that

13:28

have family members that have retinitis pigmentosa,

13:30

because now they can actually see what

13:33

they love once. See if that makes sense.

13:35

It does. No. It's been an absolute pleasure

13:37

to chat with you today, Karen. I've been speaking

13:39

today with Karen Nagorny,

13:42

a blind ambassador from the

13:44

Midsummer Festival, who joined us

13:46

today to chat all about his wonderful

13:48

advocacy work. Karen, it's been a pleasure

13:51

to chat with you. Um, yeah. Thank

13:53

you so much for your time.

13:54

I don't want to.

13:54

Leave, though.

13:55

I'm having so much fun. I know I miss

13:57

you. Oh, we could talk forever.

13:58

But unfortunately, we've got to go.

14:07

I'm Sam Cole, and you're listening

14:09

to this special Midsummer Festival

14:12

edition of Talking Vision on

14:14

Vision Australia Radio, associated

14:16

stations of RPM and

14:19

the Community Radio Network.

14:21

I hope you enjoyed that interview

14:23

there with Karen Negroni. If

14:25

you missed any part of that interview

14:27

with Karen or you'd love to listen

14:29

to it again. Talking vision is,

14:32

of course, available on the

14:34

Vision Australia Radio website at

14:36

RVA radio.org. That's

14:38

RVA radio.org. You

14:41

can also find the program on

14:43

the podcast app of your choice or

14:45

through the Vision Australia library.

14:47

And now his man Tess

14:49

with Neil Gunn. Tess began

14:51

the interview with Nil Gun by asking

14:54

her about when the organization

14:56

was founded and what prompted

14:59

them to get it off the ground.

15:01

It was formed in 2020,

15:03

but it is off the back of a 25

15:05

year career in disability arts and

15:07

working as an inclusive arts practitioner,

15:09

collaborating with lots of

15:11

diverse artists and makers,

15:14

including people and performers and

15:16

artists who are blind and have low vision.

15:18

And come 2020.

15:20

Yes, during the pandemic. What a time

15:23

to form a company. It's a not for profit

15:25

bringing along the amazing

15:27

staff that had been working with

15:29

over time and improving

15:31

inclusion of accessible events

15:33

in festivals across performing and visual

15:36

arts. So. Oh wow. So once

15:38

we were trained by the then

15:40

access Coordinator, Janine Sidhu

15:42

and Katrina Gab, we were

15:45

absolutely passionate about bringing accessible

15:47

arts to the independent, small,

15:49

medium and big arts sector.

15:52

And now tell us a little bit more

15:54

about the carnival day guided

15:56

tours.

15:57

The carnival day guided tours,

16:00

uh, tailored. So

16:02

there's no formal tour as such, but

16:04

that the tours can happen at any time

16:06

upon request, by prior arrangement,

16:08

by ringing the access hotline,

16:10

and also finding us at the

16:13

information tent. We want

16:15

to tailor it to the. Because

16:17

there's so much to experience at this carnival

16:19

that it can be tailored to people's interests.

16:22

That's fantastic news, because there's so

16:24

many different things for people to discover.

16:26

So really exciting to hear that,

16:29

um, people can have their own unique

16:31

experience.

16:32

It certainly is very, very tailored

16:34

to, you know, the individual. It's

16:36

fantastic. And I mean, is this the first

16:38

time that, you know, these tours have

16:40

been made available at midsummer.

16:42

In the carnival context? Um, no,

16:44

it's been we've been available and on site

16:46

every year for the past, I think three

16:49

years. And prior to that there was a design

16:51

tool by description Victoria back then

16:54

that also attracted a large volume of people

16:56

in a group based experience. Um,

16:58

we we are still sort of raising

17:00

community awareness, as you know, about the accessibility

17:03

and inclusion at festivals like this.

17:05

And so I think, um, after

17:07

this year, conversation could be

17:09

had around, you know, really designing

17:12

a more formalized tours whilst

17:14

keeping the individual sort of tailored tours

17:16

going as well.

17:17

Okay.

17:18

And, um, no. Go on. How do you think Midsummer's

17:20

going in their efforts to be more accessible?

17:23

I feel that midsummer have a lot

17:25

of integrity in their intentions

17:28

and their commitments, and they demonstrate

17:30

that in really tangible ways.

17:33

And the ways that they express that

17:35

is by involving the community,

17:37

the blind and low vision community from

17:39

weather advisory groups or

17:41

consultants, um, engaging

17:44

different artists, um, and increasing

17:46

programming of accessible events

17:48

and that consultation and being

17:51

led by the community as well, in

17:53

terms of their interests into what

17:55

would be really suitable, um, to

17:58

offer the community in terms

18:00

of their, you know, training. And it's an organisational

18:03

approach and there is a really big

18:05

saturation. It's not one area

18:07

of the organisation that is

18:09

sort of upskilling and improving their

18:12

capacity, their capabilities and their

18:14

confidence. But all tiers, from top

18:16

to bottom, um, right down to our volunteers.

18:19

And, you know, there's resources

18:21

and that attitude, which is the most important

18:23

one, which is, you know, continuous

18:26

improvement like that feedback loop

18:28

is so important in terms

18:30

of how access evolves in the

18:32

arts broadly as well as across Midsummer

18:34

Festival.

18:36

So there's an exciting event happening

18:38

on the 1st of February at the Art centre at the Overflow

18:41

Theatre. Tell us about that.

18:42

So the production is called overflow,

18:44

which is taking place at the Arts Centre

18:47

Melbourne, um, specifically at

18:49

the Fairfax Theatre on the 1st

18:51

of February. And overflow

18:54

premiered in London in 2020,

18:56

and it's followed by an Australian season

18:58

in 2022. And it's coming back again

19:00

this year. Critically acclaimed, it

19:02

gives voice to trans

19:04

identities and. Written

19:07

by Travis Benza and directed

19:09

by Dino Demetriades. And

19:11

in terms of Travis's quote, they say

19:13

club toilets have taught me more about

19:15

sisterhood than any book.

19:18

Oh well. And so the stage

19:20

is set as a toilet, as a cubicle

19:23

where Rosie is inside, and there's

19:25

all these different encounters and monologues

19:27

and stories that are told in

19:29

that space.

19:30

Oh my God.

19:30

Yeah, that sounds incredible. Unmissable.

19:33

And just finally nail gun. There's

19:35

a couple more exciting events

19:37

going on the Victoria's Pride

19:39

Travelling Touch Tour, and also

19:41

the Nocturnal Hot and Bothered Tactile

19:43

Tour. So just to wrap up, tell

19:45

us a bit about them.

19:46

Well, I want to talk about Victoria's Pride

19:49

Travelling Touch Tour because it follows

19:51

on from the success of the inaugural one

19:53

that we ran last year. It was booked out

19:55

like overnight like hotcakes. And

19:57

so we're running it again this time, you

19:59

know, again with that community feedback, a little

20:01

bit longer with more interaction

20:04

with different artists. But it's essentially

20:06

curated to encompass

20:08

art, music, roving performances,

20:11

tactile and participatory activities,

20:14

going into different bars and businesses

20:16

and really getting to be immersed in that

20:18

community, that street party, the

20:21

atmosphere in a really

20:23

guided and supportive and fun and

20:25

dynamic way. So that takes

20:27

place on Sunday, the 11th of February,

20:29

1:00 to 5:00, and

20:31

you can get more information and download

20:33

the flyer from the midsummer Victoria's

20:36

Pride website. And

20:38

we are asking people to book in because

20:40

we know it can get booked out. And by

20:42

contacting me for your booking, you

20:45

can also request a guide as well.

20:47

Certainly get in touch with Nail gun.

20:49

Get in touch with Veritas. There's

20:51

an absolute plethora of amazing

20:54

tours to get involved with, so thank

20:56

you very much, Neil Gunn, for creating

20:59

better accessibility of the Carnival

21:01

space. It's just been an absolute

21:03

pleasure to catch up with you today to

21:05

hear all about it.

21:06

Thank you so much.

21:11

And now here's my end of it

21:13

with Lena. I began by asking

21:15

Lena to give us a brief history

21:18

of women with disabilities.

21:20

Victoria.

21:21

Our organization started in.

21:23

1995, where a small

21:25

group of women in the state came together,

21:27

realizing that a lot of their needs weren't

21:29

being advocated for, and they

21:31

decided to do something and got incorporated.

21:34

And we've been powering through ever since.

21:36

We've got a staff base of about 50

21:38

members of staff now who work all across

21:40

the state in community inclusion teams,

21:43

workforce development teams that we work to make

21:45

other workforces more accessible and inclusive

21:47

for women with disabilities, as

21:49

well as running leadership programs

21:51

across the state, both in town and in

21:53

regions far and wide across Victoria.

21:56

Great. And can you tell us about some of your

21:58

organization's recent wins?

22:00

For sure. One that comes to mind, especially relevant

22:02

to midsummer is a event that

22:04

our youth experts ran. So that's a group

22:06

of young women and non-binary people with disabilities

22:09

who are aged between 18 and 25.

22:11

They put on an event at the Pride Center

22:13

last year called Prior to Conversations,

22:15

and that celebrated the

22:18

intersectionality of being queer

22:20

and having disability. And it

22:22

was a beautiful event and everybody just really

22:24

enjoyed the day. And we've got a recording

22:26

of it that people can look at online

22:29

or listen to, and we've got

22:31

promotional materials that were created for the

22:33

event at our store here at the carnival.

22:35

Okay. Now, Lena, we're gonna talk

22:38

about yourself for a little bit. So just

22:40

if you'll indulge us, what is your

22:42

specific role at women with Disabilities

22:45

Victoria for people out there?

22:46

Yeah, thanks. So I manage

22:48

Gender-Based Violence Research and Evaluation

22:50

at Women with Disabilities Victoria. So

22:52

I cover three different programs

22:54

that are about prevention of gender based violence, as

22:57

well as creating research links around

22:59

those topics for the organization. So

23:01

our programs provide training for

23:03

workers who work across the state

23:05

that are looking to prevent gender

23:07

based violence in a systematic

23:09

way, as well as creating more

23:11

accessible, inclusive workforces. So

23:13

making it possible so that women with disabilities

23:16

can take part in those organizations as well.

23:18

And to do that, we create resources, factsheets

23:21

about preventing violence, about

23:23

the specific forms of Gender-Based violence

23:25

that women with disabilities experience,

23:28

and what we can do to challenge ableism and

23:30

sexism together.

23:31

Awesome. And what does it mean to women

23:33

living with disability to have a resource like

23:36

that you've got?

23:37

Well, as a woman with disabilities myself, I

23:39

know it's empowering. Like, we

23:41

can see our voices included in the resources

23:43

that we make, and they

23:45

are more accessible. They found in a wide

23:47

variety of formats, and

23:49

it means that it was seeing these resources around

23:51

and seeing more people take them on

23:54

and take on our training means that

23:56

the world can be a little bit safer and more

23:58

inclusive, and that we will be listened to

24:00

and believed when we report violence or challenge

24:02

what we experience when people are being

24:05

ableist or are perpetrating

24:07

violence against us.

24:09

And Lena, what is your main motivation

24:11

for being at Carnival today? You've spoken

24:14

a bit about it there, but what

24:16

sort of drives you to, you know, get involved

24:18

with these sort of things?

24:20

I guess my main motivation would be that

24:22

we're here in the community. Women with disabilities

24:24

are part of every community of Victoria,

24:27

and we want to celebrate who

24:29

we are loud, proud, queer, wild

24:31

and we want to access all

24:34

parts of queer spaces. I

24:36

went to an event last year hosted by

24:38

inclusive. Rainbow voices is a new organization

24:41

specifically for queer people with

24:43

disabilities and I. It really

24:45

resonated to me how there's so many organizations

24:48

or disability spaces that aren't

24:50

super accessible for people who are also

24:53

queer, and there's so many spaces

24:55

in the queer community that aren't accessible

24:57

for people with disabilities. And

24:59

so just by taking up space and showing

25:02

that we exist,

25:04

and that we are creating resources

25:06

that fit into that intersection,

25:09

and that we are challenging the ableism

25:11

that we experience together, and also

25:13

learning more about who is

25:15

in every community. That's really

25:17

important to us. Yeah, yeah.

25:19

And do you feel that queer community living

25:21

with disability get the support they need from the

25:23

wider community? I mean, you've touched on it there that you're providing

25:25

resources for the community to be able to

25:28

support. Do you feel there's still a lot of work to do

25:30

in that space?

25:30

That's absolutely more that our organization

25:32

can do, that other organizations can do. And

25:35

to me, the first thing that we can do

25:37

for our community is by showing up,

25:39

listening and taking on feedback

25:41

about what can we do better. Yeah. So absolutely,

25:44

there's more. And we're listening.

25:46

Yeah. Awesome.

25:47

And Lena, just finally,

25:49

um, some exciting things to look forward

25:51

to in 2024, I'm sure

25:53

from a women with disabilities Victoria

25:56

standpoint. So what is coming

25:58

up in 2024 for people to

26:00

look forward to.

26:01

Are so many things, um, some that

26:03

would probably be of more

26:05

interest to me than others.

26:07

But the first couple of things that I can think of,

26:09

we have the having. Conference. Members

26:12

of the Community Inclusion

26:14

team are taking part in that. I don't have the date off

26:16

the top of my head, so I'm sorry. You'll have you'll

26:18

have to Google it on your website. Um,

26:20

and there's also a

26:22

really wonderful, uh, International Women's

26:24

Day event on March 6th,

26:26

and our guest speaker is about

26:29

to be announced, I believe. So grab your

26:31

pen and paper and write that one down in your calendar.

26:33

It's not to be missed.

26:35

Lena, thank you so much. I've been speaking

26:37

today with Lena molnar, the

26:39

Prevention of Gender based Violence

26:41

project coordinator at women

26:44

with disabilities, Victoria. Lena,

26:46

thank you so much for your time today. It was a

26:48

pleasure to catch up with you and hear all about

26:51

your work.

26:51

Absolutely. My pleasure. Thanks for having us.

27:00

And that's all the time we have for today

27:02

on this special Mid-Summer Festival

27:05

edition of Talking Vision. Talking

27:07

vision is a production of Vision

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27:12

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27:14

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27:21

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27:23

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