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

0:25

with you. And for the next half

0:27

hour we talk matters of blindness

0:29

and low vision.

0:30

So it was the combination of public transport needs

0:32

to work. I don't care whether you catch a train,

0:35

a bus, a tram, and but you get left behind

0:37

because you can't see a bus or whether you get

0:39

left behind because the train guard

0:41

didn't deploy the ramp for you to get on or off.

0:43

And I just didn't want another product

0:45

that was sold, like, oh, look at this miracle

0:48

thing from a massive company that didn't

0:50

work because lived experience was more

0:52

of an afterthought than anything else.

0:54

Welcome to the program. We've got

0:56

an action packed show for you this week,

0:58

where I catch up with the developer

1:00

of a new app for people who are blind

1:02

or have low vision, traveling around

1:05

on the bus network in this city.

1:07

His name's Santiago. He's been

1:09

on the show before, so he might be a

1:11

bit of a familiar voice for people

1:14

out there. The app is called Halo.

1:16

It's in the very final stages

1:18

of being rolled out, so watch

1:20

this space. He'll be up on the

1:23

show later on, so make

1:25

sure to stick around to find out more. But

1:27

kicking off the show this week is Chris

1:29

Corcoran from Reading Radio

1:31

in Brisbane. As well as being

1:33

a nice tie into World

1:35

Radio Day, which is coming up very

1:38

shortly on the 13th of

1:40

February, I also had the opportunity

1:42

to congratulate Chris for

1:45

winning the Employer of Choice award

1:47

for his work with Reading Radio.

1:49

And after you hear from Chris,

1:51

I catch up with Samuel Fuchs

1:53

from Clover Nook in Cincinnati,

1:55

Ohio, who's hosting the

1:58

Ohio Regional Braille Challenge

2:00

in just a couple of weeks. So

2:02

make sure to hear about that one that's coming

2:04

up. Very exciting for sure. I

2:06

hope you'll enjoy this week's episode

2:08

of Talking Vision. I'm

2:14

here today with Chris Corcoran, station

2:17

manager from Reading Radio

2:19

in Queensland, who's here to chat

2:21

to me all about reading radio and

2:23

the wonderful work they've been doing.

2:26

Chris, thank you very much for your time today

2:28

and welcome to Talking Vision.

2:31

Thank you very much, Sam. I'm glad

2:33

to be on your show. And hello to all your listeners.

2:35

Now, firstly, Chris, um, tell us

2:37

a little bit about yourself and about

2:39

reading radio.

2:41

Oh, where do I start? Well, about myself,

2:43

I'm a radio. Tragic, Sam. Like, I know

2:45

you are as well. Fell in love with radio

2:47

at a very young age. It took me

2:49

a little while to get to get moving with

2:51

it and work out how I could make it my

2:53

career, but I've been doing radio now

2:56

for just coming up to 20 years.

2:58

Oh, wow. Uh, yeah. Time goes

3:01

by so quick. So a lot of changes, uh,

3:03

in that time, which has been exciting

3:05

as far as reading radio goes. I jumped on

3:08

board almost 12 months ago,

3:10

so reading radio has been around

3:13

as an FX station since the early

3:15

80s. There was a need

3:17

in the market in the late 70s

3:20

for a reading radio service in Brisbane,

3:22

and we got started then,

3:24

and by the early 80s, we'd,

3:26

uh, officially become four page

3:29

and began offering programs for

3:32

the blind and low vision community in Brisbane.

3:35

Okay. And, um, you've

3:37

mentioned how long you've been involved with

3:39

radio two decades ago, but

3:41

was there anything that sparked

3:43

your interest in radio in the first

3:46

place? What sort of kicked it all off for

3:48

you?

3:50

Oh, that's a good question, Sam. For me, it was about

3:52

I remember as a young fella I

3:55

couldn't sleep unless I had the radio

3:58

on. So I used to always have to have the radio on,

4:00

you know, to help me sleep. And I just fell

4:02

in love with it. It just even now, it's still

4:05

with all the technology. It just seems

4:07

still magical to me that you can

4:09

communicate in the way we do

4:11

and have people listening

4:13

at home, in the car, wherever they

4:15

are. They can just turn on and listen to

4:17

to the radio. So it sort of sparked my interest

4:20

as a young fella, and I never

4:22

thought I'd be able to do a career out of it. As I said, it took me

4:24

a little while to to work out a way to

4:27

to actually start doing it. But

4:29

yeah, certainly as a young age, I was very interested

4:31

in in listening to it.

4:33

And, um, you say you've been involved

4:35

at, um, wedding radio for the past

4:38

year. Where abouts were you based

4:40

before that, and how did you come

4:42

over to Reading Radio?

4:45

Yeah, so I was in Perth. I've

4:47

been in Perth for a couple of years and

4:49

and I was having a bit of a break. I decided

4:52

to go back and do some studies. So

4:54

I was at university in Perth and

4:56

I was just really missing radio, and I started having

4:58

a look to see, you know, what was

5:00

available, what jobs. And

5:02

I saw the job here in Brisbane.

5:05

I was reading radio and I did a little bit of research and

5:07

thought, ah, that looks really

5:09

interesting and something that would definitely be

5:11

a fantastic challenge. So

5:13

yeah, I put my application in and here I am

5:16

luckily, which has been fantastic.

5:18

Are wonderful and it's been

5:20

a bit of a whirlwind and quite an exciting

5:22

last few months as, um, you

5:24

picked up the Employer of Choice

5:26

award at the Blind Australian of the

5:29

Year awards late last year.

5:31

So congratulations firstly

5:33

on that. But also, what were

5:35

the emotions like for you when you first

5:37

found out?

5:38

Oh, we were so excited and so unexpected.

5:41

Sam. We didn't expect to, you

5:43

know, to win the award. And then on

5:45

reflection, I thought, you know, I

5:47

mentioned going back to the late 70s and

5:50

early 80s with the formation of the station,

5:53

uh, you know, 40 years almost

5:55

of, of commitment to employing

5:57

within the blind and low vision sector.

5:59

And it was so many people, you know,

6:02

before me that contributed, you

6:04

know, an amazing amount of work that

6:06

sort of led us to, to this award. So

6:09

it was, you know, mind blowing to win the award,

6:11

but it was well deserved. It was a lot of years of

6:13

hard work by, you know, a lot of people that,

6:15

you know, came before me. So we were really, really

6:17

excited to, to pick up the award.

6:19

Oh yeah. And when did you find

6:21

out that you were nominated? Did you

6:23

know you'd nominated or did it sort

6:26

of just come out of the blue a bit?

6:28

It came out of the blue a little bit, but we didn't

6:30

know we'd been nominated. But

6:32

whatever you're nominated for award, you look at the category

6:35

and you look at the amazing employers

6:37

that were in that category, and you

6:39

sort of you don't want to get too excited

6:41

and think that, you know, you have a

6:43

chance. You just sort of get on and do what you're

6:45

doing. So when we won the award, as

6:47

I said, we were just so happy everyone

6:50

in the station was so excited.

6:52

You know, to be recognized for

6:54

such a long period of hard work here

6:57

at Reading Radio.

6:58

And what does it mean to you, Chris,

7:00

to be the station manager of

7:02

a service like Reading Radio

7:04

in Brisbane, which does go out

7:07

to so many in the community who

7:09

wouldn't otherwise have access

7:11

to these sort of resources?

7:13

Yeah, it's a real honour, Sam. It's a real

7:15

honour. I mean, working at a general

7:18

radio station, general music radio station,

7:20

you have a great connection with the community,

7:23

but working with the station, you

7:25

understand, and you take on the responsibility

7:28

that you know, we are providing an amazing

7:30

service to the blind and low vision community.

7:33

So all the decisions you make

7:35

around programming and what type of

7:37

programming you put to where you're very much

7:39

aware that, you know, that,

7:41

um, that it meets the needs of, of

7:43

the blind and low vision community. So

7:46

I take that role very

7:48

seriously, and I'm very honored that I have

7:50

the opportunity to be able to be part

7:52

of a team that delivers

7:54

some amazing programs each week.

7:56

And, Chris, what are you and the Rating

7:58

Radio team looking forward to in

8:00

2024?

8:02

Yeah, it's going to be a big year, Sam. It's

8:04

uh, this year we're first of all, we're going to be upgrading

8:07

some of our equipment here just so we're

8:09

able to do more events

8:11

out in the community, more outside broadcasts.

8:13

So that's going to be a big project

8:15

for us. We've got our radiothon

8:18

coming up at the end of March. So at

8:20

the moment we're looking at March 22nd.

8:23

So that's going to be a big

8:25

fundraising activity for the

8:27

station, a chance for us to really showcase what

8:29

we're you know, what we're all about, that

8:32

there are a couple of really big things that we're going to be doing,

8:34

and pretty much just getting out in the community.

8:36

We're trying to we've got some key events

8:38

that we're going to be attending and just getting

8:40

out, meeting our listeners, you know, meeting

8:43

all the different stakeholders in our community

8:45

and just spreading the word that

8:48

really radio has got some. Fantastic shows

8:50

and jump on board. We want you to listen

8:52

are fantastic.

8:54

And if people are interested

8:56

in getting in touch with reading

8:58

radio now, Chris, this is a question

9:00

a little bit without notice. But Tom,

9:02

what are the best contact details

9:04

for people to get in touch, say

9:07

websites, emails, phone numbers?

9:09

Yeah. So our websites reading radio

9:12

also so you can jump

9:14

up on there. There's different avenues.

9:16

You can become a volunteer. You

9:18

can contact us just through an email

9:20

or even let us know you know what your thoughts

9:22

are about our programming. Always

9:25

happy to take calls here at the

9:27

station, which is 073831

9:32

1296. So 073

9:34

at three one 1296

9:37

and even drop in and say goodbye to

9:39

us. We're here in Wickham Terrace and

9:41

in the in the heart

9:44

of the CBD, so you can just pretty much walk up from

9:46

Central Station. And we love people just dropping

9:48

in and just saying goodbye to us.

9:49

Oh, perfect. Wonderful. No, that sounds

9:51

great. It's fantastic work you and

9:54

the waiting radio team continue

9:56

to do in Brisbane for so

9:58

many people, and it's crucial to

10:00

have these sort of services

10:02

around the country. Of course we

10:04

are with Vision Australia Radio

10:07

today and yourself on Reading

10:09

radio. And you know, these services do

10:11

mean a great deal to so many. So

10:13

it's an absolute tribute to

10:16

yourself and the team that you had

10:18

been recognised in the way that you

10:20

have done. So all the best for

10:22

the future and keep up the

10:24

good work, so to speak. But, um,

10:27

yeah, I've been speaking today

10:29

with Chris Corcoran, station

10:31

manager of Reading Radio in

10:33

Brisbane, who recently received

10:35

the Employer of Choice award at

10:37

the Blind Australian of the Year Awards

10:40

late last year. Chris,

10:42

thank you very much for your time today. It was

10:44

a pleasure to catch up with you and hear

10:46

all about reading radio.

10:48

Thank you Sam and thank you to all your listeners. It was

10:50

lovely to have a chat to you, mate.

10:59

On some scale, and you're listening to

11:01

Talking Vision on Vision Australia

11:03

Radio, associated stations

11:05

of RPI and the Community Radio

11:07

Network. I hope you enjoyed

11:09

that conversation there with Chris

11:11

Corcoran from Rating Radio in Brisbane.

11:14

If you missed any part of that conversation

11:17

with Chris or I'd love to listen to it

11:19

again. Talking vision is, of

11:21

course, available on the Vision Australia

11:23

Radio website at VA radio.org.

11:26

That's VA radio.org.

11:29

Or you can also find the show on

11:31

the podcast app of your choice or

11:33

through the Vision Australia library. And

11:36

now let's take a trip around

11:38

the other side of the world for some very

11:40

exciting news with the Regional

11:42

Braille Challenge in the USA.

11:44

Our next guest is joining me all

11:46

the way from Cincinnati in Ohio.

11:49

His name is Samuel Fuchs and

11:51

he's the director of Braille production

11:54

at Clover Nook, an organization

11:57

which is hosting the Ohio Regional

11:59

Braille Challenge in just a couple of

12:01

weeks. Thanks so much for

12:03

your time today. Samuel, welcome to Talking

12:05

Vision.

12:06

Thank you for having me, Sam. I'm delighted to

12:08

be here.

12:09

Now, firstly, Samuel, let's start

12:11

off with a bit of an overview of

12:14

Clover Nook. Tell us a bit about the organization.

12:17

Sure. Clover Nook Center for the blind

12:19

is located in Cincinnati, Ohio,

12:21

which is in the Midwest region of the United

12:24

States. We've been around since 1903,

12:27

and we are primarily a Braille producer.

12:30

We have the highest volume braille producer.

12:32

We believe in the world. We print about

12:34

30 million pages of Braille

12:37

a year. And so much of our work

12:39

is producing Braille books

12:41

and magazines for the Library of Congress

12:43

in the US in accessible formats.

12:45

And those go to libraries and individuals

12:47

all across the US. So we've been

12:49

printing since about 1914,

12:52

and there's some interesting history there.

12:54

So Cincinnati, back in the early

12:56

20th century, was one of the biggest printing

12:59

cities in the US. And so a lot

13:01

of our early donors and benefactors

13:03

of this non-profit organization

13:05

were members of the print

13:07

industry. So they actually gifted us

13:09

a printing press in 1914.

13:11

And we've been printing ever since.

13:14

And something kind of unique

13:16

about us as an organization, as a non-profit,

13:18

is that we are very much employment focused

13:21

in terms of omission. So

13:23

we employ people who are blind to low vision

13:26

throughout our organization.

13:28

We're at about 50% at the moment, everywhere

13:31

from our board and senior leadership

13:33

down to entry level production positions.

13:35

We have a keen interest in

13:38

ensuring that anything that we

13:40

do in terms of a job or

13:42

an occupation is something that's also

13:44

accessible to someone who has a visual impairment.

13:47

And of course, Clover Nook will

13:49

be hosting the Ohio Regional

13:51

Braille Challenge coming up on

13:53

February the 21st, 2024.

13:56

So that's quite an exciting thing

13:58

coming up for the organization. Tell

14:00

us a bit about the challenge.

14:02

The challenge to me is a really

14:05

exciting event and one that is

14:07

national in scope here in

14:09

the US. So it's actually

14:11

organized by another group called the

14:13

Braille Institute and the based out of California.

14:16

So every state in the US has

14:18

a regional competition. So we

14:20

have our Ohio Regional Braille Challenge.

14:23

Our neighbors in Kentucky have the Kentucky

14:25

Regional Braille Challenge. New York has a regional.

14:27

And so every state has their own competition.

14:30

And the top ten scores

14:32

in various age groups will qualify

14:35

for the national finals

14:37

out in California. And so these

14:39

competitions consist of various

14:41

Braille related skills.

14:43

So that or reading comprehension

14:46

tests that are short and graph

14:48

tactile, graphic tests, spelling

14:50

tests, all sorts of ways to

14:53

test Braille skills and

14:55

tactile reading skills. And it's broken

14:57

up into different age groups. So the top ten

14:59

scorers in each age group

15:01

throughout all the state regionals will qualify

15:04

for the national finals. And so

15:06

Klubnik has been hosting the Ohio Regional

15:08

for about 7 or 8 years now. It's a

15:10

big event for us. We get students

15:13

from all over the state traveling

15:15

down to Cincinnati to compete, and

15:17

what's really fun is every year we get to have

15:19

a theme, and so we try to theme

15:21

each competition around a different type

15:24

of subject matter. And this year

15:26

it's Braille around the world. Yeah.

15:28

That's right. And Braille around the world.

15:30

That's where Vision Australia comes in.

15:33

Tell us a bit about the partnership

15:35

there with um, I know we've sent over

15:37

quite a few little goodies

15:39

for all the people in Ohio

15:41

and the USA generally. So,

15:43

you know, tell us a bit about that.

15:45

Sure. So in my role at Clover Nook,

15:47

I'm the director of Braille production. I do

15:49

a lot of work on some of the outward facing

15:52

initiatives that work outside of

15:54

the US. We develop educational

15:56

and tactile. Serials for

15:59

schools and educational organizations,

16:01

currently mostly in East Africa. But

16:04

we've been doing a lot of international

16:06

based work, and that's where I met

16:09

Virgin Australia kind of a few years ago,

16:11

looking for ideas around graphics,

16:13

actually. So when we came up with this theme

16:16

of braille around the world, it kind

16:18

of fell to me to try to

16:20

use some of these connections that

16:22

we've made over the years to see what kinds

16:24

of braille and graphics we

16:27

could partner with organizations outside

16:29

of the US to bring to the competition,

16:31

because we want to share the

16:34

international city of Braille with

16:36

students. So students that Braille is

16:38

used all around the world, that graphics

16:41

are used all around the world. And Vision

16:43

Australia had this wonderful idea

16:45

to make tactile braille bookmarks

16:47

that represent things that are found

16:50

in Australia, things that you suddenly wouldn't find

16:52

here in the state of Ohio.

16:54

Um, just to audio describe for

16:56

people out there their tactile bookmarks.

16:58

And on one side it says

17:01

hi from Vision Australia in

17:03

tactile print. But we've also

17:05

got braille below that

17:07

with hi from Vision Australia in

17:10

braille and a tactile

17:12

First Nations artwork. And then

17:14

on the other side there's Felix

17:16

the Kidney. So that's a nice tie

17:18

in with the Felix Library in

17:20

Australia, with also the opera house

17:23

and a koala sitting on a

17:25

gum tray. And all of those

17:27

have, you know, echidna opera House,

17:30

koala in Braille on

17:32

that side. And all of that is tactile.

17:34

So people can have a feel of that

17:36

and get to understand those

17:38

sort of Australian landmarks

17:41

a bit better. So that's a great little

17:43

souvenir for people over in the

17:45

US to have from Australia. So

17:47

I have the bookmarks been received so

17:49

far.

17:50

Well, we'll find out next month. Yeah, absolutely.

17:52

The bookmarks are going to be going in every

17:54

child's goodie bag. So they're going to get a

17:56

swag bag of these various international

17:58

items that we've partnered to kind of get.

18:00

So we'll be giving those out to every

18:03

kid who participates in the challenge as

18:05

a gift. And I'm very excited. I think

18:07

they turned out wonderfully, so I

18:09

can't wait to see how all kids

18:12

find them, but I think they'll really enjoy

18:14

them.

18:14

And while waiting is an absolutely

18:17

crucial skill and something

18:19

you know, just to make it that little bit more

18:21

fun and a bit more engaging, it'll

18:23

be great. So looking forward to hearing

18:25

how they get received in the next

18:27

few weeks and months. Now, in

18:30

terms of how people can follow

18:32

the regional Braille challenges,

18:34

Samuel, what's the best way for

18:37

people to keep tabs on

18:39

that?

18:39

So the best way to keep tabs on it is

18:42

through the Braille Institute's Braille

18:44

Challenge website. So that

18:46

is kind of a hub for

18:48

all information relating to the

18:50

various regional competitions. And

18:53

also the national competitions

18:55

will be held out in California.

18:57

So we typically find out

18:59

in in April if any of our participants

19:01

have qualified for the national

19:03

competition. We had one student qualify last

19:06

year. We were very excited because it's only 50

19:08

students total, so there are five age

19:10

groups and the top ten in each age group

19:12

qualify for the California finals. And

19:14

so there are 50 states, right? And also

19:16

Canada participates and there are also

19:19

some UK students that participate

19:21

as well. It's kind of grown a little bit over the

19:23

years. So there's quite a bit of competition and

19:25

lots of participants. So around

19:27

April we find out who's made it all

19:29

the way.

19:30

Well, I've been speaking today with

19:32

Samuel Fox, director of

19:35

Braille production at Clover Nook,

19:37

having a chat with me all about

19:39

the upcoming Ohio Regional

19:41

Braille Challenge and the

19:43

vision style Braille bookmarks which

19:46

have made their way over to the USA.

19:48

Samuel, thank you so much for your

19:50

time today and it was a pleasure to

19:53

chat to you all the way from

19:55

Cincinnati.

19:56

It was a pleasure. Thank you for having me.

20:02

If you are a user of the

20:04

bus network in your major city,

20:06

and you've experienced some difficulties

20:09

with hailing the bus safely

20:11

and reliably, there's an app

20:13

for that. Or there very soon will

20:15

be. As we chat right now with

20:17

somebody who's putting the final touches

20:19

on the app. Santiago Velasquez

20:22

Hurtado, who's returning to Talking

20:24

Vision today to chat to us all about

20:26

it. Santiago, welcome back to Talking

20:29

Vision. Thanks so much for your time.

20:31

Sam. Thank you very much for having me again. Looking forward

20:33

to this exciting chat. Now.

20:35

Firstly, Santi, could you let us

20:37

know a bit about Halo? What is it?

20:39

Halo is basically trying to make public

20:41

transport accessible for everybody. A

20:44

lot of the listeners here would probably

20:46

know we can't see a bus approaching, so

20:48

we often get left behind or get dropped off

20:50

in the incorrect stop because we can't see a map

20:53

or we can't help it. So Halo is basically

20:55

fixing that, giving users the opportunity

20:57

to hail a bus electronically

21:00

and tell a bus driver in

21:02

advance, hey, this is where I would like to be picked up.

21:04

This is where I want to get off and

21:06

these are my access requirements. Do I have a

21:08

cane? Do I use a wheelchair?

21:11

Do I have a dog guide? And so on and so

21:13

on and so forth.

21:14

And how does the app works

21:16

and what sort of the practical

21:18

outline of that?

21:19

It's quite simple. You first register

21:21

in the app and once you do so you

21:23

are allowed or you are able to select

21:26

your access requirements. If you so choose,

21:28

i.e. you have a hidden

21:30

disability, you use a wheelchair,

21:32

you use a cane, you use a dog guide,

21:34

and so on and so forth. You

21:36

don't have to disclose that. Then

21:38

once you go through that process, it shows

21:41

you the stops around you. It gives you the opportunity

21:43

to plan a route. And then once

21:45

you rock up to the bus stop or the train stop

21:47

or, you know, whatever sort of form of transport

21:50

you choose to use, it shows

21:52

you the time for the service

21:54

and when it is going to arrive, and it gives you the option

21:57

of hailing it and selecting a destination.

21:59

Once you do that, the system sends

22:01

the information to the cloud, obviously, and then

22:04

down to the vehicle computer

22:06

on the service that you want to get on. So the driver

22:08

will get an alert one stop before

22:10

you need to get on saying, hey, somebody wants

22:12

to get on and they're using a cane, please

22:14

stop. That way you don't have to hail, you don't

22:16

have to do absolutely anything. And the

22:19

app will tell you how far the bus is

22:21

and when it arrives. Once you get

22:23

on the bus, you don't have to do the

22:26

obligatory, hey, would you be able

22:28

to let me know when X stop is

22:30

about to arrive? Or rely on maps

22:32

that oftentimes don't tell you fast enough

22:34

for you to press the bell because the

22:37

app knows where you want to get off and same

22:39

thing happens. The driver gets an alert one

22:41

stop before you need to get off. You get an

22:43

alert, and you don't have to press the

22:45

bell button if you don't want to, or if

22:47

you physically cannot do so. And because

22:49

the driver knows where you want to get off stops,

22:52

the app tells you where to get off, and you go on

22:54

your merry day. You don't have to plan a 20

22:56

minute trip by calling up Public

22:58

Transport Victoria, transport 20 South Wales,

23:00

TransLink and so on and so forth. 24 or

23:03

48 hours in advance. You just rock up to whatever

23:05

stop you want and you pick the vehicle you want

23:07

and you go on your merry way.

23:09

It sounds fantastic for a lot of people

23:11

out there, including both of us

23:13

with lived experience of blindness

23:15

or low vision, trying to get around

23:17

on public transport, which of course

23:20

is a vitally important way

23:22

for us to get around given

23:24

the fact we obviously can't drive

23:26

and all that sort of thing. So these buses

23:28

are super crucial to have

23:31

as much access as possible.

23:33

Now, was that the primary

23:36

motivation behind the

23:38

idea to create Halo, or was

23:40

there a particular instance where

23:42

you thought, now this is I've had enough

23:44

of this and I want to sort of do

23:46

something about it, or was it more of a gradual

23:49

kind of thing that built up?

23:50

There are two components, and you touched upon one

23:52

of them. The first component was I was just

23:54

frustrated. I was frustrated that public transport

23:57

was failing myself and failing many more people.

23:59

And as you said, we can't drive. So public

24:01

transport should work, right? But

24:03

then you add other bits and pieces.

24:05

For example, if you have a dog guide and

24:07

it's very hot, and if they don't like wearing booties,

24:10

oftentimes you have to stand in the sun for

24:12

you to be seen. So it's that, do you do that? How

24:14

do you stand in the sun without making your guide dog

24:16

suffer? Or if it's a long platform

24:19

and you have multiple buses, how do you

24:21

make sure that you get on the right one and

24:23

going to the other side?

24:25

The more corporate, the more company,

24:27

the more sort of entrepreneurial side of

24:29

things. I wasn't keen or

24:32

a big organization to just say, oh,

24:34

that looks like a cute problem, let's do something

24:36

about it. I wanted to combine

24:38

my lived experience as a person who

24:40

is visually impaired in my engineering experience,

24:43

to say if somebody with a disability is leading

24:45

the company and the development from the top,

24:47

we can make sure that we don't have to go

24:50

around and around and around trying to make

24:52

a very basic, accessible app. Right?

24:54

So it was the combination of public transport needs

24:56

to work. I don't care whether you catch a train,

24:59

a bus, a tram, and whether you get left behind

25:01

because. You can't see a boss whether you get

25:03

left behind because the train guard

25:05

didn't deploy the ramp for you to get on or off,

25:07

and I just didn't want another product

25:09

that was sold, like, oh, look at this miracle

25:12

thing from a massive company that didn't

25:14

work because lived experience was more

25:16

of an afterthought than anything else.

25:18

In terms of where the app

25:20

will be rolled out in the

25:22

next little while. Santi, what

25:24

sort of information do you have

25:26

for PayPal about that?

25:28

So at the moment, the thing I can

25:30

say is things are happening in the background. I can't

25:32

say anything just yet, but if people

25:34

want to be aware and keep

25:37

in touch, two things you can do one. Go

25:39

to our website. Hey loco and

25:41

that's H a loco.

25:44

And to keep an eye on

25:46

Vision Australia and

25:48

the various sort of sources that you guys

25:50

publish, because we have

25:53

trials and deployments that we will be

25:55

mentioning. So if you are

25:57

in and use public transport and

25:59

want to try the app once we go

26:01

live, please reach out to us info

26:04

at Loco High

26:06

Loco if you have suggestions

26:09

questions and that way once we

26:11

are able to talk about it or can

26:13

disclose more information, people

26:15

will know very much.

26:16

Looking forward to seeing how

26:19

Halo goes in the next little

26:21

while, when it is available for

26:23

people out there to give it

26:25

a try. I've been speaking

26:27

today with Santiago Velasquez,

26:30

involved with the Halo

26:32

technology, to make the bus

26:35

network more accessible for

26:37

people who are blind or have low vision.

26:39

Santi, thank you so much for your

26:41

time today. It was a pleasure to catch up

26:44

and hear all about Halo.

26:46

Thanks again as always. It's an absolute pleasure.

26:49

I appreciate the invitation and again,

26:51

I look forward to sharing more with

26:53

all the listeners and everybody else who

26:55

just wants for public transport to

26:57

work and don't want it for it to be

26:59

a headache.

27:06

And that's all we have time for today.

27:09

You've been listening to Talking Vision.

27:12

Talking vision is a production

27:14

of Vision Australia Radio. Thanks

27:16

to all involved with putting the show together.

27:19

And remember we love your feedback

27:21

and comments. So please do get in touch

27:24

on Talking Vision at Vision

27:26

australia.org. That's

27:28

talking vision all. One word

27:30

at Vision australia.org.

27:32

But until next week it's Sam

27:35

Culley saying bye for now.

27:40

You can contact Virgin Australia by

27:42

phoning us anytime during business

27:44

hours on one 308

27:47

4746.

27:49

That's one 384

27:51

746 or

27:53

by visiting Vision australia.org

27:56

that's Vision Australia call.