0:38

From Vision Australia. This is talking

0:40

vision. And

0:43

now here's your host, Sam

0:45

Colley.

0:48

Hello everyone. It's great to be here

0:50

with you. And for the next half

0:52

hour we talk matters of blindness

0:54

and low vision.

0:55

Even when, you know, maybe they change

0:58

the platform at the train station. It's

1:00

not something to panic about and go, oh my

1:02

gosh, now how do I get home? It's

1:04

actually knowing that those supports

1:06

are there and there's plenty of staff at the station.

1:09

So it is something that we are

1:11

really, really mindful of is to

1:13

to really build that awareness.

1:16

Welcome to the program. We've got

1:18

an exciting event to tell you about

1:20

this week, with the Try and Ride

1:22

event taking place at Southern Cross

1:24

Station on the 9th of May, for

1:27

people to get a taster of the

1:29

Melbourne public transport network

1:31

and the accessible features for

1:34

users who are blind or have low

1:36

vision. I'll be catching up

1:38

with Fiona Dimmock from the Department

1:40

of Transport and Planning, and

1:43

that interview is coming up right

1:45

around the corner, so don't go away.

1:48

Then, after my chat with Fiona

1:50

West celebrating International

1:52

Guide Dog Day on Wednesday

1:54

the 24th of April with

1:56

host of the Seeing Eye Dog show

1:59

on Vision Australia Radio, Harriet

2:01

Moffatt. I hope you'll enjoy

2:03

this week's episode of Talking

2:05

Vision. Fiona

2:11

Dimmock is a woman who wears

2:13

many hats, one of which as

2:15

the Customer Relations Officer

2:18

for the Victorian Government Department

2:21

of Transport and Planning,

2:23

who are holding a tried

2:25

Before you ride event taking place

2:27

at Southern Cross Station on

2:29

the 9th of May. And she

2:31

joins me now to chat all about

2:33

it. Fiona, welcome to Talking

2:35

Vision. Thanks so much for your time.

2:38

Thanks for having me.

2:39

Fiona, what is a try

2:41

before you ride event?

2:43

It's an opportunity for people to come

2:45

and practice using public transport

2:48

in a controlled environment. So we've

2:50

got the ability for people to

2:52

try out trains, buses,

2:54

trams and to also

2:56

investigate sort of, you know, the Southern Cross

2:58

station in a environment

3:01

where all the vehicles are actually stopped.

3:03

So you can get on, get off, touch them,

3:05

ask questions. It's actually

3:07

really, really great for people who

3:09

are visually impaired because quite often, you know,

3:12

the train appears and then it disappears really quickly

3:14

and you sort of go, oh, well, you know,

3:16

and especially when there's there's lots of people

3:18

on them, then you don't get that tactile

3:21

experience. And so this is really fabulous

3:23

for people, especially if they're not very confident

3:26

in travelling on public transport.

3:28

It's a great way to go and familiarise yourself

3:30

with it and.

3:31

Which operators will be involved. You've

3:33

mentioned a few different modes of transport,

3:35

but what can people look forward to there?

3:38

Yep. So we've got Metro Trains, V line,

3:40

Yarra Trams, Kinetic Buses

3:43

and also Southern Cross station

3:45

are part of the partnership. So

3:47

we are also working with

3:49

Travellers Aid. So for

3:51

those who don't know what Travellers Aid is,

3:53

um, it's an organisation of volunteers

3:56

that is based out of Southern Cross Station mainly,

3:59

and they are able to

4:01

assist people to access the transport

4:03

system around the train station. So

4:05

if you are planning your trip,

4:08

you can actually book travellers A to

4:10

meet you and help you access

4:12

the train, help you alight from

4:14

the train and, you know, access

4:16

a point outside of the station, for example,

4:19

help you find your connecting network

4:21

train if you're going to sort of, you know, travel onwards.

4:24

And if you are finding yourself ever

4:26

stuck at Southern Cross Station, you

4:28

can always contact Travellers Aid and someone will come

4:30

and assist you. And that's really fabulous

4:32

because quite often, you know, things maybe don't

4:35

go to plan. And so it's great to know that

4:37

those supports are in place.

4:38

Oh certainly is. And it's fabulous service.

4:41

Absolutely. But let's just

4:43

touch back on those operators from

4:45

the train, tram and bus side of things.

4:47

And is this the first time

4:50

you're all together hosting an event like

4:52

this, or have you been working together for

4:54

quite some time on other sort of things?

4:57

Yeah. So we quite often collaborate

4:59

and do different things as part of the network

5:01

and everything, sort of, you know, sitting under DTP.

5:04

So we're involved in working with

5:06

the other organisations for major events

5:08

like the Australian Open or the Formula one,

5:11

and also International Day

5:13

for people with disabilities. We all work together

5:15

to sort of build awareness and and make

5:17

the public more aware of all the, the

5:19

facilities and things that we're sort of doing

5:21

in the accessibility space.

5:23

Also, you know, we have had

5:25

tried before you ride days before

5:27

and different other sort of bits and pieces

5:30

that we work on together to sort of, you

5:32

know, just promote all of the services that

5:34

each of the network providers have

5:36

and how we all work together

5:38

to make accessibility one of our priorities.

5:41

Okay. Brilliant. And Fiona,

5:43

does anyone need to register

5:46

their interest if they'd like to

5:48

take part? Or can they simply turn up

5:50

on the day?

5:51

We do advise that you do book in

5:53

that allows us to make sure that we're catering

5:55

for all of your accessibility requirements that

5:57

people may have, and also

6:00

to sort of, you know, capture a little bit of information

6:02

about what it is that people are hoping for

6:04

and needing from the day. But

6:06

if you don't register in advance,

6:08

we do have the ability for people

6:10

to just arrive on the day.

6:13

Um, it's the 9th of May and

6:15

operating in between 10 and 2. You

6:17

don't have to stay for the full four hours. Just,

6:19

um, sort of, you know, pop in some time in between that

6:21

time, and we will

6:23

be able to let you know about all the different

6:26

things that are happening. And you can definitely

6:28

participate if you just come on the day.

6:30

And, Fiona, in terms of those

6:32

things that are happening, what sort of activities

6:35

on the day can participants

6:37

who are blind or have low vision look forward

6:39

to?

6:40

So we've got different information available

6:42

about different communication

6:44

methods and, um, you know, information

6:47

about all the services that we provide. And

6:49

we also have, as I mentioned, the ability

6:51

to sort of, you know, use those public transport

6:54

network vehicles. So

6:56

it's about sort of, you know, having the stationary

6:58

train that you can get on and get off and,

7:00

you know, go on the tram and have

7:02

a tailored network guide, I guess,

7:04

on the trams as well. So you can actually

7:06

organise to say, okay, let's go on

7:08

the tram and have someone actually take me on a working

7:11

tram. So you get the experience of the one

7:13

that sort of, you know, stationary, and then you also

7:15

have the experience of the one that is actually

7:17

operational on the network. We

7:19

have guided tours around Southern Cross Station,

7:21

an opportunity for people to sort of go and investigate

7:24

different areas. Travellers aid as as

7:26

facilitating that. So they take you to sort

7:28

of, you know, the different key areas of

7:30

the train station to familiarise people with

7:32

the different areas and what different parts

7:34

of the station they may be using. And

7:37

yeah, just essentially lots of

7:39

lots of information around about the supports

7:42

that people can access.

7:43

Now, Fiona, in terms of

7:45

the benefit to the broader public,

7:48

what could others learn from participating

7:51

in a day like this?

7:53

The best thing about Try Before You Ride is it

7:55

is an open public event,

7:57

so you don't necessarily have to

7:59

have lived experience of disability to come

8:01

and be involved, which I think is fantastic

8:03

because it's all about building awareness in the public

8:06

and showing that Department of Transport

8:08

and all of the providers are actually

8:10

really key. Accessibility is a

8:12

key priority at the moment for us. And

8:15

so right from the beginning

8:17

of the development phase of what we're

8:19

doing, we're making sure that accessibility

8:22

and inclusion is something that's really highly

8:24

considered. And for

8:26

people to be able to build their confidence

8:28

and to be able to feel comfortable

8:31

in travelling on public transport, I know a lot

8:33

of vision impaired people or sort of maybe

8:35

a little bit reluctant to go on public transport,

8:37

especially to travel independently

8:39

because, you know, maybe it's not something that

8:41

they feel familiar with, or maybe they haven't had

8:43

any O&M training or whatever it may

8:46

be. And it's really

8:48

an opportunity for people to experience

8:50

the network. And I guess to feel safe

8:52

and to feel confident on being able to use

8:54

those transport options. And

8:57

it's fantastic. I think so many of us,

8:59

I guess, especially after Covid, have

9:01

started to rely on alternatives rather

9:03

than the network and using that public transport

9:06

service, and I think it's fantastic.

9:08

It's something that I use regularly. And

9:11

even when, you know, maybe they change

9:13

the platform at the train station, it's

9:15

not something to panic about and go, oh my

9:17

gosh, now how do I get home? It's

9:19

actually knowing that those supports

9:21

are there and there's plenty of staff at the station.

9:24

You can contact Travellers Age, you can

9:26

contact PTV and

9:28

that assistance is there at your fingertips.

9:31

So it is something that we are

9:33

really, really mindful of is to

9:35

to really build that awareness.

9:38

And there's also quite a few other things

9:40

going on at the moment across

9:42

the public transport network.

9:45

So what are some of the bigger

9:47

items that Melbourne's public

9:49

transport operators are working

9:51

on to better support the needs of people

9:53

with blindness or low vision or other

9:55

disabilities?

9:57

Well, one of the things that we're doing is

9:59

from the inception and

10:01

design of any of our new products.

10:03

So the new vehicles for the network,

10:05

we're including accessibility

10:08

and making sure that that's something

10:10

that is a high priority. So in

10:12

essence, you know, they're even doing mock ups

10:14

of the next generation trams and

10:16

the new trains. And so

10:18

people with lived experience of disability

10:20

have the opportunity to actually go

10:22

and test out these, um, you

10:24

know, mock ups of what the new vehicle will look

10:26

like and actually have an opportunity

10:29

to just sit in it and touch it and

10:31

stand in it and get a real

10:33

lived experience sense of what it's like.

10:35

So rather than just looking at something on paper

10:38

and saying, oh, well, yes, that will work,

10:40

or having somebody that doesn't have lived

10:42

experience to say, oh yeah, we've

10:44

ticked all the boxes. It's actually

10:46

giving people an opportunity to go and test

10:48

it out before it goes through.

10:50

A full process of being sort of implemented

10:53

to be able to say, okay, well, here's the feedback

10:55

that we've received. Let's make those changes

10:57

to actually adapt this, to make it work

11:00

for people before. It's just kind of thrown

11:02

out there and everyone goes, this doesn't work

11:04

for us. So that's one main thing

11:06

that we're looking at. The other thing that's

11:08

really exciting for people

11:10

who have low vision is

11:12

the introduction of the Nabi lens program.

11:15

So that's something that Yara is

11:17

working on mostly, and that is

11:19

the introduction of really big, like the

11:22

huge QR codes that have been printed

11:24

on tram stops and also on trams.

11:26

There's a little app that you download

11:28

and essentially you point your phone

11:31

at the oncoming tram. It

11:33

will give you real time tram information

11:35

about, you know, what tram it is, what

11:38

the destination is, what the stops along the

11:40

way may be, and then you can utilize

11:42

those QR codes within the tram

11:44

to actually, again, get real time information

11:47

about what stop it's at and what's coming

11:49

up. So that's specifically

11:51

designed for people who have low vision

11:53

or who sort of have a disability

11:55

that need to sort of, you know, capture that information

11:58

from those QR codes that they couldn't get

12:00

from looking at the screens or being able to access

12:02

it in other ways. So that's really exciting.

12:04

And I think the third thing that is really fabulous,

12:07

and I'm not sure how many Vision

12:09

Australia listeners are aware of

12:11

the sunflower lanyards. And

12:14

so essentially the sunflower

12:16

program was something that was set up to

12:18

identify people, especially with

12:20

invisible disabilities. So if you're

12:22

not using an assistance dog

12:24

and you're not using a white cane,

12:26

for example, a lot of the time people

12:29

may not realize that you may need some assistance.

12:31

And so this lanyard looks

12:33

absolutely gorgeous. It's bright green with sunflowers

12:36

on it, so it's very pretty. But all

12:38

of the public transport providers have

12:40

been advised that this lanyard

12:43

is specifically for people

12:45

who have an invisible disability or

12:47

maybe, maybe need some assistance.

12:49

And, you know, it really does work.

12:51

So perfect example as I travelled

12:54

a few months ago and use my

12:56

lanyard while I was travelling through Melbourne

12:58

airport, and I had

13:00

enough luggage with me that I really couldn't

13:02

use my white cane at the time. And

13:04

so my husband was doing sighted

13:07

guide, but because I was using

13:09

the lanyard, the airport staff

13:11

instantly realized that I was

13:13

somebody that potentially needed a little

13:15

different assistance than your average passenger,

13:18

and so they pushed us through

13:20

the check in process. They

13:22

were really great with assisting us through

13:25

security, and so just even

13:27

using that lanyard is a great

13:29

way to identify that you've got a disability.

13:32

It's still a way that it's

13:34

not broadcasting it. It's not like wearing

13:36

the little badge that says, I'm vision impaired.

13:38

It's just a little way for

13:40

the operators of the public transport system

13:43

to be able to see, hey, this person

13:45

may need some extra assistance. And so, you

13:47

know, you might attract somebody at the train station

13:49

saying, do you need some extra help?

13:51

Well, it's a fantastic initiative. You

13:54

know, something that will help a lot

13:56

of people out there across the network.

13:59

And just touching back on

14:01

the event itself.

14:03

Fiona, could you remind us just

14:05

again where the trial Before

14:07

you ride event is, the time

14:10

and how much it will be?

14:12

Okay, so it's based at Southern Cross Station.

14:15

So that's sort of where the registration

14:17

sort of sign up desk is. There

14:19

will be different various things

14:21

happening across Southern Cross Station. So

14:24

again, if you're not feeling

14:26

like you can find the right area,

14:28

just ask a staff member and they'll definitely

14:30

be able to point you in the right direction. It

14:32

is on the 9th of May, and

14:35

it is from 10 a.m. until

14:37

2 p.m.. As I said before, you don't need

14:39

to come for the full four hours. You can definitely

14:41

spend the whole time there if you like.

14:43

However, you can just pop in and

14:46

look at the things that you're interested in and then

14:48

off you go again. And we

14:50

also do have the capacity

14:52

to follow up as well. So if

14:54

you're feeling that, you know, the event may

14:56

be a little bit overwhelming, you can

14:58

always contact our operators. And

15:00

we also do have what we call the onboarding

15:03

program, which is a more

15:05

individualised sort of program where you

15:07

can go and, you know, maybe test out

15:09

the vehicles when they're in the depot. But

15:11

I definitely would recommend that. I've

15:13

been to these events before, and it is really

15:16

fabulous. You get to climb on the V line bus

15:18

and, and go on and off the train, and

15:20

just even being able to see like what it feels

15:22

like if you're using a cane, for example, what

15:24

that gap is in between the platform

15:26

and the train and you know, where the closest

15:29

seat is going to be. Like all of those little

15:31

things is great to just test

15:33

it out. You don't feel embarrassed. Everyone's

15:35

there to test it out. So it's kind of like

15:37

it's just something that you can do and feel really

15:39

confident and comfortable doing. To

15:42

sign up for in Australia have been really

15:44

great in helping us promote this event.

15:46

So you can actually go to the Virgin

15:48

Australia website and there's a link. Gone

15:50

there to sign up and register for the day.

15:52

Also PTV and

15:55

all of the other network providers. So

15:57

Yarra Trams, V line etc. have

15:59

sign up registration details

16:01

on their websites as well. So

16:03

you can definitely find all of the information

16:06

that you need in lots of different places.

16:08

And um, in terms of accessible

16:10

formats, how can we find

16:12

more information that way?

16:14

Perhaps the website flyers

16:16

in large print or Braille? What's the situation

16:19

there?

16:19

So we do definitely have our website

16:22

that people can access. We do have

16:24

flyers and information that people can access

16:26

through Traveller's Aid and PTV.

16:29

And also we've

16:31

obviously got lots of little apps. And so there's

16:33

the different apps that you can use for

16:35

the network as well. And

16:37

they are, as a general rule, quite accessible.

16:40

They work with the voice over on

16:42

sort of, you know, your mobile phone and stuff like that. So,

16:44

you know, we have really been mindful

16:46

about making sure that we designed things

16:49

so they are accessible to all members

16:51

of the public.

16:52

I've been speaking today with Fiona

16:54

Dimmock from the Department

16:56

of Transport and Planning here

16:58

to tell me all about the upcoming

17:01

Try Before You Ride event taking

17:04

place at Southern Cross Station

17:06

in Melbourne on the 9th

17:08

of May. Fiona, thank you

17:10

so much for your time. It was great to

17:12

catch up with you and hear all about

17:14

the upcoming event.

17:15

Thank you for having me and I hope to see everybody

17:18

at the event.

17:25

I'm Sam Culley and you're listening to

17:27

Talking Vision on Vision Australia

17:29

Radio, associated stations

17:32

of the Waiting Radio Network

17:34

and the Community Radio Network.

17:37

I hope you enjoyed that interview

17:39

with Fiona Dimmock from the

17:41

Department of Transport and Planning,

17:43

chatting to us about the upcoming

17:45

Try Before You Ride event on the

17:47

9th of May at Southern Cross station

17:49

in Melbourne. If you missed any

17:51

part of that interview with Fiona

17:54

or you'd love to listen to it again.

17:56

Talking vision is available on

17:58

the Vision Australia Radio website

18:00

at VA radio.org.

18:03

That's VA radio.org.

18:05

Or you can also find the program

18:07

on the podcast app of your choice

18:09

or through the Vision Australia library.

18:12

Coming up next on Talking Vision,

18:14

we celebrate a very important

18:17

day in the blind and low vision

18:19

community. If you're listening

18:21

to this show on Wednesday the

18:23

24th of April, it's International

18:26

Guide Dog Day, a day to celebrate

18:29

the vital role that Dog guides

18:31

play for people around the world

18:33

who are blind or, importantly, also

18:35

have low vision in navigating

18:38

their surroundings safely and

18:41

accessibly. And it's my

18:43

great pleasure to welcome the host

18:45

of the Seeing Eye Dog Show on

18:47

Vision Australia Radio, Harry Moffat

18:49

to celebrate the day with me.

18:51

Harry, welcome back to Talking

18:54

Vision. Great to have you.

18:55

Well, thank you for having me. It's interesting

18:57

to be on someone else's show, you know.

18:59

Absolutely a bit of a change. But

19:01

we are, of course, here for a

19:04

very important occasion.

19:06

We are celebrating International

19:08

Guide Dog Day on Wednesday

19:10

the 24th of April.

19:13

So what does International Guide

19:15

Dog Day main for both sides of the coin?

19:17

You know, seeing eye dog services,

19:19

but also clients out there who

19:21

are blind or have low vision who benefit

19:24

so greatly from these dog guides.

19:26

Well, I mean, if you ask me, I think International

19:29

Guide Dog Day should be every day

19:31

because, you know, seeing our dogs are working

19:33

365 days a year

19:35

or, you know, 366 in a leap year.

19:38

And that doesn't mean they're working 24 over seven.

19:40

Of course, asking our dogs do know how to have

19:42

fun, and they get downtime, but their impact

19:44

is really all year round. And we've got,

19:47

you know, something like over 200

19:49

working senior dogs around Australia

19:51

and all of those partnerships it all year

19:53

round. It's a whole thing. And you know, from our

19:55

clients who are 14, 15

19:57

to those who are in their 90s, for

20:00

them, those dogs mean the world and they

20:02

bring independence and mobility as

20:04

well as companionship. And and that's something that definitely,

20:06

you know, should be celebrated.

20:07

And for people out

20:09

there who are blind or have low vision, who

20:12

may be interested in connecting

20:14

up with a seeing eye dog, what's

20:16

the process there?

20:18

So I've actually had Paul Adrian from Singapore,

20:20

who's one of our instructors, as well as works

20:23

as a senior strategy and change

20:25

advisor. Paul Adrian has joined me on my show

20:27

talking a little bit about assessment and eligibility.

20:29

And it's really interesting. I think there's lots

20:31

of people that might think my vision is maybe

20:34

slightly too high for

20:36

it. Or, you know, I do have some sight and therefore

20:38

I can't have a seeing eye dog, which is just

20:41

not the case. And, you know, our team is super, super happy

20:43

to chat to people who are blind or have low vision about,

20:45

you know, whether either they'd benefit from a

20:47

seeing eye dog or what that means. So we're really,

20:49

really happy to kind of have that dialogue, because

20:51

we do have dogs that are kind of ready to be matched

20:54

with handlers, and everyone's circumstances

20:56

are different. So it's not, you know, not at all a case

20:58

of, oh, well, if my vision is better than,

21:00

you know, I've got a bit of usable vision. You

21:03

know, I might be taking a dog from someone else who needs it.

21:05

That's just not the case. And we've got dogs who

21:07

are happy and will benefit people of lots

21:09

of different lifestyles. So, you know, we're

21:11

really, really happy to chat to anyone who's

21:13

interested. And you can give the team a ring

21:16

on 1800 037 773

21:21

or email info at said

21:23

talk to you. So you know, we're

21:25

really happy to chat about your individual circumstances

21:28

and whether you think that you'd like to apply for

21:30

seeing Eye Dog.

21:31

And we've also got a

21:33

four month old Seeing Eye dog in

21:35

training in the studio today.

21:37

Her name is Kasha. You may

21:39

have heard her having her own say

21:42

on things just then. So

21:44

tell us a little bit more about

21:46

Kasha Harriott.

21:47

Well, young Kasha has been

21:50

kind of, I guess, part of my show, The Seeing Eye Dog Show,

21:52

since she was about eight weeks old, but actually

21:54

really almost before that because I raised

21:56

her mother. So, um, her

21:58

mum, Iris, grew up hunting dogs programs.

22:01

She was on the show throughout her puppy

22:03

development. And then when Iris had her first litter

22:05

raised kasha. And. Yeah, so that's kind of how

22:07

the whole thing has been about. So before even

22:09

young Kasha was born, she was like, I guess

22:11

part of the show in her own weird way.

22:14

All right. That's a really cool little

22:16

factor in the show to have

22:18

successive generations participating

22:21

in the program. But looking more.

22:24

Broadly elsewhere in the world

22:26

of saying dogs. There are, of course,

22:28

some really cool, exciting new

22:30

things happening not only for

22:32

International Guide Dog Day, but also

22:35

going forward with things like the

22:37

opening of the new center.

22:39

So, you know, tell us a little bit about that.

22:42

Well, I am super, super excited

22:44

about our new dog care center opening,

22:46

very much like, you know, all of

22:49

our existing sites. Um, there are places

22:51

where our dogs who are in training or

22:53

boarding will be very well looked after.

22:55

This site is, you know, a much needed

22:57

upgrade and it's really, really exciting.

22:59

I worked as a kennel attendant for a long time,

23:01

and that whole site did need a bit of TLC.

23:04

And this one, you know, is state of the art. There's

23:06

heating, there's cooling that is really

23:08

state of the art and built into the kennels previously.

23:11

It's not that we didn't have those things, but they

23:13

were, um, kind of being

23:15

brought in seasonally, I suppose.

23:17

So it's super, super exciting to get a bit

23:19

more space and, you know, these new doors

23:21

that are a bit higher tech than our old ones

23:23

were so super, super excited to fill

23:26

them with dogs.

23:26

And Harriet, there have recently,

23:29

of course, been a new batch of

23:31

seeing eye dogs who have graduated

23:33

from the Seeing Eye Dogs Academy,

23:36

so to speak. 13 of them

23:38

all up. So tell us a little bit

23:40

about that new batch.

23:42

Well, our instructors, you know, they do

23:44

work hard all year round, but we've

23:46

had some really good success in some of our

23:48

last kind of training intake. So formal training takes

23:50

about five months. And in the last

23:52

kind of, I guess month or so, we've had

23:54

about 13 new dogs qualify.

23:56

So those guys, I guess, are going to be going

23:59

to their matches in the next few months.

24:01

Some of them have kind of started to graduate with

24:03

their partner, so they're kind of starting to go

24:05

on and make a difference in people's lives. And so,

24:07

you know, those are just the dogs trained by

24:09

two of the instructors. And, you know, they are going to

24:11

go on to change 13 different lives.

24:14

So super, super exciting. And, you know, really

24:16

exciting for the handlers, I guess, who are

24:18

going to be starting to embark on pretty exciting journeys.

24:20

But all of us are so excited when we get to

24:22

hear those matches come about.

24:24

Absolutely. And speaking of

24:26

handlers, we're heading into

24:28

National Volunteer Month

24:30

and volunteers are absolutely,

24:33

as we both know, such a vital

24:35

aspect of seeing our dogs

24:37

and enabling the organization

24:40

to do the fantastic work they

24:42

do. So tell us a bit about

24:44

how people can get in touch

24:46

to volunteer for various roles

24:49

within seeing our dogs.

24:51

Probably the main one that we talk about, or

24:53

I guess some of our biggest volunteer hours

24:55

are from our puppy carers, and we have

24:57

them pretty much across most of the east coast

24:59

of Australia. So we've got Central

25:01

Coast, parts of northern Sydney, as well

25:03

as a bit of Gold Coast, Sunshine

25:05

Coast, Brisbane as well as across Victoria.

25:08

So quite a few regions there which are listed

25:10

on our website. Sydney, Australia

25:12

walk. So you know, we're very much

25:14

keen, especially in those roles, to have

25:16

people taking the young puppies into their homes

25:19

and helping them grow up to be happy, healthy

25:21

dogs who can hopefully become senior dogs.

25:23

But really, you know, we just rely on

25:25

a cohort of our volunteers to be

25:27

taking the pups, get them used to things,

25:30

and it's just a role that we couldn't do, and we couldn't

25:32

have seen our dogs who enter training

25:34

as, you know, well mannered and as manageable

25:36

and as happy as they are without our

25:39

volunteers. So, you know, it's priceless

25:41

what our volunteers do for us. And I've

25:43

been a volunteer myself, as discussed, so

25:45

I can understand that it is absolutely a full time

25:47

job. And it's not just puppy carers as well.

25:49

We've also got people looking after our breeding stock

25:51

and training dogs as well as admin

25:53

roles. You know, people that sew up dog

25:55

toys so that they're safe for our puppies. Yes.

25:58

And people that look after their dogs in kennels

26:00

who are boarding. So that's super exciting. And

26:02

volunteer month or, you know, it's volunteer

26:04

week. But for us it's the whole month is the time

26:06

that we just want to acknowledge all of the different roles

26:09

and all of the different people that make our mission possible.

26:11

There's so many different roles. As you mentioned,

26:13

there's something for everybody. Perhaps

26:16

if they don't quite feel ready

26:18

to be a puppy carer. There are,

26:20

as Harriet's mentioned, so many

26:22

other ways that you can contribute

26:24

out there. So support

26:27

Vision australia.org. That's

26:29

Saddle Vision australia.org

26:32

to find out all about the

26:35

vital work that seeing our dogs

26:37

continues to do across

26:39

Australia. Harriet, thank

26:42

you so much for your time today. It was

26:44

a pleasure to catch up and happy

26:46

International Guide Dog Day.

26:47

Thank you for having me Sam. Happy international guide

26:49

dog day.

26:57

And that's all the time we have for today.

26:59

You've been listening to Talking Vision.

27:02

Talking vision is a Vision Australia

27:05

radio production. Thanks to

27:07

all involved with putting the show together

27:09

every week. And remember, we

27:11

love hearing from you. So please get

27:13

in touch anytime on our email

27:16

at Talking Vision. At Vision

27:18

australia.org. That's

27:20

talking vision or one word at

27:22

Vision australia.org.

27:24

But until next week it's Sam Cowley

27:27

saying bye for now.

27:32

You can contact Virgin Australia by

27:34

phoning us anytime during business

27:36

hours on one 308

27:39

4746.

27:41

That's one 384

27:43

746 or

27:45

by visiting Vision australia.org

27:48

that's Vision Australia call.