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ABC Listen. G'day, my name's Naz and you're listening to Newstime.
Hello, Naz. Hi, Naz.
Ruby has passed the Newstime microphone over to me to host an awesome episode for International Day of People with Disability.
I can't wait to jump into this week's Countdown.
I'm the ABC's National Disability Affairs reporter, and I've worked here telling important stories for more than 10 years.
I love being the Disability Affairs reporter because I get to meet people with disability every day and help them share their lives with you.
I also live with disability myself.
I'm blind. I can't see anything.
But I have another disability, too.
It's called Chaco Mari Tooth, or CMT, and it means that I can't feel things with my fingers very well.
I read the news by listening to a little voice on my computer.
It sounds a bit like this.
The Australian tennis player Nick Kergeos is through to the second round of the Esteral Open in Portugal.
Then I listen and I repeat what I hear, which sounds like this.
CHEERFUL MUSIC High court citizens and soccer qualifiers.
G'day, Nas Campanella with Triple J News.
Labor front bench opinion wall has accused the Prime Minister.
That's very, very cool.
So, are you ready to hear the news?
Yeah, for sure. Story number five.
You might have seen wheelchair rugby before or watched a game with our national rugby team, The Steelers.
But have you heard of The Wheelaroos?
They're Australia's national wheelchair rugby league team, and that's a different sport entirely.
In wheelchair rugby league, you have to use your hands.
You have to have, like, strength with your arms.
It's a bit rough. Um, it's a lot harder.
It's a tough sport, that's for sure.
Players are strapped into a wheelchair and then they need to get the ball from one end of the court to the other, passing the ball to their teammates and avoiding getting tackled by the opposition.
Pretty cool that instead of having a ball and running, they use a wheelchair and you have to be good at using wheelchairs.
Even at a high -level, wheelchair rugby league is played by both players with disability and players without disability.
Baily is a non -disabled player, and he joined the sport so he could play alongside his dad, Darren.
Darren has a disability, he has one leg, so it's a great opportunity for Baily and Darren to play sport together.
Brad is another Wheelaroo.
He broke his back when he was 19 and used to play wheelchair basketball, but he moved on to playing wheelchair rugby league so he could throw a ball around with his non -disabled mate, Jason.
Because everyone's, like, different and they're also the same, so they can be on the same team because they're both persons.
Wheelchair rugby league isn't as popular as wheelchair rugby just yet and some passionate players are hoping to change that.
They want more people to become interested in the game so they can raise more money and travel to big competitions overseas.
Players like Baily, Darren, Brad and Jason all hope they can share the sport that they love with the world and get more people on the court.
Duty number four. Have you ever watched the news on telly?
Maybe with your grown -up.
They're telling reports that happened like that day and all the week.
There's lots of, like, shocking stuff.
They talk about the president and them going on planes to meet new bosses.
And also sometimes they report, like, the weather.
Yeah, that's about right.
We have lots of different news shows in Australia, but I want to tell you about a news programme in the country Norway.
TV Bra, which means good in Norwegian, is a TV station run by people with disability.
All the presenters live with disability and they cover news and ideas that are especially important to audience members with disability too.
Every week, the team at TV Bra put together a one -hour show and it covers news, entertainment and sport.
I think that's really cool because it's a chance for people with disabilities to actually, like, have a show about them, like, actually, something's for them.
I think it is good to hear lots of opinions.
Yeah, the reporters at TV Bra can focus on stories that they know will be pretty interesting and important to the community of people with disability, like changes to laws about disability.
One of the station's reporters named Sven says, TV Bra is very important because we're talking about people with disability and our rights in real life.
Some of the members of the team don't have disability, but they all work together to make a show that's tailored, especially for people with disability to watch, listen to and enjoy.
So, everyone gets to have a chance at doing the news.
TV Bra isn't the only TV news station presented by people with disability, though.
There are similar programs in other countries, like Iceland and Denmark.
But TV Bra is growing, and maybe more programs like it will start to pop up.
Story number three.
Can you tell me what a hearing aid is?
You can use a hearing aid, like if you can't hear very well, putting your ear if people can't hear, and then they turn it on so they can hear.
Yeah, hearing aids can help some people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Not everyone who is in the deaf community can use hearing aids, and they don't make someone's hearing perfectly clear, but they can be a really useful tool.
Hearing aids can make it easier for people to communicate.
They can help them watch their favorite shows or listen to their favourite music.
Unfortunately, hearing aids are expensive, so not everyone who needs them can afford them.
It's very rude if you're porkers and you can't buy them.
We can make it $0 and make it for free.
Hearing aids can cost thousands of dollars.
If you're very young or very old, the government can help pay for them and make things a bit cheaper.
But for people who are aged somewhere in the middle, there isn't a lot of financial help available.
That's why Sarah Dockrell opened Tasmania's first and only hearing aid bank.
Sarah takes second -hand hearing aids, cleans them up, fixes them if they're broken, and then passes them on to people who need them but who might not be able to afford them.
It's very nice that they're giving them out for free.
So, like, everybody can have ear agates.
One of the people who got free hearing aids from Sarah named Steve loves the help they provide.
Steve says he can hear birds chirping as they fly around.
And he loves to just watch them and listen.
Thanks for your awesome work, Sarah.
Story number two. Hanging out with my friends is one of my favourite things to do.
What about you? It's fun having friends.
Play and talk and maybe go to the park or something, um, bouncing on trampoline, going to the arcade with them.
Wow, that sounds like a lot of fun.
Emma Shores lives in the country Wales, and she loves spending time with her friends too.
But Emma wanted to make some new friends.
Friends who were autistic, just like her.
Emma was diagnosed as autistic when she was already an adult.
Some autistic people find out when they're really young, but Emma didn't know until she had already finished school.
Autism is like where your brain works a bit differently.
Autism is a spectrum, and every autistic person is unique.
Some people might be sensitive to bright lights and loud noises, and for other autistic people, they can find social situations really stressful.
And that's just a few examples.
Emma found hanging out in big groups too loud and too overstimulating.
She wanted to create a space for autistic adults to come together and hang out, so that's exactly what she's doing.
Emma has made a deal with a local cafe to turn down the music and the lights once a month so her group can meet up, chat, and have snacks.
I think it's really nice that she's doing that.
I think it's great and helpful for the people who are autistic.
Emma says she started her group because she doesn't want anyone to feel lonely.
She wants to make sure it's really fun and that people feel comfortable to just be themselves.
Because that's what friends are for.
That's right. Great stuff, Emma.
Sounds like you're going to build an awesome group of friends.
And now it's time for...
This story made me go wild because I never knew you could print something 3D on a printer.
Seahorse World is an aquarium in Tasmania.
People come from all over to get up close to see seahorses of all different species, to learn about them and see them in all stages of life, from little babies to big adults.
But what if someone like me can't see the seahorses?
The team at Seahorse World have come up with a really clever idea to make a visit more exciting for people who are blind or have low vision.
Seahorses you can feel.
Are those real? Are they real seahorses?
Nope, they're 3D printed seahorses and they took a lot of effort to make.
Seahorse experts worked with a local Tasmanian 3D printing company to make the printed seahorses as close as possible to the real thing.
Can you believe that each one takes seven hours to print and is intricately detailed?
It can feel like what seahorses are actually like.
Yeah, exactly. Thanks to the 3D printed seahorses, visitors who are blind or have low vision can hold a seahorse in their hands and feel all the ridges and bumps that make up their bendy little bodies.
They can feel the boldest belly, the pointy nose and flappy fins.
Even if they can't see it, they can still, like, imagine it.
That's it. Visitors who hold the seahorses can get a better understanding of things they learn by listening to the tour guides as they move through the aquarium.
Rexie Grey, the manager at Seahorse World, hopes that more businesses will hear about their awesome idea and think of ways they can make things more inclusive.
That means things that are designed for everyone to enjoy.
And that's it. We're at the end of the countdown.
Thanks so much for having me.
Thanks, Naz. Thank you, Naz.
You're very welcome.
Ruby will be back with you next week with many more juicy stories.
See you, Naz. Bye. Catch you later, and happy International Day of People With Disability.
