ABC Listen.
G'day, my name's Naz and you're listening to Newstime.
Hi Naz.
Hello Naz.
Ruby has passed the Newstime microphone over to me to host a very special episode for International Day of People with Disability.
It's held every year on the 3rd of December.
I'm the ABC's National Disability Affairs Reporter and I've worked here telling important stories for almost 14 years.
I love my job because I get to meet new people every day and I get to find out how they live, work and play.
I also live with disability.
I'm blind.
It means I can't see anything.
No lights, no colours, nothing at all.
I also have another disability, which means I can't feel things with my fingers like you can.
Lots of people who are blind read using braille tiny little dots on a page which you feel with your fingers.
Because I can't feel those dots, I read by listening.
I've got screen reading technology, which is a little voice that scans everything on the screen on my computer and it reads it out aloud into my headphones.
It sounds a bit like this.
Then I listen and I repeat what I hear, which sounds like this.
High Court citizens and soccer qualifiers.
G'day, Naz Campanella with Triple J News.
Labor Front Venture Penny Wong has accused the Prime Minister... That's very, very cool.
Shall we dive into some news?
Happy International Day for People with Health Have Disability.
Story number five.
Earlier this year, a 12-year-old student named Leo stepped up in front of his school to give a speech.
Hi, everyone.
And no, I'm not broken.
I'm just built different.
Like a limited edition Lego set.
Leo is neurodiverse and he wanted to use his school's young communicators competition to share his lived experience of autism and ADHD.
But I actually do have autism.
It is very hard to explain.
I take things too literally, and whenever somebody says that we see the world in a different way, I don't see differently.
I'm really good at remembering dates and stuff but, like sometimes I can be shown something like 80 times in two minutes and five seconds later.
I'll forget.
Autism is a condition that impacts people in different ways.
Some autistic people need lots of support and others don't.
Some autistic people also communicate differently, like through hand actions or through pictures, instead of using their words.
Some autistic kids struggle to make friends, but I've got the best mates ever.
Yeah, they might think I'm a little bit weird or different, but that's exactly why they like me, because being different isn't a bad thing.
It's just me.
Leah's speech was shared around on social media and it went viral.
It's been seen more than 2.5 million times by people all around the world.
I thought his speech was good.
Someone in the audience might have autism.
Leo was surprised but so excited his speech travelled much further than the school hall.
Thanks for putting yourself out there, Leo, and sharing your experience.
Story number four.
Here's a question for you.
What do you think it would be like to drive a car?
I think it would be scary for like your first time.
But then once you pass the test, you'd feel more safe because you know what to do.
I think the problem would be if there was any loud noises or like someone talking to you in the back and you were just learning, you could make a mistake.
In regional South Australia, a person named Katie really wants to drive a car one day.
Katie was born with a condition called MPS Type 1.
It means they're legally blind.
When all of Katie's friends were getting their licences, Katie was told they'd never be able to drive a car.
My whole body is affected with that condition and I'm short stature so driving in a car is a bit hard because I'm so short.
A few years ago, Katie had a cornea transplant, which meant that they could legally get their learner's driving permit.
But there was still a problem.
Katie felt really anxious about getting behind the steering wheel.
Katie discovered their local disability support service had a special piece of technology that could be used to build up their confidence.
It was a driving simulator.
They'll feel warmed up.
So that they can get better.
So they can feel more brave before they do their test.
Exactly.
Katie can sit in the front seat of a real car that has its steering wheel and brakes linked to a screen in front which simulates a driving experience.
Katie is one of 20 people with disability who use the driving simulator.
It's made me really confident.
Like, I don't think I'd be where I am driving now if I didn't use it.
Knowing that in three months I'll be driving alone kind of scares me, but it feels good at the same time, because I'm going to be able to do things that I want to do without relying on others.
Awesome work, Katie.
It's so cool you've gained the drive to drive.
Story number three.
One thing I've learned in my time as the ABC's disability affairs reporter is that disability equipment like wheelchairs and bikes can be really expensive.
Sometimes people will only need certain items for a short amount of time, but it all adds up.
How do you think the cost for equipment could be brought down?
They put it back so other people who need a wheelchair can use it, like, secondhand.
Yeah, it sounds like you're onto something.
You often can't take equipment back, but there is room to share used equipment around.
That's an idea that 17-year-old Ava had.
Just a few years ago, Ava was a gymnast.
She spent every week training for hours.
In one session, Ava was training on the balance beam but fell off and suffered a spinal injury.
Gymnasts from around the world, including the greatest of all time, Simone Biles, sent messages of support to Ava.
Ava spent months in hospital, But if she had access to items like a wheelchair for her size and movement, she would have been able to come home sooner.
Disappointing because you just would have to be lying down.
You couldn't do any exercise.
After five months, Ava got the tools she needed.
But her experience meant she wanted to save others from long waits for equipment.
So Ava and her mum Randy started up something called the Sharing Shed.
It's an online community that allows spinal cord injury patients to swap and share equipment.
Great idea and well done for waiting so patiently.
Ava now has a big storage space to keep equipment in, making the Sharing Shed an amazing reality.
Her mum is incredibly proud of her desire to help others all while working through her own recovery.
Story number two.
Do you love going to the theatre or to a dance performance?
I do, but sometimes it's really hard to know what's happening on stage because I can't see.
It's really helpful if someone describes the costumes or how and when people are moving their bodies.
Because they want to hear the beautiful music.
The Royal Ballet in London has offered audience members headphones that share audio descriptions of the actions on stage.
Audio description is when a person explains costumes, facial expressions and hand actions to someone who can't see.
But now the Royal Ballet has made the performances even more accessible.
They've teamed up with a blind artist named Devon to create immersive descriptive audio woven together through music which the whole audience can hear.
Yep, no need for headphones.
It's basically like they can focus more.
Devon, the blind artist, says that she wants this show to be an example of radical accessibility.
I've seen accessibility ramps before, so my parents normally use it because they have a stroller for my baby brother.
Because there are only stairs.
But for kids who need wheelchairs and can't get up the stairs, there should be ramps, I think.
Accessible theatre isn't just about getting into the building.
It's making sure that all audiences can experience it too.
So Devon's idea of radical accessibility means the show is described in a transformative new way that can even help sighted people understand dance as it happens.
It's not just a description of a performance, it's a performance.
Like, so that everyone can do it.
Exactly.
It means people like me who can't see can experience the theatre like everyone else.
OK, we've come to the big story.
It's time for our... There's one awesome event that recently wrapped up over in Tokyo in Japan.
It was the Deaflympics.
Deaf and hard-of-hearing athletes from all around the world gathered to celebrate sport and deafness.
I've never heard of it, but using my knowledge of what the two words mean, deaf.
All athletes at the Deaflympics have hearing loss.
You might remember hearing about team soccer player Ruby Miller on Newstime back in August.
She was one of 90 Australian athletes to head to Japan to compete.
This Deaflympics has been an exciting one, celebrating the 100th year of the Games.
Why have they been doing it for 100 years?
I guess because it's so great.
The Deaflympics is the second oldest multi-sporting event in the world.
There are no categories for Deaf athletes at the Paralympics, so they're an important event for the Deaf community.
For many athletes, it's the only opportunity for them to compete at an elite level.
But there's a pretty big barrier to overcome, and that's funding.
Many athletes have to fundraise personally to afford the cost of getting to the Games.
I think it's like crazy.
Why doesn't it switch around and the deaf people get to go and the Olympic people don't get to?
They have to pay themselves.
If you've managed to catch any of the Deaflympics online, you'd know.
They're sports like basketball football swimming, tennis and athletics.
Most rules remain the same, but there are modifications like lights instead of starting guns on the track, And athletes take off hearing aids to make sure everyone is competing evenly.
These are all professional athletes, and they've trained really hard to be the best they can be.
And a big congratulations to swimmer Imogen Nolan, who won gold for Australia in the 50 metres breaststroke and silver in the 100 metre breaststroke.
Epic.
And that's it.
We're at the end of the countdown.
Thank you so much for having me.
Thanks, Naz.
Thank you, Naz.
You're very welcome.
Ruby will be back next week to serve up some more stories for you.
See you, Naz.
Catch you next time and happy International Day of People with Disability.
Music to move to and stories and soundtracks for sleep.
Download the ABC Listen app.
It's free from your app store.
