On FOCAL POINT:
Good evening and welcome to Focal Point here on Vista Radio. Radio 1190 7 a.m. and Adelaide online at VA radio.org. VA Radio Digital in Adelaide, VA radio Digital in Darwin through the TuneIn radio app or through the Community Radio Plus app. Look for Vision Australia, Radio Adelaide as well as your favourite podcast or streaming service. Peter Greco on behalf of Phillip Vandepeer and a big cheerio to Wendy McDougall listening in saying wonderful to be with you. Thanks so much for joining us. This program coming to you from Ghan Inland come to you very shortly. We'll meet Mike Kent from Curtin University at Symposium on audio description is coming up. Your invitation to attend is moments away. Then catch up with Mia Gardner from Crime Stoppers Victoria. Illegal exotic pets is Mia's tropical. Find it much more about that. I'm sure you'll learn plenty. Then we'll catch up with Arthur. Eureka! Arthur is just reasonably recently joined Humanware in his role supporting people who are blind or low vision with braille and audio products. So we'll meet Arthur and then we'll catch up with Fiona Twomey, the artistic director for the other film festival, launched October 3rd. Again, you can attend and you can from your armchair if you're listening through 1190 7 a.m. in Adelaide at 8:00. For your listening pleasure. Lizzie and Sam are here with Studio One. Just before we hear what's on Studio one. A bit of a housekeeping, if you like. Sometimes the interviews on the radio are edited or shortened. If you want to hear the full interview, the full interview is always available on our podcast stream. And that is no more evidenced by the interview last week with Harbour Gemma, who we spoke to the wonderful Deafblind Advocate from the US. You can actually hear the unedited version. Sam did a great job editing the interview. You can hear the unedited version by going to the next page on Omni. Any difficulties? Please get in touch with us here at the station. But you can hear that I asked Harben the question and then someone typed in my question. Harben was able to read it on a Braille display and then speak her answers back to me. It's fascinating listening. Anyway, if you'd like to check that out, it's available on the Vision Extra podcast feed on Omni, and also to all the people who had amazing response to people who heard that interview. I haven't had a chance to reply to all of you, but I will. Apologies for that. But, um, that's a bit of a, uh. Please note that all interviews are available in full through the podcast platform. Let's find out what's on Studio one tonight.
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There's a symposium coming up on audio description. It's happening in Perth on October the 18th. Let's chat a bit more about it with Mike Kent from Curtin University. Mike, great to meet you and thank you for your time. Oh, no.
Problem at all, Peter, it's really nice to be here talking to you just about.
This event. I tell you what, you've got some luminaries involved, haven't you? It certainly sounds like a sort of. All bases are being covered.
Yeah, it's been fantastic. It's been quite so exciting because, I mean, we we were hoping to get the sort of response that we got, but you never know. We sort of said, oh, we're having the symposium. Is anyone interested? And everyone? Well, not everyone, but lots of significant people in the industry and in the sort of research area around audio description put their hands up and down. And it's a long way to come to Perth. So we've got some people who are presenting online, but some other people are actually going to be here in person, which is fantastic.
We'll give details obviously before we wrap up, but people can actually come to the event at Curtin University or if they can't make it, then the great thing about, I guess this day and age is the fact that they can be part of it, are participating online, as I say, we'll give those details before we wrap up. What's the kind of purpose of a symposium like this, Mike?
Well, listen, as we said, about three things of the past, present and future of audio description with a bit of an Australian focus, but sort of more generally across the world, I think it's probably fair to say here in Australia, we tend to lag behind a lot of what's happening in the rest of the world in the audio description space, and that, I mean, the nice thing about that is that's changing, which is fantastic. But certainly it's been an area of sort of accessible communication with media that's probably really been on the back burner for a long time here. But things are now changing. And in terms of just in terms of what's available in Australia, but also, you know, the there's a lot of stuff around artificial intelligence and how it might be used in the audio description space and that provides resistance to that and that sort of, I suppose, the future bit of it. So there's there's those three different elements. We're looking at it. And that's part of a research project that, um, the team here in the Center of Culture and Technology at Curtin University are working on. We're lucky enough to get funding to do research into this for three years. And this is sort of the opening symposium where we bring a whole of people together to talk about, um, current gaming.
Okay. So this is kind of, uh, you know, a very important occasion, kind of, uh, you know, starting. Well, I guess the old saying is that this is the first day of the rest of your life. I guess it's a bit like that with the description. It is.
It's interesting because I'm myself and, uh, Katie Ellis, professor Ellis have been involved in audio description and lots of that early work really focused around, um, television and trying to make audio description, um, available on Australian television. And that was that was really interesting. And thankfully now it's been moderately successful, at least with the ABC and SBS, but it's also been overtaken by events, with all the streaming services having audio description available on them, which is great, but I think now audio description is really moving into other spaces where it wasn't previously, and it's sort of a bit ironic, I suppose, because in Australia I think a lot of that focus on audio descriptions really meaning in theatre over the last sort of ten years, or at least that's where it's been happening rather than on television. But now it's really, um, changing. And also, I think it's an interesting time as we have different approaches to audio description coming together and sort of sometimes contesting, is it just sort of an assistive technology that needs to stay out of the way, or is it part of the art and needs to be much more involved? And there aren't any good answers, which is why I like it and which is why.
I was actually thinking, as you were saying, that, well, there's no kind of right or wrong answer to that. I guess it's a little bit on the on the individuals, their thoughts as to as to what they think you're quite right about, I guess, you know, moving from theater outwards because, I mean, we've done interviews in the last few months or years on things like illuminate, which is a lighting festival in Adelaide. I mean, things like dance, uh, uh, you know, we had a great chat to Catherine Fitzgerald, who's an audio describer herself, who did, uh, a fabrics could speak, uh, exhibition. And, you know, that was fabrics that were kind of talking to you. So there's so many ways to approach this.
Yeah. And it each comes with its own sort of opportunities and challenges. So the sort of the, the, the, the audio describing in a live theater situation. Now we can, you know, the, the opportunity to use, you know, people's mobile phones as the delivery device and those sort of things expand out the reach of that. In terms of the some of the technology, I suppose here in Australia, what we really lack is people who have had the opportunity to do any training. I was fortunate enough to be over in Adelaide with access to arts. Mm. A couple of months ago and I sort of to do their audio description training because the closest place I could find to Perth was Adelaide. Yeah. To go and do that and that I mean they, they're fantastic. But you know, to set up the program there, they had to bring in people from the UK and I think the US to train the trainers effectively back when they started setting up that program and that that obviously has a real theatre focus, which is interesting from my perspective. I sort of sort of started looking at TV, but my real background is in sort of digital and social media, which is another sort of different space where audio is more real potential. But I suppose as you get, the theatre is great because it's really focused. All the audience is there just for that. Their audio described is just focus on that, on the on the play. Whereas once we start thinking about, well, how do we get audio description made more widely available to YouTube videos, it gets a There's a whole lot of different questions involved.
Yeah, well, you talk about your YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, all those sort of things, you know, potentially could be, you know, candidates for audio description.
And potentially great, you know, training grounds for aspiring audio describers as well. For sure.
What about as far as an event like this. Is it kind of almost like trying to get some uniformity about it. Is that sort of one of your objectives as well?
Me personally, no, I, I love the diversity. Okay. But I also appreciate there's there's real moves around thinking about industry standards and training. Now Australia is such an interesting case study in terms of when you look at accessible communications, what we did with Auslan and sign language as really early movers, making sure that people were qualified translators and things like that. Whereas on the flip side, audio description sort of really lagged, lagged behind that. And the only qualification people seem to have is audio Zorio described as it's like I'm an audio describer. So I think there is a sort of strength in diversity and the ability for different approaches to learn from each other, both in terms of how two different styles of audio description might approach the same sort of artifact, for want of a better word, but also between, you know, how someone who is used to describing art might be able to offer some insights into someone who perhaps is describing, you know, live theatre or circus or that sort of thing. So I do think a lot of audio describers, particularly in Australia, tend to by necessity be jack of all trades. Yeah.
It's a great point you made. I think you put it better than I did. I said uniformity, I think standards is a much better way to describe it so that, you know, you kind of lift it to a standard rather than, you know, just catering to a uniformity, if I can say it like that.
Yeah.
And I think also with standards can come, you know, more established genres. You know, I want if you if you're watching a show or if you're watching a show, if you're if you're accessing audio description to also television program, you might want to have, you know, minimum audio description that just tells you what you need to know. And you can focus on the original soundtrack. Or you might want to have something that's almost closer to an audio book with the actual original soundtrack more in the background, and being able to, um, to have the language so that you can really easily be able to understand what you're getting with a particular audio description. Performance, I think, would be really useful, but at the moment we don't really have the language to talk about it in that in that way, which is part of the reason I find it such a fascinating area.
One of the things I've mentioned, I think, at the beginning, was that I like about this this symposium is the the range of areas that are going to be represented, if you like, you know, consumers, audio describers. I know that you've got someone from SBS there. You've also got uh, someone from uh, um An advocacy group in the US. So, you know, kind of, uh, it's it's something for everyone. And, and that's very, very important because as you kind of touched on before, not everyone's got all the answers.
Yeah. Part of our project is things like, you know, we're looking at the history of audio description in Australia, and we're sort of going around the country interviewing people to find out what it is, because not enough of it's written sort of. Nothing's all documented in the same place.
Yeah. And it's an exciting time, isn't it? I mean, like in ten, 20, 30 years time, it'll be the sort of thing that people can look back on and say, gee, you know, haven't we come a long way? And it's because of symposiums like this. It's because of the people that are involved right now that are kind of laying the foundations.
Yeah. Well, I'm sort of it's interesting when you go back to something like, you know, um, captioning on TV where you're trying to sort of, um, provide, provide audio rather than visual translation, where, you know, it really early days, they tried all kinds of different things before they landed on the very standard format that we have now. And I think we're really very much in that space. Yeah.
So it's a very exciting time. Well, tell us a bit about the event. So it's a one day event. Yeah.
It's a it's a one day. It's a one day event. Um, we keep extending it because we keep getting these men to come along. Um, you know, Joel Snyder is a very sort of revered figure in the audio description community. So these long, long service. Um, and he sort of contacted us from America and said, oh, like, can I, you know, when I come? Am I like, okay, well, I'd add time because if Joel wants to come.
Fantastic. I thought we.
Were originally having a 2:00 and now it's on to 4:00. Hopefully it will stay there because we're sort of running out of daylight.
Yeah, well, that's true too. And for people who are in Perth and visit Australia Radio, there's a station in Perth, which is great. So hopefully people listening in through that. Um, it's a very accessible as far as parking goes, uh, for, you know, people who might be using wheelchairs. Yeah.
Yeah, that's it's very accessible. It's at the it's on the Curtin University campus. It'll be at the Curtin Library in the Lantern, which is a lovely sort of theatrette that we've got on the top of the top storey of the library. But it's it's a very accessible space, obviously, given the given the topic.
You'd be expecting a few people to kind of tune in from, you know, outside Perth with, with the ability to be able to use technology to be part of it.
I really am. I hope so. It's interesting. We've discovered, um, we've now been working more closely, I suppose a better way of describing it with the University of Barcelona, where they have done a lot of work in audio description around, um, uh, it was sort of coming out of a translation studies. So they've got a similar symposium early next year, and we've decided to sort of pair them up. So I'm going to be heading over to Barcelona to, to talk at, at their symposium, but we're hoping to sort of pull all the different papers presented together and sort of create a bit of a, a record of what was said and what happened, which hopefully, you know, and hopefully when this is way more widely accessible, people will look back and go, oh, that was what they were doing there.
Yeah, yeah. Oh look, Mike, we've got your details. So we might have to make a date to catch up with you when you get back from that, because that sounds like a very exciting. And, you know, it's kind of great that it's a literally a worldwide movement and kind of cool that Australia is well, you know, maybe planting the seed in a sense at the moment.
Yeah. It is. I mean, it's, it's I think that some of the, some of the work that's been happening in Australia around this, even though we perhaps haven't had the legal framework to make sure it was available on TV for probably until it should have been for sort of ten years and stuff like that. That's not great. But I think some of the research in this space in Australia has been really, really exciting. Um, and it's such a it's still so globally diverse. And if you look at sort of the difference between the UK, the United States, continental Europe, everyone sort of approaches things in a really very different way. So I think it's great. Here in Australia at this point, we can sort of look around and go, what are the rest of you doing and what's the best bits of it? Let's bring it here. Mike.
Is it probably easier for us to put our deal or put the details up for the symposium up on our Facebook page? It's probably a bit convoluted to read on radio.
Yes, I think it'd be much easier to post there, and it could probably come with a link so you can go back and find them if you, if you, if you'd like to on the 18th.
All right. And that's the 18th of October which is a Friday. And if people do have a difficulty accessing the internet or accessing our Facebook page if they want to call, Visit Australia Radio on 1300 847 466 and talk about or ask about Audio Description Symposium. Then we'll get the message and we'll be able to call you back and give you the details over the phone if that's your preferred format. Mike, great to catch up. Congratulations on the initiative and we'll keep in touch. This sounds like it's going to be fantastic.
Thanks very much Peter. Really good talking to you.
That's Mike Kent there from Curtin University. Symposium on Audio Description coming up on October the 18th. Go to our Facebook page. Or as I said, if you do struggle with that, give us a call 1300 847 466. Sounds like a most worthwhile project. Well, it's been really fabulous over the last few months catching up with Mia Gardner from Crime Stoppers Victoria. And this interview is going to be no different, I'm sure. Mia, love to speak to you again.
Great speaking with you, Peter. I hope you're well.
I'm very.
Well. And this is an incredibly interesting topic. And I must admit, one, I kind of wasn't at the forefront of my mind. Tell us a bit about it, and then we can talk a bit more about the actual, uh, what's going on as far as this topic goes?
Absolutely. So this is our focus at Crime Stoppers at the moment. So we're really focusing on illegal exotic animal trade, the illegal exotic animal trade. Um, because authorities have recently discovered the largest known exotic animal trade in Victoria. And this is actually a very serious thing. People might think that, you know, this isn't a big deal, but this poses a serious risk to our public health, our local wildlife, and as well as our agricultural practices. So Crime Stoppers, we're working on, you know, actively urging owners of illegal exotic pets to surrender them voluntarily. This is a new initiative, and it wasn't always on offer. But now you can surrender them at four new locations without legal consequences. And, you know, with the aim of protecting the community.
Now, some of the background of this goes back over ten months.
Absolutely. So Victorian government agencies, they were conducting extensive investigations over the past ten months. So this is including search warrants across Melbourne as well as regional areas. And this is all part of what is called Operation Django. So Agriculture Victoria, the government organisation, was a huge part of this as well as other sort of um authoritative embodies. So what we've found with this Operation Django is that there's connections to a much larger syndicate, which has got connections interstate. It's got connections internationally, obviously, because this is where the animals are coming from. These are international species. And this has huge implications as not only is it an incredibly cruel trade, but it's also, as I said, a huge danger, as these animals obviously are coming through means such as the post. Right. And they are not quarantined. And this can obviously mean they're carrying diseases that we don't have in Australia, and then they can pass on to our native species, to our household pets, to our livestock and to humans. So it's so important that things are quarantined. And when it's coming through the illegal network, they are not.
That's such an important point to make because as I said, you know, you think it's a really interesting topic. Not so what. But yeah, it's an interesting topic, full stop. But it's much more than that. Like in terms of the implications or the repercussions of something like this happening. I mean, it kind of covers all bases in terms of humans, other animals, and indeed the ecology as well.
Absolutely. And the reason we know it's such a sort of growing trade is that we're finding animals in Victoria that have never been found before. So some of the animals are things like the African pygmy hedgehog. This is, um, the first time this species has been found in Victoria. And I don't know if everyone's aware, but some of your listeners might know that they were introduced in New Zealand, and then they became sort of an uncontrollable pest. And now you'll see them everywhere on the side of the road as roadkill. They're just everywhere because they're not native and they really can become a pest. And the same happened in Scotland. So what happened was eight hedgehogs were confiscated from various properties around Victoria, and all of them were linked to the large scale network. And these, these hedgehogs that are native to Africa, obviously, um, pose a huge biosecurity risk because they carry things like rabies, which we don't have here, and foot and mouth disease and the seriousness of foot and mouth disease cannot be, you know, underplayed because, for example, that can be passed on to our farm animals and things like our economy can be greatly affected if things like the Angus beef industry is, you know, dismantled based on the fact that the livestock has to be, you know, put down because they've all suffered, you know, this ailment that's going to pass to all cows unless they're sort of, you know, it's eradicated at a certain point. So, yeah, it can be a huge, huge issue for our economy. You want to give us.
An idea of some of the other animals that have been found, or some of the other creatures that have been found brutally.
So. A huge part of this trade is the reptiles that are coming in. Um, so we've got the ball. Python one. There was a ball python confiscated in Melbourne. And this was really sort of indicative of illegal breeding practices. So it was firstly obviously smuggled in as a breeding pair. And now they're being bred and then sold. So the species of the ball python are near-threatened. So when they're taken from their native regions and the demand increases and increases, the numbers are really dwindling. So not only are the ball pythons, they're not the only threatened species that's being smuggled in. We also have species such as the Indian star tortoise, which is a, um, close to extinction. And then we have the chequered tortoise, which is in the same realm. And the chequered tortoise is a really rare species. And there was one dumped at a pet store. So this really indicates, you know, a rise in people having these illegal pets. But it does maybe indicate as well that people are realising the the problems of having an illegal pet and doing the right thing and handing them in.
I know you're not a psychologist, but he kind of sometimes scratch your head and think, why would people enter into something like this? But I guess it's for them to answer. We can only kind of speculate.
Well, something that you actually might not realize is that people are doing this potentially mistakenly. So they might be on an online marketplace. Things like online marketplaces, Gumtree, even Facebook groups and community groups. These have made it a really easy way to for these illegal trades to run, as people can be on these groups and hear, oh, I've got a couple of hedgehogs. If anyone's looking for a pet, they're really easy to handle. Um, and cute. Anyway, someone might not realize that they're illegal and do their due diligence and do that research. Um, and by the time they have them, it's too late. So what we're saying is, if you do have this animal, either it's an illegal tortoise, hedgehog, whatever, to surrender it now before you do get reported or caught because if it's the other way around, if if the authorities are knocking on your door, um, then you can face fines up to $95,000 for things like having an African pygmy hedgehog. So yeah, they're not light consequences. And that's the personal consequences. But there are obviously the consequences to the community.
And I guess the size of the fine kind of indicates the size of the crime, if I can put it that way. These are very serious things that people are doing in terms of what the impact that it can have. We've kind of touched on already. Absolutely.
So things like the, um, ball python, you can face a maximum fine of $46,000. So yeah, as you said, the size of the crime is the size of the fine. I think that's perfectly describing the situation because, you know, we're seeing things as well, like, um, the boa constrictor is being bred. That's the and they carry diseases that can affect other snakes in Victoria. And like I was saying, the ball python the diseases that these animals often carry from overseas and offshore regions can affect our local and native python species or snake species. And that can then, you know, lead to extinction of our own native species. And we should be protecting them. Of course, we probably.
We're probably extinct it enough already, haven't we? I think we've done more exactly on that sort of, uh, you know, area that you wouldn't want to be represented well in.
Exactly. And the boa, the boa constrictor that was seized, um, it's part of a breeding pair as well. So we know that there's a legal breeding occurring there. Um, and a lot of them are bred for their unique sort of morph colors. Um, so there's yeah, so much value in them. So we know that the people that are doing this are only care about the money. They don't care about the animal because the trade is so cruel that as they're sent through the post, some of these animals are bound, they're gagged, and they're expecting a majority of these animals to die during transit and just hope that, you know, a few make it over to cell. So by purchasing them, even with even if you're doing it unknowingly, um, you're actually really contributing to a really cruel trade.
That's a great point. Yeah, you're quite right. I mean, you know, you wouldn't send an animal ordinarily through the post, so why would you try it with something like this? I mean, one of the great things we've learned from you over the last few months is the fact that Crimestoppers Victoria do a great job. As far as saying, look, if you see something, do something. This is a kind of a very generous offer, if I can call it this, to say, look, you know, if you've got an illegal pet handed in sort of no questions asked, that's that's pretty, uh, kind on your part, if I may say.
Well, a lot of reputable organizations have offered to open their doors and take those surrenders. So we're saying definitely do it. But places like RSPCA Peninsula, RSPCA, Burwood East, Second Chance Animal Rescue and Craigieburn and the Bird and Exotic Animal Centre in Williamstown North, these are places that were happy to do the no questions asked surrender So you can find these locations on our website. And you can also report to Crimestoppers Victoria if you know of anyone involved in the illegal exotic animal trade.
Maybe a question without notice. How long does this kind of amnesty go for? Uh, is it kind of indefinite? I guess if you've got one, you might as well hand it up today. Or if not today, at least tomorrow sort of thing. Because the longer you hang on to it, the the worse it is anyway. But is there like a deadline as far as the amnesty goes.
At this stage, we're not planning to stop it, but I suppose there is a sort of an invisible deadline of the fact that you're very likely to get caught. And, you know, if it happens that way around and someone knocks on your door. Yeah, there will be no sort of no questions asked. There will certainly be questions asked. And they will very likely be charges laid.
Well, you've certainly scared. I think most people who are clear thinking about the the consequences and the financial impact that it might have on you and we've got enough things to worry about as far as cost of living goes, without an extra fine like this being thrown in. What about if we might be suspicious of someone who might be doing something like this? Good to kind of, um, you know, let the authorities know. Well, the.
Best place to go, if that. If you have information on anyone breeding, um, smuggling, any of the things I've spoken about, you can report to Crime Stoppers. And you can do so anonymously, either via our website, which is Crimestopperswa.com.au, or by calling Crime Stoppers at one 800. 333, 000. Alright, we'll.
Repeat that in a second. Uh, mayor, you talked about some of these creatures, if you like being found in, uh, suburban or uh, city Melbourne. I'm thinking that a lot of these might be in sort of more outer areas. Or do you think that's not necessarily so? It could be, uh, you know, in suburbs of, uh, of cities.
Well, they're actually being found all over Victoria. There was some hedgehogs found in Richmond, and there were also hedgehogs found in regional Victoria. The snakes and and reptiles have been found all over Victoria as well. And the thing is, you know, when you go out on a hike or something into the bush, you see our beautiful native species, and very often you can have these native species as a pet. If you have the right permits. So if you are really interested in snakes or reptiles such as lizards, feel free to, you know, do some research and look into getting one. But one of our native ones, because yeah, there are legal alternatives. So we're not saying you can only have a dog or a cat. There are certainly ways to have exotic animals, but please try and do our native animals.
Yeah, well, I think they, you know, as I said, lots of important points, but, you know, putting other humans at risk or yourself indeed at risk of a disease. And then the impact that it can have on the environment, that's a very serious consequence. So give us the details again. So if people have any suspicions or maybe would like to find out more about this. And as I said, thank you for raising this topic because it's something that I hadn't really thought of much before. So it's good to kind of make the general public aware that this sort of thing is going on, and it's the sort of thing that, you know, to to be proactive. It's got to be a good thing as well. Exactly.
We're looking for to be, you know, prevent this issue because once they're over here, you know, they've already had to suffer through this trade. And by reducing the demand then that that will stop this trade in its tracks. So, you know, you should know what animals you can have, what animals you can't, for example, know hedgehogs go maybe get a guinea pig or a hamster instead. These ones are absolutely okay. So if you do have something and you want to report it, you can go to one of four new surrender locations and you can find the information for these on the Crime Stoppers Victoria website. That's Crime Stoppers. Com.au and if you do have any information about the illegal trade of exotic pest animals, you can call Crime Stoppers Victoria at 1800 333 000.
Mayor, you've done very well. This has been absolutely fascinating. Thank you for sharing that with us and look forward to catching up with you next month. You're going to have to really dig deep to find something better than this. I think you've really set a high standard.
Thank you so much, Peter. I look forward to it, and I will. I'll find something good. I'm sure.
We will. I'll never underestimate you. That's a big out of there from Crime Stoppers. Victoria.
You're listening to Focal Point on beating Australia radio 1190 7 a.m. via radio, digital and online at VA radio.org.
But there's a new person at humanware. His name is Arthur. And Arthur's on the line. Arthur, welcome and congratulations on your appointment.
Oh, thank you. And thank.
You for having me on.
The show. I'm definitely glad to be here.
And, yeah, it's a lot of fun so far.
Tell us how it came about.
So back in around should be in late February, early March. We heard from a friend and she said, I'm going for the job at Humanware that Ramona's about to leave. Like, oh, okay. So we, you know, how to do the thing, the process. And then she came back to us about a week or two later and said, look, I got the job, but I can't take it, so you know. What do you want to do? And so I thought, you know what? I will be a bit proactive and I will call Ramona. I did that and started talking, and I said, look, I'm in. I've heard that you're leaving. I'm interested in the job. And as they say, the rest was history.
Well, that's incredible, isn't it? Yeah. Sometimes things are just meant to be.
Yeah. No, it was definitely, uh. Yeah. Definitely, uh. Fortuitous.
So what about your background? Arthur, uh, how did it come to this point? What have you been doing up until now?
So really, work wise, I've really been doing voluntary work, mainly for the Red cross. And that was doing, uh, tele cross, which is a service where we call people and just check in on them in the mornings usually. And it's, you know, we call older people or people in the social isolation, whatever. So yeah, that was a lot of, you know, that sort of experience, call centre type work. But obviously I'd had a long interest in technology ever since I was a kid and just grew up with it, really. And so I thought, oh, this would be a really cool job. And I'd had humanware products in the past. I even had one of the original keynotes going back to the late 80s in school. So, you know, I'd had a long history really, with quality data and humanware. So yeah.
Yeah, that's interesting, isn't it? That Red cross job. I mean, now we just touch on it. That is such an important job, isn't it? I mean, a great sense of, uh, you know, satisfaction that, you know, someone's okay and, you know, like, you know, they can kind of, uh, be comfortable for, for another day as far as that sort of situation goes. Because, you know, there are people out there, sadly, who are on their own. And, uh, you know, a car like yours would mean the world to them.
Yeah. No, I've definitely had people say you're you're a lifesaver because you're basically the only human contact I get now. And it's kind of sad, but it's really good that we can provide that service. So definitely.
Well done. Well, it's just a bit about your early days then. Uh, are you happy to share a bit about your vision impairment and sort of how how that all happened and how that impacted upon you learning technology? Yeah, sure.
So I was born prematurely. I was born on the Chatham Islands, which is a little set of islands off the coast of New Zealand. And I was actually a twin, and the twin didn't survive, unfortunately, but I did. So I guess I'll take that as an advantage. But yes, we were both born at nine weeks premature and I have ROP retinopathy of prematurity. So yeah, it's the classic oxygen in the incubator and too much of it. Syndrome. So essentially I've had no sight as far as I remember. And so really, it was just, I mean, I can't miss something I never had in a sense, but it was really just learning all the tools that were coming out. And obviously I grew up as some of the newer tools came in the braille lights, the Refreshable braille displays, they started getting affordable and coming out to New Zealand. So really I kind of grew up with it quite literally.
Did you, uh, you know, learn on the Perkins Brailler?
I sure did, yes. Perkins brailler a keynote. Oh, and a typewriter. And then a keynote for touch typing. And how did.
You find that? Because a lot of people. Well, well, so a lot some people who kind of grew up on, uh, Broadway takers and the Perkins Brailler, etcetera, find a little bit more difficult to kind of graduate to a Qwerty keyboard or the, the conventional way of using computers.
No, I would say it wasn't too difficult for me, probably because I started very early. I basically learned by walking, and as soon as I learned enough braille, I was already touch typing or learning to type. So I don't think it was too much of a transition. And yeah, I think learning that early on probably helped that process a lot.
Did you go to a quote unquote conventional school, or was it a school for kids who were blonde haired, low vision? For that.
First year? I did go to the school in Christchurch. We'd moved to the city by then, and I went to the school for the blind, or at least the resource centre they had there. But then that was about a year, and then I was in mainstream school, so I was mainstream the rest of the time. So yeah, I didn't go to any of the Blindy schools, as it were.
Love that term. Any issues going to school, you know, amongst sighted peers. And I'm thinking in terms of bullying or any sort of anything.
I think occasionally unpleasant. Yeah. Occasionally I got teased in school, but, you know, I could give it back in some ways, just as good. So I got a cane. Yeah. That's true. Yeah. Good point. But, yeah, it wasn't too bad. I mean, it was probably no worse than average, I would say. Yeah. And as for getting to school, I used to sometimes either walk with family or friends, or quite often I would get a taxi service that would be specifically for getting kids into school. So that was useful too.
And of course, you talked about, uh humanware. Or the early days of Postdata. They, they kind of or they did originate in New Zealand, didn't they?
That's why they were in Christchurch. In fact, on the other side of the city. So we were in Hornby, which was on basically the very south end of the city, and they were over in Lynnwood, which is literally the other side of town. So I never did get to see their office, which I would have loved to have seen. It would have been quite an experience, especially for someone who loved the tech growing up with it. So it would have been a lot of fun, but never got to do that, unfortunately.
That was Doctor Russell Smith who kind of said that, wasn't it?
That's right. And he said he passed away a few years back. But yes, I think lost.
His life in a plane crash.
I think. Yeah, yeah.
I know he would have done very well since then, of course, but a lot of people kind of contemplate what may have happened had Russell survived and the kind of drive and the the passion he had for what he was doing. But I guess, you know, we'll never know.
Okay. Well, actually, speaking of that, I still occasionally hear from Morris Sloan. Oh, yes. Under the name. Yeah. He was one of the other big people in Postdata. So, yeah, he's got his own kind of offshoot company in New Zealand, but they sometimes still refer back to us. So it's really interesting. What about.
You're in Perth at the moment, aren't.
You? Bunbury. So it's about two hours south of Perth. But yes, definitely in Australia.
I've made a big mistake, haven't I? Just because you're in Western Australia doesn't mean you're in Perth.
No, not necessarily, but yeah, at least we're in the next big regional city. So it's nice down here actually. Nice. That came.
About from New Zealand to Perth going from, you know, far east to far.
West. Yeah. Right. So I was in Christchurch most of my life, except for about three years when I lived in Auckland. And then I was back in Christchurch studying at university and the earthquakes happened. So I def I survived the first one and got out to my brother's place because our house where we lived in the city was pretty much condemned. So yeah, not so good. But then I was like, okay, I have to travel all the way back into town to get to the university, and it's a lot of travel. It's kind of annoying. So I said at the end of the year I said to Mum and Dad, can I move back in with you for a while? Which we did. So I came back to the Gold Coast in Queensland, and then I saw the second quake on TV and it's like, oh, I'm glad I got out. I'm very relieved. So lived in Queensland for about four years and then moved to Perth. I actually did live in Perth for a couple of years with my housemate, so we then moved to Bunbury in 2017. So here we are.
Yeah, they were dreadful. Those earthquakes were I mean lots of loss of life and obviously buildings etc..
What was really interesting was of course the first quake. It was quite a big one, but it really it just shook the city and didn't do a lot of damage per se. And nobody died in that. And we thought, oh, we got away. We got away scot free. But no, it then obviously weakened everything for the second one when it struck.
Yeah, I mean I'm not sure if you were in Australia, but you know, that was sort of when we could get to rolling coverage of events and we had rolling coverage of those earthquakes. I remember them quite vividly, You almost feeling guilty for tuning in. As you know, they were trying to rescue people and stuff like that. It was, uh, certainly a stressful time. And I know some people, even now, you know, have sort of, uh, you know, PTSD from an event like that. Yeah.
I think I had a slight bit of it for a while. I didn't really want to be in the uni because of course it was our building and we were still getting aftershocks. Yeah. So it wasn't the most pleasant time at times? No.
What's your old tune? Where then? Arthur, what are you actually doing? Was it pretty much what you did so well? Did you know Ramona? Ramona? Well or. No, I.
Didn't know her that well. I talked to her occasionally over the years, but, um. No, I really have just gotten to meet her more. As she finished, she did some training with me, and she's actually called us up a couple of times with for some help. So yeah, that's always been how you've helped Ramona. Yeah, I have.
Hang on, hang on.
Hang on. I want to repeat that you've helped Ramona.
Yes, yes, she has had a couple of issues with, uh, yeah. Some devices. So I'm like, oh yeah, I'll have to look into that. So yeah, it's it's been it's fun. But yeah, I basically do the same role. I've got the same hours at the moment. So I work Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays and I help out the sales team on Wednesday afternoon if they need it.
Well, I hold remote in the highest regard and I work with remote for quite some time with my very limited technology knowledge. And Ramona was fantastic in helping me. So I'm really amused and, uh, quite, uh, surprised in a sense that reminded me why I need help. But if you're helping reminder, I think you must be really, really good.
Well, yeah. So the the first call I got was literally, um, are you seeing this bug on the Braille notes, which I was able to confirm? It's like, oh, yes, I am. So I reported that. And then the second one was, I've got this old Victoria Stratus and it needs repairs. We think so. Yeah. That's I didn't have to do too much, but it was still quite neat, like, oh wow, I get to help my predecessor.
Yeah, that's very impressive. So were the sort of products that you deal with and the clients that, uh, the products that they have. What what are they for? For those who might be.
So I deal with all I deal with the blindness products. So that includes the brain by 20 x the 40 x the mantis q40. We actually still do, um, support the brilliant, the B32 and the 14, the Brownlow touch plus and all of the vector reader products. So the stream, the stellar Trek, the Alder Stream two and Victoria Trek, etc. so. Oh, and we um, I will also do support for the monarch as well.
Have you had your hands on one much, Arthur?
Yes, I do have one here now that. Oh, really? Learn with. So. Yeah.
Okay, well.
We won't give you address because you could be vulnerable. Yeah. It's a very impressive looking unit, isn't it? Yes.
It's impressive and quite expensive, but very impressive. Like some new.
Tech.
First generation that's always, you know, it always starts off expensive, but I think it will lead to better things.
Yeah, I guess the sort of thing that, you know, you might sort of think, oh gee, I wish I had this in my day. But the other side of that is you kids who are blind or have low vision today. It's a wonderful thing to be growing up with.
I definitely felt that because I was playing with some maths formulas and doing graphs, I'm like, oh wow, this is so cool. I can do this in real time, change something in the equation and boom! Oh wow, I've just made a whole new graph so that it was just so cool to see that and go, yep, I wish I'd had that when I was in school 30 something years ago.
What did you study at uni?
So I was doing a computer science degree for a while, but then I switched over to communications, which was media studies. My intention was to become a journalist at one point, but obviously that didn't pan out well.
So I was.
Like, well, you certainly speak very well. You could easily do that. And obviously you're very good with technology, So never say never. Never say never, Arthur. Yeah.
Radio was definitely another hobby of mine. Still is. I'm a ham radio operator, and obviously growing up with radio, I loved listening to it and, you know, trying to imitate it and be the be the DJ. So yeah, that would explain that too.
I like a lovely speaking voice. Arthur, congratulations. It's the first time we've spoken. I hope we can speak to you again in the future. Actually. Are you coming to Adelaide for Tech Fest?
No, I don't think so. This year I did, and I managed. I made it to round con. I made it to Round Table Conference. That was in Perth earlier this year. So I was there for that and that was quite a lot of fun. All right.
We had the uh we had Andrew Davis from See Differently on the program last week, and he, uh, broke the news about the fact that Tech Fest is November 6th this year. And I know, given where we'll be there, you might not be, but certainly him where we'll be there and maybe we'll get to hear next year. Arthur.
Maybe.
And who knows, maybe I might get caught up. Maybe there might be a last minute substitution or something, you know?
So they reminded. Reminded was an institution that, uh. Techfest, uh, you know, and, uh, always very, very popular. Yeah. It was very hard to get to speak to Amanda because she was surrounded by, uh, literally hundreds of people. So it's fantastic. Well, people can find out more about Humanware at humanware. Com and if they need some help, I'm sure they will get directed into the air, into the direction of Arthur, who can set them right. If you can help remind, you can help anyone. Arthur, great to meet you. Congratulations on the appointment. It sounds like a fine appointment, and we wish you a long and happy time at Humanware. All right.
And thank you. And thank you once again for having me on the show. It's been a pleasure.
That's Arthur Peroutka there now with the Humanware. After a few months and doing some great things. So 02 9686 2600 is Humanware office number or humanware.com. Well, the other film festival is about to start. Or maybe depending on when you hear this podcast, it may have already started. Let's chat about it with Fiona Toomey who is the artistic director? Great to meet you. Thank you for your time.
Oh, thank you so much for.
Um, inviting me along and to be able to talk about the other film festival with you and your audience.
I would imagine that this is a very busy time. Kind of. We've had one grand final. This is kind of your grand final.
It is we the festival. Um, in terms of the screening programme, it it starts on this Thursday and it runs for two weeks and it's actually streaming on, um, so ACMi here in Melbourne have a streaming streaming platform called ACMi cinema three, and then all the films are available for free and, um, to watch across Australia.
Okay. We'll grab those details again before we wrap up. Now, where you've been, not you personally, or maybe you have been been going for 20 years.
The film festival's been going for 20 years. I haven't been working on it for 20 years, but I was around because I'm also a filmmaker. So I do remember when it first started and, um, yeah. So it's yes.
We're were young at the time. I put that in 20 years younger anyway. Regardless how old you were. Yeah, it's just a bit about the history of this and kind of what the, uh. Pardon the pun, but what the focus of a festival like this.
Is in some ways.
The focus has shifted. So I might go back. Um, I mean, the term other partly the other film festival came from because at the time there wasn't a lot of work being shown, um, particularly work that was made by actual deaf and disabled people. And, um, importantly, you know, a lot of them made, you know, um, you know, mainstream film festivals. But even at the time, you know, television and cinema didn't offer, you know, really, which should just be a given access services like audio description and captioning. So the other film festival from day one that is always been underpinned by that really, um, important and sort of a high level of access and then, you know, the the focus of the films and the storytelling. And I think more over time and where we're at now is, of course, we still the access is still really important, but we're really wanting to show work that's actually made by our community, you know, represents sort of shows, sort of untold stories. And, um, you know, really breaks down alternatives to so much of the stereotypes and, you know, stigma that can still exist.
I guess the kind of thrust of what it's about is going to be relevant forever. But as you say, you know, sometimes it's good to kind of look back and think, well, actually we have come a fair way in that 20 years, a long way to go. But compared to what it was like, we've kind of, you know, made good progress.
I mean, a big.
Difference now in I mean, in society, but, you know, in the screen industry and certainly the arts, there's a big focus on, you know, who's telling the story. And you know, that importance for making space for, you know, more than just authenticity that that people and so many different disabled people have been marginalized for a long time. So we can actually all underrepresented and disability, which covers so much that representation is really valued and really important in in screen, whereas I wouldn't say so much. That was a big fight to get that, you know, um, included at all 20 years ago.
That's a very good point. Just a bit about your role then artistic director and uh, maybe a double part question, if you like. Also, how has it got to a film making it to this particular point in time where it's going to be screened over the next couple of weeks?
Well, we I mean, my role is, you know, we're quite a small team. So I work at Arts Access Victoria and you know, we do. So there is, you know, a lot of this focus on the screening program, like I said. And you know, we do create films. So we kind of seek them out. We um, try to watch and source, you know, a lot of other different film festivals, both internationally, and locally, but we have a big focus on Australian filmmakers and also Victorian filmmakers. And you know, for me personally, I am also a filmmaker and I do identify with disability. So I'm really aware of, you know, making that space and, um, you know, trying to show work that may not, you know, some of our things have been in some of the really big mainstream film festivals. But then there's other things that I know haven't necessarily gotten in, but because the point of view and the perspective they're offering is quite different. But we've already seen with our, um, we had a program launched the other week and we showed a couple of films and those films really connected with the audience. So I think, you know, it's like there's a lot we do, but part of it is trying to open up the lens that there give a wider perspective of the stories out there and how they can be kind of, um, Cinematically made as well.
So in terms of the films that their topic, if you like, or their subject matter is about disability and or the people making the film, uh, identify with living with a disability or are deaf.
But we also really value allyship as well. So we think, you know, so there's a mixture of some of the films are definitely made by people, you know, who identify as being deaf, um, and disabled. But then or there's collaboration or the people on the screen, um, or the way the scripts have evolved. So there's so this year's theme for the festival is agency. So that's all to do with, you know, power and agency and storytelling. And, um, we feel like there's an aspect of that in each of the films, you know, we're showing. But but it's not kind of linear. You know, we're not just ticking boxes. We're really open to the work we get and how people collaborate and work together is, you know, really important as well.
Well, unique. This is kind of part of it, isn't it? You don't want to kind of be like every other one. Do you.
Know? Well, and it's actually easy to do that. You know, unfortunately. Because definitely, you know, there's more films in this way that are being shown at different film festivals. But, um, like I said, often, they're not all curated together or they're not, uh, but there's still a lot that's not are not getting included as well.
You touched on this fact, but it is kind of international as well. Great that it's Australian, but you've got an international flavour too.
Definitely. So we have two feature films, one from the UK and one from Canada, but the rest are all Australian films. That's partly to do with how we're funded by two of our funders, Screen Australia and Big Screen. You know, they were open to what we screen, but also would like to see a focus on local films. But I also feel like it's partly me as a filmmaker as well. I think it's really important that we support, you know, our local, you know, and by that I mean, like national as well filmmakers.
Particularly.
Who are deaf and disabled to give them a platform.
So all the films are audio described and often interpreted.
Um, the audio described and captioned captioned yep.
Yeah yeah yeah. Yep. I gotta get my terminology right.
Oh no, it's all right. It's okay. And we've got a couple of, um, particularly in the short films that come from the blind and low vision communities. Do you want me to talk a little bit about those? Yeah, if you could, that'd be great. So there's a film called water of the womb, which is, um, made here in Melbourne. That's by a young emerging filmmaker. Barris, I might say his name Wrong Luci. And, um, he's a sort of short one liner, is a young photographer haunted by his memories and fears and driven to reconcile. He's lost and move forward when he learns he's about to go blind. Um, and that, yeah, Barris is is drawing that from his own lived, lived experience of, um, vision impairment. And I think what's really important as well is that, you know, there is intersectionality of different cultural, diverse stories within because we as we know, um, that for people with disability, the deaf community, there are people come from all cultural backgrounds. You know what I mean? It cuts across all different backgrounds and experiences of the world. And then there's another short film called The Flower Man, and that is about also a young musician who grows competition orchids in his home. And then we join him in the final days before a major competition. And the main actor in that, I think I'm told, is quite well known amongst, um, I think particularly amongst the Vision Australia community. Um, is Nelson. Uh rufat.
Oh, yes. I've heard of.
Nelson. Yep.
Yes. So he's the he's the main actor in the film. He also composed, um, some of the music. Yeah. He composed a piano piece that his character plays, and also worked quite closely with the director, Evangeline Reid, to develop the script. And, um, yeah. And that's a really we actually showed both of those films in our program at ACMi the other week, and they both went down really well. So, you know, there's 11 films overall to check out. But even if you're some of the people listening, just wanted to in the very least, check out those two films, I think they'd find them really rewarding.
Yeah. And I guess the great thing about this is, is they are free. So, you know, we often talk about cost of living, etc. I mean, this is something you can kind of be entertained and maybe with friends and family, check it in and not have to worry about paying for it. Yeah.
No, that's something that's really important to us is, you know, we we want to remove as many barriers as possible, particularly for deaf and disabled audiences. And we know that cost, you know, can be it's it can be an issue for everyone. But particularly if you live with disability. And you know, the other thing we don't publicize so much, but we do pay the filmmakers a fee because we think it's really important, you know, that they get rewarded as artists. And like you said, we've talked earlier, like all the films are audio described and captioned. It's amazing now in a really positive way. And this wouldn't have been the case 20 years ago. But we a lot of the films that come to us now do have audio description and captions and then the films that come to us that don't. We help support to make that process happen. And I'd have to say, you know, some of the films that don't say have audio description. And as I said, there weren't that many. There are more ones that were made on very small, low budgets, you know, probably for not much money at all. But it's something that everyone's like, oh, yes, of course we need to get that.
Well, it gets underway on October the 3rd and if you're listening in after that, then a big hello to you and thank you for listening and check it out. Now, how can we check it out? And there's a limited period only a couple of weeks when I say only. Well, a couple of weeks.
Two weeks. So that's a good time. So one of the easiest ways to do it is you can go to ACMi cinema three. But if you go to Arts Access Victoria's website which is arts access. Com.au we have um big landing page about the other film festival or we have a nickname for it Toff. And there's a link there that takes you to the screening program, and then another link that takes you straight to ACMi cinema three. But that website is cinema three dot ACMi net, so we'll put that up.
On our Facebook.
Page.
Joanna, good luck. Thank you for speaking to us. And uh, next year when you turn 21, we might speak to you again. How about that?
Oh yes, they'd be wonderful. Thank you so much, Peter. Um, and for supporting us.
It's Fiona Toomey. They're the artistic director for the other film festival it is on. Well, from the 3rd of October. So check it out. We'll put those details up on our Facebook page. So if you haven't caught them, look, go to our Facebook page and they'll be there for you to click on. I ordered a scallop shell of the week was coming up this Tuesday morning. 1035 SBS Main Channel. The burnt half. This is a documentary rated M, and it features people and the way their lives were impacted by the 2020 bushfires on Kangaroo Island, so some may find this quite distressing. It is a documentary so I'm sure it will be handled very, very sensitively. But the Burnt Hearth, featuring the impact on people's lives in the 2020 bushfire on Kangaroo Island and speak about Kangaroo Island. A big cheerio to Peter Olsen, the unofficial mayor of Kangaroo Island. Hope Peter, Hope things are going very well for you. A couple of birthdays before we go, I should say a very happy birthday to Toini Ferruggia. We've spoken to Tony over the years. Kidney transplant, living with vision impairment, being such an energetic and very dry wit too. So Tony, hope life is going very well for you. We wish you a very, very happy birthday. And we also say a very happy birthday to Jen Nichols down on the Apple Isle of Tasmania. Loves her cycling. Loves the advocacy. Done great work in the area of accessible voting. So Jen Nichols, a very big happy birthday to you. That's it for the program. Sam, Richard, thanks so much for your help. Pam Greene, thanks so much for yours. Rewinding you as we like to do, that focal point is available on your favorite podcast platform. If you like the program, please tell your friends about it. We'd love to have more listeners. On behalf of Philip VanderMeer and a big hello to Wendy McDougall listening in. This is Peter Greco saying, all being well. Focal point back at the same time next week. Be kind to yourselves. Be thoughtful of others. This is Vision Australia radio.