Talking Vision 754 Week Beginning 11th of November 2024

Published Nov 12, 2024, 11:25 PM

Sam caught up a while back with blind endurance runner, motivational speaker and all around thrill seeker Ben Pettingill, whose aim for 2024 is to run 3,249km for mental health in a project he calls 3249 Blind.

You'll also hear from Liz who's back to tell us about the latest issue of For Your Information, and we hear from Blind Australian of the Year Award winner Courtney Webeck who spoke with Marie from Vision Australia in Brisbane following her award win.

From Vision Australia. This is talking vision. And now here's your host Sam Colley.

Hello, everyone. It's great to be here with you. And for the next half hour we talk matters of blindness and low vision.

Vision loss especially, can put people from a mental point of view in some pretty challenging times, and it can definitely test one's mental health. It definitely has done for me and I wanted to raise more awareness, start more conversations, and hopefully in doing so, raise some money for an organization that does some work in that space as well, and provides a mental health counseling support service.

Welcome to the program. This week we've got Ben Pettengill on the show to talk about 30 to 49 blind, a year long run for mental health that has been embarking on in 2024. That conversation with Ben is coming up very shortly, so make sure to stick around. And then after we hear from Ben, Liz Dalakouras is back, the editor of For Your Information, otherwise known as FII. And to wrap up the show, Marie is back now. You heard from her last week catching up with Karan Nagrani, the emcee of the Blind Australian of the year awards. All this time she's talking to the winner of the award, Courtney Welbeck. I hope you enjoy this week's episode of Talking Vision. In 2024, Ben Pettengill is running to start more conversations about mental health, normalize talking about the tough stuff, and smash the stigma that still exists along the way. He set out to run 3249km over the year in a project called 3049 blind. On average, that's nine kilometres a day every day. And if you know anything about Ben, there's a few challenges going along with that, so I'll let him fill you in on the details, as it's my great pleasure to be joined by Ben right now. Ben, thank you so much for joining me today. Welcome to Talking Vision.

Thanks so much for having me, Sam.

Appreciate it. Now, Ben, let's get a bit of background to yourself in case our listeners aren't aware. And then we might also just get a bit of an overview of 3249 blind.

Yeah. Absolutely, mate. So, uh, I suppose the background for me in terms of me living with low vision, uh, I was 16 years old when I had a headache one day and ended up losing 98% of my eyesight overnight. Um, the next day. So it was quite, quite sudden and quite life changing at 16 and a couple of weeks down the track, after a lot of testing, a lot of time in the Eye and Ear hospital in Melbourne, uh, we eventually came to the conclusion that I had the rare genetic syndrome that is leber's hereditary optic neuropathy. And as well as getting that diagnosis, uh, we also got the news that unfortunately, at the moment, Leber's is incurable. And we got told then and there that it wasn't something that was going to be able to be fixed. Um, there was different things that were trialed and, and whatnot, but, uh, at the end of the day couldn't be fixed. Nothing could be done about it. And that was going to be my life moving forward.

You've also been embarking on quite an important project this year, in particular running for mental health. 3249 blind. This is a topic super close to your heart and a topic really important to so many people out there who do experience a range of mental health challenges that go with vision loss and all the dark places that can take people to naturally when they do experience these sorts of things. Yeah.

Pardon the pun, with the dark places there. Yes. Because vision loss can lead to a lot of dark places, both physically and metaphorically. Sam. You're right. And yeah. So three, two, four, nine blind was an idea I came up with at the end of last year. It was probably something that had been playing on my mind for a while. I was always that sort of person that wanted to continue to push myself and really explore what the limits are of not being able to see. And that has come previously in the form of crossing the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea a couple of times, water ski racing, obstacle course racing, a whole range of different things. But they'd been probably a five year period where I hadn't done a lot for me and really to push myself and being a professional speaker. Speaking on stages right around the country with corporate organizations, conferences, in schools, I was having this nagging thought and feeling along the lines of, you're getting up on stages and you're talking the talk. But I wasn't necessarily continuing to walk the walk. And as you said, I'm also super passionate about mental health. I think vision loss especially can, as you say, put people from a mental point of view in some pretty challenging times and it can definitely test one's mental health. It definitely has done for me over the 13 years that I've lived without being able to see. And I wanted to raise more awareness, start more conversations, and hopefully in doing so, raise some money for an organization that does some work in that space as well, and provides a mental health counseling support service, which then needs to be more of. So that's our 3249 blind came about. That's where we came up with the challenge. and the reason behind the number is in Australia in 2022, we lost 3249 lives to suicide in this country, which is on average nine lives a day. Seven out of nine of those are blokes, so the stats are pretty scary and pretty sad when you hear them like that, but it doesn't sound like all that much when you just say nine k's a day. But when you say, yeah, nine k's a day every day, and then throw in the added challenge of doing it without being able to see where you're going, I think that's what's made it that little bit more difficult this year. And not only that, it's not a challenge that I've set time aside for and said right, for this month or this three month period or whatever it happens to be, I'm going to run 3249km, and that is my only focus this year. We've welcomed our second child into the family. I've got work commitments, I've been on the road traveling a lot for work. So two young kids, all of that thrown in the mix. It's very much as mental health is juggling this challenge in and amongst everything else that life throws my way.

We'll get back into how the challenges going, in particular in amongst all that hectic stuff going on in your life. And congratulations, by the way, on the arrival of your second little one, that's always a fantastic thing to experience. So congratulations to you and your family on that. But I'd love to continue on that very serious topic of lowering that number, that 3249. That number is, as we can all agree, far too high. And so these things are super important to addressing that and hopefully encouraging people out there to get the help that they deserve. So what sort of mental health organizations have you been chatting with over the course of the project of, you know, 30 to 49 blind who's been involved?

Yeah. So the the main beneficiary of the challenge is a mental health support service called T X, and T X is a free mental health support service for tradies, truckies, farmers, blue collar workers as well as their loved ones and their families. And the reason in particular that I chose to work with t x. There was a whole range of different mental health organisations that I could have chosen, but this one in particular for me is really closely connected to one probably where a lot of my mates are in terms of industry and where they work. Um, probably where I would have ended up working if I hadn't have lost my eyesight. And also a number of industries where those stats behind those suicide numbers are the worst. Because in trades, in agriculture, in rural and regional areas, the stigma is probably larger than what it is in metro areas around mental health. Um, so there's less people speaking up, there's less access to support. So that's why I wanted to support an organisation Organization that was probably going to target some of those people that are the least likely to speak up and seek help and seek support when they need it most. And like I said, it also supports a lot of my mates in the same way.

Yeah, and there is, as you said, a lot of those attitudes out there amongst blokes of, oh, you know, I'll be right. I'll just, you know, keep keeping on and, you know, it'll just sort itself out and blah, blah, blah. And, and sometimes of course, that doesn't really happen. That isn't the case. And, you know, things can get worse. And sometimes, you know, people may not feel they have the support network or know where to reach out or what to do, or you know how to do that. So that's another important message to get out there, that there is help and there are people out there that they can speak to. So another important aspect there. But Ben, I'm really keen to hear how three two, four, nine blind has been going. How many K's have you racked up so far this year? And amongst all of the hectic life balancing challenges and things like that.

Can I have an easier question, Sam? Well, no.

That's my job. I have to ask the hard questions, unfortunately.

Yeah, you got to ask the hard hitting questions 100%. No, I to be completely honest, the challenge hasn't been as easy as I would have liked it to have been. But I suppose that's why it's a challenge, isn't it? If it was easy and I got to the end of it and it wasn't challenging, then it's not sort of necessarily not not worth doing. But I think it just showcases how hard it has been from not just a balanced perspective, but managing injury. There's been 2 or 3 significant injuries throughout the year, which has put me well and truly behind where I wanted to be at this point in time. So what are we nearly three months to go in the year and I've I'm at the halfway point. So about the 1800 K mark now. And look that's.

Still quite a few. I've got a you know got to give you a shout out there that's, you know, not a small number.

No it's not a small number, especially given the time I've had to have off with a significant hip injury, a knee injury and an Achilles as well. And it was one of those things that I thought, do I keep pushing through and make things worse and potentially make the challenge impossible to complete? Um, so it was very much a balancing act there. And initially I've had so many people saying offer to do kilometres for me, or if they donate X amount of money, can that reduce the number of kilometres that I've got to do? And I keep saying in response, this number is so significant. And the whole reason behind the challenge is one kilometre represents every life lost to suicide. It's not something that a little bit of money here and there can just reduce the overall sort of tally. So I want to get the kilometres done one way or the other, but it has gotten to a point now still managing injury that I've thought, look, it's more about getting the kilometres done. It doesn't matter how I necessarily do them. So I'm going to probably get to the end of the year and not be able to say that I ran every single kilometre. However, I'm now doing a combination of running and walking just to manage those injuries, and it does mean I've got to do about 18km a day between now and the end of the year to get those kilometres done, so not impossible. Um, it's definitely going to be a big three months between now and the end of the year, but that's where I'm at at the moment.

So you haven't really considered extending the time period. That's not really on the radar, is it? You're sort of the idea is to get it all done in 2024. Has that been a consideration? All amongst the things that have happened with the injuries and stuff in the family and stuff like that? I don't think anyone can have any bad word to say about extending it to 18 months, but that's probably not really been on the radar, has it?

Uh, no, not not as yet. Again, I think that'll be a if there's more kilometres than physically possible to do come the 31st of December. I'll consider it then. But again, the whole reason behind the number is it's the number of lives lost in a calendar year. Yeah. That's.

Yeah. You can't. Yeah. That's not changing.

And do that over 18 months or two years, I feel like it doesn't have quite the same level of connection that it does. And ideally, I would like to have nine kilometres left to do on the 31st of December, because on the 1st of January this year I did nine kilometres, so it would be good to finish with nine kilometres, representing the average number of lives we lose per day on that last day of the year. Even though there's been ups and downs in between and there's been days of plenty more kilometres, I think my biggest day I've done this year has been nearly 35 K's in a day. Oh my god. And then yeah, there's definitely been some smaller ones and some days off as well. But yeah, that's that's the plan at this stage. But if I get to the 31st of December and there's 250 K's to go touch wood that there's not touch wood, there's only nine to go. But if that's the case then I'll just keep pushing and get them done as quick as I can.

And will certainly welcome you back when you have reached that big number there. I think that'd be great to have you back on the show, to have a chat with us after you have reached the three, two, four, nine, whatever shape that takes and however long that does take. And hopefully, as you said, it does all happen by the 31st of December and we can have you back on in the first week of January and have a chat about how 2024 panned out. But in the meantime, how can people get in touch and support you or find out more about the challenge?

So the best way to do it is.

Either on social media. So Facebook on my Facebook page at Ben Pettingill. Same on Instagram, same on TikTok. And as well as my website which is Ben pettingill.com. And that'll all have links to the challenge in the Bios where you can donate and whatnot. Or you can just Google three, two, four, nine blind and it'll be the first link that comes up.

Thank you so much, Ben, for having a chat with me today about so many important topics and about 3 to 4 nine blind that you've been undertaking over the course of 2024. And we do wish you all the very best for finishing those remaining kilometres. And as I've said, we'll have you back on the show to chat about it at the completion. So all the very best and hope the body does hold up and improves and you can, yeah, smash those KS out. All for a really important cause. So thank you very much for being so open with us today and sharing your story.

Thanks, Sam. Appreciate you having me on, mate.

Ben Pettengill there heading into the final weeks of three, two, four, nine blind his year long run for mental health. Now, before we finish up, just a couple of phone numbers for you out there. And we'll start with TCS, the mental health counselling service for tradies, truckies, farmers and blue collar workers. So that number is 80488469, double eight. And finally, given the nature of the sort of things we've been chatting about today, if this has brought about distressing feelings or memories for you, help is available and you can speak with someone today through Lifeline Australia by calling 13 1114. That's 13, 1114. Or you can text them on 047, 713, 1114. That's 0477 13 1114. On Sam Culley and you're listening to Talking Vision on Vision Australia Radio. Associated stations of Reading Radio and the Community Radio Network. That concludes our conversation today with Ben Pettengill. If you missed any part of that conversation with Ben or you'd love to hear it again. Talking vision is available on the Vision Australia Radio website at VA radio.org. That's VA radio.org. Or you can find the program on the podcast app of your choice or through the Vision Australia library. Well, we're almost halfway through November and that means it's time for the second last update from for your information, otherwise known as FYI, and to give us that update, it's my great pleasure, as always to welcome the editor of FYI, Liz Dalakouras to Talking Vision. Liz, welcome back to Talking Vision. Great to have you as always.

As always. It's great to be here, Sam.

Now, Liz, first up, we've got a bit of news about the NDIS. Now, there's been some developments around some providers who maybe aren't quite doing the right thing for clients out there. So tell us a bit about some developments there.

Yeah, absolutely. Last week, Bill shorten, the minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, has announced the second part of the NDIS legislation of the getting it back on track bill. And as a part of that bill, penalties will be enforced for providers that are not treating their clients in the way they should be treated, and those fines will increase from what was a maximum of $400,000 to in excess of $15 million. When a participant is hurt or injured under that provider's care. So it is an amazing addition to the getting it back on track bill.

And that does absolutely send a big message out there. So keen to see how all of that pans out. Now, in amongst all of that, Liz, there have been some other developments and things for clients out there and participants to keep abreast of.

Yeah, absolutely. Recently the NDIS introduced two support lists, and those lists will tell you what can and cannot now be funded. So the change should have minor impacts on the supports that are available to you already. But you do need to clarify what you can and can no longer have funded for you. We at Vision Australia are here to support you in that, and if you are still unsure on what can be funded in your plan, or you've heard about these changes and you just want a little bit more information, contact your local area coordinator, talk to your early childhood partner, or just reach out to the Ndia directly.

And, um, there's been some exciting news coming through with a bit of a new program that some coming out on the ABC, hosted by Ellie Mae Barnes. So tell us about that one.

Ah, so it's Jimmy Barnes daughter. Her name is Ellie Mae Barnes, set to host a brand new show on the ABC, and she's leading the quest to create two new music bands made up entirely of musicians living with a disability. It's the first of its kind. It's an incredibly cool concept that her dad is also very behind. And the show premieres on the ABC on November 19th.

Okay, we'll have to check that out and see what it's all about. And there's also some podcast news. There's a new podcast, The Hindsight Podcast.

Yeah, so hindsight is our latest podcast at Vision Australia Radio. And supporting a loved one with vision loss can be a rewarding experience, but it also comes with its fair share of challenges. So that is why we're excited to introduce you to hindsight, which is a new series that shares the personal stories of carers, is family members and supporters of people living with vision loss.

And one of the first episode be coming out. How can people access it?

It's already out there.

Oh, wonderful. There you go.

Visit. Yeah. Visit our Vision Australia website. Or you can go straight to Spotify, Apple wherever you get your podcasts and just search Vision Australia. Hindsight.

Perfect. And finally, Liz, the Santa Fun run is coming up so people can still register. There's still a couple of weeks left to go.

There is? Yeah. You don't want to miss out because it's a way to bring the holiday spirit to life as early as now. There will be two Santa fun runs happening this year. For the very first time. There will be one in Melbourne on November the 23rd, and then one in Sydney on November 30th. The event is there to raise funds for Vision Australia's Life Ready program, which is a program that helps to empower children who are blind or have low vision to live independently and reach their full potential. So don't wait. Register today and you can save 15% on your tickets. Just use the promo code client 15. Bring along your friends, your family, your colleagues and just have a fun day filled with community and celebration.

Perfect. Well, it's a lot of fun to get into the festive spirit as Christmas is rapidly approaching, which is both exciting and daunting. Yeah, it's certainly that time of year. Yeah. So how can people find out a little bit more about FYI? Or maybe they'd just love to, um, get all the news in their inboxes? Liz, what's the best way for them to do that?

It's super simple. Sam. You just visit Vision Australia. Org slash FYI. Hop in your details and the newsletter will get sent directly to your inbox.

Perfect. That's for your information. Otherwise known as FYI, coming out every two weeks in your inbox to keep tabs on the latest things happening at Vision Australia and around the blind and low vision community. Liz, thank you as always for your time today. Great to hear about the latest news from FYI.

Thank you for having me, Sam. It's always fun when I come on and.

Chat to you. Certainly is lots of fun. Thanks so much. And now here's Mary again with winner of the Blind Australian of the year Award for 2024, Courtney Liebeck.

I'm Courtney Liebeck. I've just currently won the Blind Australian of the year awards. I'm 20 and I'm from Gloucester, so really incredibly excited to be up here and be a finalist and then to win. It was just a huge honour. It was some two other incredible finalists and what they've done is, is amazing. So yeah.

What helped you the most to get where you are now?

Um, I think it's my parents. They just never held me back in life. I got got told there's no such word as can't. And I went out there and achieved absolutely everything I can. And I think I'm 20, so a lot of people party and whatnot, and I do like to party, I guess. Um, like I said. But yeah, I think just the drive and willingness to achieve, um, what people don't think you can achieve with having a vision impairment, um, is something that I really like to do and just support other people and get them to break those boundaries. That is possible.

So you've you've done a few different sports. Yes. So were you always sporty? Yeah.

I grew up on a beef cattle property. So I grew up riding horses and in a small country town. So I played netball, basketball, swimming, did everything, and then I took up athletics and did that for ten years throughout high school and got to travel a lot of the country with that. And after high school, I found the love for tennis and cricket, and I just kept following that passion. And it's now taken me to two, two world titles in tennis, and to play cricket for Australia and get a baggy green is incredible. So I think just being fit and and having such supportive people in that sporting environment is amazing.

Sure. What are some of the difficulties you.

Encountered having a vision impairments? There's always going to be challenges and boundaries, but I think it's about breaking those barriers and and achieving what the unthinkable is. I think living remotely, there's always going to be challenges with there's no public transport in Gloucester where I live. So having the support of people and support workers that can assist you in achieving things is is really important.

And when you talk about help to travel, you've gone to a few different countries. Do you feel a big difference in terms of accessibility?

Yeah, definitely. Just got back from Europe with the World Tennis Championships there, and we travelled with some amazing people and just having that support and assistive technology. Um, that Vision Australia support is, is amazing. And then to come through and um, just having like I have two amazing parents that that support me and everything like that. And I think just being that little bit of independence really, really helped. And I can't wait to keep traveling.

So what are your next projects? That's a big.

Question. I think back to uni for the next few weeks, and then I've got a tennis tournament in Adelaide, um, coming up at the start of December and then into the cricket season. So Cricket nationals and hopefully make the Australian women's squad for the upcoming year again. So yeah, just keep improving and bettering yourself and bringing awareness to the sport and getting more girls involved in in the sport as well.

And do you have any message for our listeners?

Yeah, um, go after it.

Um, if you're interested in sport or whether it's singing music, um, technology, no matter what it is, go after it. Um, ask the questions. People are going to be there to support you. And, um, there's no such thing as can't. So just go out and have a go and enjoy it and have fun. That's what it's all about.

And that's all the time we have for today. You've been listening to Talking Vision. Talking vision is a Vision Australia radio production. Thanks to all involved with putting the show together every week. And remember, we love hearing from you. So please get in touch any time on our email at Talking Vision. At Vision australia.org. That's talking vision all one word at Vision australia.org. But until next week it's Sam Collins saying bye for now.

You can contact Vision Australia by phoning us anytime during business hours on 1300 847 406. That's 1300 847 486 or by visiting Vision australia.org. That's Vision australia.org.

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