WEBVTT - Talking Vision 787 Week Beginning 30th of June 2025 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:27.280 From Vision Australia. This is talking vision. And now here's 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:29.400 your host Sam Colley. 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.920 Hello, everyone. It's great to be here with you. And 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:37.880 for the next half hour we talk matters of blindness 0:00:37.879 --> 0:00:39.040 and low vision. 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:41.880 The thing that I can remember being embarrassed by was 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:44.919 at one time, I was at a social function with 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:49.320 my parents, and one of my dad's friends asked me, Hey, Ian, 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:53.320 do optometrists grind the lenses themselves? And I thought, I 0:00:53.319 --> 0:00:56.880 have no idea. Here I am in the second year 0:00:56.880 --> 0:01:00.720 of optometry program officially, and I didn't really know what 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:04.440 optometrists did, whether they did this or did that. But 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:09.160 I started taking things really seriously and became an energetic 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:12.620 and enthusiastic optometry student after that. 0:01:12.660 --> 0:01:16.780 Welcome to the program. This week we feature part one 0:01:16.780 --> 0:01:23.180 of my conversation with Ian Bailey, optometrist, lecturer, researcher, and 0:01:23.220 --> 0:01:26.980 low vision pioneer who was here to chat to me 0:01:26.980 --> 0:01:32.500 all about his career in optometry. Starting off this week 0:01:32.500 --> 0:01:37.060 with his early life and career leading up to his 0:01:37.060 --> 0:01:41.820 move to London in the early to mid 60s. That 0:01:41.820 --> 0:01:45.260 conversation is coming up very shortly, so make sure to 0:01:45.300 --> 0:01:49.340 stick around. And then after we hear from Ian this week, 0:01:49.540 --> 0:01:53.260 Liz Dalakouras is back to give us an update on 0:01:53.260 --> 0:01:59.100 the latest from foyer information, otherwise known as FYI. I 0:01:59.180 --> 0:02:06.780 hope you enjoy this week's episode of Talking Vision. This 0:02:06.780 --> 0:02:13.270 week we feature part one of my conversation Association with lecturer, optometrist, 0:02:13.269 --> 0:02:19.070 researcher and low vision pioneer Ian Bailey. I caught up 0:02:19.070 --> 0:02:22.910 within a couple of weeks ago to chat about his 0:02:22.910 --> 0:02:28.349 career in optometry. Leading up to where he's still currently 0:02:28.350 --> 0:02:33.510 working at the University of Berkeley in the Bay Area 0:02:33.510 --> 0:02:38.190 of San Francisco. And it's my great pleasure to welcome 0:02:38.190 --> 0:02:42.589 in right now, Ian, welcome to Talking Vision. It's an 0:02:42.630 --> 0:02:44.710 absolute pleasure to have you today. 0:02:45.269 --> 0:02:47.309 And I'm pleased to be here now. 0:02:47.350 --> 0:02:51.389 Ian, let's start off at the beginning with the formative 0:02:51.429 --> 0:02:55.790 years and how you got into optometry in the first place. 0:02:55.790 --> 0:02:57.429 I'm sure there's a story there. 0:02:58.149 --> 0:03:02.510 Yeah, it's a it's a pretty weird story, though, that, um, 0:03:02.510 --> 0:03:06.350 I went to Coburg High School and I was a 0:03:06.709 --> 0:03:11.689 bit of a a Class clown. Sort of a bit 0:03:11.690 --> 0:03:15.570 of a troublemaker at school. Um, I used to get 0:03:15.570 --> 0:03:19.689 pretty good grades. Um, didn't work very hard. It was 0:03:19.730 --> 0:03:22.810 more fun being a naughty boy at the back of 0:03:22.810 --> 0:03:26.769 the classroom than I'm working hard. But I did pretty 0:03:26.769 --> 0:03:31.889 well with my grades and, um, had no particular career 0:03:32.290 --> 0:03:36.409 thoughts or direction. Um, when I was in 11th grade, 0:03:36.410 --> 0:03:41.450 my mother, um, took me to, um, a careers exhibition 0:03:41.450 --> 0:03:46.409 at the exhibition hall. Um, and she made me go. 0:03:47.010 --> 0:03:52.010 And I got some material from, um, organizations that were 0:03:52.010 --> 0:03:58.210 related to science things. And so I had engineering and chemistry, and, um, 0:03:58.210 --> 0:04:02.409 and I picked up some brochures for optometry. I didn't 0:04:02.410 --> 0:04:06.809 know really what optometry was at that stage. My parents 0:04:06.950 --> 0:04:11.430 had never seen an optometrist. I'd never spoken to an optometrist. Um, 0:04:11.430 --> 0:04:14.110 just didn't know anything about it. But I filled in 0:04:14.110 --> 0:04:20.270 a lot of forms and applied for scholarships or traineeships 0:04:20.510 --> 0:04:26.469 for different scientifically related um organizations, and optometry was one 0:04:26.470 --> 0:04:29.789 of them. And I thought, if I get a scholarship 0:04:30.150 --> 0:04:34.350 and what I could do is even if I didn't 0:04:34.830 --> 0:04:37.790 want to do optometry, if I got the money, I 0:04:37.789 --> 0:04:40.109 could give it back when I decided that I wasn't 0:04:40.110 --> 0:04:42.510 going to do optometry. So I thought I'd, you know, 0:04:42.550 --> 0:04:46.110 I was just taking a bit of a bit of insurance. Well, 0:04:46.110 --> 0:04:50.270 when I did matric, I did moderately well. Um, at matric, 0:04:50.349 --> 0:04:54.150 it's 12th grade. Used to be called matriculation. In those 0:04:54.150 --> 0:04:57.589 days I did reasonably well and I got the best 0:04:57.589 --> 0:05:02.870 matriculation grades of of the the small number of people 0:05:02.870 --> 0:05:06.010 that wanted to get into optometry. Commentary. And so I 0:05:06.050 --> 0:05:10.010 got this scholarship, and I think it was worth something 0:05:10.010 --> 0:05:16.369 like £370. They had pounds in those days at £375. 0:05:16.729 --> 0:05:18.730 I don't know whether it was a year or total. 0:05:19.289 --> 0:05:22.369 And I was admitted to university. I got a Commonwealth 0:05:22.370 --> 0:05:28.090 scholarship and for the first year of university, um, for 0:05:28.089 --> 0:05:33.249 any of the science courses that were related to biology, 0:05:33.450 --> 0:05:38.210 and that would include dentistry and medicine and, and physiology, zoology, 0:05:38.289 --> 0:05:42.330 anything like that. You did basically the same course. You 0:05:42.330 --> 0:05:47.969 did physics and chemistry and um, and zoology and math. 0:05:48.330 --> 0:05:51.810 And so I did that for my first year and 0:05:51.810 --> 0:05:54.650 I had this scholarship. I put the money in the 0:05:54.650 --> 0:05:58.770 bank and thinking that I could give it back, um, 0:05:58.810 --> 0:06:01.690 if I decided not to do optometry when I really 0:06:01.690 --> 0:06:04.260 had to make the decision at second year because I could, 0:06:04.940 --> 0:06:08.060 I would have been or would have been a possibility 0:06:08.099 --> 0:06:12.419 for me to transfer to medicine or or or something else. 0:06:12.820 --> 0:06:17.820 And so at first year uni, I played more cards 0:06:17.820 --> 0:06:22.540 than I played with my textbooks and sort of got through, 0:06:22.539 --> 0:06:28.900 but I basically wasn't really pursuing my studies seriously or 0:06:28.900 --> 0:06:34.380 with great seriousness or. Um, and I wasn't really pursuing 0:06:34.380 --> 0:06:40.180 a career. Um, and, um, I passed my first year, um, 0:06:40.180 --> 0:06:43.300 and going to the second year, that's when I had 0:06:43.300 --> 0:06:47.020 to sort of sign up for optometry. Um, and so 0:06:47.740 --> 0:06:49.979 I said, hey, I don't know what else to do. 0:06:49.979 --> 0:06:53.180 I may as well give this optometry a go. Um, 0:06:53.180 --> 0:06:59.339 I didn't quite know what optometry was started. Um, at 0:06:59.380 --> 0:07:05.919 the at the School of Optometry, which was then in a, um, 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:10.160 a building on Collins Street. It was the College of Optometry. 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:13.160 It was an affiliated college of the Melbourne University. It 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:19.280 wasn't a degree giving, um, institution. And there was a 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:24.439 small group of us, um, actually five, as it turned out, um, 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:28.760 starting how real optometry program, which was at our second 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:33.160 year of university and we had another two more years 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:37.160 to go after that, and I started to learn what 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:42.119 optometry was, um, as course went along. I was a 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:45.880 thing that I can remember being embarrassed by was at 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:50.040 one time, I was at a social function with my parents, 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:54.520 and one of my dad's friends asked me, Hey Ian, 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:59.940 do optometrists grind the lenses themselves? And I thought, I 0:07:59.980 --> 0:08:03.540 have no idea. Here I am in the second year 0:08:03.540 --> 0:08:07.500 of the optometry program, officially. Um, and I didn't really 0:08:07.500 --> 0:08:10.860 know what optometrists did, whether they did this or did that, 0:08:11.260 --> 0:08:15.660 but I started taking things really seriously and became an 0:08:15.660 --> 0:08:22.060 energetic and enthusiastic optometry student after that. And so, um, 0:08:22.060 --> 0:08:25.380 it was sort of partway into my second year of 0:08:25.380 --> 0:08:30.300 the program that I became an enthusiastic optometry student. And 0:08:30.660 --> 0:08:35.740 the at the time, the, um, head of the optometry 0:08:35.740 --> 0:08:41.900 program was Barry Cole. And he was about five years 0:08:42.140 --> 0:08:46.980 or six years, actually seven years older than me. So 0:08:47.020 --> 0:08:49.900 he would have been in his late 20s, and he 0:08:49.900 --> 0:08:53.780 was the only full time faculty member at the school. 0:08:53.820 --> 0:08:56.260 All the others were part time and some coming from 0:08:56.260 --> 0:09:02.000 the university, some I'm coming from private optometric practice. And 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:08.520 Barry Cole was just really enthusiastic. And he had a 0:09:08.680 --> 0:09:14.920 real emphasis on the science underlying optometry. It wasn't how 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:18.520 to learn the methods. It was to understand the science 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:24.800 that underpinned the methods. And then you would get the 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:30.480 methods under control. And so we had an extraordinary emphasis 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:34.440 coming from Barry Cole on getting to know the science. 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:39.720 And it really was extraordinary. There were five of us 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:44.480 that ended up graduating with that class. Two were New Zealanders, 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:49.000 and the other two ended up in academic life and 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:54.800 are really distinguished vision scientists. Tony Adams, who's dead, became 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:58.890 the dean of optometry at the University of California, Berkeley, 0:09:59.250 --> 0:10:01.570 which is the best school of optometry in the world, 0:10:02.010 --> 0:10:05.890 and nobody would argue with that. And Don Mitchell ended 0:10:05.890 --> 0:10:13.210 up having his career as a professor of psychology in Canada, 0:10:13.210 --> 0:10:18.410 in in Nova Scotia, the University of Dalhousie. And so 60% 0:10:18.410 --> 0:10:25.410 of the class had distinguished scientific and academic careers. I 0:10:25.410 --> 0:10:28.850 should have mentioned that during my final year of high 0:10:28.850 --> 0:10:32.610 school and during the four years of optometry program, I 0:10:32.610 --> 0:10:36.610 had a girlfriend who is now and still my wife. 0:10:36.890 --> 0:10:40.210 We started going together when I was in high school, 0:10:40.610 --> 0:10:45.450 and when I graduated or completed the optometry program at 0:10:45.450 --> 0:10:49.890 the end of 62. Um, we married a few weeks later. 0:10:49.890 --> 0:10:55.790 We married in February of 63. And, our plan was 0:10:55.790 --> 0:10:58.030 to go into private. I was going to go into 0:10:58.070 --> 0:11:01.310 private practice. We were going to start to put some 0:11:01.310 --> 0:11:03.710 money together to buy a house, and we wanted to 0:11:03.710 --> 0:11:06.510 start having kids pretty quickly. 0:11:12.110 --> 0:11:15.910 And Sam Kelly and you're listening to Talking Vision on 0:11:15.910 --> 0:11:21.630 Vision Australia Radio, associated Stations of Reading Radio and the 0:11:21.630 --> 0:11:26.390 Community Radio Network. I hope you enjoyed the first half 0:11:26.390 --> 0:11:31.070 of my conversation this week with Ian Bailey. If you 0:11:31.070 --> 0:11:34.630 missed any part of that conversation with Ian or you'd 0:11:34.630 --> 0:11:38.630 love to hear it again, talking vision is available on 0:11:38.630 --> 0:11:42.030 the podcast app of your choice, or you can also 0:11:42.030 --> 0:11:46.190 find it through the Vision Australia library. One other place 0:11:46.190 --> 0:11:49.950 where you can find all episodes of Talking Vision is 0:11:49.950 --> 0:11:55.450 the Vision Australia Radio our website. At VA radio, that's 0:11:55.490 --> 0:12:01.210 VA radio. All one word.org. But for now, back to 0:12:01.250 --> 0:12:05.970 the program and the second half of my conversation with Ian. 0:12:06.290 --> 0:12:12.370 I worked for a leading Melbourne optometrist at the time. Um, 0:12:12.370 --> 0:12:16.010 his name was Bruce Beasley. He had he was the 0:12:16.010 --> 0:12:20.890 president of the Australian Optometric Association. He was very important 0:12:20.890 --> 0:12:26.929 in optometric politics. And he had offered me a partnership 0:12:27.050 --> 0:12:30.610 with really, really good terms. You know, I, you know, 0:12:31.250 --> 0:12:36.850 and I was with him for the year of 1963. 0:12:37.130 --> 0:12:41.810 And he said, um, after Christmas, we'll talk about arrangements 0:12:41.810 --> 0:12:45.730 we'll need to make about getting together as business partners 0:12:45.770 --> 0:12:51.500 or practice partners. Contact lenses at the time were really 0:12:51.500 --> 0:12:55.980 quite new. Soft lenses hadn't hadn't been invented. And, um, 0:12:56.100 --> 0:12:59.540 most of the lenses being fitted were corneal lenses, um, 0:12:59.540 --> 0:13:03.220 made out of perspex or plexiglass? 0:13:03.340 --> 0:13:05.700 Yes. Very hard, very uncomfortable. 0:13:06.180 --> 0:13:10.100 Yeah, yeah. Um, and we were not well trained in 0:13:10.100 --> 0:13:14.340 contact lenses. I saw a couple of patients, and I 0:13:14.380 --> 0:13:18.540 felt so inadequate and felt that I was, you know, 0:13:18.980 --> 0:13:24.060 all bloody patients having to deal with somebody as incompetent 0:13:24.060 --> 0:13:28.860 as me. So I was feeling uncomfortable about my optometric skills. 0:13:29.220 --> 0:13:32.860 And also I thought, do I really want to marry 0:13:32.860 --> 0:13:37.260 Bruce Besley? Do I want to be linked to Bruce Besley, 0:13:37.300 --> 0:13:41.660 the whole of my professional career? Because that's that's the 0:13:41.660 --> 0:13:43.660 way it looked like it was going for a while. 0:13:44.220 --> 0:13:46.340 And I decided I didn't want to do that, so 0:13:46.340 --> 0:13:52.320 I didn't bring up the subject of, um, talking about, um, 0:13:52.320 --> 0:14:00.440 partnership arrangements. And I was feeling antsy and insecure about my, um, 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.680 quality of optometric care because I really wanted to be good. 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:08.360 During my second year in private practice, I was practicing 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:13.360 in Moonee Ponds, and I was managing the practice, and 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:21.960 there was myself as receptionist and, um, an optical workshop guy, and, um, 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:26.960 that I was also going into the School of Optometry 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:31.280 to teach in the clinic one day a week. Um, 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.840 and when I was at the School of Optometry, I 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:37.240 went to the library and was flicking through some journals 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:42.040 and saw that England, um, was um, or in England, 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:48.540 they were offering night time classes for continuing education optometrists 0:14:48.580 --> 0:14:53.940 teaching them about contact lenses. So I thought that would 0:14:53.940 --> 0:14:58.220 be a a good thing to do. And then I 0:14:58.220 --> 0:15:04.820 had to persuade my wife, um, my new wife, um, that, um, 0:15:04.820 --> 0:15:07.220 would be a good thing to go to England so 0:15:07.220 --> 0:15:10.700 I could get some contact lens experience. Um, and it 0:15:10.700 --> 0:15:14.980 took me a while to persuade her. Um, I was 0:15:14.980 --> 0:15:19.660 helped in the persuasion by, um, Pete Seeger, the singer. 0:15:19.820 --> 0:15:20.740 Oh, my goodness. 0:15:21.500 --> 0:15:24.780 Now, who? Well, he had a song called Little Boxes. 0:15:24.780 --> 0:15:27.700 Little boxes, little boxes, all made out of ticky tacky. 0:15:27.740 --> 0:15:28.700 Yes. Of course. 0:15:30.020 --> 0:15:32.820 And so every time that that that was on the 0:15:32.820 --> 0:15:35.220 radio in those days, and I would turn it up 0:15:35.220 --> 0:15:38.540 full volume whenever it came on. So I don't know 0:15:38.540 --> 0:15:42.940 whether it was Pete or me, but my wife agreed to, um, 0:15:42.980 --> 0:15:51.720 come to England. So, um, at the end of 64, um, um, 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:56.400 on New Year's Eve, we, um, got on an Italian ship, 0:15:56.760 --> 0:16:03.440 the Galileo. Um, and, um, took off for England. We 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:07.120 took we went by ship because it was cheaper than 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:12.640 air flight in those days. Um, it took 23 days 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:18.680 to get there, and it was fantastic. We went, um, Adelaide, Perth, Singapore, 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:24.000 Bombay when there was a town called Bombay, um, Aden, 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:27.120 when there was a place called Aden, it's now Yemen. Um, 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.520 and then the boat went through the Suez Canal while we, 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:36.080 we were, um, part of a day trip to Cairo. Um, um, 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:39.680 stopped at Messina and we got off the ship in Naples, um, 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:44.890 and went on to, um, And went on to England. 0:16:46.210 --> 0:16:49.210 In England. I got a job in the first couple 0:16:49.250 --> 0:16:54.650 of days there. Um, and, um, it was in Kensington, 0:16:54.690 --> 0:16:59.690 a sort of inner suburb of London. Um, and my 0:16:59.850 --> 0:17:04.650 intention was that I was going to work in practice, um, 0:17:04.690 --> 0:17:10.050 and go to the night, um, the night classes when they, 0:17:10.490 --> 0:17:19.129 when they started up, um, and, um, the, at that practice, um, 0:17:19.130 --> 0:17:21.370 I had to work all day Saturday, but I had 0:17:21.370 --> 0:17:28.369 all day Thursday off. Um, my wife got a job, um, 0:17:28.570 --> 0:17:33.650 working in a legal office, and, um, um, on the 0:17:33.650 --> 0:17:38.810 first Thursday after we'd got our jobs, um, I had 0:17:39.250 --> 0:17:41.990 a day all to myself while my wife was at 0:17:41.990 --> 0:17:44.909 work at her work. And so I went to the 0:17:44.910 --> 0:17:50.590 School of Optometry in London, where the where the contact 0:17:50.590 --> 0:17:55.150 lens classes were going to be held. Um, um, I 0:17:55.150 --> 0:17:58.189 was just sniffing around in the library, um, and a 0:17:58.190 --> 0:18:00.950 guy came up to me who. And he turned out 0:18:00.950 --> 0:18:04.430 to be the head of department. His name was Bob Fletcher. 0:18:04.950 --> 0:18:08.230 He asked me who I was, and I told him 0:18:08.230 --> 0:18:12.630 that I was an optometrist from Australia. I had two 0:18:12.630 --> 0:18:17.590 years of optometric, of real practice, optometric experience. Um, I'd 0:18:17.630 --> 0:18:20.550 had a little bit of experience teaching in the clinic 0:18:20.550 --> 0:18:23.590 in Melbourne. Um, and he said, would you like to 0:18:23.590 --> 0:18:29.670 be a graduate student instructor here at the City University? 0:18:30.750 --> 0:18:35.070 And I said, what would be involved? And, um, he 0:18:35.070 --> 0:18:39.270 told me what I'd have to do. Um, and I 0:18:39.310 --> 0:18:42.130 had to do some research. I had to take some classes, 0:18:42.530 --> 0:18:45.810 but I had to do some teaching, and some of 0:18:45.810 --> 0:18:47.570 the teaching I would be helping with was in the 0:18:47.570 --> 0:18:52.610 contact lens clinic. And so, um, even though it was 0:18:52.610 --> 0:18:58.409 a little less money, um, for than I was getting in, in, um, 0:18:58.410 --> 0:19:05.090 clinical practice, I, um, I took the job, um, and 0:19:05.090 --> 0:19:08.170 worked in the same practice on Saturday. So I ended 0:19:08.170 --> 0:19:11.570 up coming about even with the amount of money I 0:19:11.570 --> 0:19:13.650 was receiving. I just had to work a six day 0:19:13.650 --> 0:19:19.530 week rather than a five day week. Um, and there, um, 0:19:21.170 --> 0:19:26.770 I picked up a lot of optometric skills very, very quickly. Um, 0:19:27.010 --> 0:19:32.010 the City University London had the best contact lens, um, 0:19:32.010 --> 0:19:36.330 crew in the world. They had, um, the best experts 0:19:36.330 --> 0:19:41.500 in contact lenses anywhere. And I worked with all these 0:19:41.500 --> 0:19:47.260 people and I could work where they made the contact lenses. Um, 0:19:47.540 --> 0:19:50.060 they had a contact lens technician, a full time contact 0:19:50.060 --> 0:19:55.820 lens guy who made the lenses for the school. Um, and, um, 0:19:55.820 --> 0:20:00.620 I just loved being in contact lenses. I also did 0:20:00.620 --> 0:20:04.420 a bit of research, um, because that was part of 0:20:04.420 --> 0:20:11.620 the obligation. And I did some, um, teaching. Um, and, um, 0:20:11.620 --> 0:20:15.420 when you learn more, when you have to teach than 0:20:15.420 --> 0:20:21.740 you do if you're on the student side of the lectern. Um, 0:20:22.220 --> 0:20:26.500 and so I ended up, um, working with a lot 0:20:26.500 --> 0:20:37.480 of instructors getting, um, um, getting very personalized guidance. Um, but, um, 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:40.520 because you're worried of, you know, if you're going to 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:45.720 teach you so, so much worried about being found out 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:53.480 for your deficiencies, that you work hard on covering your ass. Um, and, 0:20:53.520 --> 0:20:56.120 and so you end up getting to know your subject 0:20:56.160 --> 0:21:01.880 very well. And so I learned about a lot about 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:06.400 contact lenses. Um, and in all, I was in London 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:08.240 for going on two years. 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:14.280 Happy financial New year. But you know what that means. 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:19.160 It's time for a few updates to a series of programs, 0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:22.920 such as the NDIS, and to have a chat with 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:26.720 us about that, as well as a few other updates 0:21:26.720 --> 0:21:30.960 from elsewhere in the blind and low vision community. It's 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:35.140 my great pleasure to welcome back to Talking vision. Editor 0:21:35.140 --> 0:21:41.220 of for Information Liz Dalakouras. Liz, welcome back to Talking Vision. 0:21:41.220 --> 0:21:42.379 Great to have you. 0:21:42.740 --> 0:21:43.700 Great to be here. 0:21:43.980 --> 0:21:47.340 First off, Liz, we've got quite a bit of important 0:21:47.340 --> 0:21:51.540 info about the NDIS. Quite a few changes, a bit 0:21:51.540 --> 0:21:56.060 of uncertainty for people out there. So help our listeners 0:21:56.060 --> 0:22:00.460 minds at ease and give us some info about the NDIS. 0:22:00.500 --> 0:22:01.540 That's just come up. 0:22:02.100 --> 0:22:04.419 A lot of change happening in the sector next to 0:22:04.420 --> 0:22:06.940 impossible to keep up with everything that's going on because 0:22:06.940 --> 0:22:09.380 something will get said and the next week it's different. 0:22:09.380 --> 0:22:11.899 It's the same in both NDIS and my aged care. 0:22:12.300 --> 0:22:15.660 So that's exactly why we started a new resource series, 0:22:15.660 --> 0:22:18.380 and it's a series of articles about the NDIS and 0:22:18.380 --> 0:22:21.700 the changes that you'll be seeing recently. So in this 0:22:21.700 --> 0:22:25.980 latest edition of FYI, we talked about the NDIS supports 0:22:26.260 --> 0:22:29.139 and if you've noticed that suddenly that yours have changed 0:22:29.140 --> 0:22:31.980 or they've disappeared off your plan, you are not alone. 0:22:32.480 --> 0:22:35.160 So there are new rules that mean supports must now 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:37.960 directly relate to the impairments that were listed in your 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:42.520 original NDIS access request. And so many people are feeling 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:45.480 the impacts of this. So we've written an article to 0:22:45.480 --> 0:22:47.680 help you better understand what's going on there. 0:22:49.200 --> 0:22:54.000 And as I understand it, Liz, there has also been, um, 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:59.760 some new pricing arrangements and there's updates around that as well. 0:23:00.720 --> 0:23:03.360 Yeah, there is just to add even more changes to 0:23:03.360 --> 0:23:08.240 it all. Sam. So the Ndia has officially now released 0:23:08.240 --> 0:23:13.240 the new 2025 to 26 pricing arrangements, and that does 0:23:13.240 --> 0:23:16.240 include some minor changes to some of our services as 0:23:16.240 --> 0:23:19.640 in Vision Australia services. So there have been changes in 0:23:19.640 --> 0:23:24.960 pricing to certain therapy types like psychology and physiotherapy. And additionally, 0:23:24.960 --> 0:23:28.320 there's been a minor increase in pricing for recreation and 0:23:28.320 --> 0:23:33.490 NDIS employment services. but provide a travel price limits have 0:23:33.490 --> 0:23:38.210 been reduced. So in some good news for us and 0:23:38.210 --> 0:23:41.570 you guys, travel caps for therapy services will still apply 0:23:41.610 --> 0:23:44.450 but are now billed at 50% of the hourly rate. 0:23:45.250 --> 0:23:48.970 So all these changes have clicked in now as of today, 0:23:48.970 --> 0:23:52.690 the 1st of July, and the Ndia will index participants 0:23:52.690 --> 0:23:55.609 plans to match the increases, but they won't reduce the 0:23:55.610 --> 0:23:59.370 funding for your therapy price cuts. So within FYI, there's 0:23:59.410 --> 0:24:01.770 a link to take you directly to the NDIS website 0:24:01.770 --> 0:24:03.970 to help you better understand that process as well. 0:24:04.410 --> 0:24:10.090 Okay, and Liz understand Uber's been quite busy with a 0:24:10.090 --> 0:24:13.890 new transport subsidy trial. Tell us a bit about that one. 0:24:14.690 --> 0:24:17.730 Yeah, absolutely. They have. I mean we know how important 0:24:17.770 --> 0:24:20.450 Ubers are for the blind and low vision community. Sam. 0:24:20.930 --> 0:24:23.930 So Uber is launching a trial to advocate for provider 0:24:23.930 --> 0:24:27.730 neutral transport subsidy schemes. And that's to move beyond what 0:24:27.730 --> 0:24:31.390 is currently the taxi only model. So this new initiative 0:24:31.430 --> 0:24:34.510 aims to demonstrate, through real world data, the benefits of 0:24:34.510 --> 0:24:38.150 offering people with disability a greater choice in their transport services. 0:24:38.830 --> 0:24:42.950 Uber will fund the equivalent subsidy and mirror existing schemes 0:24:42.950 --> 0:24:45.510 in each state to gather the insights and support the 0:24:45.510 --> 0:24:49.070 government policy needs for the reform. And Uber themselves have 0:24:49.070 --> 0:24:51.629 come up with a survey that you can complete and 0:24:51.630 --> 0:24:52.430 have your say. 0:24:53.070 --> 0:24:58.990 Perfect. And Liz, a new accessible game has just landed, 0:24:58.990 --> 0:25:00.470 so that's quite exciting. 0:25:01.470 --> 0:25:04.910 Yeah, it really is. It's it's so cool. Sam and 0:25:04.910 --> 0:25:07.389 the man who developed the game, he's actually going to 0:25:07.390 --> 0:25:10.230 be a part of our Telelink Winter webinar series, which 0:25:10.230 --> 0:25:12.830 I'll talk about a little bit later. But a new 0:25:12.830 --> 0:25:16.190 game has landed. It's called The Land of Libya. It's 0:25:16.190 --> 0:25:18.510 a phone and iPad game that was designed for people 0:25:18.510 --> 0:25:21.070 who are blind or have low vision. And it's up 0:25:21.070 --> 0:25:25.750 for a 2025 Apple Design Award. Very, very cool. So 0:25:25.750 --> 0:25:28.890 whether you yourself are new to gaming, or you're just 0:25:28.890 --> 0:25:31.250 curious about sussing out a new game for your phone, 0:25:31.610 --> 0:25:35.369 The Land of Livia offers a relaxed, accessible experience that's 0:25:35.410 --> 0:25:39.410 filled with rich storytelling and simple controls. All you need 0:25:39.410 --> 0:25:42.129 to play this game is your imagination. Just visit the 0:25:42.130 --> 0:25:43.690 App Store and have a try. 0:25:44.050 --> 0:25:49.730 Sounds fantastic. And let's jump into that telling discussion now. 0:25:49.970 --> 0:25:53.690 There's quite a few special interest groups that are just 0:25:53.690 --> 0:25:55.410 kicking off as we speak. 0:25:55.970 --> 0:25:59.210 Yeah, absolutely. They're starting very, very soon within the next week. 0:25:59.210 --> 0:26:02.090 So there's still time to register. There are going to 0:26:02.090 --> 0:26:06.690 be four stories with four powerful messages. So our Telelink 0:26:06.690 --> 0:26:09.609 webinar series is always a very popular series. We do 0:26:09.610 --> 0:26:12.450 them in the summer and the winter, and this winter 0:26:12.450 --> 0:26:15.610 it's shaping up to be a great series. So we 0:26:15.610 --> 0:26:19.770 have an incredible lineup that feature a professor, a businesswoman, 0:26:19.970 --> 0:26:22.730 a gaming developer, the man who did Land of Livia, 0:26:23.010 --> 0:26:26.790 and an educator. Their stories are just so cool. They're 0:26:26.790 --> 0:26:31.030 filled with inspiration, how they overcame challenges and their triumphs. 0:26:31.150 --> 0:26:33.590 You can visit us online and go straight to the 0:26:33.590 --> 0:26:35.669 Telelink webpage to learn more about that. 0:26:36.030 --> 0:26:39.590 And to find out anything more about those sort of things, 0:26:39.590 --> 0:26:42.870 and a lot more as well. You can of course, 0:26:42.910 --> 0:26:47.710 sign up to the FYI mailing list by heading to 0:26:47.950 --> 0:26:54.430 the Vision Australia website. Vision Australia and search for. For 0:26:54.430 --> 0:26:58.230 your information. To get your name onto the mailing list 0:26:58.230 --> 0:27:02.430 and have the latest issue of FYI emailed to you 0:27:02.470 --> 0:27:06.030 every two weeks. Liz, thank you so much for your 0:27:06.030 --> 0:27:08.950 time today. Great to catch up with you as always 0:27:08.950 --> 0:27:12.950 and hear about all the exciting things in this issue 0:27:12.950 --> 0:27:14.110 of FYI. 0:27:14.830 --> 0:27:17.150 Thank you for having me Sam, and we will chat 0:27:17.150 --> 0:27:18.350 again in two weeks. 0:27:24.480 --> 0:27:27.560 And that's all the time we have for today. You've 0:27:27.560 --> 0:27:31.679 been listening to Talking Vision. Talking vision is a Vision 0:27:31.720 --> 0:27:35.880 Australia radio production. Thanks to all involved with putting the 0:27:35.880 --> 0:27:40.040 show together every week. And remember, we love hearing from you. 0:27:40.040 --> 0:27:43.560 So please get in touch anytime on our email at 0:27:43.600 --> 0:27:48.960 Talking Vision at Vision Australia. That's talking vision all. One 0:27:48.960 --> 0:27:53.720 word at Vision Australia. But until next week it's Sam 0:27:53.720 --> 0:27:55.679 Corley saying bye for now. 0:27:59.080 --> 0:28:03.160 You can contact Vision Australia by phoning us anytime during 0:28:03.160 --> 0:28:11.040 business hours on one 384 746. That's one 384 74 0:28:11.560 --> 0:28:16.480 six or by visiting Vision Australia. That's Vision Australia.