S1: From Vision Australia. This is talking vision. And now here's
S1: your host, Sam Collins.
S2: Hello everyone. It's great to be here with you. And
S2: for the next half hour we talk matters of blindness
S2: and low vision.
S3: Running is possible for everyone, but even a lot of races,
S3: if you don't actually run, you can walk. A lot
S3: of races like the New York Marathon has really lenient
S3: cutoff time. So there are people who walked the whole
S3: New York Marathon. So, you know, the running community is
S3: just a great community. There's not a lot of judgment.
S3: We're there for each other, to support each other, regardless
S3: of how fast or slow we do things.
S2: Welcome to the program. This week we hear from Claudia Stevenson,
S2: a marathon runner who, along with her guide, recently took
S2: part in and completed the New York Marathon. You'll hear
S2: from her with a voice that's familiar to some people,
S2: I'm sure Matt Leigh as he caught up with Claudia
S2: to chat all about it. Then later on, you'll hear
S2: from Conrad Browne. He caught up with artistic director of
S2: the other film festival, Fiona Twohey. The festival overlapped as
S2: well with the celebration of International Day for people with
S2: disabilities on the 3rd of December. I hope you'll enjoy
S2: this week's episode of Talking Vision. And now here's Matt
S2: Ley with Claudia Stephenson.
S4: We're joined by Claudia Stephenson, an active member of Achilles
S4: Melbourne who recently took on the New York Marathon and
S4: completed it. And today we have Claudia on the line.
S4: Thanks for joining us, Claudia.
S3: No problem. I'm glad to be here, Matt.
S4: What are the current emotions for you after? What was
S4: an amazing experience?
S3: I just feel so proud. I've put in a lot
S3: of hard work over the last 12 months, and to
S3: have completed the marathon and done a lot better than
S3: what I expected, I just yes, so proud of myself.
S3: It's been a huge year while I've been training, I suppose,
S3: and something that I hadn't ever really thought I could
S3: do before.
S4: Anything like these big challenges in life. I take a
S4: lot of planning, and you don't just wake up one
S4: day and say, we're going to run a marathon. It
S4: takes a lot of planning, takes a lot of research.
S4: When did the first idea come that you wanted to
S4: complete the New York Marathon?
S3: As first, I've been thinking about completing a marathon. I'm
S3: the last couple of years. I am fairly recent to running,
S3: so I joined Achilles Melbourne about six years ago, and
S3: before then I really wasn't a runner. I had pretty
S3: negative experiences of running at high school and then, you know,
S3: sort of put it behind me. I've been very active
S3: in my life. You know, I've done some really long
S3: walks and I've done other physical activities, but I've never
S3: really been a runner and didn't really think I was.
S3: I could be a runner. Yeah, I sort of a
S3: few things happened around the time that I joined Achilles.
S3: Like I had a friend who suggested I could do
S3: one of those catch to five K programs. I started
S3: taking part in parkrun activities and I joined Achilles, and
S3: all of those things just sort of started me on
S3: that running journey. It's been over time that I've, you know,
S3: I've sort of been working towards becoming a runner from,
S3: from definitely being a walker. I think only this year
S3: I've really actually started to think of myself as a,
S3: as a real runner, even though, you know, I've completed
S3: some half marathons and done, you know, races before. And
S3: this year it's my mindsets really changed. And I've really
S3: had to realise that actually I am a runner and
S3: particularly after finishing a marathon, I've got no excuses anymore.
S3: I definitely have to call myself a runner and.
S4: Having that self-belief too is very important.
S3: Yeah it is. I think it's just one of those
S3: little shifts, you know, the way that our language influences,
S3: you know, our thoughts. Changing that, that language and starting
S3: to call myself a runner has been has been really
S3: important for me.
S4: So what sort of training did you do over periods
S4: of time to build up to this big event? To say,
S4: I'm ready to run the New York Marathon and then
S4: take that next forward step in and getting this support
S4: to do so.
S3: Yeah. So I really got serious last November when the
S3: the last year's marathon was running. That was when I
S3: really clicked and I went, yeah, I really want to
S3: do this. I've been, you know, toughing it up for
S3: a couple of years. In 2022, I ran the Gold
S3: Coast Half Marathon, and I got really serious about doing that.
S3: And I got a coach and she wrote me up
S3: a really fantastic training program, and I followed that. So
S3: it really broke it down into these really manageable goals
S3: that included walking, which was really important to me, so
S3: that I always tried to do better than what my
S3: training program says. So if it said, you know, you're
S3: allowed to walk for a kilometre, I'd kind of go, okay, well,
S3: I'll try and, you know, limit my walking to 500m
S3: or I'll try and do it without walking at all.
S3: But having that little, you know, out was still really
S3: important to me. And so did the Gold Coast Half
S3: Marathon and did it really successfully. And that really gave
S3: me confidence that, yeah, perhaps I really could get serious
S3: about doing a full marathon. And I've seen in the
S3: past that Achilles international had really good connections with the
S3: New York Marathon, and there'd been some opportunities for people
S3: to go over in the past and participate. So I thought,
S3: oh yeah, okay, right, I'm going to make it happen.
S3: 2023 is going to be hopefully the year. So I
S3: approached that same coach that would give me that training
S3: program and I said, okay, I want to make this happen.
S3: And I said, you know, I've heard people say, oh,
S3: you only need 16 weeks, you know, to train for
S3: the marathon. And I was like, yeah, no, I need,
S3: I need a year because I didn't consider myself to
S3: be that runner. And running wasn't a part of my life.
S3: And at that stage I had gone back to sort
S3: of not running. After doing the Gold Coast Marathon, I
S3: sort of a half marathon. I'd sort of stopped and
S3: I decided I really needed to, to actually get running
S3: regularly and get running again. So. I had to really
S3: build myself up from from barely being able to run,
S3: you know, five KS to, to get him to back
S3: to those longer distances of being able to do a
S3: half and then work up to the full. So I
S3: got got myself a really good training program, and I
S3: also started the process to actually entering the New York Marathon.
S3: So we had to enter the ballot and have our
S3: names basically drawn out of the hat. So I think
S3: I put my name down in the ballot in February,
S3: and the ballot was drawn in March, and I was
S3: successful to actually get a place. So then that was
S3: where it got actually serious, and I was like, well, okay,
S3: we've really got to make this happen now. So yeah,
S3: just just working over the last 12 months really to,
S3: you know, with strength. So I do a strength class,
S3: runs a strength class on a Wednesday night and then
S3: also doing workouts in the gym. So, you know, a
S3: shorter workout on a, on a my my workday in
S3: around my workday. So on Monday I would go to
S3: the gym and do a shorter workout. Then on a
S3: Friday I'd do a sort of either a speed or
S3: a hill session, Saturday doing parkrun and then Sunday with
S3: my long run day. And that gradually built up over
S3: time from, you know, sort of A5K to the ten
S3: to the 15 to the 20 to the 23, 24,
S3: you know, and all the way up to about 32
S3: K's was the longest we ever did in training before
S3: actually doing the marathon.
S4: When you knew that you had successfully applied and got
S4: permission to run, did you actually go over there for
S4: at all prior to the marathon to be, you know,
S4: to maybe complete the course before you competed in the
S4: actual marathon itself or or did you, I suppose, talk
S4: to others that might may have experienced the marathon to
S4: get some hints, some tips, just a little bit of
S4: the pitfalls, some of the things to be aware of
S4: and just get so your own bearings of some things
S4: that you needed just to gain that, that confidence in yourself.
S3: Oh golly, I wish I would just have the money
S3: to just loved the States every couple of weeks. You know,
S3: that'd be great. No, there was no chance of me
S3: going over to the States. Before the marathon. We'd had
S3: another one of our members complete the marathon last year,
S3: so we chatted to them about their experiences, both them
S3: and their guide about their experiences. I have a treadmill
S3: that's like a super duper treadmill. It's got like video workouts,
S3: and it actually had parts of the New York Marathon
S3: on it. So I did sort of 30 K's of
S3: the New York Marathon on my treadmill, and that was
S3: pretty amazing, because you got a bit of a taste
S3: for what the crowds were going to be like, because,
S3: you know, you could hear the crowds and the trainer
S3: talk to you about the, yeah, the different locations that
S3: you were passing. So that was pretty cool. And then,
S3: you know, just talking to some other people who had
S3: completed it. So I tried to do a bit of research.
S3: Looking back in hindsight, actually, nothing prepares you for what
S3: it's actually like out on course. It's completely unlike anything.
S3: I think anyone could have prepared that the crowds are
S3: so loud. Yeah, and the vibe in New York is
S3: just so intense. You know, everyone's talking about the marathon
S3: wherever you go. Like, it's just amazing. It really. It's like,
S3: you know, we talk about Melbourne, you know, the Melbourne Cup,
S3: the race, it stops the nation. Well, you know, the
S3: New York Marathon is the race that really stops New York.
S3: Like everyone's just so on board. It's yeah, it's just amazing.
S4: What were some of the challenges doing doing the marathon career?
S4: I mean what were the biggest things for you? Obviously
S4: you need resilience to be able to complete it. There's
S4: times that you're you're doing you're doing it in blocks
S4: of kilometers, as you alluded to before, and you've trained it.
S4: So there's different thoughts going through your mind through the
S4: whole journey. But there must be so many other challenges
S4: within it as well.
S3: Yeah, I learned a lot about myself during the marathon,
S3: so I run with a guide next to me, and
S3: then I also have a bulldozer out the front, and
S3: my bulldozer was doing the best job of getting those
S3: crowds revved up. And, you know, he was really getting
S3: them going and like, really getting them to cheer and whatever.
S3: And all I was thinking was like, oh, no, please
S3: just stop. It's just too much like there's just too
S3: much noise. So I learned about myself. But actually, I
S3: don't find all of that extra noise really all that invigorating.
S3: Whereas actually, my God, my other guy, she was absolutely
S3: feeding off it and just drawing so much energy from that.
S3: And I was almost like the opposite way of like,
S3: I just died. This is not recharging my batteries at all,
S3: which is like draining my batteries really quickly. So, you know,
S3: that was a really good learning for me to take away. And,
S3: you know, next time I'd definitely be thinking about what
S3: I could be doing for myself to help mitigate some
S3: of that excess noise. Like, I love the people actually
S3: being there. It was gorgeous. There was like young kids
S3: giving you high fives along the side. And I loved
S3: all of that. And I think also for me. Having
S3: never done a marathon. And as I said before, you know,
S3: in our training we go up to about 32km. It
S3: was like ten kilometers that I'd never run before. It
S3: was like venturing into the unknown. And and I was
S3: thinking about that in my head. I was like, oh golly,
S3: we're coming up to 32 K's. Oh, this is where
S3: I don't know. I don't know the rest of this,
S3: you know, like, and I was, I was getting into
S3: my own head. So, you know, for the next marathon
S3: that I run because yes, I am thinking about doing
S3: another one. Yeah. You know, I will be able to
S3: change my mindset in that last ten k's because that
S3: is when it starts to get physically challenging. But, you know,
S3: hopefully take away some of that mental challenge by going, actually,
S3: we have done this before. I have been here, you know,
S3: we can do this. And knowing a little bit more
S3: about what it feels like, oh.
S4: Is this going to ask on Knox Robinson, the, the
S4: influence that he'd had on you?
S3: Yeah. So as I mentioned, I have this really amazing
S3: treadmill that's got these amazing trainers and knocks. Robinson was
S3: the guy that actually did the New York training, you know,
S3: the marathons on the on the on the treadmill. And
S3: I was meant to have another guide from Melbourne come
S3: over to the States with me. But unfortunately she had
S3: to pull out for some medical reasons. So I just
S3: like out of the blue contacted Knox and he agreed
S3: to run the marathon with me. Just having him there
S3: was just like amazing because I'd literally done the course
S3: with him on the treadmill, but I hadn't completed it.
S3: And so yeah, that last little section was like quite amazing, actually,
S3: crossing the finishing line with him. And yeah, his his
S3: energy was just fantastic. And just his confidence that like, absolutely,
S3: he knew that I was going to just complete it
S3: and do it really well. So you know, it was
S3: and he'd never met me, you know, like I was
S3: getting that from my from my coach Karen, but you know,
S3: like to have someone who'd never met me and, you know,
S3: absolutely following that up, backing that up in the actual
S3: run was was incredible career.
S4: As we wrap up a final message for people who
S4: in the future would like to follow your lead and
S4: run a marathon in particular, something special similar to the
S4: New York Marathon.
S3: I think my message is that running, you know, is
S3: possible for everyone, but even a lot of races, if
S3: you don't actually run, you can walk. A lot of
S3: races like the New York Marathon has really lenient cutoff time.
S3: So there are people who walked through the whole New
S3: York Marathon. So, you know, the running community is just
S3: a great community. There's not a lot of judgment. We're
S3: there for each other, to support each other, regardless of
S3: how fast or slow we do things. You know, we're
S3: doing better than the people who get who don't get
S3: off the couch. So come along, get involved. Come for
S3: a walk. Come for a jog, come for a run.
S4: You can go to Achilles australia.org dot forward slash Melbourne
S4: for further details. Cordia Stevenson thanks for joining us on
S4: Vision Australia Radio.
S3: No problems at all. Thanks so much for your time, Matt.
S2: I'm Sam Culley and you're listening to Talking Vision on
S2: Vision Australia Radio, associated stations of FX and the Community
S2: Radio Network. I hope you enjoyed that interview with Matt
S2: Lee and Claudia Stephenson there. If you missed any part
S2: of that conversation with Matt and Claudia, or you'd love
S2: to have a listen again. Talking vision is available on
S2: the Vision Australia Radio website at npr.org. You can also
S2: find Talking Vision through your favorite podcast platform or through
S2: the Vision Australia library. And now here's Conrad Brown with
S2: Fiona Toohey from the other film festival.
S5: The other film festival and Arts Access Victoria are presenting resistance,
S5: an online accessible film program available for streaming on demand
S5: now via Acm's Cinema three website. Resistance is a program
S5: of international and Australian films screening until Thursday, December 7th.
S5: All of the resistance films are made by deaf and
S5: disabled people, either as key creators, collaborators and or performers,
S5: and also, very importantly, all of the films are free
S5: to watch. Audio described and captioned. The other film festival
S5: is proudly disability led, with a festival team including artistic
S5: director Fiona Toomey, who is joining us on the program today. Fiona,
S5: wonderful to have you here.
S3: Oh, thank you so much. You know, honored to be
S3: here as well.
S5: Fiona, we love featuring a festival on Virgin Australia Radio
S5: that ticks the boxes. And I mean that in the
S5: most positive way. So great to see that. It is
S5: obviously disability focused but also audio described as well, which
S5: is something that's very important to our community of interest
S5: and our listeners. But before we go into the program
S5: and looking at it kind of more in depth, tell
S5: us a little bit about your role in the festival
S5: and the festival itself. Okay.
S6: Well, next to you, the other film festival, or as
S6: we call in its nickname is TOF. Yes, it's its
S6: 20th anniversary. I've been working on it as artistic director
S6: for the last few years, but I was, as I'm
S6: a filmmaker as well. I was around a little bit
S6: when it started in the early 2000. You know, there
S6: was many reasons for it to stop. But one of
S6: the big reasons at the time and, you know, things
S6: have improved, but they've still got a long way to
S6: go that access. So particularly audio description captioning wasn't happening
S6: at the kind of mainstream film festivals. And even with cinema,
S6: there was still that fight going on. So in terms
S6: of access, that's something that it isn't tokenistic. It's something
S6: that we do a lot of advocacy on. But for
S6: our offer, there's certain, you know, minimum they're not even minimum.
S6: Like we wouldn't do something if it wasn't going to
S6: be audio described for example. So sort of that's some
S6: of the history. And what's quite exciting now. And I
S6: like am artistic director. You know, I do work part
S6: time doing this work for the festival at Arts Access Victoria.
S6: But I'm also a filmmaker and identify with disability, and
S6: I've also ended up being there's a few of us,
S6: but doing a lot of advocacy in that mainstream space. And,
S6: you know, there's a lot of change coming and a
S6: lot of disability is actually finally, you know, a big
S6: part of the diversity conversations that are happening mainstream, but
S6: still a lot along a long way to go and
S6: a lot to kind of for the mainstream to catch
S6: up with. So that's both in terms of access. And
S6: you would know a lot more around how much work
S6: screen work out there is and is not audio described,
S6: but also and what's really important to us and how
S6: we ended up choosing the films too, is that we
S6: are really interested in who's authoring the film, who's actually
S6: making the film. So in the screenings we talk about
S6: Above the Line, so that's writers, directors and producers, and
S6: we really want that work to be made in the
S6: language we use by deaf and disabled people. You know,
S6: that there's authentic casting, that there's, you know, social model thinking.
S6: So it's really found this exciting portrayal that channel four has.
S6: And they actually use that term social model thinking. But
S6: it's just really trying to get away from all the
S6: stereotypes we've all seen. We want also opportunities for for
S6: actors and performers and all creatives to actually be getting
S6: roles in not only short films but in mainstream as well.
S6: So we feel like, you know, our film festival and
S6: it's so great that it can be national. Yes, streaming
S6: platform hopefully is helping. That's part of our modus operandi,
S6: which is big language. That's part of what we're you
S6: know what I mean? We're not just choosing these films
S6: out of nowhere. There's there's sort of a framework we're
S6: trying to or a very strong advocacy, but also hopefully
S6: really entertaining and insightful.
S5: I think all film festivals, you know, walk that fine line.
S5: But with Toff, I think one of the. Things that
S5: came out for me when I was looking at the
S5: program and reading more about it was, there's always a
S5: lot of talk about representation and the importance of representation,
S5: but for a lot of people that can just be
S5: having someone in the cast who has a disability or
S5: is othered in some way, as you've highlighted, the really
S5: important part here is that representation is key on screen
S5: and behind the scenes, and in every single aspect of
S5: of what is being presented, which is such an important thing.
S5: And it seems obvious, but I think, as you said,
S5: we've come a long way, but we still have a
S5: long way to come in terms of representation. But when
S5: you're putting the program together, you know it's featuring international
S5: and Australian films. Is there a lot of content out
S5: there for you to choose from, or are you really
S5: kind of getting in there and hunting all of this,
S5: these great films out?
S6: We are definitely hunting things out. I mean, think, look,
S6: it's not to say it's certainly more work coming through,
S6: but because our focus is really like, we want to
S6: know who's making the work and not trying to be
S6: like a censor, but we're really making space for something
S6: that has been unrepresented. And where us as a disability community,
S6: have not had the power and agency in that storytelling.
S6: And so that's really important to us. And I suppose
S6: that's also not true. We've got a real curatorial focus.
S6: And so this year we've got the theme of resistance.
S6: Last year we had a theme of flaunt is I
S6: suppose we're going for that less is more approach as well,
S6: and we're wanting, but it is a struggle to find.
S6: And that's why I feel with the other film festival,
S6: you know, we do get funding from Screen Australia, but
S6: we have three streams. So the screening industry and what
S6: I'm called community is because for me and am, as
S6: I said, a filmmaker, it's like I don't want to
S6: just be showing work from overseas or I don't want
S6: to do I want to be able to show we're
S6: based in Victoria, I want to be able to show
S6: a Victorian work, I want to be able. And in
S6: New South Wales they have this great program called Screen Ability.
S6: So we do have two screen ability short films and
S6: that is a that's a programming fund for people with
S6: disability to make their own work. But that's not in
S6: every state. So look there's definitely more work coming. But
S6: and it is challenging because ultimately disabilities are fabric. It's
S6: part of society. So ultimately everyone should and we should
S6: have disabled characters, I think, in all our mainstream shows.
S6: And and it's not wanting to be that kind of
S6: the advocacy police, but at the moment we've just had
S6: it's been going on for more than 100 years. We're
S6: not many of us are actually being the ones with
S6: our own agency in the storytelling. So that's why we
S6: want to prioritize, you know, as we say, kind of
S6: a cliche, but in a way, we would love it
S6: in a future where as a festival, we didn't need
S6: to exist because, you know, particularly for your audience, is
S6: that everything has got audio description or it's meeting access.
S6: But most importantly, deputies, abled people can, if they want
S6: to have thriving careers as screenwriters or filmmakers or producers.
S6: One of the.
S5: Other things that I think is a really important part
S5: to highlight about this festival is that when we talk
S5: about access, one of the other really unique things of
S5: this festival is that it is online and it is
S5: on demand and it is free. Now, we got used
S5: to in some ways because of lockdowns and during Covid times,
S5: being able to tap into some film festivals through online
S5: and on demand. And I think for a lot of people,
S5: they may have seen it as a convenient thing, but
S5: for others, it actually offered true accessibility to be able
S5: to enjoy and engage with these film festivals and really
S5: keen to find out from you, why is it so
S5: important for you to have it available in this platform
S5: and also for free?
S6: What's hybrid access? You can't, you know, I know if
S6: some people like I've been told we that for the
S6: deaf blind community, being online for example, may not be
S6: the best option. Sure. But you know, especially like for example,
S6: I'm immunocompromised, so I'm still being really careful how I
S6: go out in the world. But we've always had, you know,
S6: there's always a different range of access, meaning, you know,
S6: within the disability community, different times of day. So it's
S6: different people. If you live regionally, you can't, you know,
S6: different things about even travelling. So think having it. And
S6: we've extended this year for two weeks for an over
S6: a two week period. It gives you the flexibility, being
S6: on demand to watch it in your own time, in
S6: your own space, when you want to. And in terms
S6: of it being free, that's also really important because we
S6: don't want to prohibit particularly, you know, for the disability
S6: community there's always exceptions but not the wealthiest communities. So
S6: it's like that can be a barrier. We're just trying
S6: to remove as many barriers as possible. So there's always
S6: these arguments around oh but if you charge a nominal
S6: amount then people might watch more. But we're just trying
S6: to remove that. And we've got very clear access guidelines
S6: on the ACMi cinema three website. So making it really
S6: clear how you have to create an. Like maybe she
S6: could count on the cinema three platform. But then once
S6: you're in all our offerings during the two weeks of
S6: the festival, the work is free.
S5: No, I think it's so important. I think it's something
S5: that I don't think a lot of festivals have taken
S5: into account, is what accessibility actually can mean for a
S5: lot of different people.
S6: Yeah. And the audience numbers you can actually get. And
S6: I know because we also do, you know, partner with
S6: a number of the other bigger film festivals. And a
S6: couple of times we've done things. They've been shocked by
S6: the audience numbers. They've got when something's been online.
S5: I'm so glad to hear that. It's such a great
S5: lineup of a variety of films that you've got there
S5: on offer. So as we mentioned, Fiona, the festival is
S5: on until Thursday, December 7th. There's a fantastic range of
S5: films available on offer. It's free, it's on demand, it's
S5: online to have a check out what's happening in the
S5: programme and with the festival itself, head to cinema three
S5: dot ACMi dot net and then look for the other
S5: film festival. Really exciting that this festival exists and it's
S5: out there for everyone to enjoy. So Fiona, we are
S5: really proud to support it here on Virgin Australia Radio
S5: and wish you and the team all the best for
S5: a great festival.
S6: Thank you so much.
S2: That was Conrad Brown with Fiona Tully from the other
S2: film festival. If you're listening to this on Wednesday the
S2: 6th of December, there are still a couple of days
S2: left to watch the movies on offer through the other
S2: film festival. However, if you are listening past midnight on
S2: the 7th of December, worry not as in the meantime,
S2: there are plenty of audio described films, programs and exhibits
S2: on display through the Australian Centre for the Moving Image,
S2: as well as Vision Australia's catalogue of movies, TV shows
S2: and theatre productions, plus much more. To find out more
S2: about audio description, search for audio description services on the
S2: Visual Studio website. Vision australia.org that's Vision Australia all one
S2: word.org and that's all we have time for today. You've
S2: been listening to Talking Vision. Talking vision is a production
S2: of Vision Australia Radio. Thanks to all involved with putting
S2: the show together and remember we love your feedback and comments.
S2: So please do get in touch on Talking Vision at
S2: Vision australia.org. That's talking vision all. One word at Vision australia.org.
S2: But until next week it's Sam Cully saying bye for now.
S1: You can contact Vision Australia by phoning us anytime during
S1: business hours on one 308 4746. That's one 308 4746
S1: or by visiting Vision australia.org. That's Vision australia.org.