There's far more to Mel Stephens than first meets the eye.
Mel is a passionate storyteller, disability advocate and content creator who is blind, sharing her life, experiences and adventures with audiences across Australia and beyond. Living in regional Victoria, Mel describes herself simply: *"I'm just a country girl. I love horses, I love footy, I love travel. I just happen to experience the world through my fingertips and my ears, not my eyes."*
A proud horse lover and train enthusiast, Mel maintains a vibrant online presence across multiple platforms, where she documents the everyday experiences, adventures and occasional misadventures she shares with her Guide Dog, Penelope. Through her engaging and authentic storytelling, Mel offers unique insights into blindness, disability, independence and everyday life.
Recently, Mel also participated in the powerful theatrical production *My Story: Stories from the Waiting Room*, a performance designed to entertain, educate and challenge audiences by sharing authentic experiences of living with disability through dramatic storytelling.
Join us for a warm, engaging and insightful conversation as Mel shares her journey, her passions, her advocacy work and the importance of telling stories that help others better understand disability and lived experience.

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Introducing Martin Stewart a long term campaigner, activist & advocate of rights and needs for people who are blind. Martin was born blind and in 2002 was seriously injured an horrific public transport accident.
In his current role at Blind Citizens Australia (BCA) as the National Individual Advocacy Officer he assists people who are blind or vision impaired to empower them to achieve the things they need.

BCA is one of the leading national advocacy agencies that provide both systemic & individual advocacy.
There aim is to inform, connect, and empower Australians who are blind or vision impaired and to help fight for the rights and needs of this community.

During our engaging conversation with Martin we discover the variety and diversity within the Blind Community and learn that sometimes shouting loudly is the best way to be noticed and other times polite diplomacy is the preferred method. WE really appreciated getting a very brief insight in to Martin’s dedication and hard work over many years working to improve the lives of the vulnerable and under-represented.

Some of the reforms and actions initially advocated on behalf of Blind Australians are now common place and not even recognised as special treatment or applications and are now well-known everyday objects and sounds. We enjoye bringing to light some of these actions and developments. BCA is constantly working towards making life for people who are blind or have low vision as equitable as possible.
Within our conversation with Martin we highlight some everyday things that are still not as fair or equal for those who are blind, and learn what more needs to be done.

A very informative & educational conversation, that we are sure you will enjoy.

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Join us this week as we celebrate the lives and stories of Deafblind Western Australians. Simon and Andrew have a chat with Linni Oliver and Jason Rowland from Deafblind WA (DBWA) to help us celebrate and acknowledge Deafblind Awareness Week which runs from June 22nd to the 28th.

This year's theme is 'Connected by touch: Breaking barriers, building bridges." While we can't connect via touch in this audio format we do hope to help reduce barriers and build bridges between individuals and communities.

During Deafblind Week there will be celebrations across Australia highlighting community, advocacy and inclusion. We make mention of activities happening in Victoria but our main focus is on our recording location, WA. An example of the activities being held is the Lawn Bowls Event on Saturday 27 June, which is a celebration to wrap up the week with an afternoon on fun, friendship and community connection.

You can contact Linni at linni@dbwa.org.au to find out more.

This is a warm, friendly and engaging program that we are sure you will enjoy.

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