Sitting here thinking of some of the people I’ve been lucky enough to meet and talk to or spend time with over the years. From Queen Elizabeth to Jeff Fenech, Nelson Mandela to Ivan Lendl. All impressive, but all beaten by a 15 year old work experience girl I had the absolute
pleasure to have with me for a week. It was a bit over 30 years ago when I was a radio announcer in Darwin presenting an Aboriginal program for 2 hours daily Mon - Friday. The week before the assistant to the Manager of Radio told me she had a problem. This girl was coming in to
do work experience with us and she didn’t know what to do with her. Why? I asked. She replied She’s blind.
Ok, stick her with me. I replied. Jo came in the following day with her father to meet me and learn where she had to go. No seeing eye dog. Do you have a Braille writer,
good, bring it in and any sticky labels for it.
Monday morning comes around, she arrives with her gear, we chat for a while and I take her into the studio we would use all week. We spent the next couple of hours marking everything including the radio desk/panel in Braille.
The very first show I involved her by getting her to do the weather reports we transcribed into Braille. The following day I taught her how to run the desk/panel before we went on air. We practiced that for the next couple of days.
This girl was amazing, she played bass guitar