Each week, Benjamin Law asks public figures to discuss the subjects we’re told to keep private by getting them to roll a die.
asserted
them → ask → die
The numbers they land on are the topics they’re given.
asserted
they → land → ?
This week, he talks to Nas Campanella, the ABC’s national disability affairs reporter and the world’s first blind newsreader to operate the studio while delivering live broadcasts.
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he → talk → broadcasts
She’s also co-author of the accessible children’s book All the Ways I See.
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I → ’ → book
You’re the ABC’s first national disability affairs reporter.
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You → ’re → ?
Did you have to lobby to create that role?
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you → have → role
It came about because of the Disability Royal Commission.
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It → come → Commission
I knew that I wanted to cover it, so I went to the ABC, pitching that we have a national disability affairs reporter.
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we → know → reporter
Obviously, I had myself in mind [Laughs].
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I → have → mind
In the role, are you struck by how far Australia’s come – or by how far we’ve still to go?
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we → strike → role
I’m ever the optimist, but there are still circumstances where I’ll go to a cafe with my husband [fellow journalist Thomas Oriti] and my son [Lachie, 4], and my husband will be asked, “What does she want to order?”
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she → ’m → What
It happens less and less, but it still happens.
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it → happen → ?
But what I’ve also noticed – particularly now I have a child – is how wonderful parents are at talking to their children about disability.
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parents → notice → disability
I’ve had children at daycare come up to me, tap me on the shoulder and say, “Hi, my name’s Joey!
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name → have → shoulder
Can I show you this?”
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I → show → this
It’s very clear their parents are having smart, educated conversations with them about how to interact and communicate with me – and about the fact I’m a mum like any other parent.
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I → ’ → parent
The dangerous thing is to say to your children, “Don’t ask” or “Look away.”
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thing → say → children
I love it when children ask questions.
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children → love → questions
Don’t tell them they’re being naughty by noticing that someone’s different.
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someone → tell → them
Ask the person – if they’re comfortable with questions – what words they like to use to describe their disability.
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they → ask → disability
I just tell people that I’m blind: I can’t see.
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I → tell → people
I see with my hands instead of my eyes.
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I → see → hands
To what extent do you feel like the children’s book you’ve co-written [with Eliza Hull] is an act of advocacy for kids with disabilities?
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you → feel → disabilities
I don’t see myself as an advocate: first and foremost, I’m a journo.
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I → see → advocate
What I wanted to create was a story with a central character who’s blind, because I didn’t get to read stories with people like me in them growing up.
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I → want → them
I wanted to create a story that shows that people with disabilities go to the beach just like anyone else.
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people → want → anyone
They just experience it in a slightly different way.
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They → experience → way
RELIGION
You grew up in western Sydney in a big, Italian-Australian family.
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You → grow → family
Does that also mean Catholic?
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that → mean → Catholic
Yeah, I grew up in a Catholic family with a very Catholic nonna and nonno, and had 13 years of Catholic education.
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I → grow → education
My grandmother would constantly have her rosary beads on the go.
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grandmother → have → go
Personally, I’m on the fence about what’s out there, although I still have the Catholic guilt thing.
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I → ’m → thing
You have to self-flagellate!
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You → have → ?
Yes, otherwise something bad will happen!
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something → happen → ?
Is it true that you’ve had strangers get on their knees and pray for you?
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strangers → have → you
I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve pulled me aside in a food court, shopping centre or while I’m on the train going to work to pray for me.
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I → lose → me
When I was in my late teens and early 20s, it would happen a lot.
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it → happen → teens
People would say they wanted to pray for a cure for my blindness.
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they → say → blindness
This is one of the things that I take issue with when it comes to religion.
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it → take → religion
For some people, we – as disabled people – are seen as needing to be cured, to be fixed.
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we → see → people
…and 24 more, not listed.
The Aporia
