INTERPRETER: The only thing that makes me different from other people
is that I can't hear - that's it.
I can still communicate with you.
I just have a different way
of communicating.
I think the most disabling part of society's attitudes is acceptance.
Especially for people with a disability in the workplace.
I applied for a job
with a very well-known disability-friendly organisation.
The role was the perfect opportunity for me.
And they actually asked me to apply for that job.
I made it through to the second interview...again.
Went through it. It went really well.
And I just thought that "I've got this.
"I just feel so confident about this."
Well, the manager that I spoke to went to speak to the HR manager
to sort out the paperwork.
And then they realised I was deaf.
And they realised to communicate with me,
they would need to bring in interpreters,
which was going to be expensive.
So that HR manager,
they realised that I was going to be too expensive for them.
They thought I was going to be a little bit too much
of a financial burden
and they didn't see me as being an investment for the company.
So I didn't get a job because I was deaf, and I was very disappointed.
I know some companies where,
say, the staff member lives in a different state to where they work,
that company is happy to pay for flights back and forth
for them to commute every week.
They have car allowances that they give to people
so people can drive around.
They're really worthy investments
that show people that the company cares about them.
So when you think about all of those investments,
an interpreter is just a tiny amount of that.
I think in a perfect world,
everyone would accept each other for who they are.
And everyone would learn sign language.
Even just the most basic signs. That means a lot to me.
If I see someone say thank you and sign that to me,
that just warms my heart.
It just makes me feel so good.
If someone can say, "Hi. How are you?"
I think if everyone was able just to do that.
You know?
I don't think the world has to be the way it is forever.
I think we should get rid of the old world
and start this new world going forward.
And I want to give people the opportunity to do something new.
Go learn sign language.
Why not?
I find that people's attitudes are the most disabling for me.
I think it's curiosity.
I definitely think it's that,
but I don't know whether people realise
that their curiosity is tiring
when you're on the receiving end,
that it's rude, that it's condescending,
that it sets low expectations.
You know, why do they really need to know?
Fear as well.
I had a cleaner very scared of my face
and she was so scared that she left the house and she couldn't clean
because she'd never seen someone like me before.
I called the agent and she said,
"Oh, the cleaner was so shocked by your face,
"she didn't know what to do, she just left."
So, they said that it wasn't discrimination - ha! -
because, you know, they weren't on the end of it.
You know, it's hurtful.
You know, I'm not going to lie. You know, it's just...
But I think I'm quite resilient now
and just, you know, it's just another thing.
So the fear aspect means that people prejudge me
before I am able to speak for myself.
I have had instances where the taxi driver doesn't want to take me
because, well, he saw I'm really red, so I must be drunk.
Or my face would ruin his car.
It can make me feel just...exasperated
by having to explain to strangers all the time.
It can make me laugh because some of the comments are just so silly.
I had an instance where I was at a concert
and a woman laughed at my face
and I sort of called her on that and she couldn't respond.
And then afterwards, they were all... like, her and her friends
were all talking about what an awful person I was
when I was just defending myself and saying what bad behaviour this was.
But I feel for the people that don't have my resilience
or support network.
You know, that's really, really hard on them.
Knowing that through telling a story like mine about discrimination,
other people are more comfortable and confident to tell theirs,
so that's a good thing.
I got bullied quite a bit at school.
They were teasing me because I had a disability
and I'll see them around and they will keep on teasing me
I mean, it would never stop.
I mean, the bullying never stopped.
It got physical in high school.
Physical every day
to the point where I did not want to go to school.
It made me angry and it made me scared.
It affected me very badly because at one point,
um...
..most points, I wanted to kill myself.
Actually, I attempted to.
The bullying disabled me because people didn't understand disability.
In my case, high-functioning autism.
Try to get to know someone with a disability
before judging them or us.
And to find there's so much more than...
They're really missing that.
They might end up actually liking us.
So bullying hurts
and it doesn't just hurt the person.
It will hurt everyone involved with it eventually.
So don't bully.
Get to know someone.
Love, not hate.
As a person living with a disability,
what I find disabling in the world
is able-bodied people's low expectations of me.
When I was in Year 11 approaching Year 12,
some teachers at my school believed
that it would be too hard for me
to complete my HSC
and that it would be best for me to leave school at that time.
Luckily, my mother said, "No. I want Johanna to finish school.
"She will complete her HSC."
I was able to finish my HSC and I did really well.
If we had listened to them,
I couldn't imagine what my life would be like.
Um, I'd...
It wouldn't have been as successful as it is now.
I wouldn't have gone to university,
I wouldn't have gone to film school,
I wouldn't be travelling the world
and also have the kind of friends and support network that I do now
if we had listened to them at the time.
I often do think about those teachers
who believed that I shouldn't finish school,
but luckily I talk to my mother quite often about this
and she said, "They had no power over you."
And she was right. They had no power over me.
They didn't really understand what I was capable of
and what my abilities were.
All they could see was my disability
and they just held on to their low expectations.
I don't think it has to be this way.
I think that if people are open-minded
and just get to know a person, then it doesn't have to be that way.
By doing this, people thrive.
Like, I look at how different I am now
to what I was as an 18-year-old,
I'm incredibly confident
and I'm more hopeful of what my life will become.
But I am so grateful that my mother wanted me to finish school
and do the HSC
because without her, I wouldn't have the life that I do now.
The world that I live in isn't designed for blind people.
As a blind person,
I've got to try and adapt to that kind of environment
and that's a real challenge.
Well, every day, I need to cross roads
and that's terrifying when you can't see.
I trust the indicators that are there.
-Push the button. -(BEEP!)
Listen to the beeps.
(BEEP!)
Feel the arrow, which direction that's pointing.
Maybe have a feel with my cane which way the tram ramp's facing.
So many intersections now are not straight.
Recently, I walked out into the middle of the intersection.
And was terrified.
I got to the other side eventually and was confronted with a fence
blocking my path.
I had nowhere to go.
The lights went green for the traffic.
I had buses and cars rushing behind me.
I held onto the fence for dear life and just hoped for the best.
And eventually, I was able to make my way along the fence
and get out of there.
And I tell you what, that really disables my ability
to get out into my community.
If we could fix up the roads to make it safe for me and others...
..that would just...
..open up a whole new world to me.
I would be able to go and explore my neighbourhood,
go beyond those boundaries and discover new things,
meet new people.
It's something I dream about. It...it...
Being able to do that...
..I wouldn't feel disabled.
I'd just be differently abled.