Mastering Blindness: Listen to The Radio Australia Interview With Phil Kafcaloudes

Exciting news!

Following is the audio interview where I speak with the charming Phil Kafcaloudes, presenter of the popular morning breakfast show on Radio Australia.


We talk candidly for 15 minutes on ‘ Mastering the daily challenges of living with blindness’and journey back in time to explain how it all began with the diagnosis in my teens.

The following blurb appeared on 28th January, Radio Australia’s home page:

 Melbourne author Maribel Steel shares her positive experience of living with blindness.

“Freelance writer and blogger Maribel Steel began to lose vision in the seventies. She was fifteen.  Strong-willed, she decided then to find other ways of doing things and was determined not to let vision impairment get her down. 
She says becoming blind never stopped her enjoying what life had to offer.

She has travelled, written a recipe book and has become a motivational speaker on the topic of living with blindness and the daily challenges to overcome.

She discusses her experience and many projects with Phil Kafcaloudes.”

So – if you want a front row seat, bring along your cup of coffee and sit back and listen to the conversation-

maribelsteel.com

 

Credits

With all my heart I thank my devoted partner, Harry Williamson, who makes the journey into blindness so much more fun – every girl needs a fella like Harry!

And to Phil Kafcaloudes, a rare gentleman indeed! It was truly a pleasure to meet you.

Thank you to you and your producer, Adelaine Ng, for such a warm welcome at the studio.

© 2014 Maribel Steel

Being Blind is the Obstacle AND the Stepping Stone

Have you ever wondered what you would do if you were to be given the diagnosis of pending blindness? How would you cope? What would you do? How on earth would you find the strength to switch camps – from the sighted to the blind?


I have considered this question as the new year dawns – and wondered what I could write that would encourage others who may be facing the gateway to blindness, not to let the ‘obstacle’ stop you dead in your tracks.


As part of my writing goals for this year, I can offer you a NEW perspective

– how to see the insurmountable block of granite as a clear path littered with convenient stepping stones instead!


Sounds good? Follow me, one stepping stone at a time...

Composing a collection of posts on this theme, thoughts scramble and jostle for room on a blank page as I try to keep up with the speed of their conception. No need to fight, I’ll make room for you all, I assure them, writing in a burst of enthusiasm.


Enter the inner Field Marshal, Really? You’re going to move that huge boulder for your readers? You and whose army?

I ignore the voice of doubt and strategise how best to plot a path through the mine field of uncertainty. Suddenly, the inner field marshal jumps up with delight and gives me a hearty slap on the back, “Great! I like your plan. Get in there and help the troops overcome the internal obstacles to gain a better fighting position. Find those stepping stones and we can beat this thing. Go, go GO!...”

A Simple Truth

In my seventeenth year, I was called to face pending blindness. Naturally, I wanted to resist having to shift camps – and begged the inner field marshal to let me remain at home as a ‘normal’ citizen. But there was no choice. I had my marching orders, and I was expected to face a new truth.

During the journey over many obstacles to cope with the foreign land where blindness resides, I have been able to adapt to its harsh and unforgiving landscapes by keeping my sights on one simple truth:

If I can muster the strength to persevere, trust in my ability to find my way over obstacles and keep my attention concentrated on reaching my target, I will always see beyond the blinkered concept of blindness and view a horizon shining with potential.

Diamonds are Rocks in Disguise

When we diligently chip away at an obstacle that is barring the path to achieving our goals and our heart’s desires, the massive block of resistance can be reshaped and transformed into the precise STEPPING STONES we require to move forward again.


Cast your eyes once more on that rocky obstacle.

Hmm, what happens if you break off a little chunk, buff and polish it for a while, see its potential emerging...you may find, the rock of disappointment, once immovable has transformed before your eyes to become a shining diamond full of lustre and possibility!

How did you do that?

By choosing to turn your obstacle into a meaningful benefit.

Whenever the obstacle of blindness tries to block my path, I see its potential instead.

Life has proven on many occasions that if I persevere to see the benefit when caught between a rock and a hard place, the inner diamond will always appear.

The Benefits of Being Blind – NEW SERIES

Throughout this year, I am preparing to write about the benefits of being blind with all my crafty tools sharpened to reveal stunning diamonds of truth.


Did you know, a person living with little or no sight:

•  is the perfect partner in any relationship

•  has enviable potential for financial savings

•  holds celebrity status that will amaze you

•  is never blamed for anything

•  becomes a hero by simply being

I have the posts all worked out and am looking forward to discovering the benefits with your participation. If you are someone who is curious to learn how to prise a diamond or two from that rock of difficulty you may be facing, add your comment or send me an email and let’s see how we can turn that obstacle into your next stepping stone.

Stay tuned. Benefit #1 of Being Blind will soon be released worldwide and coming to a screen near you!

contact me at maribel@springstudio.com.au

© 2014 Maribel Steel

Come on The Writing Journey

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make
you something else, is the greatest accomplishment.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

When Clancy Tucker, Storyteller, Author, Publisher, Photographer, Human Rights Activist, Social Justice Campaigner and sometime poet invited me to be a guest on his blog – I was thrilled to sit down at Clancy's creative table. Here is a peek view at some insights that came to light while I pondered the writing journey...

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR WRITING JOURNEY.

The journey began once upon a childhood, when my father breathed life into the fairy tale characters at bedtime. Little did we know that a few years later, one of my favourite fables would foreshadow a similar life challenge. Like Thumbelina, I was confronted with having to accept a ‘darkening of the sunlight’ when an unexpected diagnosis of pending blindness threatened to drag me into a world void of visual images. At seventeen, I was determined to keep chasing the light along my life’s journey.

A few decades later, having become a mother and aromatherapist, story teller and vocalist, I was still facing the gateway to blindness, so I decided to start jotting down my autobiography as a gift for my children. Jottings meandered into short stories, short stories skipped with playful curiosity to enter writing competitions, encouraging words of support boosted morale and a desire for refining personal vignettes – and before I knew it, I had fallen in love with the art of writing.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A WRITER?

I view being a writer as similar to caring for a productive garden. Crafting stories is a highly creative process that demands the same sort of patience, pride and care. I love taking note of particular words people use and keep them in a word file, just as I gather the seeds of my sunflowers.

Little seeds of inspiration germinate in the mind and one feels compelled to nurture the growth of a story from its kernel-idea and tend to its every need as it takes shape in your thoughts and on paper: to prune paragraphs and weed out insignificant sentences, to watch out for ‘wordy-worms’, and to graft ideas into place as the story matures to become the final draft – before fulfilling its potential as a published article.

One of the joys for me as a writer, is capturing the essence of what it means to live as a vision-impaired person, and take the reader on a sensory journey to discover a world unseen.

 

 

WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT BEING A WRITER?

The balancing act, juggling time: being mother and wife on one hand, writer on the other. Nothing is more frustrating than having to interrupt a great creative spurt of writing or editing to do a mundane chore like hunter-gathering at the local supermarket because my family expect more than a bowl of carrots for dinner – spoilt little rabbits.

The other aspect of being a freelance writer I find difficult is meeting someone else’s publishing deadline. Accepting completion dates is a crucial ingredient to being a writer or one might procrastinate indefinitely but somehow, the pressure of someone waiting to approve the story idea you pitched can create performance anxiety. Will they accept my article? Will I have to rewrite it all over again? Can I maintain the balance of time for family and work while trying to accommodate the publisher’s deadline? So it is with enormous relief when the final draft is accepted by the editor.


To read the in depth interview where I answer many more questions including

• tips for new writers
• my favourite authors
• what influences my writing
• defining success
• and much more...

See Clancy Tucker’s blog: clancy tucker

© 2014 Maribel Steel