From Vision Australia. This is talking vision. And now here's your host Sam Colley.
Hello, everyone. It's great to be here with you. And for the next half hour we talk matters of blindness and low vision.
He linked it to his Kindle account, and then Alexa was able to pick up the same book that he was reading from the same chapter and continue that story for him and for him, that little moment was a life changing support to say, you know, there are still ways that the way that you had lived your life, we can help you continue to live that with independence
and I suppose, dignity as well. So for me, in my job at what makes me feel good, going to work every day knowing that it's the little things that can actually have a monumental impact on someone's life.
Welcome to the program. This week we're joined by two very special guests from Amazon, Gina and Kate, who are here to chat to us about their recent experiences at a round table conference featuring various discussions around print, disability and blindness and low vision, as well as some updates that Alexa is looking to roll out to further improve the accessibility of the device for people who are blind
or have low vision. We'll also hear from university student and business manager Sammy McComb, who took part in our recent Career Path podcast. So make sure to stick around to hear from Sammy later in the show. I hope you enjoy this week's episode of Talking Vision. Are you an Alexa user who is blind or has low vision? Well, today we've got a few updates for you from Gina Manifold and Kate Goodin with a special focus on accessibility.
Jenna is the head of strategic partnerships at Alexa International, and Kate's the country manager for Amazon Alexa in Australia and New Zealand. And it's my great pleasure to be joined by them right now. Jenna, Kate, welcome to Talking Vision. Thank you very much for your time.
Thank you for having us. Thank you.
It's great to be here.
Let's have a bit of a chat about what you've both been up to recently at the Round Table Conference. Tell us a bit about what you got up to there.
Yeah. So the Round Table conference is, you know, specifically about people living with print disability. And so our goal there was to showcase Alexa, what Alexa is how Alexa works.
And I think talk a little bit about some everyday tips and tricks that Alexa can help people who have vision impairment or a print disability feel more empowered and more independent, and also provide a little bit of a sneak peek about what's coming, as generative AI is revolutionizing our world and how that might land with Alexa, and what that would mean for people living with print disability.
Okay. And Kate, did you have anything to add there?
Yeah, I think it was just a great opportunity for us to actually talk to the community one on one here a little bit more about how they're using Alexa, the things they love, the things that they wish Alexa could do or could do better. And then to kind of hear about just the independence or lifestyle gaps that they have, that they thought that generative AI or more
advanced Alexa might be able to assist with. And similarly, it was really great to see some of the tools and the technology that people are using every day in these conferences and then to navigate around. So it was just a really great opportunity to see how people are living and thriving.
Just for some added context for our listeners out there. I'm really keen to get some info from you both about what you've been up to lately in your work at Amazon in particular. So, Gina, I might start with you.
Yeah. So my role in strategic partnerships is making sure that Alexa here in Australia meets the expectations of our Australian community. So that means that everyone's favorite radio station is available on Alexa. Also that people who are living with some kind of disability find function and utility in Alexa and working with accessibility partners like Vision Australia with universities to help make these accessibility products more readily available and easier to understand.
Okay, what about yourself?
Yeah. So I'm the country manager for Alexa in Australia and New Zealand. So obviously working super closely with Gina on these partnerships and then also working across either the broader Amazon business or with our policy teams who are working really closely with members of Parliament and sort of government teams on the broader opportunity to share a little bit more about how Alexa is is helping various members
of the community. And then I also work with other international teams and Alexa, and then also the central teams in the US to drive prioritization of new features and experiences to Australia so that we can continue to improve and evolve our product. For everybody that has one at home and perhaps is listening to the show here today.
Oh, cool. Okay. And Gina, I'd love to come back to you and get some feedback that you've received over the time about the sort of features that have really added value and given independence to people living with blindness and low vision. What are the things and experiences that people have really benefited from with Alexa and the smart speakers like that?
I think in its most simple form, Alexa is this ambient intelligence that is there when you need it, but fades into the background when you don't. And the feedback we often hear, particularly from an accessibility point, is the ease of use. When you just need your voice, you can be standing on the other side of the room. You don't need to be looking at the device. That has made things a lot easier and more seamless, which provides independence. But a story that I actually heard from
a Vision Australia client a little while ago. This man was a very avid Kindle reader, loved to read his books, and then through an accident became blind quite suddenly. Then, once he set up his home with Alexa enabled devices,
he linked it to his Kindle account. And then Alexa was able to pick up the same book that he was reading from the same chapter and continue that story for him and for him, that little moment was a life changing support to say, you know, there are still ways that the way that you had lived your life, we can help you continue to live that with independence
and I suppose, dignity as well. So for me, in my job at what makes me feel good, going to work every day knowing that it's the little things that can actually have a monumental impact on someone's life.
Absolutely. And, Kate, what's been your experience? What have you heard from people in the general public and some stories and feedback that you've received over the time?
Yeah. So one of the things that we do every week is we read every single review that we get for Alexa enabled devices. We read the feedback that people send through the app. And so I think it's just a regularity. We've got a couple of people who regularly leave us feedback about various things. And one of them is somebody who's quite funny about trying to get a feature on Alexa and just being able to. It feels
like a great connection with that person. And we've also had a lot of feedback from people around some of the the show and tell features that are available in the US and sort of working to try and get them here. And that is something that we hope to open up with Alexa Plus and sort of have somebody to be able to. I think we had an anecdote at one point about somebody who was trying to find a can of beans, and of course all the cans
feel the same when you grab into the pantry. And so just being able to not rely on, shake and hope for the best and to sort of be able to unlock those features that will sort of give, as Gina said, just another bracket of independence around the home and not having to perhaps eat what could like something else?
Exactly. Yeah.
Yeah. You think it's.
A can of beans and you end up with tomatoes? Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
And Sam too, I think one of the, you know, as I said before, people being able to access their favorite radio station, we have a number of devices that have been released, some big, some small. Some people love them in their bedrooms. Some people want them connected throughout to have studio sound in their lounge room, but not needing to fiddle with a knob to find your radio station, not needing to remember the frequency of the radio station.
When we look at the reviews, there's constantly people saying, I can finally listen to radio stations that I didn't think I could access. It's opened up radio stations from overseas, my favorite radio station when I was a child, and I can simply get it by using my voice. That seems to be one of the most common pieces of feedback we get. And a quick plug to say that
Vision Australia Radio is also available on Alexa. So certainly again, it's just putting an old school radio set back into the home, which has been very positive for a lot of people.
Gina will continue on with you, and I'm really interested to get your insights on the relationship that Amazon and Vision Australia have been able to build up and what you've been working on lately, and the benefits of that relationship.
Yeah, definitely. So the Vision Australia partnership has been in play for many years, and it comes through in a number of different ways. So as I said, the Vision Australia radio station the broadcast is available on Alexa, just say Alexa, play Vision Australia Radio and you should get whichever frequency suits you. And then also Vision Australia has a um, through Commonwealth funding and Alexa at home program.
So that includes the provision of some Alexa enabled devices and some training for qualified clients, which means that your home can be set up to become a smart home. But you're also given some guidance on how to make the most out of that to increase your independence. So
that's something that is really great. And then as part of that vision, Australia has built what we call in Alexa a custom skill, which is simply like an app on a phone and that provides information about Vision Australia's services. You can hear the newsletter and also find out more information about the likes of Happy Pants and the Felix
Library too. So there's a number of different ways the wider community can connect with Vision Australia through being entertained and informed, through Vision Australia Radio's content, or actually being organised and finding utility in the home through that Alexa at Home program.
Okay. And Kate, I'll come to you now and have a bit of a chat about some exciting innovations that are on the horizon that you're really excited to see where they pan out. And Gina will come to you after and get your thoughts. But, um, Kate, I'll just start with you and, um, get your insights.
Yeah. So some of your listeners might be aware of big announcement that we made a couple of months ago in the US. So we have been working incredibly hard to take our already very complex Alexa experience. It's got the Alexa experience is more than 30 AI and machine learning models, and then a layer of localization over the top, which is how Alexa is and sort of understands Australians. And to make that generative AI and LLM powered, it has been an incredible worldwide effort to get it to
this point. And we did demos and it started to roll out to customers in the US over the last couple of weeks. So Alexa Plus is really what we had hoped Alexa could be all this time, so it's conversational. You don't need to worry about Alexa speak. There will be no more Alexa, turn on the lights. You might walk into a room and Alexa knows you've left the bedroom. And Alexa will proactively say, would you like me to turn off the lights in the bedroom? Alexa will remember
things that are important. For example, that one person in your family is vegetarian and one is dairy free, and one who might be celiac. And so if you ask for a recipe for dinner tonight, that sort of meets those needs, then Alexa will know to create something that is going to meet all of those different family members needs.
We don't have a timeline, unfortunately, yet for Australia, it's one of those things that could come very quickly, or it might take a little while, but you can be very, very sure that particularly with our partners like Virgin Australia, will be definitely giving you a heads up and we may be able to get Alexa Plus into the studio and sort of do a bit of a.
Bit of.
A.
Demo.
Yeah, that'd be pretty cool. Yeah, yeah. No. Okay. And, Gina, I'll come to you. Now, the same question, but also interested in if there's sort of some features there or innovations coming for, you know, listeners who are blind or have low vision to look forward to.
Yeah. Look, I think there's two that are going to be, I think, super useful for everybody, but particularly useful for people with blindness or low vision. One is the object identification. So as Kate was talking about before, but rather than it relying or that's a can of vegetables, you should actually be able to hold up the can. And Alexa might be able to say spin it around and I can read you the nutrition label. And so it becomes much more interactive. Or you would be able to hold
up a picture that your grandchildren had drawn. And Alexa will describe what the drawing looks like. There's two stick figures. This one's in pink, and there's a little dog and some flowers and a sun in the corner. So I think that's going to be really interesting. And then the other is intelligent Documentation. So that could be if you've got a new dishwasher and you can get a digital copy of the dishwashers manual, you'd be able to store that in Alexa's library and then ask, Alexa, how do
I get it onto the steaming cycle? And Alexa will be able to look through that manual and come back and provide that information for you, and then remember it as well. And so it's not just things like dishwasher manuals that could be a pamphlet about diabetes from your doctor. It could be a newsletter from your child's school. All of these things you'll be able to provide to Alexa to be kept in the library. And then that helps.
As Kate said, for Alexa to become more proactive in helping you manage your day and keeping you informed.
Perfect. Well, I've been speaking today with Gino and Kate from Amazon with a bit of a tech update of sorts regarding some different features and innovations that they're looking to roll out on Alexa The devices, including some new ways in which it can assist the blind and low vision community in their everyday life. Gina. Kate, thank you so much for your time today. It was great to catch up with you.
Thank you so much. We really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us.
Great to be here.
I'm Sam Corley and you're listening to Talking Vision on Vision Australia Radio. Associated Stations of Reading Radio and the Community Radio Network. I hope you enjoyed that conversation there with Gina and Kate from Amazon. If you missed any part of that chat with Gina and Kate or you'd love to hear from them again. Talking vision is available on the Vision Australia Radio website. Simply head to RVA radio.
That's RVA radio all one word.org. You can also find the program on the podcast app of your choice or through the Vision Australia library. Coming up now, it's my great pleasure to welcome to Talking Vision, one of the guests from our recent Career Path podcast. Her name is Sammy McComb. She's a university student and business manager with
lived experience of low vision living in Geelong. Today you'll get some tips from her about how she's managed to juggle the various aspects of her life while living with a vision condition. But that's enough from me. Let's hear from Sammy right now. Welcome, Sammy.
Thanks for having me, guys. I'm so excited to be here. Can't wait.
And I'm can't wait to have a chat now. Firstly, Sammy, let's just get to the heart of things. How do you navigate the pressures of university while managing a business and coping with low vision.
Gosh, bit of a loaded question. I don't know. Super loaded. Yeah. Yeah, I guess you kind of just have to take it day by day. And the way I look at it is I didn't choose my cards. You know, these cards, just the cards I've been dealt. I didn't choose to run a business or manage a business with my mum. My dad passed away end of last year, so that's also pretty new. But he was the owner of the business, so I was kind of just handed that role in a way. So that wasn't a choice. And obviously being
vision impaired wasn't a choice either. So I kind of just have to manage it in a way is the way I look at it, and it helps that I love it too.
So there you go. And Sammy, what were the biggest challenges you faced stepping into this role at such a young age, especially while studying and managing low vision?
Definitely the hardest challenge was the grief I was facing. My father's death was very, very sudden, so we didn't get any warning. And he was a very, very healthy man and had everything going for him and the business was going well. And he was. He'd just made some big changes in the business as well. So there was a big expansion going on. And then we obviously lost him. So we lost the head figure. So and I've lost my father and everything that comes with that. So the
hardest part for me was definitely the grief. And then everything else kind of came after that. So rolling with the punches.
Mhm. And how did your studies in marketing and business help or perhaps not help when managing a company, particularly when considering accessibility needs for yourself and the business.
Yep. So I'm currently studying a bachelor of or double Bachelor of Business and Economics and marketing is one of my majors, so obviously I wasn't planning to be doing so much marketing and business management at such a young age, but I definitely think that a lot of the skills I've learnt in uni have been very helpful in the last sort of six months, but more than anything, I'd honestly just say that having lived experience as someone with
a disability and a vision impairment has been the biggest part of it. Like for example, with marketing, just the basic things like having good contrast and big text that a lot of regular people probably wouldn't think about, I kind of just incorporate those things into my daily life, naturally, and so they kind of follow through with the marketing side of things. And then just, um, having a disability, being able to relate to people is a big help
in managing a business. I think, too, because you're working in a team environment, so you need to be able to be good around people, and empathy is a big part of that. I think as well with patients, because it's a healthcare clinic. So yeah, just being able to relate to people and have that sense of empathy is a big part of running a business in general, I would say.
You've spoken a little bit about accessibility there and the assistive technologies and, you know, little features that have made your life that little bit easier. But outside of that, there's also been a lot of changes, a lot of upheaval. Certainly lots of ups and downs, to say the least. Over the past year or so, with everything that's gone on. So what support systems did you rely on during this transition, both for your studies and for managing low vision in the business?
Um, I was very lucky to actually a bit of a shout out to Vision Australia here, but I received the Vision Australia Further Education bursary. That was a couple of years ago and that was fantastic because I was set up for uni with a computer and a nice phone with a big screen, so that was fantastic and some good headphones as well. So that really set me up very well for uni, and I also use a lot of that for work now too. So that was fantastic.
And just having the technology in general as well. And yeah, besides that, just setting myself up with a really good support system of people around me. We're very lucky at work to have fantastic staff, so that's really handy and I've got really great connections at uni. Education support officers and people like that. So I've got pretty much everyone I need at my fingertips really. And a supportive family and partner too. So yeah.
And following on from that topic around support systems. We'll unfortunately have to dive back into a pretty heavy topic. And, you know, that's coping with grief while making critical business decisions and managing university workloads. It's just amazing. And we really take our hat off to you and how you've managed with all of that. So how has the last year shaped the way you approach leadership and decision making while balancing that?
Gosh, massively. My dad was a great leader. He definitely led by example, so he wasn't so much business minded. Ironically, he wasn't great with money like in terms of making business decisions. He was very generous with his patience and that sort of thing. But I also think that that did make him a great leader. So seeing him pass and I've definitely taken on a lot of that, a lot of those traits. And I think that's very important to keep that within the business, because it was a
thriving business before he passed. So it's important that we keep it that way. And by doing everything he did, I hope to do that. So yeah. And then I think the other important thing I've learned with leadership is that a good leader will listen above anything else. Leading is not about being at the top of the rankings. I suppose it's not a hierarchical thing. It's being able to work really well in a team. And I'm really lucky that I've got an amazing team at Belmont Physio that I work with.
Yeah. And also on top of that, how have you perhaps changed in the way that you've balanced your work and your uni life? I mean that's another challenge juggling those two things. Has anything changed there in the last 12 months.
So I'm studying fully online. So all my correspondence with the University of Tasmania, and I've actually decided to defer for the first semester of the year this year. So I kind of, um, set my laptop up and I was all ready to go, and then I just sort of couldn't do it. The grief kind of just hit me all at once, and I just knew I needed to take a bit of time for myself. So I'm very ready to go back in a couple of months.
But I have I have put that one on hold for the moment just so that I can focus on the business and myself as well, really. So yeah, I think that balance is very important and has become more and more important in the last 12 months.
Oh for sure. Yeah. No, that um, balancing wellness and keeping mindful and having that sense of balance in, you know, professional and personal life, that's super important. So I think a lot of people can totally relate with that for sure. I guess following on from that, Sami, what lessons have you learned about resilience and adaptability through the experience, both as a student and a business owner with low vision?
Probably, yeah. Another lesson I've learnt from the last 12 months and all the responsibilities that have come during that time and all the opportunities I've been handed. I would say just the main lesson I've learned is that I am very resilient, because if you had told me two years ago, even 12 months ago, that my dad was going to pass away and mum and I were going to be handed this business and all these responsibilities all
at once. I honestly don't think I would have coped nearly as well as I have to be at the point I am today. So that's a huge one. Just finding that resilience within myself, and I feel like that's a very common thing among people who are vision impaired and have disabilities, that we don't realise how strong we actually are. And even having a disability in itself is very much a responsibility in itself, and that builds resilience. I'm sure a lot of us have good anecdotes to
prove that, myself included. So I think, yeah, the biggest one is just that you're a lot stronger than you think.
And Sami, do you see yourself continuing with the business, finishing your studies or even pursuing something entirely different. What does the future hold? Or it's a bit of a Doris Day qué sera sera, whatever will be will be sort of situation.
Yeah, it's such a hard one.
It's a super hard one.
Yeah. And everything's been so crazy lately that it's. It's hard to say for sure. But one thing I do know is that I definitely want to go back and finish my double degree and get that under my belt. So I'm two out of four years through, so I'm halfway. Yeah. So I hope to get that done in the next couple of years and smash that out of the way.
And then after that, it's. Yeah, I'm not sure whether I'll use that to continue on with the business or use that to find myself a completely different job or even start a business myself. So yeah, I definitely think I'll start a business in the longer term, but how soon that comes? Only time will tell. Yeah.
Well, let's keep tabs on the Sammy McComb story. I think that's going to be something super worth following. And we're very excited to see how it all pans out now. Finally, Sammy, what advice would you give to others facing unexpected responsibilities or challenges, especially when balancing personal growth, education, and low vision?
Just yeah, going back to what I said before about you've got this, you can do it. You don't know what you're capable of until you're actually in that position. And it's definitely a lot more than you expect it to be. So definitely that. And the other thing I would say is, and this is something my partner and I have always lived by, is don't view your dreams as dreams. You've got to view them as goals. That's something I've always lived by, because if it's a dream,
you're not going to achieve it. You've got to have it as a goal and then it's set.
I love that. No. That's fantastic. Sammy, thank you so much for having a chat with us today. We really appreciate how candid and open you've been, and we do appreciate you having a chat with us today. So thank you again.
Oh thank you guys. Thank you so much for having me in the studio.
And that's all the time we have for today. You've been listening to Talking Vision. Talking vision is a Vision Australia radio production. Thanks to all involved with putting the show together every week. And remember, we love hearing from you. So please get in touch anytime on our email at Talking Vision at Australia. That's talking vision all. One word at Vision Australia dot. But until next week it's Sam Corley saying bye for now.
You can contact Vision Australia by phoning us anytime during business hours on one 384 746. That's one 384 74 six or by visiting Vision Australia. That's Vision Australia.