Blind pro-surfer Matt Formston stepped of his surfboard and onto a Melbourne stage to launch the first book in a series championing underrepresented role models with blindness and low vision.
Surfing in the Dark is a children’s book integrated with braille that has been created and published by Vision Australia and Berbay Publishing, and was officially launched at the Melbourne Museum on Thursday.
The book is designed to inspire a more inclusive Australia, and introduce children to underrepresented role models with vision loss.
As the protagonist of the first Big Visions book, Matt talked about tackling 55-foot big waves and overcoming obstacles.
For the most part, those obstacles were placed in front of him by people assuming he had no prospects as someone with blindness.
“The world has told me and my family you can’t, you shouldn’t, because you have a disability it’s not an option for you,” he told the crowd.
“But my life experience has been that I can.”
Matt was interviewed by 11-year-old Ethan Bradley, who has vision loss himself and has aspirations of a long career as a lawyer.
Ethan stole the show by asking some tough questions to the fearless surfer, who said it was the best interview he had all year.
Vision Australia CEO Ron Hooton spoke about the importance of creating books that everyone can read.
“Having braille in the books directly gives blind and low vision children a chance to read along with their sighted peers,” he said.
Mr Hooton also highlighted the need for Australians to become allies to children with vision loss and open doors when they reach adulthood, not close them as they try and enter the workforce.
“We’d love for all of Australia to join Vision Australia in empowering children with blindness or low vision to dream bigger for their future because Australia’s willingness to give these children a go, to open doors when they come knocking is essential in helping them make those dreams a reality,” he said.
Ethan wowed the audience by reading an excerpt of Surfing in the Dark with the help of his electronic magnifier, showing another way those with vision loss keep up with their sighted peers.
The book is currently available at all good book stores including Readings, Target, Big W, Amazon and available for online purchase at the Vision Australia store.
We want parents, grandparents and teachers to think about how their bookshelves help to make a kinder more accepting, more resilient Australia. We need to know that books have power,
Read It To Believe It!