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Vision Australia is excited to announce its 2022 Telelink summer webinar series!

Join the Vision Australia Telelink team and explore the lives of three very special guests this January.

Each webinar session will be held via Zoom and run for an hour in a Q&A format with our special guests Rachael Leahcar (January 10), Fiona Macintosh (January 17) and Dr Hoby Wedler (January 24).

Telelink summer webinar series: Rachael Leahcar

Singer/songwriter Rachael Leahcar’s dynamic range, explosive vocals and powerful performances have stunned audiences across the globe.

Rachael smashed Australian television records and was nominated for TV moment of the year in the AACTA Awards when 4.1 million people tuned in to watch her Blind Audition on the first season of The Voice (2012) and over 25 million views since on YouTube.

With a career that has seen her release four top 10 ARIA charting albums, tour her live show, Colours Of My Life to sold out shows for the last 4 years and travel to Italy to sing with Andrea Bocelli’s orchestra, Rachael has shown that she is capable of achieving anything despite being legally blind.

Rachael has performed on many international stages including her most recent involvement in WhiteStick Fest 2021 (an international online concert celebrating White Cane Day organized in partnership between Platinum Cre8tive and Vision Australia Radio).

Registrations are now closed. 

Telelink summer webinar series: Fiona McIntosh

Fiona McIntosh is an internationally bestselling author of currently over 35 novels of various genres for adults and children.

Fiona’s book ‘The Lavender keeper’ is still in the top 5 most listened to audiobooks in the Vision Australia Library, her new book (expected to debut within the top 10 books in the country) was released in November and is called ‘The Spy’s Wife’.

She lives in South Australia but roams the world to research her stories. When she’s not writing, reading or guiding other writers she bakes and happily considers eating fine chocolate and drinking only excellent coffee as her hobbies.

Registrations are now closed. 

Telelink summer webinar series: Dr Hoby Wedler

Dr. Hoby Wedler is a scientist, an entrepreneur and a sensory expert driven by a passion for innovative, creative, and insightful thinking. Hoby has been completely blind since birth.

Described as an intuitive, disarming, and passionate thinker, Hoby gained a PHD in Organic Chemistry at the University of California. Amongst his research, Hoby has also written journal articles advocating practical approaches to make chemistry research possible for the visually impaired, discussing education, safety, software and even the functioning of service animals in the lab.

In 2011, he founded a non-profit organisation to lead annual chemistry camps for blind and visually impaired students throughout North America. In the same year, he began opening doors to the world of wine aromas by developing Tasting in the Dark, a truly blindfolded wine experience, in collaboration with the Francis Ford Coppola Winery.

Hoby’s work has been recognised by Barack Obama who named him a ‘Champion of Change’ for enhancing employment and education opportunities for people with disabilities, and Forbes Media who named him as a leader in food and drink in their ‘30 under 30’ annual publication.

Watch Hoby’s TEDx discussion held in Sonoma County on Sensory Literacy.

Registrations are now closed.