Ashlea Hughes is legally blind, but the 26-year-old won't let it be a barrier to navigating her way around the lanolin-oiled floorboards of shearing sheds across South Australia and Victoria where she has worked for the past five years.
Key points:
- Ashlea Hughes has the hereditary condition retinitis pigmentosa and is legally blind
- Ms Hughes has worked as a roustabout in shearing sheds for five years
- Her next goal is to work as a barista to travel overseas for a dairy conference in the UK in 2024
Ms Hughes works as a roustabout — a remarkable feat in a fast-paced and sometimes dangerous workplace — where she weaves in and out, picking up wool, sorting and sweeping the boards as the shearers drag in their next sheep to shear.
Ms Hughes has retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that affects one in every 3,000 Australians. For her, it means her peripheral vision has deteriorated since her teens.
Both her brothers have the hereditary condition but hers is the most advanced.
"I got diagnosed with the condition when I was 17 and I think it was quite far gone by then and then I was declared legally blind when I was 21," she said.
"I can't see their nose, I can't see their forehead, I can't see their ear or their chin or anything — it's literally just the eye."
Ms Hughes began working in the wool sheds after she once stayed in a shedding town and became interested in the job. She has since learnt to navigate a different work environment just about every week.
"I just tell people I can't see and so if I bump into them or if I'm in their way or they're trying to get past, just to talk to me," Ms Hughes said.
"The first day in each shed I feel a bit clumsy and lost and like I'm bumping into everyone and mucking everything up.
"I've got to get used to where everything is, like where the catching shed doors are, where the shearers are going to come out, where the table is, how much room between the wall and the shearer — all that sort of stuff.
One of the best
Ms Hughes grew up in Koonwarra, South Gippsland, Victoria, population 400, enjoying a childhood on a dairy farm highlighted by a love of dance and showing cows.
Shearing contractor Erin Doudle, based at Cummins on the Eyre Peninsula, said Ms Hughes was one of her best workers.
"She's just incredible. There's a lot of people working for us who don't do half the job she does," Ms Doudle said.
"There's lots of movement and action in the shearing shed to be conscious of even for those of us who can see, so she does an amazing job."
Ms Doudle said she is also probably the tidiest roustie on the team.
"I may sweep the floor even though its clean and it doesn't need sweeping but I'm not sure if it does or not so I just sweep it anyway in case," Ms Hughes said.
But some days are hard.
"I don't want to work in the sheds long term. I've realised it's quite toxic for me mentally when I have bad days. It's just not very good," she said.
"But I always just remind myself that it's just the first day.
"I'm just getting the hang of it and tomorrow will be a lot better.
"Sometimes I do sit down and think about how much I have achieved."
New direction
Ms Hughes has decided it is time for new challenges and hopes to train to become a barista.
Her next goal is to travel overseas to a dairy conference in the UK in 2024.
She is also hoping to get back to pole dancing, which she took up in Melbourne.
"I really enjoy doing that and my goal one day hopefully is to get to competition level with it," she said.
"I love it. It's fitness, it's fun, it's dance and it makes you feel good about yourself.
"I've always loved dance. It's always been my happy place growing up."
Source: ABC