Megan McLoughlin is not guided by what she can see, but by what she can hear as she takes off in the saddle and charges towards her first barrel.
The legally blind barrel racer relies on the sounds of cowbells and whistles emitted by her friends placed near the barrels, which signify the required turning points in the speed sport.
Ms McLoughlin, who lost her eyesight at the age of 26 and now has just 7 per cent vision, is determined to continue competing in the sport she has loved since she was a child.
She uses echolocation to determine where to guide her trusty horse, Biscuit, in the arena.
The 2023 ABC Regional Storyteller Scholarship recipient's latest production, Real Ability, captures her journey from training to competing in a country rodeo.
From Kapunda, in South Australia's Barossa Valley, Ms McLoughlin said her objective was to educate and encourage those with a disability to know that when they put the right people around them, anything was possible.
In her case, that extended to the people behind the camera capturing her story.
Creativity, flexibility key
She teamed up with a long-term acquaintance and South Australian video producer Simon Malcolm to bring her project to life.
Mr Malcolm, who has been operating his own video production company since 2005, said it was important to be people-focused when working alongside people with disabilities in the screen space.
"It can't just be about yourself, it can't just be about the craft, 'I want to get this shot and I want to get it now'," he said.
"It's what's not only going to tell their story, but cause this person to feel great about having told it."
Ms McLoughlin said it was important for people working with those with a disability to just "ask them what they need".
"Don't ever presume, and actually help them to be independent," she said.
"The key component with anyone that lives with a disability is actually we crave independence and that is the biggest gift you can ever give anyone living with a disability."
The tagline leading the project is: There's no diss in this, just real ability.
Media representation
About one in six people in Australia live with a disability, yet only 48 per cent of working-age people with disability are employed.
Inclusive production company Bus Stop Films helps people with disability enter the screen industry, provides guides to advise industry bodies on inclusion and produces short films showcasing stories of people with disability.
Chief executive Tracey Corbin-Matchett said involving people with disability in the filmmaking and media storytelling process, both in front of and behind the lens, created authentic stories.
"We're almost 20 per cent of the population, but it's also important to include that intersectional voice in our storytelling and our media production on both sides of the camera so we can be sure that we're not perpetuating stereotypes around disability and that we're giving that authentic voice to our community to tell our stories, our way," Ms Corbin-Matchett said.
Changing practices
Small adjustments to Mr Malcolm's directing helped him capture Ms McLoughlin's story, empowering her to tell it in video format.
He used voice to help her echo locate where the camera was, or a flashing hand in front of the lens to help her see where she should be looking.
Just like her barrel racing, small adjustments laid the path for achievement.
"I like to say that a disability makes things difficult, but not impossible, and that's the key component of what we were trying to capture in this project," Ms McLoughlin said.
"There's some truly amazing people with skill sets out there in Australia that are doing fantastic things."
Ms Corbin-Matchett said she wanted to see more people with disability employed behind the lens in the media and broadcast industries.
"The inclusion of people with a disability in broadcasting content should be an everyday, business-as-usual decision rather than something we do as really targeted streams or one-off initiatives," she said.
"Give it a go, be bold, you might get it wrong, you might fail but you get up and do it again, you've got to give it a go and have a try.
"Start with one, it can make a huge difference to employ a person with disability on a production."
Source: ABC