Kim Beazley reads for vison impaired in WA
Former federal opposition leader, Kim Beazley, has recorded an audio version of his father’s memoirs for the Association for the Blind of Western Australia.
Australia Ageing Agenda has reported that the book, titled Father of the House: the memoirs of Kim E Beazley, offers an insight into the life and thoughts of one of Australia’s longest serving and most influential federal ministers.
Mr Beazley spent nine weeks with a member of the association’s audio production team recording and finalising the audio version of the book. After finishing his first session, Mr Beazley said he felt exhausted.
“I was very surprised at how difficult it was to record the book,” he said.
“When you initially read a novel you automatically place words in or naturally skip others without realising, the audio recording process made me very aware of this.”
Mr Beazley has agreed to be the ambassador for the association and he is now set to take the cause to America, following his recent appointment as Australian Ambassador to the United States.
The association’s Braille and talking book library lends up to 450 books a day, making it one of Western Australia’s best used libraries.
“Stories and information, quite literally, change people’s lives,” said the association’s chief executive officer, Dr Margaret Crowley.
“People who are blind or vision impaired are people whose lives often stand to benefit most from what audio stories and information have to offer.”
