Life Begins At.....
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BANNER BANNER CELEBRITY FEATURE Blind courage recognised To be awarded Senior Australian of the Year is a great accolade, and as Margaret Ambrose discovers, this remarkable Australian deserves it. Not bad for someone who was totally blind from birth and was never expected to achieve much at all. Professor McCallum was born 10 weeks prematurely, and as was the practice of the day, was placed in a humidicrib. Unfortunately, the baby McCallum suffered from retrolental fibroplasia, an eye disease common amongst prematurely born babies, and one exacerbated by oxygen. Although the humidicrib probably saved his life, the unrestricted oxygen caused him permanent blindness. Prof Ron McCallum (left) receiving his Senior Australian of the Year award at Parliament House, Canberra, with Prime Minister Julia Gillard (centre) and National Australia Day Council Chair, Adam Gilchrist. Professor Ron McCallum, accomplished lawyer and advocate for the rights of the disabled, does not wants to use his stint as Senior Australian of the Year 2011 to just highlight the rights of the disabled. What he wants, he says, is something much bigger and much simpler. “I want to use this year to promote tolerance and inclusiveness,” explains Professor McCallum. It’s tolerance and inclusiveness that he believes is the key to eliminating all types of discrimination, including that against the aged. “It’s a simple message: Put yourself in the shoes of other people. Discrimination of any kind, whether it be of the elderly or disabled, only happens because people can’t imagine themselves as old or disabled. That’s why I am asking people this year to put themselves in the position of others. “That’s the only way to raise understanding. It’s not rocket science, 10 THE RETIREE AUTUMN but it needs to be promoted and reinforced.” On Australia Day this year, Professor Ron McCallum’s tireless work for social justice, and in particular for the disabled, was recognised when he was named Senior Australian of the Year 2011 by Prime Minister Julia Gillard. “I feel greatly honoured and greatly humbled, although I feel a very young senior!” the 62-year-old told reporters at the ceremony at Canberra’s Parliament House. Professor McCallum is the first completely blind person awarded an Australian of the Year title, but to him firsts are nothing new. He was the first blind person to be appointed to a professorship in any field at an Australian university, and was the first blind person to be appointed Dean of a Law School in Australia or New Zealand. He was also the inaugural president of the Australian Labour Law Association. Professor McCallum’s father struggled with alcoholism, a symptom of the post traumatic stress he brought home from WWII, and died early in McCallum’s childhood, leaving his mother to raise her disabled child alone and in tough conditions in a working class Melbourne suburb. Childhood for a vision-impaired child was much different than it is today, remembers Professor McCallum. Removed from mainstream society, he was sent to a school for the blind. But it was in this environment that Professor McCallum’s academic potential was first identified and realised. Outstanding results in Year 12 led to Professor McCallum being accepted into Law at Monash University. At the time, there were few provisions at the university for the vision impaired, and Professor McCallum was able to complete his degree only with the help of fellow students who read to him and by listening to tapes of lectures and classes. While at university, Professor McCallum enrolled in a course