Melanie Hawkes' AT for Storytelling

Photo of a woman smiling with glasses, with a background of glasses

 

Melanie has a physical disability and has been a power wheelchair user since she was three years old. She lives with her boyfriend James and her retired assistance dog Upton. In 2004 she started working for DFES and is still employed in the Strategic and Internal Communications team for two days a week.


Photo of a woman typing a story on her mobile, which rests on a board on her lap

 

AT for writing

As Melanie recently showed in a short story featured in the Australian Writers' Centre March 2025 Story Showcase (scroll down to the 4th story to read her hilarious take on a team bonding session), something as everyday as a mobile phone can make sharing our stories much easier. As Melanie explains, 'I find typing on my Samsung S10 phone easier than a keyboard, as I mainly use my left hand. The keyboard is much smaller on my phone so makes it quicker to type as I can reach all the keys with one hand. So I use my phone to type all my stories, then sometimes edit them on my computer.'

 

Photo of a woman using audio glasses at work, with computers in the background

 

Audio glasses

"A few years ago my office got renovated and I was to share the space with more colleagues. I do a fair bit of video work, and can't reach my ears to put headphones on. It wasn't fair to ask my colleagues to wear them when I needed to make noise on my computer. 

So I had a brainstorming session with my Support Coordinator from Bizlink, and decided that audio glasses might work as a solution. We looked at a few different brands and chose Bose.

Next we applied for funding through JobAccess, and were successful! We ordered an extra charging cable so I can charge them at home too.

The glasses arrived in October 2022 and have been life-changing. They connect to my mobile and computer through Bluetooth. I've previously used speaker phone while talking on the phone as I can't hold the phone up to my ear, but now I can have a private conversation! The glasses have a microphone so I can talk clearly, and the sound quality is also great. 

If I'm on a Zoom meeting at home on my laptop, I can use my glasses too, so the noise doesn't distract James if he's home. Plus it keeps my meetings private.

I catch public transport a lot, so it's great being able to watch YouTube videos while out and about, without disturbing people around me. 

The only bad thing is the glasses only come with sunglass lenses. It's too dark in the office to wear them, so I just popped the lenses out. I fool a lot of people wearing glasses without lenses! The best part is not having to clean them regularly, and if I need prescription glasses in the future, I'd get them to fit the lenses into the frame of my audio glasses.

I am so happy with my audio glasses. They're light, easy to get on and off, stay charged for many hours, and is easy to manage connections through the app on my phone. I think they make me look smarter too."

 

AT mentioned in this article

 

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