‘I love it when children ask questions’: How the ABC’s Nas Campanella handles daycare dropoff

Each week, Benjamin Law asks public figures to discuss the subjects we’re told to keep private by getting them to roll a die. The numbers they land on are the topics they’re given. This week, he talks to Nas Campanella , the ABC’s national disability affairs reporter and the world’s first blind newsreader to operate the studio while delivering live broadcasts. She’s also co-author of the accessible children’s book All the Ways I See .

You’re the ABC’s first national disability affairs reporter. Did you have to lobby to create that role?

It came about because of the Disability Royal Commission . I knew that I wanted to cover it, so I went to the ABC, pitching that we have a national disability affairs reporter. Obviously, I had myself in mind [ Laughs ].

In the role, are you struck by how far Australia’s come – or by how far we’ve still to go?

I’m ever the optimist, but there are still circumstances where I’ll go to a cafe with my husband [fellow journalist Thomas Oriti] and my son [Lachie, 4], and my husband will be asked, “What does she want to order?” It happens less and less, but it still happens. But what I’ve also noticed – particularly now I have a child – is how wonderful parents are at talking to their children about disability. I’ve had children at daycare come up to me, tap me on the shoulder and say, “Hi, my name’s Joey! Can I show you this?” It’s very clear their parents are having smart, educated conversations with them about how to interact and communicate with me – and about the fact I’m a mum like any other parent.

The dangerous thing is to say to your children, “Don’t ask” or “Look away.” I love it when children ask questions. Don’t tell them they’re being naughty by noticing that someone’s different. Ask the person – if they’re comfortable with questions – what words they like to use to describe their disability. I just tell people that I’m blind: I can’t see. I see with my hands instead of my eyes.

To what extent do you feel like the children’s book you’ve co-written [with Eliza Hull] is an act of advocacy for kids with disabilities?

I don’t see myself as an advocate: first and foremost, I’m a journo. What I wanted to create was a story with a central character who’s blind, because I didn’t get to read stories with people like me in them growing up. I wanted to create a story that shows that people with disabilities go to the beach just like anyone else. They just experience it in a slightly different way.

You grew up in western Sydney in a big, Italian-Australian family. Does that also mean Catholic?

Yeah, I grew up in a Catholic family with a very Catholic nonna and nonno, and had 13 years of Catholic education. My grandmother would constantly have her rosary beads on the go. Personally, I’m on the fence about what’s out there, although I still have the Catholic guilt thing.

Is it true that you’ve had strangers get on their knees and pray for you?

I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve pulled me aside in a food court, shopping centre or while I’m on the train going to work to pray for me.

When I was in my late teens and early 20s, it would happen a lot .