Obituary John Blades
8 December 1959 – 25 November 2011
More about John Blades: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Blades
Vale – John Blades: https://www.realtimearts.net/article/107/10566
Sydney Morning Herald: Bridging Disability and Music for a busy life
John Blades was one of Rachel’s clients that featured in Scarlet Road. He attended the International Premiere of Scarlet Road, at the Sydney International Film Festival in June 2011.
He passed away two weeks shy of his 52nd birthday in November 2011, just before the Walkley Award ceremony where Scarlet Road was a finalist. Before featuring in this documentary he had made seven feature programs for ABC Radio National since 1993. His most acclaimed work, produced along with Claudia Taranto (Supervising Producer) and Timothy Nicastri (Sound Engineer) was a radio documentary called The Too Hard Basket. It first aired on ABC Radio in 2009 and went on to win a number of prestigious awards including:
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- the Walkley Journalism Award in the Social Equity Journalism Category, Melbourne, 9th December 2010
- Radio Documentary of the Year at the Asian Broadcasting Union Awards Tokyo 1st October 2010 from 57 countries
- Human Rights Medal, Radio Award, Australian Human Rights Commission, 2010
When Scarlet Road first screened at its premiere, John Blades was 51 years old and had lived with a diagnosis of Muscular Sclerosis (MS) for 29 years. As a progressive disease John had moved from using walking canes to a manual wheelchair and then a motorized wheelchair. When he lost use of his arms he began using a chin control to direct his wheelchair independently.
John graduated from civil engineering at Sydney University and worked as a structural engineer for 16 years focused on the design of buildings and bridges. Despite his MS he presented overseas at a number of conferences in his field of expertise. When he was finally forced to give up both paid employment and his driver’s licence he directed his energy and passion into working in radio. He volunteered at the community radio station 2 MBS FM and co-present a program of experimental music new releases from all around the world, called Background Noise. He was also the convener of the contemporary music collective of radio programs at 2MBS FM. In 1982 he also co-founded an experimental music group called The Loop Orchestra which played over 45 live performances, and produced a record and CDs.
Obituary Mark Manitta
16th April 1962 – 21st October 2013
Mark Manitta was born in country NSW and was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at 10 months of age. In 1966, Mark and his family moved to Sydney to enable him to receive the best possible support through the Cerebral Palsy Alliance (formerly known then as the Spastic Centre of NSW). Mark attended the Mosman Spastic Centre from the age of 3. During this time he learnt to communicate and ‘speak’ using a communication board. He then progressed to a typewriter and then to a ‘Polyanna Electronic Device’ that speaks for him.
During his early years, Mark expressed his artistic ability using an electronic typewriter and head pointer to create complex pictures of his surrounds. He also developed a love for music which led him to undertake a DJ course with 2RRR Community Radio. From there Mark DJ’d on his own radio program once a week for 15 years. Mark had also produced a CD containing his favourite love songs with the proceeds of the sales going to the Cerebral Palsy Alliance. Mark also DJ’d music at a variety of celebrations and parties for family and friends.
Mark lived in a community house/ supported accommodation run by the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, along with five other residents. He regularly journeyed out to his local shops where he was well known by the local shopkeepers. Mark lived his life in tune with the John Farnham song ‘You’re the Voice’. Despite a sharp mind being trapped inside a body that had limited mobility, Mark lead a happy and fulfilling life surrounded by family and friends.
