After over 20 years of being self-employed as a music producer and audio engineer, Antony Rako is returning to study to change up his career options.
Antony lives with blindness/low vision as a result of retinitis pigmentosa. As his vision has deteriorated, Antony found his work was taking longer and longer to complete, prompting him to explore a career in community service work.
The community services area really stood out to me because helping the community is important to me, a core passion of mine,” Antony said.
One of the reasons I got into audio engineering in the first place was I wanted to help people with their music, my passions intervened.”
As part of his career change, Antony has returned to study and is pursuing a Diploma of Community Services at Victoria University. Supporting him in his studies is a suite of equipment received thanks to a Vision Australia Further Education Bursary, including JAWS screen-reading software, a laptop, headphones. Antony also received a DAISY pen, which takes photos of documents and coursework and reads out what is written.
Because of this equipment, Antony’s transition back into study has been made much easier.
The technology I’ve been able to get has made study so much more accessible and possible for me,” he said.
Being able to peruse material at my own pace and access material online has truly made a world of difference.”
While he is prepared for a new career in community service, his passion for music still shines through as one of his main hobbies he indulges in his spare time when not studying.
I still do a little audio engineering on the side. New technology has, and always will, be fascinating to me.”
The Vision Australia Further Education Bursary program has supported more than 400 students achieve their dreams of tertiary study since 1996.