De-Stigmatised

15/03/2024

"Growing up, we’re often led to naively believe that there is one person out there who will fall in love with you and then after a certain period of dating they will ask for your hand in marriage by proposing to you. But marital bliss is never guaranteed, with many couples inevitably coming to a devastating and heart-wrenching realisation that theirs is no longer salvageable nor reconcilable.

LIFE ALONE is a romantic comedy solo exploratory show told from the point of view of one lonely fortysomething year old neurodivergent, bis*xual stand-up comedian, dancer and digital designer from Brazil, Michele da Costa, who is agonising over what her own future will embody once she becomes an elderly person. Although twice divorced, Da Costa remains uncertain whether she will tie the knot with another four or five ex-spouses or possibly succumb to being a recluse that adopts fifteen more cats that’ll eat her after she dies all alone.

Da Costa got to dish it out with De-Stigmatised‘s Jarad McLoughlin about her forays into the differing international stand-up comedy scenes from Auckland right through to Melbourne, where she relocated to in 2019. She also drops an unexpected bombshell concerning how things ended up turning out so amicably with her two former spouses."

Growing up, we’re often led to naively believe that there is one person out there who will fall in love with you and then after a certain period of dating they will ask for your hand in marri…

08/03/2024

"Do you ever feel despondent, low-spirited, or uninspired to clean up after yourself? Upkeeping the cleanliness of not only the interior and exterior components of your inner subconscious, but also within your physical and psychological health parameters is vital to limit the risks associated with emotional dysregulation, demand avoidance and sensory overload while haplessly trying to figure out why it is tidiness isn’t challenging enough for those who identify as autistic.

Let’s Tidy Up is more than just about dealing with the chaotic and propulsive challenges of household domestication. When it comes down to what it is that he is striding for, the endearingly effervescent, highly successful, wickedly clever and critically acclaimed stand-up comedian, writer, producer, executive producer, showrunner, actor, and podcaster from Blackwater in Queensland, Josh Thomas attests to self-deprecate his varied life experiences, including the unsurprising relief he felt after recently getting diagnosed with Autism three years ago. Co-written by award-winning playwright Lally Katz, Thomas awkwardly captivates with his unfiltered eloquently and poignantly philosophical monologues, which resist over-sharing too much about the unchanging messiness of humanity, identity and mortality.

Thomas also got to discuss with De-Stigmatised's Jarad McLoughlin about the excessive imbalanced prices that cash strapped disabled people on the Disability Support Pension are force to pay when purchasing tickets and the inaction surrounding accessibility requirements for certain audience members e.g. providing an Auslan interpreter for only one single session to cater to those who are deaf and/or hard of hearing."

Do you ever feel despondent, low-spirited, or uninspired to clean up after yourself? Upkeeping the cleanliness of not only the interior and exterior components of your inner subconscious, but also …

29/02/2024

"The epitome of what society itself today deems as eloquent or repugnant displays in how we ask another person a simplified question would usually be responded to by either receiving a backhanded retort or a polite compliment.

Although when those same questions are imposed onto you, the ridiculous, meaningless, and nonsensical manner in which they are given don’t necessarily incur a sensibly delicate reaction. Luckily or unluckily, one multi-talented ‘fluid and understated’ disabled performer is keen on finding out how those poorly laid out questions can be answered. Out of Body Experience is the exciting new show from Melbourne based stand-up/sketch comedian, musical theatre actor, screenwriter and improviser, Ashley Apap and she will be leaving no existential stone unturned in dissecting and translating the unspoken pompous, mind numbing, and outlandish intention from both the questioner and questionee’s perspectives.

Apap also shares with De-Stigmatised‘s Jarad McLoughlin her introspected compulsion to make other people laugh, why writing is her favourite pastime, how she copes with her body slowly ageing/breaking down, and being affirmatively supported by her family and friends which helped Apap to overcome a lackness of self-confidence."

The epitome of what society itself today deems as eloquent or repugnant displays in how we ask another person a simplified question would usually be responded to by either receiving a backhanded re…

22/02/2024

"“Is it real or not real?”

That is the definitively indecisive question one thirty-three year old stand-up comedian is obsessively attempting to interrogate as he grapples with being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and the emotional and psychological complexities and calamities that come with adjusting to this new-found sense of identity.

Andrew Deficit Hastings Disorder dares to pinpoint what the positive and negative experiences living with ADHD have turned out to be like for Sydney based comedian, screenwriter and former long haired emo, Andrew Hastings, who is yet to fully understand what this diagnosis means for him thus arousing some suspicious assertions that this might not absolve past transgressions. That isn’t to say that Hastings recoils, cringes or finches when remembering how he got to be where he is today, except when he refused to talk to anyone after ‘bombing’ quite badly during his first ever solo performance back in 2011.

Hastings also got to reveal to De-Stigmatised‘s Jarad McLoughlin some of his peculiar and eccentric hyperfixations, the shared likelihood in becoming neurodivergent alongside many of his peers and how he handles himself while feeling limbic."

“Is it real or not real?” That is the definitively indecisive question one thirty-four year old stand-up comedian is obsessively attempting to interrogate as he grapples with being diag…

15/02/2024

"Ever had one of those impulsive moments where you just feel like rebelling into a self-deprecating silly billy, who takes themselves far too literally without caring if their unusual style of humour does or doesn’t tickle your funny bone.

The Sun and The Hermit goes beyond the confines of traditional, mundane, bland, lifeless, and boringly mainstream attention seeking characterisations and improvisations. It squeezes about a month’s worth of the weirdest, surrealist, absurdist, and strangest stories, which features a single-minded protagonist’s favourite enemies, all embodied and portrayed fantastically by Melbourne based character comedian, clown and improviser, Belinda Anderson-Hunt. Despite always putting too much pressure on herself, she isn’t one to underplay the levity of manufacturing, creating and delivering jokes that cleverly emulate the delightful and charming traits of her antagonistic characters without turning them into one dimensional, vilely humourless caricatures.

Speaking with De-Stigmatised‘s Jarad McLoughlin, Anderson-Hunt delves much further into what her jokes are trying to convey without being too reliant on words and more on the aspect of embodying the characterised antagonisms as a combined dramatic and comedic narrative formation."

Ever had one of those impulsive moments where you just feel like rebelling into a self-deprecating silly billy, who takes themselves far too literally without caring if their unusual style of humou…

08/02/2024

"How does someone go about posing the existential questions concerning the physical and psychological quandaries of religious beliefs and s*xual liberation? Quite simply, abandon the sacredness and embrace the sacrilegious.

S*x & Other Philosophies is committed to light-heartedly deconstruct those long-held ideological doctrines that have permeated throughout humanity and society for thousands of years. For Karen Lee Roberts, who is an actor, writer and singer from Queensland and lives with bi-polar disorder, it is about appealing to the audience’s humorous and quirky side of their brains, allowing them to explore how the sensual and sensory transcends to the philosophical questions about the meaning of life, s*x, relationships, spirituality, and identity through poetry, playful dialogue and original music compositions filled with sultry, witty and esoteric undertones.

Roberts reveals more about what the show entails with De-Stigmatised's Jarad McLoughlin, as well as some of her other recent variously extensive theatrical performances and productions across Australia and overseas, such as Look Mum, No Hands, Wilbur the Optical Whale and Chameleon, which she got to perform while live streaming during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown."

How does one go about posing the existential questions concerning the physical and psychological quandaries of religious beliefs and s*xual liberation? Quite simply, abandon the sacredness and embr…

08/02/2024

DE-STIGMATISED HAS RETURNED FOR AN EPICALLY HILARIOUS SIX WEEK STINT JUST AS THE ADELAIDE FRINGE FESTIVAL KICKS OFF FOR ANOTHER YEAR NEXT FRIDAY!!!

You can replay tonight’s episode by going on Radio Adelaide's website and typing 'De-Stigmatised' on the search bar near the bottom end of the homepage or click through to the 'programs' page.

15/12/2023

I'm taking a couple of months off to recharge my autistic brain and hunt down for more new disabled voices and stories to share with my listeners so that they can ingest them with their eardrums.

De-Stigmatised will return for a six-week limited series from Thursday, February 8th to March 14th, 2024!

Please remember to revel in your festive celebrations surrounded by and amongst with all your family and friends!!🎄🎄🎄

01/12/2023

"Over the last twelve months, former Australian paralympic wheelchair racer, media pundit, podcaster and public speaker, Kurt Fearnley AO has alighted himself into the pivotal role of Chairman on the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) Board, dealing with endless consultations, meetings, public events and formal networking engagements with politicians and other stakeholders, including disability community groups, lobby groups, service providers, federal government committees and non-profit organisations, without daring to lose his composure, patience or temperament.

Now a weary but good humoured and blessed father of four children, Fearnley hasn’t negated in fulfilling his commitments, responsibilities, and obligations that are quintessential to someone tasked with increasing representation of the lived experience of those with disabilities that never took priority within the managerial and operational factions of the NDIA until the Minister for the NDIS, The Honourable Bill Shorten MP decided to appoint Fearnley to lead the board in September 2022 to increase leadership visibility, set up the strategic direction of the agency, ensure positive outcomes for NDIS recipients into the future and rebuild public trust with the disability community.

Fearnley shares more with De-Stigmatised‘s Jarad McLoughlin, particularly why it is he can not understate the privilege in becoming the Chairman does far outweigh the emotional gravity of anxiety and nervousness he might have felt with taking charge of the board."

For the last twelve months, former Australian paralympic wheelchair racer, media pundit, podcaster and public speaker, Kurt Fearnley AO has alighted himself into the pivotal role of Chairman on the…

16/11/2023

"The unpleasant contradictions and complications that many participants of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) are forced to navigate through when discussing with their planning managers on the exact amount of funding that gets allocated into their plan each year can take an additional emotional, psychological and mental health toll, not just for the disabled person involved but also for families, guardians, carers, friends and support workers.

That is something JFA Purple Orange‘s Manager of Policy and Projects, Belle Owen, who is short-statured and uses a motorised wheelchair cannot escape from herself. Having been grandfathered onto the scheme a few years ago, Owen has fought with her planning manager numerous times over how much money she can use from her own plan to purchase essential services and products, including adaptive clothing that is manufactured and altered accordingly to fit her smaller body frame.

Owen also opens up candidly to De-Stigmatised‘s Jarad McLoughlin on what the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) can do to make the entire planning review process more “participant centred and participant focused”, thereby shifting their whole approach and helping the Minister for the NDIS, Bill Shorten and other federal politicians to regain the trustworthiness of the scheme’s viability and sustainability from within the disability community itself."

The unpleasant contradictions and complications that many participants of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) are forced to navigate through when discussing with their planning managers…

04/11/2023

"Despite the NDIS National Disability Insurance Scheme recently celebrating it’s tenth anniversary of being rolled out across all Australian states and territories, it hasn’t been without it’s overarching problems of financial exploitation, theft and malfeasance. Many participants have had to battle repeatedly with the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to avoid having allocated funding in their plans severely slashed, thus lowering the demand for expenditure on services and products.

Craig Wallace, who is the Head of Policy at the ACT based non-profit independent advocacy organisation, Advocacy for Inclusion - Incorporating People With Disabilities ACT, believes that the stewardship of the disability service marketplace had naively underestimated the amount of care and attention that was required to ensure participants were given more knowledge and power as consumers to choose which service providers had high quality competitive packages.

Wallace also discusses with De-Stigmatised‘s Jarad McLoughlin some of the unfortunate misgivings that have befallen the NDIA throughout the past decade, including its operational and managerial culture becoming more guarded due to the incurred risk of funding getting peeled back by the former federal Liberal National Coalition government."

Despite the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) recently celebrating it’s tenth anniversary of being rolled out across all Australian states and territories, it hasn’t been with…

29/09/2023

24/09/2023

20/09/2023

🚀✨ RADIOTHON 2023 HAS TAKEN OFF! 📻🌟

For the next exciting week, we're embarking on a mission to raise over $20,000, igniting the journey for the new generation of media creators while nurturing our current broadcasters. Radio Adelaide's mission thrives on the support of our incredible community, and now it's your time to shine!

Here's how you can be a part of this interstellar journey:

💫 Subscribe: Show your love for community radio by subscribing. Your contribution fuels our mission and keeps us soaring high. Plus, you'll receive an out-of-this-world subscriber pack as well as gaining entry into our MAJOR PRIZE DRAW! (Check the website to see the prize pool!)

🌟 Donate: Individuals who donate $100 or more, and generous companies giving $250 or more, will earn a spot on our illustrious Radiothon Website. Your name will shine like a star in our constellation of supporters as well as gaining entry into our MAJOR PRIZE DRAW! (Check the website to see the prize pool!)

✨ Tune in Live: Listen along throughout the week and send in your messages of support to your favourite shows and broadcasters.

Join our quest for greatness! Visit our website www.radioadelaide.org.au/radiothon-2023 or stay tuned to our social pages for mission updates and behind-the-scenes action. 🚀

10/09/2023

School leaver William Pel has hit the play button on the next phase of his life, with job-ready supports leading to volunteer work at his community radio station.

07/09/2023

Congratulations to Radio Adelaide's Jarad McLoughlin on 10 years of broadcasting! Jarad was part of the reference group for CMTO's Audio Ability Project and is currently one of our fantastic mentors. Give his show De-Stigmatised a listen for great content on breaking the myths and stereotypes that surround disability.

02/09/2023

"Annabelle ‘Belle’ Behan has never been known to downplay her personal emotional, psychiatric, and psychological health struggles that have sidestepped her academic, social, and professional endeavours for many years. But despite being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression while studying law at university, Behan has not relented in passionately advocating for better awareness on mental health and fighting to eliminate stigmatisation against those with disabilities.

Whilst focusing most of her time volunteering as a paralegal, Behan is widely recognised as one of the current co-presenters and Executive Producer of 4ZZZ 102.1 FM’s social justice and disability rights focused show, Only Human on 4ZZZ Zed Digital. Behan is also the Facilitator and Trainer for the CMTO’s Audio Ability Program Project, where over the last ten weeks she has held online professional development training sessions with the current diverse team of mentors from across South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland every Wednesday night. Previously, she was a member of the course’s reference group and had also participated in the pilot/inaugural round as another of the twenty-five original mentees.

Behan unveils to De-Stigmatised‘s Jarad McLoughlin how she had managed to stride a certain level of equilibrium through providing a platform on community radio for disabled people to share their narratives and stories with listeners, comprehending the vitality of destigmatising mental health and why she felt that her confidence was lacking when it came to recording and editing her own audio content before making the decision to join Audio Ability."

Annabelle ‘Belle’ Behan has never been known to downplay her personal emotional, psychiatric, and psychological health struggles that have sidestepped her academic, social, and professi…

31/08/2023

One week now remains until Jarad Andrew McLoughlin gets to celebrate 10 years of him becoming a (almost) well-known, award winning radio broadcaster, multimedia content creator, and journalist, who also happens to be both unapologetically and unashamedly autistic and gay in-front of and away from the microphone.

On next Thursday night's special episode of De-Stigmatised, Jarad, along with some mystery guests, will gather to reminisce about the 'memories of yesteryear' as well as retracing his decade long career-defying odyssey in community radio, dealing with several naysayers/sceptics who didn't believe he could be left unsupervised in the studio and how he has managed to achieve the countless accolades that he has earned through tenacity, endurance and determination without shying away from delivering high quality audio content and creating robust, intriguing, quizzical and informative programming that puts disability head first into the subconscious of listeners who flock in every week to find out another unknown viewpoint on many issues that you don't often get to hear from disabled people on either commercial radio and/or television or even the ABC and SBS ... unless occasionally during their news bulletins, it has prominent, constant, factual, unbiased, faultless, and accurate reportage!

If you want to join in on all of the cringe-inducing but joyously meaningful and poignant pandering, you can tune in next Thursday night at 6:00 pm (ACST) / 6:30 pm (AEST) on Radio Adelaide.