Nas Campanella is the National Disability Affairs Reporter for the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

, and frequently appears on

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

. She lost her sight at the age of six months and has been a news reporter for ABC since 2011.

Career

Campanella earned a degree in communications at the

University of Technology Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1830s, the university was founded in its current form in 1988. As of 2021 ...

. After University, she joined the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

as a cadet journalist in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

in 2011. Her first job was as a regional reporter and newsreader in Bega, and then in 2013 she became a newsreader for JJJ. In 2020 she became the ABC's first Disability Affairs Reporter. Campanella holds the distinction of being the world's first blind newsreader to operate the studio herself while delivering live broadcasts. She is also a motivational speaker to students, educators, parents, and professionals, addressing a wide array of topics, such as inclusive education, and adaptive technology. She also mentors people with disabilities and mental health challenges.

Disability

Campanella lost her sight at the age of six months, when blood vessels in her eyes burst, causing her retinas to detach. She also suffers from Charcot-Marie Tooth syndrome, so that she is unable to read

Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...

. Because she cannot read the auto prompt on live TV, she relies on screen reading software called

Jaws Jaws or Jaw may refer to: Anatomy * Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth ** Mandible, the lower jaw Arts, entertainment, and media * Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker'' * ...

which scans text on the screen and plays it in her headphones, along with other audio streams such as a timer.

Personal life

Nas was born in 1989, and grew up in

Western Sydney Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

in a large Australian-Italian family. After initially struggling with reading because of her disabilities, she did well at school and became dux of her High School. She is now married to Thomas Oriti, who is also an ABC presenter, and they have a son Lachie

References

{{Reflist Australian Broadcasting Corporation people Australian journalists University of Technology Sydney alumni 1989 births Living people People from Sydney Australian blind people