Nathalia woodworking teacher Aaron Dove receives award, despite facing unique challenge

He pulls out his tape measure and begins measuring.

As he pulls out the tape, a little voice comes from the tape measure and starts reading the measurements back to him.

“10cm, 20cm ...” and so on.

When Mr Dove is happy with his measurement, he starts the saw up and makes sure the timber is in its correct place before cutting.

The result is a perfectly sized and cut piece of timber, ready to be used however Mr Dove sees fit.

It is clear to all in the room that Mr Dove is an expert and no stranger to some hands-on work.

Mr Dove has also been totally and completely blind for almost 15 years.

His condition is called Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy.

It is a hereditary condition that left his mother completely blind, but Mr Dove was told it was supposed to skip his generation.

“But I got landed with it anyway, so bugger their theory there,” he said with a laugh.

Mr Dove said he had two brothers who had some sight issues growing up but that his eyes had always been fine, so he was taken completely by surprise by the condition.

“I had just gotten off a plane to Perth so I put it all down to cabin pressure,” Mr Dove said.

He was 26 at the time and went from fully sighted to “nothing” in six months.

He said the best way he could describe what going blind was like was to imagine shade cloths being stacked onto his eyes over time, making his vision darker and darker until eventually, it was just nothing.

“I was over in WA in the mines, and then I lost my sight and had to move back home,” he said.

“Bang, you’ve gone from everything in front of you to pretty well having to learn how to walk again step by step.

“I wanted to get back into the workforce and I was lucky enough the secondary college here gave me a go, we started off from there and we’re still going today, so yeah, it’s going well.”

With his extensive background in carpentry and mining, Mr Dove had all the tools for success when becoming a woodworking assistant at Nathalia Secondary College about 13 years ago.

He works at the school three days a week, helping students operate all the machinery and assisting woodworking teacher Robbie Bechaz.

Mr Dove’s tape measure reads out his measurements for him, and he uses ‘pulling sticks’ with grooves in them to feed wood into the saw, so can operate everything in the woodworking wing.

Mr Dove said he had been down to Vision Australia in Melbourne and had finished a near three-year-long project while attending classes there.

He made a red gum bed, that he eventually brought home almost two years ago, and he said he’d been sleeping on it ever since.

But his accomplishments haven’t stopped there.

Mr Dove recently found out he would be receiving a state-wide community service award from the Design and Technology Teachers Association Victoria for his work at the school.

Co-worker and friend Mr Bechaz originally nominated Mr Dove for the award, much to Mr Dove’s surprise.

“You never know what Robbie’s up to tell you the honest truth,” he said.

“We had the morning meeting and he announced it, and I was shocked, especially when he said I’d won it for the whole of Victoria.

“It’s a pretty good achievement and I’m more than happy to take it on board.”

Mr Dove said Vision Australia was aware of the award and had been in contact.

Mr Bechaz said working with Mr Dove had made him a better teacher, allowing him to consider a more holistic approach to teaching and learning.

“As an educator, this is my 20th year now, and you sort of get in a routine sometimes and you don’t take the blinkers off,” Mr Bechaz said.

“Working with Aaron has made me take my blinkers off and realise that I’ve got to cater for all abilities and different sorts of students and that kind of thing, and I’ve learnt a lot off of him too.”

When Mr Bechaz nominated Mr Dove for the award, he told DATTA Mr Dove had total respect from all of the students, and that it enabled them to be aware that life could change at any moment and that they had to adapt.

“I couldn’t do my job, nor enjoy it as much as I do, without his support,” Mr Bechaz said.

Acting principal Daniel Robinson could not speak highly enough of Mr Dove.

“Before we had Robbie on board, we took a little bit of time to find another woodworking teacher, that area of expertise is really hard to find,” Mr Robinson said.

“Aaron is probably underselling his ability to hold up the technology department throughout that time.

“We had other staff in to support, but the woodworking expertise and the reason students could still do hands-on learning was because Aaron was here.

“To be able to witness the work that he does with the students in the woodwork space is phenomenal, you’ve got to see it to believe it, it’s unbelievable.

“We’re really proud of him, and I’m thankful Robbie has taken the initiative to ensure Aaron’s recognised for the awesome work he’s done.”

Despite his peers emphasising how valuable of an asset he was to the school, all Mr Dove could express was gratitude to the school for the opportunity.

“I’m rapt about the award, hopefully, it works out good for the school, maybe a bit of publicity,” he said.

Mr Dove said he was told he would be receiving the award around the same time he would become a father, with a baby on the way expected to arrive at the end of June.

“I nearly said that when he announced the award, I told everyone that’s when we’re having a kid, oh jeez, double banger,” he said.

“Everyone I work with, teachers and students, you just gotta build the trust with them and trust in them.

“I like working here, it’s a good little town, we have a small group of students so you get to know a lot of them, even out on the street they come up and say G’day, that’s the best part for me, and then seeing what they’re able to do once they leave here.”

Mr Dove said he hoped some of the students could look at him and what he had been able to do and take that with them into their next stage of life as they get into their careers.

“You’ve just got to not give up, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, if you keep going things keep coming.”