It is time to stop being afraid. Time to forget the whole "Don't rock the boat" philosophy of keeping your head down!
Yes, we know. It is THIS day and age. Even so, discrimination is rife in many of our systems. Don't believe me? Read on!
Do you need information, education or some awkward questions answered?
Are you tired of not being heard? Contact me if you need help with advocacy.
If you want to talk about your experiences with someone who gets it, chat to me!
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Deaf people who prefer the capitalisation of D in Deaf, see themselves as a part of the signing Deaf culture of their country. In Australia, that is the Auslan Deaf community. There is a strong sense of a cultural or personal Deaf identity which is rooted in Auslan sign language. This includes both people with partial and complete deafness.
deaf people who don’t identify with deafness as an cultural or personal identity, opt for lowercase d in deaf. This includes both people with partial and complete deafness. The Deaf community also tends to put people who are not Auslan signers in this category as well as people who are hearing impaired later in life and do not have a lifetime’s experience of being deaf. However! There are plenty of deaf people who do sign and use different communication methods, who consider themselves deaf, just not with a capital D.
Check out this video of my little one using baby sign 🙂 He has been signing for booby since about 5 months old. It started with squeezing my finger or boob and progressed to making fists, and then finally to the opening and closing repeatedly of his fist to...
So my sister in law came across a deaf blog ranting about some dude from The Voice, Andy Dexterity doing Auslan when he is not deaf. There was a lot of anger about cultural appropriation and comments about Andy signing badly. It prompted my interest because obvious...
https://youtu.be/qFcFpWzIQNk First, this is an excellent and well done video, everybody needs to watch it! I'd like to touch on my first experience of this video as it completely slammed me. It was used as an educational tool in a support coordination course I was...
People keep calling my phone and I've finally worked it out! Deaf people can't possibly own phones, and this must be common knowledge! Of course!! This totally explains why there will be difficulty explaining to a caller why the deaf phone owner cannot come to the...
No really. I've removed names for privacy as this isn't about any of these individuals personally, but rather the social/cultural context of this discourse. Here are the highlights for those of you without the ability to see the image posted below: "I wonder how...
I've been pondering on this particular judgmental view lately - that it is always a choice where you live. Let's look at this in context of disability: Neighbours Supportive and understanding neighbours are important. Bonus if they share some similar views or...
Wayne Sharples reading the part from "The Gruffalo" where the Fox learns he is the Gruffalo's favourite food. You know how people think in the language they were raised in? People raised with spoken language often report "hearing" in their head when they have...
I was recently invited to a public Facebook group - Auslan Media Access. This group is about lobbying and increasing awareness of the need for interpreters in the media regarding news broadcasts and emergency broadcasts aimed at delivering information to Australians....
When the idea for this blog came about at the beginning of 2019, I did not realise how my commitment to The Year of the Squeaky Wheel would shape and influence where my energy went for 2019. Here's an excerpt: I am upset and angry. Nobody likes being confronted with...