Deaf Australia wishes to express gratitude and appreciation of the contribution to the deaf Victorian community from Ms Melissa Lowrie, as she departs her current role in Deaf Victoria.

Ms Lowrie has worked as the Advocacy Manager at Deaf Victoria for the last 5 and half years, and during that time has made significant contributions to key issues including interpreting in public hospitals, commercial drivers licenses (truck drivers) and access to mental health support for deaf people.
‘Advocacy is never an easy task, and being able to achieve such key outcomes for deaf Victorians are to be highly commended’, said Todd Wright, Chairman of Deaf Australia. ‘Melissa’s advocacy experience will be a valuable asset in her new role in the Disability Advocacy Resource Unit.  We wish her all the best with her new role’.
Deaf Victoria is currently advertising the manager position.
Image courtesy of <a href=”http:deafvictoria.org.au”>Deaf Victoria</a>

Application for Special Leave to Appeal to the High Court for Ms Gaye Lyons’ case against State of Queensland has been successful.

 

From left to right: Mark Patrick (DDLS NSW), Kyle Miers (CEO Deaf Australia), Ben Fogarty (Barrister), Ms Gaye Lyon, Ms. Kylie Nomchong (Barrister), Kathryn O’Brien (Porta Lawyers). Photo courtesy Kyle Miers.
Ms. Lyons alleges that she has been discriminated by State of Queensland by the refusal to provide her with an Auslan interpreter so that she can perform her civic duty as a juror.  She continues to challenge the Queensland Court of Appeal’s decision that there was no discrimination by that conduct.
Justice Susan Mary Kiefel AC, and Justice Geoffrey Nettle who presided the proceeding asked the Solicitor General of Queensland, Mr Dunning QC, who represents the State of Queensland if Ms Lyons would be able to perform the role of a juror effectively if an Auslan interpreter was provided, the Solicitor-General replied with a ‘Yes’.
Barristers Ms. Kylie Nomchong SC and Mr. Ben Fogarty who represented Ms Lyons, believed this is a case of human rights obligations not being met and a clear breach of the discrimination legislation.
‘This is of critical importance to Ms Lyons who is deaf and wants to actively participate in our community by being able to be considered for jury service’ says Ms Nomchong, ‘however, it clearly has wider ramifications ……to apply to all persons with disabilities’.
‘It is not about me’, says Ms Lyons, ‘it is the principle of justice and equality for every citizen of Australia and deaf people should not be treated any differently’.
Mr Kyle Miers, Chief Executive of Deaf Australia, who attended the hearing said it is a significant step forward in recognising that deaf people can do anything, but we’re only one step away from removing that discrimination in Queensland and may have wider implication to all states and territories that currently practice in excluding deaf people from doing their civic duties.
Ms Lyons’ case will be heard in Australian High Court in Canberra.

Australia mourns the passing today of Stan Batson, a volunteer and community leader who gave more than 60 years of conspicuous service to the Deaf community and the hard of hearing sector at large.

Mr Batson was born profoundly deaf. He recalled that in his formative years, Deaf culture and history were not talked about.
“Sign languages were not widely recognised as proper languages with their own grammar and syntax. We weren’t supposed to sign at school. Sometimes, we were slapped when we signed”, Mr Batson had recalled.
“Later, I thought Where are my rights to use my language? I want to instill pride in Deaf culture.”
Kyle Miers, chief executive of Deaf Australia said “It’s very sad to hear of Stan’s passing. His advocacy for Auslan and the history of the Deaf community should be celebrated.”
Mr Batson held leadership roles in various organisations serving the deafness community, both in his home state of Victoria and in a national setting.
He was the first Deaf and Auslan-user chair of Deafness Forum of Australia.
The current chair of Deafness Forum David Brady said he was a symbol for the volunteer spirit.
“Stan was a great supporter and always encouraged me and others to make a difference”, David Brady said.
Alex Jones, a past chair of Deafness Forum remembers him as “an incredible and funny guy. He has been a great ally to the Forum and the community. It saddens us to lose such a good value person. Vale Stan Batson.”
Stan Batson’s motto was “To your own self you must be true. Be who you are and be proud of it.”
Deafness Forum of Australia and Deaf Australia are members of Disability Australia, a consortium of national organisations which represents 200,000 people with disability across the country.