My name is Leigh Anne. This is my sign name, because I love lollies.

I’m from Adelaide, South Australia, and have been here for 25 years (?)

I studied to be a teacher of the deaf because I was interested in teaching deaf children. After finishing masters for 2 years full time, I applied to be a teacher with registration under the South Australian Teacher Registration Board (TRB for short). It was said that it would take 6 weeks for it to be approved, so I let the application process take its course and enjoy my Christmas holidays in the meantime. On my graduation day, all of my graduating friends and colleagues were excited with obtaining their teacher registration. One asked me where my teaching licence was, and I realised then, I forgot about that! I said “I’ve not got my teaching licence yet”. Everyone was perplexed about this, one saying it only took them 4 weeks to get their licence. I knew then that something was not right. Maybe the paperwork took a bit of time as it usually does, I don’t know.

That evening, I went home and contacted the TRB using the national relay service (NRS). I informed them that I hadn’t received any updates on the application. They responded telling me to wait until I received a letter within the next few weeks. I insisted that they tell me immediately and they apologised that they could not say anything as the paperwork was yet to be finalised. “Why?” They said “Just wait until you receive something” and then hung up on me.

I was thinking a lot about what it all could be about.

Finally after two weeks, I got the letter. I opened it and was shocked upon reading it and didn’t fully process it. My next-door neighbour saw my shocked face and asked if I was alright. I asked her to read my letter and see what she thought of it. She was also shocked. The letter had only one sentence. It said “Sorry, your application for teaching registration has been rejected because you are deaf”. That’s it. There was no other explanations or justifications. They couldn’t tell me this on the NRS. One sentence saying my application was rejected due to my ‘hearing impairment’.

I couldn’t believe it. There was no other information on the letter, which was bizarre. That was why I made sure my neighbour read it, in case there was something.  But she confirmed that we both were reading the same thing.

I thought, this isn’t right. I contacted the TRB again using NRS and asked them why they rejected my application, I have a right to know, please explain to me. They said it was simple, just that I was fully deaf, it was an issue that I’m using NRS, and that I couldn’t teach. “Sorry, you can’t be a teacher in SA”

What year? That was in 2012. I was shocked and dazed. I said “you will receive a letter from me soon”. I had to make sure that I was doing the right thing, so I did a lot of thinking and researching, looking at policies. I found that I did have the right to appeal a decision. So I wrote up a formal letter stating I was going to appeal their decision and requested a formal meeting to discuss this matter. Three months later, we had a meeting. I brought along my mother, two interpreters were there. A man let me know that this was going to be an informal meeting and asked if I still wanted to go ahead. I said yes, that’s fine. When the man left, one of the interpreters said to me “This isn’t an informal meeting, it’s an actual hearing”

“But they told me it’s an informal meeting”. When another person came into the room, I said “I was informed that this is an informal meeting, correct?” He replied “Yes, that’s right”. “But from what I was told, this is actually a hearing”. “No, it’s just an informal meeting”. I was doubtful about the whole thing. When I walked into the room, it was shockingly a proper hearing, looking like a court room, with a judge and a committee panel. I was feeling uneasy. I realised this was serious. What should I do? I don’t have a lawyer. I sat down, the procedure went ahead. I said “why reject my application? I want to know. I’m deaf, I’m capable of doing anything except hear, that’s it. I had no issues when studying for my master's, why is it a problem?” The opposing lawyer stood up and presented a huge list of counterarguments. The hearing went for four hours. The more counterpoints I heard, the less confident I felt. I decided then, I’m going to advocate all the way. It was simply not acceptable. The opposing lawyer gave 18 reasons why I was not allowed to teach.

Starting with number one- I was not able to hear environmental sounds. Number two- my deafness meant children could be put in danger. Three- I was not able to communicate with deaf students because hearing teachers would not know what was being said. Four- I was not allowed to be alone with a student because I can’t hear and access, and so on, so on. It was truly awful.

After that, I decided to go ahead with the appeal. I told them my intentions, the judge said to go ahead, I had to right to appeal. I had hired a barrister since it was a civil matter. We had a discussion, he said this is discrimination, simple as that. We went ahead, started with the local district court. I won, which was joyous. I was able to start teaching at a school. I was teaching for half a day until my boss came in and said I needed to leave. What! Apparently, the TRB was appealing the court decision and that I needed to stop teaching until the matter was resolved. I was embarrassed and left for home. I realised I had to work somewhere for the time being so I decided to work for a deaf organisation while advocating for my teaching rights. The paperwork was long and heavy, countless letters being wrote.

About three months later, I decided to go from local court to the magistrates court to argue my position. I lost, but I appealed. Ultimately, we decided we need to do this properly, legislation and all, by taking it to the supreme court one year later. I was intimidated by the idea of Supreme Court. Arriving on the day, I was so nervous and nauseous. There were three judges. The opposition had a team of five lawyers pitted against my one lawyer. I knew there was the possibility of not succeeding, but I needed to prove I was capable of doing this. During the Supreme Court, the opposing lawyers compared me to a blind person. I’m deaf, not blind! They argued an example, a deaf person can see, but a blind person cannot, putting lives in danger. Thus, it was the same for not being able to hear, putting lives in danger. After six hours of the hearing, no unanimous decision could be reached so it was forwarded to the Federal Court of Australia 9 months later. We had to make sure we could counter every 18 points. At the end, I won the case and celebrated it. It was the first time for the TRB, a government organisation to lose a case. The Federal Court said they needed to change the application process so it is open and accessible to all people with disabilities wanting to become teachers; the application form must be accessible and disability friendly, and so on. Changes needed to be made to the legislations and the constitutions so that deaf teachers could teach, become teachers of the deaf.

All in all, it was two and half years of fighting in court. I had to cover the costs by re-mortgaging my house. I have been a teacher of the deaf for 10 years now. Since the court case, three deaf people have become teachers without issues. That’s my story.

Yes I did ask all the organisations like DeafVic, they couldn’t help because it was an individual case, not a group one- Deaf Australia- in the past-

No, I  did contact Deaf Australia, they said no because they don’t do individual advocacy cases, I accepted that. I contacted DeafVic, they couldn’t help because I lived outside Victoria. So I contacted SA Deaf Society, they couldn’t because they didn’t have any advocacy team nor funding for it. I was lost, I didn’t know where to go for advocacy. I was disappointed and decided to remortgage my house to cover the court costs. I spent $32,000 altogether.

Yes, that’s where I learnt about *CARD-P*, after I met Colin Allen. When we met, he said “I heard about your court case, what’s happening with that?” “I wasn’t successful” “Try this, CARD-P” It piqued my interest, he told me all about it. That’s how I won my court case, because of that.

Yeah, yeah- I know what you mean, when I became a teacher, the rule was that I must become a provisional teacher for 200 days- this is normal for all new teachers, so I accepted that. After 200 days, I applied to become a full teacher. They responded it was not enough, not satisfactory, so I needed to do another 200 days. So I did another 200 days, applied again afterwards, and got the same response. I was getting frustrated, but I did another 200 days again. I got the same response afterwards, so I got a lawyer to negotiate with them. I needed to do 200 days for one more time. It was 4 years altogether. I collated all the paperwork, submitted them, and said I did 800 days of proper provisional teaching; if you don’t approve this, we will go back to court. It was resolved in two weeks, I received my fully registered teaching licence.

Yeah, provisional teachers need to make sure they follow rules, code of conduct and ethics, have a full understanding of the curriculum and frameworks, to teach without issues, to keep giving evidence of teaching the allocated 200 days. Once those days are completed and approved, you become a fully registered teacher, which comes with a pay increase which builds up over time. Yeah, it was basically apprenticeship pay as a provisional teacher for 4 years.

The principal I worked under, in the previous time, the old leadership team was fantastic- they had deaf family members, a good understanding of what deaf education looks like. They advocated to make the school one of the top 3 schools in the world, as the leading experts in deaf education. Three members of the team came to my court case every time, sat in the back and provided endless support and encouragement. These three have since retired. They told me not to give up, try to get the 200 days approved. They saw my working hard, applying and getting rejected, reminded me that I deserved to be fully registered and licenced. I found out that on the other side, the person who rejected all of my applications left the job, and a new person who took their place thought it was ludicrous I did 800 days. They accepted my application straight away after two weeks. It has to be one person that believes in you, that you can do it, to get that approval.

Yes, I heard about that and I understand why. Their teaching degree doesn’t exist anymore, their teacher of the deaf degree from Griffith University in Queensland isn’t recognised in Australia anymore.

The University Equivalent Qualification, UEQ, did not recognise it as a ‘bachelor of teaching’ degree anymore, so you’d have to go complete a Masters before receiving a teaching job.

Yes, that’s the problem, I flew over to do my practicum for 10 days, and flew again for another 10 days. I put down the days, the Department of Education approved them, I met the criteria, I was allowed in. Because I had the right qualification.

That teacher I worked with, she was teaching until the system changed, her qualification wasn’t recognised anymore and she had to leave. She was shocked as she taught for a long time. Her principal advocated for her but ultimately if she wanted to keep working, she needed to work under a different pay, hourly paid instructor level (HPI). She must do her Masters otherwise.

Yes I understand that perspective, because, Bachelor of Auslan/Lote is not recognised in the teaching curriculum. Because you need to understand frameworks, which allows you to teach. Yep, that’s right.

Throughout that experience, I learnt how much resilience I had, I never knew I had that in me. I was always advocating, pushing on despite countless setbacks. This slow process taught me how much patience I had to have to go one step at a time. I’ve never had that experience in the past. I learnt a lot through this journey, understanding legislations, unpacking meanings, it was eye-opening. If I didn’t know, I would have been very lost. Because of my past experience advocating in areas like lifesaving, workplaces, I already had some cards up my sleeve. Dealing with the TRB, I knew I had to break existing barriers. I’m not the only deaf teacher in Australia. You can’t just stop me when others are able to teach, that’s wrong. So I had to understand the system, how legislations work, policies, the constitution, acts, all of that. All of this made me a better person now. Because I can encourage others not to give up. If I can, you can. Use my case as a positive influence for other people’s advocacy. Rather than me saying ‘ah well, it’s not my problem, do it yourself’. I learnt this for a reason, to be able to help other people. Language, reading, comprehension at a high level can be overwhelming for many people, so I decided I should share my experiences with others.

I wish there was funding available. If I knew there was funding available, I would have advocated for it. But they said no. I wish I didn’t give up on it. Because back then when I asked for funding, they said it’s being used for another court case, the one with the mother advocating for her daughter to have an interpreter in high school. I said my case was education relevant but they said no, my case was a personal choice, their case wasn’t. I wish I didn’t give up then but at that time, I conceded to being told ‘no’.

Another thing I wish I knew was knowing the right person to ask for help. Yes, at first, they said yes for the local district, but for anything above that, I had to pay and cover my own costs.

Yes, when I first got the letter saying I was approved as a teacher after four years of advocating, I just burst into tears and broke down. Finally, after so long, fighting through courts, teaching while making sure I’m doing all the right things, constant applying and rejections over and over again. I realised that one paper was a $32,000 paper. That was how I felt at the time. The most expensive paper I held: the one I asked for, that was all I wanted. It was a symbol to show deaf people can become teachers. I was free to teach without issues with restrictions, accessibilities, discrimination.

My advice would be to find out what your rights are first. Make sure you understand what you need to do. Be informed first before you start the fight. Don’t start the fight without the key knowledge. Without it, your fight would crumble. So you need to make sure your case is strong before moving ahead. It will be a long process, it’s not easy. There’s a lot of emotions involved; stress, anxiety, illness. It might take you years to get where you want to be. It’s a long journey towards achieving it but in the end, it is worth it. Don’t give up!

When I first got the rejection letter, I immediately posted the news on facebook, where most of my network is. I said “I am devastated”. I usually post positive stuff so people were taken aback and asking a lot of questions about what happened. The post had more than 300 comments, I received countless messages. I simply said “I’m not allowed to teach”, and that led to more comments and messages. Many said it couldn’t be right, there’s many deaf teachers around Australia. They all promised they would back me up and provided many words of encouragement. They did think it was going to be a simple journey to start with. But I shared updates throughout my journey, people read about me in the newspaper, heard me in an interview on the radio; I had to get transcripts to share with everyone, my army of followers, because they did appreciate knowing what was going on, so they could spread news and knowledge, so more awareness could be raised. That was how journalists got involved. I had a fantastic team of supporters that believed in me. I realised I was not fighting just for myself but for the deaf community as well. For future deaf teachers, the next generation. I had to change the system in SA to ensure that was possible.

We all celebrated; we went to the pub, had drinks and cheered. It was the best party to have, to celebrate as a group altogether, not just me. It was a nice inspiring feeling knowing they had my back.

My first bachelor was applied science in neuropsychology, and then, work was challenging, particularly because I am deaf, so I decided to go back to university to do Masters in teaching. And then I did Masters in Special Education, specialising in autism. And then I did Masters of Teacher of the Deaf. And now I’m doing my PhD in Deaf Education, focusing on thriving deaf readers, for deaf school children.