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Category: Skill Share
Online Scam – Buying Via Marketplace – Dylan Episode 2
Transcript
A – Hey. You know how I lost a phone recently? Yeah. I’ve been looking in Facebook’s Marketplace. I found a really good one that I want to buy. I’ve been in contact with the seller then we confirmed last night, and I’ve paid online. Today the contact disappeared. I feel like I have been scammed because my money was stolen.
B – Yeah. Unfortunately, online scams are increasing and becoming more widespread. It’s getting worse, not only in Australia but globally. I understand how you feel.
A – So what do I do?
B – If you got scammed, you can report it to the website called scamwatch.gov.au. It’s a great website because if you report scams, it helps the government and police to catch more scammers otherwise they will continue happening. So please report and help to prevent the issue! What kind of scam reporting? There are plenty of options you can select on the website. Phone stolen? There is an option for that.
A – Great, I will report. But I still need my phone!
B – Yeah right, I understand you still need your phone. You can try contacting your bank and letting them know that it was a scam and sometimes it is possible for them to refund you. So onwards, if you want to buy a second-hand phone, it is the most ideal to buy face-to-face. That way you know for sure. You can buy through cash, without any mess. Online is not secure.
A – Good. I will contact my bank and let them know that I was scammed. Hope they will refund me!
B – Don’t stress about it too much! It’s very understandable because scams nowadays are so advanced that it’s hard to tell. Sometimes it doesn’t even look like one. It’s everywhere. Hey, I wonder if that seller sent you a link?
A – Yeah they sent me a link and I clicked on it! What about it?
B – That’s bad! Most often these links are for the scammers to get access to your account. Best if you change your password now. Also ideal if you set up 2FA. Do you have it?
A – 2FA? What’s that?
B – Ah yes 2FA means Two Factor Authentication. So once you log in, you will be sent a code by Facebook which you need to put in before fully accessing your account. So if a scammer tries to log in, it won’t work because they don’t have your phone or number! 2FA is great because it’s very secure. It’s worth setting up.
A – Pah! Thank you for explaining, I understand now.
How to Manage Year 12 – Maya Episode 2
Transcript
Hello, I am Maya and I am currently in year 11 in High School, here in Victoria. Next year I will be in year 12, very exciting but as you all know, year 12 can be very overwhelming with the content and hard to balance your social life with school commitments. I’ve had a bit of research and looked into the three best advices, that I will be sharing with you all, so you are able to learn how to manage year 12 as well! I think the most important tip would be the first one, and I urge you to try and achieve this. In Victoria, we have VCE and/or VET, and you need six subjects all together to complete year 12, so I pulled, not only one, but two subjects earlier. Meaning in year 10 I finished a subject and I will be finishing one this year too, so next year I will have not six, not five, but four subjects to focus on and it will be easier for me to manage my routine within school and social life, that is why I urge you all to try this. Tip number two, remember that you are not alone, have a chat with your friends about how you’re feeling and if you’re behind on the schoolwork. You both can help each other out and you both could go to a library together and study together there and afterwards, go your separate ways home. Make sure that you pick the right friend! So you both wouldn’t be chatting away the whole time and ignoring the work! Tip number three, you can talk to your teachers, or your support group by emailing them or having a discussion face-to-face, saying “I feel that I can’t catch up with the class work or understand it very well.”. Most of the time your teacher will be supportive and try help you out by giving you extra information, extra time or sitting down with you and having a chat to make sure that you can understand as much as possible. Especially because your education/learning is important.
How to Book an Interpreter – Maya Episode 1
Transcript
Maya: You know how I have a meeting coming up soon? Maybe this is a good time for you to teach me how to book an interpreter for the meeting.
Nat: There are several booking agencies in Australia, including examples like Expression Australia and Deaf Connect, varying in size from smaller operations to larger ones. You can go on their website or google and find the link to book an interpreter from there.
Maya: Ah yeah, but, I would love to book a specific interpreter. How can I do that, do I ask the agency or is there another way?
Nat: I know what you mean, it’s great to have an interpreter that you understand very well, you could tell the agency your preference to have that interpreter and a couple of others and they will try and contact those interpreters. If they are unavailable, the agency will give you a couple of other interpreters that are just as good. Or if you have their phone number, you can contact them and ask to book them directly, from there you can negotiate prices and ensure that it is reasonable. But if the interpreter calls in sick or pulls out, you have to find another interpreter and may not be able to fine one in time. While the agency will keep looking for you and have higher chances of finding a replacement for you. Each has its pros and cons.
Maya: Aha, I got it! Thank you.
Campus vs Online – Choosing Your Study – Dylan Episode 1
Transcript
Hello. I’m a university student, and I’ve studied both on-site and online.
Both were great experiences and I thought I’d share with you the two different methods in case you’re considering undertaking university studies and are unsure what to expect.
Six years ago, I began my Uni studies on campus, I attended lectures with Auslan Interpreters as well as interpreters in the classrooms. It was great, I liked the approach and access but unfortunately, the subjects I had chosen weren’t right for me so I withdrew.
After some time had passed, I recently decided to enrol in uni again, however, this time the course was delivered online. Being Deaf I thought I had to study onsite, that face-to-face learning was a must. However, I decided to give online a go and it was brilliant!
I still had an interpreter for the online classes on Zoom, plus the platform also had live captioning! It was perfect, I was able to get a bilingual education, having the Auslan interpreters on my screen as well as the English captioning! It was great! Also, I didn’t have to worry about staring at the interpreters tirelessly as I knew I would get a copy of the transcript. Not only a copy, but the service would also fix any errors that the captioning may have made from the lecturer’s presentation, providing me with an accurate transcript of the lesson! It was a great way to learn.
For those who think Deaf people must study in person, I want to put it out there that it can be flexible! When you enrol in a university, you can reach out to their accessibility team and discuss your accessibility needs and what you require to undergo your study. Including requesting interpreters you know and prefer, live captioning and what their services offer. There are lots of flexible options!
Brooke’s Government Work Story | Advocacy Series May 2024
Transcript
Hi, my name is Brooke Pape, this is my sign name. I’m from Canberra.
At the moment, I work three jobs. The first one is in Australian Government Public Service, I also teach Auslan at TAFE and for community courses, and provide disability support for deaf clients. The first job I got was full-time in 2019. Within a month of starting, all staff were required to attend an induction course.
I enrolled, submitted my paperwork. I contacted the facilitator and requested reasonable adjustment: they provide an Auslan interpreter. That was acknowledged, and things went ahead. Two weeks later, I was removed from the course enrolment list. I contacted the manager to clarify what was going on. The manager contacted the course facilitator, and found out that they believed the Auslan interpreter would be a distraction for other course participants. I was shocked, the manager was furious and shocked. He “flipped the table”. There was already discrimination at my new job in less than a month. This was unexpected, I was not prepared at all. But thankfully I had a supportive team; they learnt Auslan for me. We would do a ‘sign of the week’ to practice, we’d chat at lunch, do a lot of things together. We still keep in touch, do Christmas visits.
Unfortunately, in Government work, there are always restructuring. Which meant I lost my team. I had to start all over again with the new team, teaching them deaf awareness, about deaf culture, sign language, Auslan interpreters. Canberra’s pool of interpreters is very small; there is only one level-3 Auslan interpreter and she’s half-retired. She isn’t the best fit for my needs; she’s not bad at all! It’s just my needs are different. I prefer level-3 interpreters from Sydney. The level-2 interpreters in Canberra are not suited for Government work and would not reflect my literacy skills properly.
There was a lot of ongoing dispute. I said I needed Auslan interpreters for meetings, training, which they refused. In ACT, there is a language policy that states providing interpreters is a requirement. But because my government workplace is federal, the state policy didn’t apply. My work is in procurement, we obtain services and provide them for all of Australia or our own staff. We’re very adept at knowing how to spend your money. To procure a service, there are three companies to look at, with the stakeholder’s objective in mind. Having a level-3 interpreter was my objective. Choosing services from three companies is how procurement normally happens, as dictated by policy.
But the disability inclusion team said ‘value for money’ is the objective, to look for the cheapest cost-effective approaches, which is wrong. The law we all have to follow states ‘value for money’ depends on the stakeholder’s objective. They refused to budge. We summoned an occupational therapist, because every new staff is required to comply to WHS standards in their workplace. They acknowledged my being profoundly deaf and needing level-3 interpreters. They knew I could speak and lipread but still needed level-3 interpreters for meetings and training. They already provided their letter of support, but that letter was ignored. I’ve shown them the letter many times, as well as NSW’s Disability Inclusion Access Plan. They ignored that too. This went on for three years.
I got the job through Disability Employment Service (DES). I enrolled and got in that way. That meant they knew I would need reasonable adjustment and they’d need to budget to ensure equity across the workplace. They knew but didn’t follow through. Remember, the constant team restructuring due to MOG- Machinery of Government, meaning the changing structure depends on the Prime Minister’s instructions. So our department underwent changes, and I had to repeat the deaf awareness process every time. After my supportive team was moved away, I’ve never had a team that was the same, they were never understanding or supportive. It was so bad that one of my bosses was angry at me for my Disability Employment Service person contacting her; that process was a required part of the contract the department had signed.
Because we had a bit of an issue; my supervisor and I constantly had communication breakdowns, which frustrated me. They made mistakes when training me through something and blamed me for it. There was evidence in the emails to indicate otherwise! We both met with the upper boss; this was last minute; I was not aware of the serious nature of the meeting. I would have arranged to have an interpreter and a support person otherwise to share my position, that’s only fair. They said I must have the knowledge and skill to be able to read the SOP (Standard of Procedure). There’s a lot to read with heavy English. I requested for it to be translated into Auslan; they refused and said “at your level in the Public Service, you should have the skills, if you don’t, you should be demoted.”
I was taken aback and hurt. They also had an issue with me, thinking I had deliberately contacted external agencies for additional support. But she apparently didn’t know about the DES person I was working with. That was part of the handover, I had already asked the old boss to clarify what was in the handover, they said the handover included all the necessary details and paperwork. The boss yelled at me in front of everyone, in an open-floor office space with more than 50 staff. I was sitting, she was standing, I was already feeling intimidated. It was awful. After that, I took 3 months off work without pay. I was feeling uneasy and lost, I didn’t know what to do. I felt like I could leave the job and focus on my other jobs. I loved teaching Auslan and advocating and supporting the Deaf community. But I did get that job like that after just one interview, and into a high job level. Other Canberra deaf people had tried for the job many times with no success. I felt that-
My mantra is ‘everything happens for a reason’. I felt like I was put into that job position for a reason. It was my duty to make positive changes that can have an impact on the Deaf community in a positive way. That was what made me stay. After three months of leave, I had lots of therapy, and visited many friends outside of Canberra; I didn’t have many friends in Canberra. I got my ‘deaf boost’ and felt better and ready to head back. Once again, there was another restructure, I thought ‘good!’ That boss would be moved elsewhere, and hoped the new allocated team would be better. The new team was nice but not proactive. They said all the right things but did not follow them up with the right actions.
I said I found a loophole for getting an interpreter without causing budget issues by procuring an interpreter on the panel. That way we don’t have to justify why we picked that company, because they’re already on the approved list of businesses. For example, in public estimate, one could ask the government why they’re spending a lot of money on interpreters from Sydney instead of local interpreters. There’s nothing to protect us, the deaf community, from these questions motivated by finding more cost-effective approaches, like insisting on local interpreters rather than interstate interpreters.
That made me realise, on the issue of finding compatible interpreters, there’s nothing to protect people like me who deserve a higher standard of interpreting. Canberra is too small to enable that, local interpreters are not to blame, we don’t have the resources, fundings, the skill to upskill Auslan interpreters. We need more deaf people to move to Canberra so the deaf community here can grow. It’s literally like living in a rural country. It felt like a big responsibility to shoulder, I didn’t want to give up and lose the opportunity to create positive change on a federal level for the deaf community and all of Australia at the same time.
So I stuck with it for 3 years. During a 1-2 year period, I went through a lot of bullying and discrimination until now. Unfortunately, I had to deal with sexual harassment. Because the workplace didn’t provide an interpreter, so I had to rely heavily on one staff. The boundaries were loose, I didn’t know what was expected in a professional relationship, what was normal and what wasn’t. I come from a dysfunctional family so I did not have the opportunity to acquire a natural sense of social rights and wrongs. Most people have that. I grew up without a father and didn’t have a role model. It was a slow sly change; after one year, until the last thing happened, I realised ‘this is wrong’. I submitted a report to the supervisor, he was shocked and felt guilty. He knew he neglected me and apologised. He took accountability, which in itself says a lot. I had to provide a formal statement for our internal investigation team, it was part of the mandatory reporting process, I didn’t want to do it but I had to. Because I told the supervisor, the supervisor is required to inform the team so that they can interview me. I was really nervous. They asked me for a statement, I didn’t know where to start so I asked for help. My English is good but I’m not confident enough to write what I want down. They offered me some questions. It was still difficult but I was also dealing with trauma and anxiety. I hadn’t fully processed what happened too. I posted on Facebook, asking for someone with strong English skills and can sign as well. I didn’t feel comfortable speaking. Sometimes I might feel more comfortable speaking, sometimes signing, and even writing. So I needed someone who could do all three. After a long period of searching, I had a deaf interpreter help out. They were a big help, yes, but I should have several other people to check and not completely rely on the one person. Boundaries are different for interpreters; the deaf interpreter has to write down what I say. I should have checked with other people who could give me feedback, e.g. ‘you should not say that!’ ‘You need to talk more about your feelings’. I’m well known for not talking about feelings. I often focus on being factual.
Because they told me to be factual and not emotive. But I didn’t know that with psychological injury, you have to talk about your emotions and how it’s impacted you. I didn’t know that they hid that from me. If that’s because I didn’t have accessibility or family to provide guidance and general knowledge other people have. I did two interviews and a statement and submitted them. In the end, people said they remembered things differently. I was shocked. But they did say they were happy to organise for the head of department, secretary, and a disability commissioner, and other higher up people to meet with me to talk about accessibility. I was interested in that. But someone recommended that-
They said sue the company. Woah, I didn’t ask for your advice, I don’t want your opinion, I want you to do your job. “I’ve worked on many work comp cases, you have a big case here. You dealt with a lot, having to take 3 months off. And then 6 months, and now 1.5 years without pay.” I’m now in financial hardship. My life is on hold. I can’t study, I can’t enjoy being me because I’m so scared of socialising with hearing people again. I’m scared of socialising with men again, because I thought in a higher government place, everyone must be professional. With a big age gap like that, I thought it impossible, he couldn’t see me as something sexual. And that shocked me. I’m his children’s age.
So now I’ve submitted a statement for worker’s comp. I’m waiting to find out if it’ll be going ahead as a case or not. They’re hoping at the end of all this that-
Australian Public Service Commissioner to make it standard practice that all deaf and HoH staff have access to interpreters regardless of financial costs, and have a deaf interpreter translate the annual mandatory training so it can be reused. If the training is updated, that shouldn’t matter, it should still be translated.
When I decided to sue, the first step in the process was to see the GP for a medical certificate for work leave. I contacted Comcare, a worker’s comp insurance company. I don’t know if it’s the same across Australia but I think this company is for Australian Public Service or maybe only under my department. I’m not sure. I contacted them and they asked me to give them a formal statement. I gave them that. They asked me to get a medical individual assessment, I did this only last week. I was nervous because unfortunately I had a difficult experience with one of the people. I’ve been through a MVA (motor vehicle accident), this person delved deeply into my past, attempted to blame me and my past trauma as the reason why I was in chronic pain, rather than the accident itself causing that.
Because of that experience, I was nervous with the next assessment. But she was lovely this time. She said we only require minimal details of the past because I was managing it, going to therapy with good results. Back then, I was really happy, I was ‘human’ and able to walk, go shopping, socialise. But now I can do none of these things anymore. She understood, and asked me when did it start. I wasn’t certain nor clear on the dates. She referred to the timeline of the statement. I haven’t received a report, I don’t know if it was successful or not. I hope it is. I feel it will have a good outcome.
My advice is that with any meeting, e.g., any verbal conversations you have with your supervisor, manager, whoever, be sure to record the date of the conversation, what was discussed, any actions, when to follow-up. Write everything down because you never know if they will sue you one day. You at least have evidence recorded over time. Also, start keeping a log of when you have anxiety attacks, when it started, when therapy started, when did you start feeling scared to leave the house, start having nightmares and sleepless nights, write them down. Because they will look back and work out the date the psychological injury starts impacting you. That was what I wished I had done.
But luckily, I had plenty of evidence, through text messages and emails, of discrimination.
Debra’s Lifesaving Story | Advocacy Series May 2024
Transcript
My name is Debra Swann, this is my sign name. I grew up in South Australia in a country town called Victor Harbour.
So, my advocacy story really begins when I was involved in the Surf lifesaving club. I learned a lot from my mother. I was 15 years old at the time and I've had two older brothers involved in the local lifesaving club, where they had been involved for a few years prior to this. I loved the water and a few other things, so I wanted to get involved so I joined.
I did all the training with my brothers, the fitness, the theory, and the exercises. I did everything that was required, and when I was 15, I felt ready to sit the test.
This test was for what's called the Bronze Medallion. The Bronze Medallion meant you could patrol on the beach as a lifesaver, be one of those who’d wear the red and yellow swim caps. They can patrol the beach on weekends as volunteers to keep the community from drowning and other water hazards.
This was in 1987, I was around 15 years of age. Now I knew the process of getting the Bronze Medallion as both of my brothers and friends went through the process before at Port Elliot Life Saving club in South Australia.
I knew the test consisted of both written theory and physical components. You needed to run, swim, and run for the fitness trial and do so in under 5 minutes. The other part of the test was using the handheld radio.
We previously had looked for ways to exempt me from using the radio as I would be part of a volunteer patrol group, which there's usually 6 to 12 people who would be on patrol at the same time.
They sent a man down from Adelaide to watch and officiate all the tests. I had finished and I was fine with the theory, however, he refused, and he didn't allow me to do the physical part of the assessment. I couldn’t show him my skills in the water. He said I had to do the radio component first, and if I failed that then I couldn't go further.
Hang on a minute, radios don't save people’s lives? The fitness component does. I can run, I can swim that's what rescues people when their lives are in danger.
In Port Elliot I was the first woman out of the water, I was ahead of my brother they could see how great I could do physically.
We pleaded and begged. I asked if I could do the fitness trail, but they refused.
I was so upset. I went home not knowing what to do. I was in tears; I was at a loss. I asked my mum, but she didn't know what to do at that time.
Apparently, she went to the local Deaf Society and then followed the Equal Opportunities Act as another avenue. At first, I didn’t know what we were doing. Mum wrote many letters, and I was 15 at the time so I didn't know exactly what she was doing, and I didn't know what else to do.
Finally, two years later we went to court against the Lifesaving Club to change their rules of membership. They used to have 15 points of entry criteria, but I couldn't fit into any of them being Deaf. We wanted them to change these policies to allow anybody to volunteer. For me, I wrote.
I wrote some notes myself to use in court. What I'd written down though was more based on responses to what they told me.
They were saying, ‘Well, you're Deaf, you're not going to hear anybody screaming for help.’
I thought hang on a minute, who can hear anybody at the beach? If there are lots of people if its loud, people are calling out and playing, and there’s the crashing of the waves and the sounds of the wind.
It's not about hearing, it is about using your eyes to see people in danger, and I believe I had better eyesight than those hearing people at the time because I didn't rely on my hearing.
That was one of the arguments we used in court and Mum of course said it's not about her being Deaf, if somebody collapsed, I could perform CPR and resuscitate them, and they won't know that I'm Deaf or not. What's important is saving people’s lives.
Then we moved to Adelaide where we continued the dispute. We moved to a different Club, Brighton in South Australia. The people there were lovely, they thought it was wrong of the Lifesaving Clubs criteria. Because I had challenged the South Australian Life Saving Club, it then went up to Surf Life Saving Australia. So that meant, all the Deaf people across the East Coast then had their Bronze Medallions revoked. That's why a few of them from NSW came to support me in South Australia because it was discrimination. They never should have been taken once they'd been awarded the Bronze Medallion.
So, this was 1997 sorry 1987, this all began and was resolved in 1992/1993. That's when the case was eventually resolved and by that stage, I lost interest in Lifesaving but was happy that Deaf people can join Life Saving Australia. And they can get their membership, those 15 criteria were now reduced to three. So, we can join the general membership if we can do first aid. You need to have your first aid certificate to patrol, previously the bronze medallion was needed to patrol but now if you have your first aid and CPR certificate, you're eligible to patrol. However, I had a red coloured cap, which meant (as per club colours) you’re not allowed into the water. That's still one contentious issue, we must wait for people to come out of the water if they require assistance such as resuscitation but of course, it's case by case anyway. In my time of patrolling and rescuing people, there were near misses, but I never had to resuscitate anyone, it was just removing them from the water safely.
Yes, they did get their medallions back. I never went ahead with the test I should have. I've thought about it a lot over the 10 years since, but I just never got around to trying again.
At that time there were a few Deaf members prior to then. But when we first went to court, I thought I was the only Deaf person. I was living in a remote country area but when we joined Brighton, I found out about a few other Deaf people such as Marina Gallop, Dean Barton-Smith, Annabel Bishop and another guy from Queensland his name escapes me. He moved from Adelaide.
There was a few Deaf Surf Life Savers around and I was able to meet them. At that time, they didn't have their bronze medallion as well and they joined me in this advocacy work against the Surf Life Saving club.
This was in 1998 we had a few others join the case. Yes, yes in 1988 sorry, 1988 we had more people join our class action.
At that time, I wasn't familiar with the Deaf community, I wasn't actively involved in the Deaf community, yet the Deaf community did protest the life-saving club down at Henley Beach for our cause. Too bad the head office was closed on a Saturday, but anyway, they left some things behind there. I was aware unaware that that had happened, there was a few of them that had organised it Barry Priori was one of the people who lead the protest and yeah 10 years later when I was 25 then I finally joined the Deaf community.
Back at the time when I was 15, I didn't use Auslan, I was Oral deaf person. I do remember the front page of the newspaper in 1991 when I moved to {UNSURE FS], there were a few other people around that time in that area some people from the East Coast and had their Bronze Medallion revoked, one of them flew down here to Adelaide to join the fight and this was listed in the newspaper. It was just great to see and then that helped the wider Deaf community find out more about this issue, as it was on the front pages in 1991. I didn't know about this until afterwards.
I think what I wish I knew at this time was the role of advocacy and the skills involved. It would have been great if schools taught us about self-advocacy and what it meant.
I watched my mum as she did a lot of work, wrote a lot of letters and I was asking her so many questions along the way. When we ended up in court, I didn't know what to say and I was a very shy girl at that time. I didn't know really what to do or say and I was told ‘Just be yourself’.
I wish I knew more about advocacy and what it meant to advocate. At the same time, I knew it meant I had to be assertive. From the age of five, I watched my mum advocate for years for her rights after her father passed away. All the skills that Mum developed, I embodied, but I just wish I knew more about how to advocate for myself. I do think there's also merit in a team approach, to have that support.
I also wish I knew about Deaf community. To meet those four Deaf people and knowing that there was more out there. Remember I was the only Deaf person in school.
Advocacy is an important part of everybody's life through all stages and it's not just as you get older. I needed to advocate for what I needed in school and what I need in life now. I advocate for life, for my right to participate in community and to participate.
My biggest support came from my mum and my brothers. My oldest brother progressed in lifesaving; he went to Canberra for a SLS camp. I think without their support, I don't think we would have been as successful as we would have been in advocating.
If nobody supported me, it would have been hard. I was so lucky I had the club’s support as well. They wrote a letter asking for permission for me to be exempt from the radio component of my exam. Now I don't know if that letter was something that had triggered that guy who came out from Adelaide to try to make me do the radio component part first before the physical exam.
I’ll never know, but at the same time, it would be nice to know the truth behind that. I knew how to use a radio if there was an emergency, I could have followed prompts from other people and used it. But really it just wasn't right, so my club wrote asking for that exemption and it was rejected. That's how it all started.
So, I knew I had support from the Club and my family, this was Brighton’s Lifesaving Club they were such great support. They wanted to make sure I could be involved. As I said before you have 6 to 12 people on patrol at any given time, and there are three radios between them, the Captain the Vice-Captain and an extra radio for someone on foot patrol. You always patrolled in pairs so I never would have been by myself anyway. It wasn't even compulsory, this wasn't paid employment, it was volunteer work and that's what I just couldn't believe they’d reject that.
I didn't want to work as a Life Saver as a job because you needed those extreme skill sets, like Bondi Beach patrol. I didn't want that, I just wanted to serve my local community.
My Mum contacted the Deaf Society, I've got a letter there somewhere as to what their response was and what they could have provided. Apparently, they also were trying to contact the Equal Opportunities and that's I think where things started as well with the EEQ.
Yes, I had support from 1997 till 19 sorry 1987. I'm getting over his muddled up, 1987 to 1993, that's how long it took. A lot of back and forth over the years, we went to State Court.
I noticed that across Australia there were local surf life-saving clubs and the National Surf Life Saving Australia peak body. Then there were state-based bodies between the national and local levels, so they also followed the laws and legislations of their state.
My advice would be for anybody doing advocacy, to make sure you have support around you, that's important. Have the information and know what you need to say and when you argue, to know what you're saying. Think of the different approaches that you could have different responses to rebut their arguments.
For me, in one of the statements they said, was that I was a ‘danger to the community due to my deafness’. So, I thought, how am I a danger? OK I can't hear but that doesn't mean I can't run, that doesn't mean I can't swim. If somebody is drowning and you can't hear them anyway, as I said before, with the sounds of the waves, the wind, and people are yelling, playing, and laughing on the beach they're not going to be heard anyway. Make sure that you had every possible response ready to support your case when you're advocating.
Plenty, how many I couldn’t say. But I was in Melbourne about six or seven years ago I'd notice there was a few lifesaving clubs with members, Port Melbourne club I know they have a hard-of-hearing person there.
In Queensland there are lots of Deaf people in Queensland doing Surf Life Saving.
NSW there is a few. I'm not sure about here in Adelaide.
I would love to see more, I just think it's fun! You're involved with the community, with your local community and it keeps you fit. While at the same time socialising with new people.
All in spoken English, all Oral. I lip read, which was a lot of work. At the same time, I was lucky enough because I had the support from my older brothers, a lot of support from them both. My Oldest especially and the one older than me too. A Lot of communication support from them, they would remind people to make sure they are facing me while they were speaking to me.
But I wish I learned Auslan before I was 25. I just think well all that time I didn’t know.
It’s important as well for the hearing community around us to let Deaf people try.
We have so many different skills, we can fit in somewhere. We can volunteer and that's important too. I could understand if it was a job and I had to work alone in a small group, OK maybe that wouldn't work as much but in volunteering capacity, there was always a large group.
Oh, my mum, she had collected everything after all of this, and she has given it to me to read. I haven't gone through it all yet. One thing that stood out to me clearly that I won’t forget was referring to me as a ‘Deaf and Dumb school girl’ I thought wow people think like that?
Take the person with all the support out of the equation, you know you've got a whole team there that believes that somebody can achieve something, and they want to do it together to support them. That’s important.
You know wats interesting to me, after all of this had finished, I was still involved with Surf Life Saving for the fitness I went to a competition in Queensland where there was a marching component.
We were training with this albino boy, and he had passed and got his Bronze Medallion. He passed as they had a boat next to him in the water directing him where to go.
Now that that wouldn't happen in real life, he was blind he couldn't see and needed that support. Also, he was unable to be in sunlight because of his skin pigmentation, but he was still able to get his bronze medallion. He was unable to see long distances in case somebody was drowning he wouldn’t be able to see them. Yet the boat was allowed to go next to him to tell him what direction to swim well OK.
A few years prior to that there was a poster calling for wheelchair users to join the Surf Life Saving Club. Yeah. There's an article about that, you're looking for a wheelchair user to use a radio why can't a Deaf person then do the swimming and rescuing part of it? There were a few supporting comments in the newspaper about these inconsistencies and it was just interesting to see the different points of view. Yeah, what they think isn’t discrimination we think is discrimination. They thought that hearing was more important than vision in that example.
Leigh-Anne’s Teaching Story | Advocacy Series May 2024
Transcript
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.
