Hello, I am Jen Blyth CEO of Deaf Australia. This video is a summary of 2022, the last one for the year. I want to talk about what we’ve done for the past year but before I start, I really want to acknowledge those who worked with Deaf Australia this year 2022. Without those people involved, it would’ve been impossible for Deaf Australia to continue as it has; impossible to achieve what we have achieved.
So, a summary of what we’ve done; would this include everything that was done? Nope, I’m only selecting a few things, you can have a look for more in DA Facebook page, see the post of slides of statistics - you’ll be impressed and think, wow, we have done a lot over this past year!
Deaf Australia supported four auspices which means four organisations who were not yet running their organisations as an incorporated entity and had ACNs. We oversaw their establishment as organisations and provided support; later they became independent and could stand on their own, like a young bird flying away from its nest for the first time. So there is four of them this year.
We sent off 13 submissions to the DRC (Disability Royal Commission); thirteen altogether, about deaf people this year on topics of importance.
We created the SBS Vodcast series of 6 videos. They were watched by many; they were popular and enjoyable viewing. The positive feedback was amazing. Will there be more of this next year? We’re still working this out at present.
We developed eLearning courses for the Deaf community, with most focusing on advocacy. This will be released soon, you can watch and learn, choose from one of 6 topics.
This year we had an increase of 44 new members joining Deaf Australia. We thank them and hope that next year we can get even more members, beat that number of 44!
We had the Deaf Census with 1,216 people responding! Thank you so much for this! That data is really rich in information based on 85 questions asked, with 1,216 people answering. It will help us advocate effectively when we speak to people and tell them that it’s what the Deaf community has already indicated exactly what they need. We will release the report in Auslan and English next year. For now the data is being interpreted and summarised, it will be released next year and you can even use the information to advocate for yourself.
We sold 1,672 products through the Auslan shop, thank you to those who bought from us. We have been to AAT (Administrative Appeals Tribunal) which mean that when people have problems with the NDIA, with plans being rejected, or reviews not being satisfactory they go to the Tribunal to work it out. We supported 19 individuals altogether.
We have been to all the states in Australia, visited different events including the Deaf Festivals in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. We met hundreds and thousands of Deaf people from the Deaf community all around Australia, including Deafblind people, hard of hearing people, those who use Auslan, those who don’t and families. The contacts we’ve made from all around Australia has been amazing. An exhausting year!
We also organized for Auslan Santas. This organisation contacted us asking us to teach them a few signs and we suggested having a fluent Auslan Santa rather than teaching them about Auslan and Deaf people. They were willing, so this happened in Victoria, NSW and QLD.
We supported 18 individual advocacy cases this year.
We advocated the NDIA on a variety of topics; we had over 200 meetings with the NDIA. Whew. One significant achievement was that the NDIA accepted into their guidelines called ‘Will We Fund It?’ guidelines, which means when you make a request, you can point them to this document published on their website that shows they have made a commitment to always fund a list of specific requested supports. They now commit to fund the request to provide Auslan tutoring to families. Families with deaf children wanting to learn Auslan to communicate with their child were often denied. After our advocacy efforts the NDIA has now guaranteed to fund this request which means families can learn Auslan to communicate with their deaf children. Amazing stuff.
We revamped our website, rebranded and made it look more polished and sparkling, with a new logo for events like Auslan Day, the Dot Shaw Writers Competition which we resumed last year. This year, we partnered with Sweeney Interpreting for the competition, thank you to Sweeney Interpreting. We have also organized the set up for the Crossing Borders Youth Camp to happen next year; however we have started organizing it now which is supported by Deaf Connect. Thank you Deaf Connect.
I could sign about what we’ve done for hours and hours, yet I think you’re a bit busy and have things to do, so I’ll wrap up. Deaf Australia will close through the Christmas period, because of course we all need a rest too! We will close from the 23rd of December to the 3rd of January. Some staff will be away for longer, including myself, but you can contact us at any time. You’ll have to be patient for a response, when we’re back in the office. I want to say to you all a Merry Christmas and happy holidays, happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa. I don’t know the sign for it so if someone does know please let me know, it’d be appreciated and I can include it in the future, same as Hannukkah. I’m really looking forward to 2023, this year was amazing and next year will beat this! I’m looking forward to creating more videos to let you know what we’re doing, with your support. Thank you!
