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Deaf Australia Awards 2022

Deaf Australian of the Year

Elise Stewart

Founder of Deaf Hub Bendigo – reducing barriers and isolation amongst the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community members accessing support and information in the regional area. Including:

  • Social events
  • Workshops
  • Visiting clients
  • Creation of a space for Deaf people
  • Providing employment to Deaf people

She works both in volunteer and paid capacity. She has a passion to raise awareness of Deaf youth, elder people and parents of deaf kids.

Also supported all of the submissions to DRC in the region (400 hours worth of videos)

Deaf Youth of the Year

Sam Martin

Sam invested his passion about Deaf arts.

  • Always looks for strategies to share his achievements with the Deaf community
  • throughout Australia and in New York, which showed how Deaf people could be involved in the creation of a movie from start to end
  • Established PAH Stories, a theatre performance which allows Deaf queer people to share their stories

Community Volunteer of the Year

Margaret van Leeuwen
  • Volunteered for 45 years for the Ballarat Deaf Social Club Inc with different roles in the committee
  • She became life member in 1999 for BDSC
  • Margaret is a quiet, hardworking & devoted community minded person
  • Margaret likes being involved with Deaf Community, and feels a real sense of belonging,
  • Always ready to help with many social activities, Starlight Balls and special events
  • Always the first person to set up the hall for club’s activities , guest speakers and AGM meetings and the last person to leave the venue!
  • She also works full time and loves bushwalking .
  • E R Noble award recipient 2001/2002.
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