Translator: Jade Demnar Reviewer: Rhonda Jacobs
Hi everybody. How are you?
Learning Auslan is an awesome thing to do.
Hands up if you’ve learnt some Auslan in your life so far.
Some of you have.
For those of you who don’t know Auslan,
Auslan is an acronym that represents Australian Sign Language.
It’s a real language.
It has its own grammar,
its own structure, and its own syntax,
just like every other language in the world.
The name Australian Sign Language means it belongs to Australia,
it's our unique language, a beautiful language.
Many people look on Auslan and say,
'Well, that's something just for Deaf people,
it’s just specifically for them', and that is true,
it's the language that Deaf people use as our natural language.
But it's not just for Deaf people.
Members of their family, their friends, and their work colleagues
can also use Auslan.
People who are keen to learn Auslan can become interpreters and so forth
and work within the Deaf community.
I've seen lots of people in Australia really keen now to learn Auslan
because it means they can communicate with people -
those people who are Deaf,
and to form a relationship with them,
and those sorts of interactions are then possible.
There's been a negative stigma about Auslan
and about Deaf people in general.
And that negativity about Auslan
is that it's not considered to be a real language, you know?
It's just a communication system that Deaf people use as a last resort.
I'd like to talk a little bit about something
which is a process of what happens when deaf babies are born and grow up,
what it is that happens to them.
I'd like to talk about something that we refer to as the greatest irony
that's actually happening in Australia and worldwide.
This is the greatest irony that's happening all around the world
for all of our deaf children,
the majority of them certainly.
I'll talk to you about the process of what happens when a deaf child is born.
Two parents are there happily expecting the birth of their baby.
They give birth to the baby,
and they have a whole range of dreams and aspirations
for that child's future.
And then the baby's born,
and there are a lot of tests that lots of newborns have to go through, of course,
and one of those is a hearing test.
The baby might be less than 24 hours old, or 24 or 48 hours old -
not even a day old before the hearing test is administered.
And the doctors will then meet the parents and say,
'Well, your baby failed its hearing test.'
They use the word 'fail'.
The first test in this child's life and they've failed it; wow.
Imagine what that feels like for the parents.
They're overwhelmed, they’re grieving, they're shocked.
And that grieving process happens
because many people have never actually encountered
a Deaf person ever in their lives until they give birth to a deaf baby.
It’s the first Deaf person they meet, and that’s quite profound.
The process is then that doctors will come and talk to the parents,
and they refer to this as 'intervention'.
They talk to the parents and say, 'You need to do this, this and this.
There are a number of tools you will need like a cochlear implant or a hearing aid.
And your child really has to learn to speak and hear,
It’s the only way that he or she will fit into society.
And if they don't do that they just won't be successful.
If they use sign language, well, yeah, it's an option,
but it's really not something we'd encourage.'
Doctors focus on a medical view of deafness.
They see the child as a medical problem,
something that's broken and needs to be fixed and repaired,
and then the problem is solved and they can then join society.
But parents don't have an option to meet Deaf role models,
or Deaf adults that they can ask questions of;
that just doesn’t happen for them.
And the consequence of that is that the outcomes are dreadful,
and there we have this irony.
Deaf children need language.
They need to acquire a language to be successful.
It’s common sense anyway.
You'd expect that all children, regardless of whether they're deaf or hearing,
would have the ability to be able to acquire a language.
Statistics say that 95% of deaf babies are born to parents who can hear.
I’m one of the odd ones;
I’m part of the 5% that's born to parents who are Deaf.
Those children who are born to parents who can hear
don’t have access to language acquisition, a culture, and a community.
It's not their fault.
But it's our role then to be part of the advocacy and support
for [hearing] parents to reassure them that everything is going to be okay.
For many parents, they avoid sign language
because doctors, and audiologists, and speech pathologists
influence their way of thinking and they say to them,
'If your child learns to sign they won't be successful.
You don't really want to meet Deaf people, that's not a good idea.
You need to learn to speak and to use the hearing that you have.'
There are two reasons why parents are reluctant to learn to sign.
The first is, they don't really want to accept
that their child is actually deaf.
They say things like 'Well, he or she isn't deaf,
they just can't hear a little bit.'
And secondly, they want to change the child
to become 'normal'.
And in their mind, normal means hearing.
But the child will always be deaf.
It doesn't matter what kind of tools,
whether they be cochlear implants or hearing aids that you use,
they're not a cure.
They are a tool.
Children need language acquisition.
That's the foundation for their growth and development.
Research has proven that auditory deprivation
doesn't affect cognitive ability; it's language acquisition.
If you don't have access to a language, if you have language deprivation,
that affects your cognitive development.
Many children grow up having social and emotional issues
because they don't have language.
They have linguistic delay, and unfortunately,
deaf people are four times more likely to have mental health issues
than other members of the broader community.
They have mental health issues because of isolation
and also lack of communication.
The isolation happens, for example,
because the deaf child grows up never meeting a Deaf person,
never learning how to sign.
They don't grow up with peers who are deaf like them.
They never grow up seeing a Deaf role model
thinking, 'Okay, well, you have a job, you get married, you've got a house;
well, I can do the same thing.'
They don't see that.
How do you expect a child to grow up feeling positive about themselves
and feeling confident, without role models who are just like them?
And secondly, communication:
if you have no language, it means you can't express yourself,
you can't communicate with others, you can't think,
you can't develop relationships - that's dreadful!
Not being able to communicate is such a profound negative effect
for a deaf child who doesn't have access to language.
This quote talks about, the involvement of people
in the process of diagnosing the deaf child and so forth.
I talked about the medical model,
and that they're very heavily involved in the early days,
but all of those people are people who can hear.
In fact, the majority of them are.
But there aren't any Deaf people involved in the early stages of a child's life.
I was born deaf, I'm soon going to marry, I'm still going to be Deaf, you know?
My partner is Deaf, my life experience,
my employment and paying off a mortgage happens to me as a Deaf person.
I'm the one who's the expert.
Deaf people know what works and what doesn't.
We have to be involved in that process of supporting the parents
and supporting the deaf child.
In Australia and all over the world, there are many successful Deaf people,
successful Deaf adult role models who are amazing!
Last year, in fact, myself, I became Young Australian of the Year.
It was a huge honour for me and for the Deaf community.
We're everywhere and we have lots of successful Deaf people
all over the world.
Currently, research on children, and pediatricians are saying things like,
'Well, okay, deaf children who have a cochlear implant,
who learn to speak or use sign language, it doesn't matter which one they pick,
it's most important to have access to both.'
My first language was Auslan; I grew up using it from birth.
I produced my first sign when I was nine months old.
English is my second language.
And now, I'm a multilingual person.
So research is saying: children need to be bilingual.
They can be trilingual! Or multilingual!
We know that the more languages that any child learns,
the better they are.
For example, if we're talking about
people being successful and achieving things,
last year I was invited by the Governor-General
to a dinner with Prince Charles.
Can you imagine?
I don't know there are many Australian people
who can say that they did the same.
(Laughter)
I was in a photo shoot for Marie Claire.
And what about this?
I'm in a TV advertisement for Woolworths.
(Laughter)
All over the country I've been broadcast.
We need this for our deaf kids.
Deaf people are here.
Our deaf children have a right to grow up feeling confident
and having good self-esteem as a person.
The truth is that society says it's convenient for them
rather than focusing on the well-being of the child.
They get on with their lives,
and if they can modify the deaf child to fit in with them,
then it makes their life easier.
And they think to themselves,
'Well if I learn sign language, that's such an effort.
I don't really want to do that to communicate with a deaf child.'
But Australia has signed and ratified the United Nations Convention
on the Rights of People with [Disabilities].
Within that Convention there's Article 24 which relates to education.
It specifically says that we must encourage sign language
and facilitate its use
to encourage young deaf children to have a linguistic identity
with the Deaf community.
The Australian government has signed and ratified that Convention,
and now they're disregarding it.
We need to put it back on the table.
It's all of our responsibility;
it's our social responsibility to make sure that happens.
It's our responsibility to recognise, support, and facilitate
the human rights of deaf children.
I'm very fortunate, my human rights have been recognised as I was growing up,
but for so many deaf kids they're denied those rights.
Deaf children have a right to know they belong to a beautiful community
that has a wonderful culture, a rich history and traditions,
and it has a language.
To be part of a community where they have people they can go to, to ask questions,
to have role models, and to have a support system.
We are responsible to make sure that they don't feel like they're lesser,
or they're inferior than other people
just because they can't hear.
We need to get rid of that idea.
They have a language!
They have a community!
They have a culture!
They have Deaf Gain. And they are fortunate.
We want all of you to be part of our journey,
all of you in the audience.
You can make the social change happen.
So together, you, and me, and everybody
can ensure that this irony I talked about before
will no longer happen.
And we're going to start that how?
Well, I think I'm going to teach you some Auslan.
Who's keen?
Who wants to learn some signs?
Fantastic, that's wonderful. Okay.
The first one's 'Hello'.
Okay, 'Hello!'
Secondly, 'How are you?'
So you place the fingertips of both hands on your chest
and then move forward and move out to a fist.
So when you say to a Deaf person, you can say 'Hi. How are you?'
And that will make the Deaf person feel really good
that you've made the effort to learn their language.
The third one's very important.
It's 'challenge accepted'.
'Challenge'
'accepted'.
So today, will you accept your challenge
to learn Auslan, our beautiful Australian Sign Language? Yes?
Fantastic. Challenge accepted.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)