Page 2656 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 10 August 2016
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recently I was reading on Facebook a friend’s example of when they went to Sydney for work and arrived at the front desk of their hotel. They are in quite an influential position. The person at the front desk of the hotel, despite the fact that when the booking was made they were advised that the person was deaf, apparently persisted in turning away from the customer and speaking. A lot of communication difficulty ensued despite my friend’s continued efforts to tell the person on the front desk of the hotel that they were deaf and they needed to face them. Later, as I recall, they had a note slipped under their door about a phone call in the morning as a wake-up call, once again, despite the fact that my friend was deaf and would not hear the telephone ring. Many people just do not think through the implications of dealing with someone who is deaf. When you encounter someone who is deaf or hard of hearing, it is really not that difficult to implement some basic communication techniques.
Greater community awareness about hearing health and wellbeing is an important stepping stone. It is a good starting point. A number of organisations in the deafness sector have got together for what has been called the break the sound barrier campaign. That is a national campaign that aims to put hearing health and wellbeing on the national political agenda.
There are currently nine national health priorities. The break the sound barrier campaign is advocating that, with one in six Australians affected, hearing health and wellbeing should be made the 10th national health priority. The campaign advocates that making hearing health and wellbeing a national health priority could lead to more funding for services, more investment in research and better community education and understanding. Prioritising hearing health and wellbeing can assist those who are deaf or hard of hearing to live life to the fullest, to actively participate and be involved in all aspects of their community, whether it is schools, the workplace, local sporting clubs, being a volunteer, or being able to go to the cinema or to the theatre. It is a very worthwhile campaign, and I look forward to hearing more about it. I have already met with the proponents of the campaign and offered my personal support to the campaign.
One of the changing factors for us in the deafness sector, and disability more generally, is the introduction of the national disability insurance scheme. I am sure my colleague Dr Bourke will speak more about that. I would like to see into the future more ACT government material being more accessible, to improve communication accessibility so that no Canberran is excluded and everyone can participate fully in a socially inclusive city.
Some of you, I am sure, will have noticed, because you would be avid watchers of my Facebook page, that the videos I put on my Facebook page have captions on them and, where possible, an Auslan interpreter. That is my own personal effort to improve communication accessibility for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
I would also like to see the ACT government improving employment opportunities for people with disability in the ACT public service. My motion calls upon the ACT government to do that.
It has recently been brought to my attention that the Disability Information Service will cease operation from 30 September of this year. For the past 10 years, the Disability Information Service has provided a centralised point of contact for people
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