Our message today is available with AUSLAN support from The Auslan Company.
It feels like we have watched more press conferences this past two years than ever before. If that’s you, have you been curious about the sign interpreters sharing our leaders’ messages? We have.
The 23rd of September is the International Day of Sign Language. At Eastern Innovation we have just launched our Access Key, a map and guide to help people with disabilities easily access our innovation hub so we were keen to learn more about the ways deaf people communicate.
Did you know, according to the World Federation of the Deaf there are more than 70 million deaf people worldwide and collectively, they use more than 300 different sign languages.
One in six Australians are affected by hearing loss and there are approximately 30,000 deaf Auslan users with total hearing loss. {1}
Australia also has its own sign language called Auslan, derived from British and Irish sign languages. It was introduced into the first schools of the deaf in Sydney and Melbourne in from about 1860.
“Today Auslan seems to be undergoing a period of rapid change… Developments have produced three main responses: (i) attempts to standardise usage, (ii) the development of new signs to meet new needs, (iii) the borrowing of signs from other sign languages, particularly from American Sign Language (ASL).” {2}
The company that invented Access Keys, Access Ability Australia connected us with Darren Roberts of The Auslan Company to share this fascinating information through sign. Thank you, Sharlene Payn for sharing our message.
{1 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2016, 4430.0 – Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers 2015, published and.org.au.]}
{2[www.auslan.org.au]}
The AUSLAN Company www.learnauslan.com.au
Darren established The Auslan Company in 2004 and in 2020 established Learn Auslan Online. Today, through our online courses we teach Auslan to over 7000 children each week from childcare age to Grade 6, provide Auslan to Healthcare and frontline staff such as paramedics, nurses, emergency staff, police and fire services and as well as to hundreds of staff in disability organisations and specialist schools and through our 15 Auslan teachers we provide Auslan to families with deaf children Australia wide.
Access Ability Australia www.accesskeys.com.au
Access Ability Australia is an intervention idea founded on the experience of the two Co-Founders, Maxine Parker and Judy O’Connor.
With over 30 years of combined experience working within disability, education and community with adults and children, both Maxine and Judy have a wealth of professional and lived experience of disability. Maxine has a hearing impairment and Judy is the parent of a child with a disability.