Professional Documents
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Need 3. There is a crucial need for Enrolled Nurses to be equipped to support and
oversee implementation and maintenance of hearing assistance in residential and
in-home care as well as in hospital settings.
With the inclusion of hearing assistance in the Diploma, Enrolled Nurses would be well
placed to provide the necessary mentoring support and oversee measures to introduce and
sustain hearing assistance.
The general support of Registered Nurses is essential but they seldom have time to
oversee routine hearing assistance and may not have received training in this area.
Need 4. Enrolled Nurses would be well placed to ensure that patients' hearing aids
or alternative listening devices are used and cared for while in hospital.
Hearing impaired patients often experience real difficulties in using their hearing aids or
alternative listening devices while in hospital and loss or damage to these items is
sufficiently common that many people are discouraged from taking them to hospital.
This situation is unacceptable from both a medical assessment and compliance perspective
and because of the great stress it can place on vulnerable hearing impaired patients. Lost
or damaged hearing aids are expensive to replace whether this cost is borne by the patient
and/or by the government.
Enrolled Nurses are trained to take part in hospital admission and discharge procedures
and, with a knowledge of hearing assistance, would be well placed to contribute to rectifying
the present situation.
Sign Online is an introductory course in Auslan (Australian Sign Language) and deaf
culture.
It's been created by Deaf Education Network, the education department of the Deaf Society
of NSW.
http://www.auslanonline.nsw.edu.au/
A hearing aid package which eliminates the need to visit a specialist has not endeared the
entrepreneurs behind it to their audiologist peers.
But Dr Elaine Saunders and Professor Peter Blamey say positive feedback from clients who
previously could not afford to address their hearing problems makes up for the criticism.
Both respected scientists in their own right, Saunders and Blamey are the Melbourne team
behind IHearYou: a system which allows ordinary people to test their own hearing, buy
hearing aids online and adjust them to get them working in the best possible way, all
without visiting a specialist.
In Australia, more than four million people have hearing loss and most dont do anything
about it because of prohibitive costs, distance from services and perceived stigma.
Unfortunately, untreated hearing loss often leads to physical, cognitive and mental health
complications, says Saunders, herself a trained audiologist.
IHearYou removes these cost and distance barriers. Were disrupting a cosy, overpriced
industry. And we are working hard to address the social stigma.
http://www.brw.com.au/p/techgadgets/the_hearing_aid_entrepreneurs_whom_HpAGv2tRIbTZoSJtq7ErZM
one location? Did they provide any interpreters to ensure that your message gets
across to their audience?
Extremely busy! I could never have anticipated exactly how busy I was to become. I was
given media advice and tips from the Australia Day Council representative whilst at the
Awards about the fact that things were going to take off, and that I have a right to say no to
some projects/requests. There is no funding attached to the award at all, so its not that I
receive any bursary to cover my costs to take on additional work or to travel etc its all
done voluntarily unless an organisation offers a fee or to cover travel etc. It wasnt till the
first week had passed that I started to worry, oh my gosh, is this what the rest of the year
will be like?! in terms of how busy it was and just how much attention the awards had
drawn. Very exciting in terms of raising the profile of Auslan and of the Deaf community,
but also a little overwhelming for a 21 year old juggling part time work and studies and living
in Western Australia (not ideal for travelling to the east coast!). The morning after the
Awards, all the award recipients had about 5 interviews with different media companies (7,
9, 10, ABC, Sky News) from 5am to 8am. So I was up at about 4am to drive over to the
Parliament House where all the studios were these are studios specifically for news
regarding the parliament and government. I had 3 interpreters with me that whole weekend
so everything worked out just fine and the interpreters did a great job ensuring my message
came across.
For the other interviews since the awards weekend (magazines,
newspapers, Sunrise etc), I requested the studios organise and cover the cost of
compatible interpreters, and that has all worked out well so far. They all instantly
recognised the importance of having a suitably skilled Auslan interpreter if they wanted to
interview me, and access to date has not been an issue. Ive had a couple of trips since to
the east coast for awards-related commitments and media obligations, but I have also done
some of my interviews from Perth.
What was the best moment for you in winning Young Australian of the Year?
The recognition, publicity and the media and Australias interest and attention regarding
Auslan and the Deaf community. Its a long time since we had a national platform of this
nature to use and to promote our beautiful language as well as to raise the profile and
status of the Deaf community. The whole Awards weekend and presentation was an
amazing experience personally, but nothing can beat the fact that this was really a win for
the wider Deaf community in terms of raising awareness of the concept of Deaf gain not
hearing loss, and conveying the message to wider society that its OK to be Deaf!
What message do you hope to promote in your year as the award winner?
I am promoting the beauty of Auslan, how it is a language that belongs to Australia, and is
used by a community of people that can be considered a linguistic minority. While
promoting and encouraging Australians to celebrate and embrace Auslan, I want to also
highlight the harsh truth that Deaf children suffer when they are denied their right to have
full access to a language where they can communicate and express themselves
completely. Linguistic impoverishment in the early years for Deaf children when deprived of
access to a visual language may lead to them experiencing mental health issues, isolation,
and low self-esteem, not to mention poor educational outcomes, under-employment and
unemployment. We must take action to improve access to Auslan for Deaf children in
infancy, support hearing families in their efforts to learn it, expect educational institutions to
embrace Auslan as a viable first language for Deaf children, and promote it as a valuable
second language for LOTE (Language other than English) teaching in schools to hearing
children too, to encourage a more accessible and accepting society in general. Auslan as a
LOTE programs in schools also allow Deaf children to formally study Auslan in the same
way hearing children study English. In addition, we need more funding for research on
Auslan, and a greater investment in resources and opportunities to learn Auslan (teacher
training, materials etc). Deaf people should also be able to access messages and
information in the wider community in Auslan, via for example, Auslan interpreted
broadcasts of emergency updates during times of crisis, or Auslan translations being
available on websites, particularly for government services/agencies etc.
What things have you learnt from this experience that we could benefit from to create
positive exposure for Deaf Australians, and their families?
We all need to work together for the common good, the greater cause. We need the
government to take responsibility for the well-being of our Deaf children. We need constant
positive exposure about Auslan, and about the Deaf community. We need many more Deaf
role models out there, meeting the parents of newly diagnosed babies and families of Deaf
children, so they know that their child too can aspire to be whatever they dream to be. We
need reliable funding for programs such as the Auslan for families, a project which is
already developed and run by the WA Deaf Society but does not have recurrent funding
from the government. Such a program should become national, and available for every
family to access. Parents can access Better Start government funding of $12,000 per child,
yet only half of that sum can be used for parents to access Auslan programs. The full
amount however is able to be used by parents for therapy services, including speech
therapy, if they so wish. Why does the allocation discriminate against access to Auslan
programs? We need to change the attitude and mentality of the government and of
Australian society and to remove the stigma associated with using sign language. To do
this, we all need to work together - united we stand, divided we fall.
What do you think are the top three issues affecting the Deaf community today?
My response is skewed to an extent based on my particular platform and there are many
other issues I could have raised, however my key concerns are:
1. The right of Deaf children to have access to Auslan from birth (in the home, school etc).
2. Appropriate and recurrent funding is required for Deaf service providers and
organisations.
3. Access to emergency broadcasts on TV via Auslan (whether natural disasters or man
made such as the Sydney Siege) and Auslan translations on relevant websites.