TAX APPEAL 2015
Urgent Need to Save
Our Remote Services
Brooke and Charles had a chance to meet at the Talking Hands Residential School Camp in the NT.
Dear Friends,
If your child is diagnosed as deaf or hard of hearing, you begin to search for all the help you can find. But if your child
lives hundreds or thousands of kilometres from support services, they are at risk of falling through the gaps in their
critical developmental years - regardless of your efforts as a parent.
Deaf Children Australia (DCA) has been thrilled to be part of the VidKids Alliance which has been providing remote
hearing and vision services and filling some of those gaps for the past two years. But as a pilot program, VidKids’
Commonwealth Social Services funding will end in June.
Deaf Children Australia cannot give up on the children and young people, their families and their communities, that
we have been helping. The VidKids pilot program has proven that through the sophisticated new video education
technology we have been trialling, DCA has the capacity to reach out to children, young people and their families in
the most remote communities across Australia. By being able to interact on screen, our team of dedicated support
workers has helped children and young people develop their Australian Sign Language (Auslan) skills. We have helped
them bridge the communication gaps so they can access allied health services. We have been there as mentors –
to listen, understand and guide. Now we have the tools to remove the tyranny of distance and enable personalised
support – and we want to continue to connect deaf children with other deaf children, and families to other families. Yet
we are now challenged by the costs.
Can you help us to continue delivering cost effective remote services that can make a world of difference to
these children?
“I still need this support because I am going to be deaf for life”
Brooke
Thirteen year old Brooke was diagnosed at three years of age with a moderate to profound hearing loss. Her mum
Tania says, “Brooke had a year of early intervention support but that stopped when she started school. Since then, we
have struggled to access enough support because we live in a remote farming community.
“We had a Visiting Teacher come to the school occasionally in the first couple of years and again in Grade 6 and this
year. For years, there was no Visiting Teacher for our whole region so we haven’t had that consistent assistance at
school.”
When Tania asked Brooke how she feels about the possibility that her weekly connections with DCA’s support worker
Debra Swann could end after 20 months of support, Brooke became emotional. She spoke through her tears: “I feel
upset because I want to talk to Deb – she understands me because she is deaf too. VidKids has helped me learn
sign language. It wouldn’t be the same if anyone else teaches me. Deb and I link up, learn new signs each week and
talk about everything. Through VidKids, I get to meet new people and talk to them in sign language. We don’t have
any other deaf kids out here and it’s helped me to talk to others. I don’t want to stop linking up with Deb and meeting
new people and doing all the fun stuff like camps. Deb has helped me with her knowledge of school with learning
plans too. I am scared that I will forget Auslan if I don’t get to talk to her any more. Then if I am with other deaf kids
on camps, I won’t know anything and I will feel left out. And I want to grow up being connected to both the Deaf and
hearing worlds. I still need this help because I am going to be deaf for life.”
Tania adds, “I think Brooke feels like she doesn’t quite fit in anywhere. It is probably really common for young deaf girls
to be confused with their identity and we just want Brooke to be comfortable in her own skin. It’s great for her to have
someone to connect with outside the family who is deaf too. It gives her a sense of belonging. I just really hope DCA
can continue this support for Brooke through this vulnerable time of adolescence.”
PTO
“After spending most of his first five years in hospital, Charles really hasn’t had a language his whole life.”
Support Worker Vanessa Adzaip
When Charles contracted bacterial meningitis at eight months of age, he was paralysed, experienced profound hearing loss
and lost the ability to speak because his vocal folds were paralysed and his upper airways were partially blocked. Charles lived
in a hospital as a little boy for four years. His life only turned around when foster mum Barb took him in. Barb is a mother of six,
grandmother of 16 and foster mum to three other children and she gave Charles a loving home as well.
Her commitment to care for Charles, with all his challenges, has been extraordinary and she deserves all the support she can
get. He is no longer paralysed but at eighteen years of age, Charles still struggles with his mobility. Up until last year, he had a
tracheostomy tube to allow him to breathe through an opening in the trachea. Charles has chronic lung disease but can now
breathe more comfortably. Barb still feeds Charles through a gastrostomy button in his stomach.
DCA’s Darwin based support worker Vanessa Adzaip explains, “With no speech, Charles had learned very basic signs and
really hasn’t had a language his whole life. Through the VidKids program, Deaf Children Australia has been able to build upon
his Auslan and his range of signs is expanding all the time.” Barb says, “It has helped him immensely. And socially, to have
people signing along with him, means so much. It makes him not feel so bad. But if we lost this support, we would probably
come to a standstill again. Charles needs a lot of help to build his language more.”
Vanessa adds, “Charles has relied on his visual arts communication which is very unique. In my view, his art is a form of
communication… and communication is a form of art. Charles often laughs when he is learning Auslan which is a fun way of
communicating very visually and naturally. He can now express his needs and communicate with other people without feeling
so anxious. On camp, Charles has been enjoying himself, signing with the other kids and joining in the activities. I want to help
continue Charles’ education in Auslan in order to break his communication barriers and help him to have a better life. I feel that
one day, Charles could be a famous artist.”
We don’t want to leave these children isolated again
Charles and Brooke have both loved attending the Talking Hands Residential School Camp where many of the deaf children
and young people involved in our VidKids Program have been brought together. We really don’t want to have to end our
commitment to all these children.
You can help Deaf Children Australia continue to support children and young people like Brooke and Charles who have
been isolated and struggled with service gaps because they live in remote areas. Please take a moment to make your tax
deductible donation through calling us on (03) 9539 5356 or giving online at www.deafchildrenaustralia.org.au
Yours sincerely
Damian Lacey
Chief Executive Officer
PS This need is urgent as our remote services are facing cuts at the end of June. Please help us continue to support
children and young people like Brooke and Charles so they don’t have to feel so alone.
Charles’ world is opening up as he learns to sign more with Vanessa’s help.
Brooke and her mum Tania on DCA’s Family Camp last year.