On October 26th Deafness Council members, John Byrne and Rae Walker attended the inaugural Parliamentary Friends of Deaf and Hard of Hearing event at Parliament House in Perth.
The event was organised by Martin Pritchard MLA and attended by fellow co-convener Hon. Sophia Moermond MLC. and the Minister of Disability, Hon, Don Punch.
It was a very successful night and saw many hearing and deaf service providers come together, including; Ear Science Institute Australia, Sensory – School of Special Needs, Hearing Australia, Cochlear, ASLIA, TAFE – Auslan lecturers, Deaf Council WA, DFA, Deaf Australia, MedEl, Access Plus [previously Deaf Society WA], Shenton College Deaf Education Centre.
Sophia Moermond MLC, is hard of hearing and gave a wonderful speech applauding the resilience of deaf and hard of hearing people.
The event delivery embodied universal design best practice for communication accessibility for a deaf and hard of hearing audience. Speeches were accessible through Auslan interpreters and simultaneous live transcription. Hearing, hard of hearing and Deaf participants could communicate when mingling socially, using the Auslan interpreters made available for the event.
