PRESIDENTS REPORT
YEAR ENDED 30th JUNE 2025
The ongoing objective of the Deafness Council is to pursue and promote issues that will improve the quality of life for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. To that end, the Council has met 7 times this year.
Council meetings are now held in a manner that enable members to attend via Microsoft Teams.
PATRON
The Council are privileged to have Harvey Coates AO, a noted Paediatric Otolaryngologist, continuing as our Patron.
STAN PERRON CHARITABLE FOUNDATION/DEAFNESS COUNCIL SCHOLARSHIP
Since 2008 the Deafness Council has awarded an annual scholarship, designed to assist and support the development of young Deaf and hard of hearing people. For the first time this year two $5,000 scholarships were awarded. The recipients Sophie Acquard and Lily Ratcliffe are both pursuing studies at Curtin University.
Following an increase in the donation received from the Foundation the Council agreed to increase the scholarship to $5,000.
We thank the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation for their continuing support.
WORLD HEARING DAY / NEW BORN HEARING SCREENING WA 25TH ANNIVERSARY
Since 1979 the Council, during Hearing Awareness Week (HAW), has conducted events to focus the public’s attention on the issues relative to Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. In recent years it has been agreed to use World Hearing Day (March 3rd) for this purpose. This year the Council conducted an event on February 26th with the focus on celebrating the 25th anniversary of the introduction of New Born Hearing Screening (NBHS) in WA. The evening included a presentation from Professor Harvey Coates detailing the efforts involved to achieve this outcome. This was followed by a panel discussion, chaired by Geof Parry and involving several professionals involved in the NBHS. The Dr Harry Blackmore Award and Stan Perron Charitable Foundation Scholarship were also presented.
We thank the John and Bella Perry Foundation for their generous support of the evening.
DR HARRY BLACKMORE AWARD
Dr Lara Shur, CEO of the Earbus Foundation was the recipient of the award this year. Lara is widely recognized in the Deaf and hard of hearing community as a leading paediatric audiologist. In 2013 alongside Paul Higginbotham and Dee Parker she co-founded Earbus Foundation which provides clinical outreach visits to over 200 locations in regional and remote locations of our state.
CAPTIONING OF EMERGENCY SERVICES AND PUBLIC INFORMATION ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Council continues to lobby State and Federal Governments to caption all their public television announcements and to open caption with Auslan interpreters included in all emergency services public information announcements. During the State election the Electoral Commission advertisements failed to include any such captioning or Auslan interpreting. Following the Council’s complaint, the Commission apologized for this oversight and invited the Council to nominate a representative to their Disability Reference Panel.
DEAFNESS FORUM
The Deafness Council is a member of the Deafness Forum and continues to contribute on a regular basis to submissions made by the Forum on behalf of issues affecting Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. At the Forum AGM, Council member Rae Walker was elected as Chairperson of Deafness Forum.
REPORT OF THE OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR OF CUSTODIAL SERVICES INTO PEOPLE IN CUSTODY WITH A HEARING IMPAIRMENT
Following the release of the report by the Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services, we have raised a series of questions about the Governments response to the report in correspondence with the Minister. We have failed to obtain a meeting with the Minister or senior Departmental staff to further discuss the issues raised in the report.
STATE GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR COCHLEAR UPGRADES FOR NON-QUALIFYING PEOPLE OVER 65
Non qualifying people over 65 face the reality of no assistance being available for necessary device upgrades that cost approximately $9,000 per upgrade. The estimate is that this service could be provided for about $100,000 per year, as it is in at least two other states. The Council has approached both the State and Federal Ministers for Health seeking funding to support this small but important group of people. To date our approaches have been unsuccessful.
NEWBORN HEARING SCREENING PARENT SUPPORT FACILITATOR FUNDING
The Council have been actively seeking a commitment from the Health Department to establish the Parent Support Facilitator (PSF) role as a permanent position within the NBHS Program at Perth Children’s Hospital (PCH). The Department have advised that “steps are currently underway to establish the PSF role as a permanent position within the NBHS Program at PCH”. The Council will continue to pursue this issue.
GUEST SPEAKERS
During the year the Council have been fortunate to have heard from several excellent guest speakers including;
SUPPORT
We have again received wonderful support from our donors, Stan Perron Charitable Foundation and John and Bella Perry Foundation who we thank for their generosity. The support of the many volunteers within the Council and associated organisations is very much appreciated.
BARRY MACKINNON
PRESIDENT
