Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises that 15 to 23 October is National Week of Deaf People which provides an opportunity for:

(a) deaf people to celebrate their communities and achievements;

(b) promote awareness of local, state and national communities;

(c) acknowledge of Federal Parliament's current pilot of captioning in the House and Senate;

(2) notes the rights of deaf people to:

(a) access Australian Sign Language (AUSLAN) as their first language; and

(3) acknowledges that:

(a) deaf people are a minority both culturally and linguistically;

(b) acceptance of the need for bilingual education of AUSLAN and English to promote equality and lifelong learning.

Yesterday marked the beginning of a week-long celebration for deaf people, their families and the deaf Australian community. It is a celebration for the community as a whole and highlights their unique language, culture and place in our everyday lives. We will see, in communities around the country, festival days, workshops, forums, quiz nights, theatre, debates and films. In Parramatta, we will celebrate once again on Saturday with the Deaf Festival on the banks of the Parramatta River. The theme for this year's festival is an adaptation of the theme of the World Federation of the Deaf International Week of Deaf People, 'With sign language, I am equal'—in Australia, of course, it is, 'With Auslan, I am equal', because Auslan is a uniquely Australian language.

It astonishes me that, in 2016—in a country like Australia, which is so good, relative to the rest of the world, in raising children with disabilities—we need to say, 'With Auslan, I am equal.' Yet our deaf community feels the need to say that, and this week I hope we hear them loudly and clearly: with Auslan, they are equal.

This week is about recognising deaf individuals as primarily visual beings belonging to a linguistic minority and calling for Auslan to be recognised and available for deaf persons at all stages of their lives, including from birth. I spoke last year of this: that, when a child is born deaf with hearing parents, the need for that child to learn language from birth is essential, and they cannot do that without a visual language such as Auslan. So it is incredibly important that our children are given, from birth, the ability to learn a language that is available to them, and, for many deaf children, that is Auslan.

This year's deaf week will focus on things that we should all take for granted—birth rights: the right of deaf children to access and acquire Auslan as their first language; deaf identity: deaf people are a cultural and linguistic minority who use Auslan as their primary language; accessibility: deaf people need access to public information and services through Auslan. And if we, as a nation, think we provide that, we should have a look at some of the official government websites and see how little Auslan there actually is on them. In fact, when I tried to get an interpreter this week in Canberra to do some Auslan messages on film, it became apparent that, even in Canberra, the seat of government, there is a serious shortage of Auslan interpreters who are able to work in the public domain. We have a long way to go before our deaf community can access the information that they need and can participate in government processes in the way that they should. We should all take for granted equal language: recognising Auslan as an equal language to other spoken/written languages; equal employment opportunities: removing the barriers where hearing is a requirement and promoting greater inclusion and opportunities for deaf people to realise their dreams; bilingual education: accepting the need for bilingual education for deaf children—that is, in Auslan and English—and for teachers and interpreters to be fully accessible; equal participation: deaf people being able to fully participate in the personal, public and political areas along with everyone else; and lifelong learning: deaf people having access to education, training and ongoing professional development throughout their lives.

Auslan is not English. It is an incredibly interesting language that developed over time. At present there are 62 handshapes listed in the Signs of Australia dictionary of Auslan—the Johnston 1998 edition. Of these 62, 37 are core, and some are used much more than others. In fact, four of the handshapes are used for over 50 per cent of all of the signs, and the most frequent handshapes account for 80 per cent of the signs, the next 22 handshapes for about 20 per cent, and six handshapes are only in one per cent. So it is a language with a small number of handshapes but incredible variety, because it relies on facial expression and body language as well. In fact, when I go to the deaf community—and I know my deaf community will not mind me saying this—I love it; it is the loudest silence you will ever hear. And I wish my deaf community all the best for this week.

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