Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion and rise to speak in favour of it and in support of the National Week of Deaf People. I understand hearing loss is the most common disability in newborns, affecting approximately two in every 1,000 babies every year. So it is vital that we have groups and organisations to care for and prepare young deaf people to live without barriers despite their predicament. Just this month I was fortunate enough to receive a tour of the local Hear and Say headquarters in Ashgrove, in my electorate of Brisbane, with CEO Chris McCarthy. I was very privileged to meet the many caring and highly skilled staff working for this not-for-profit organisation, which has now been doing such tremendous work for 24 years. I was very interested to see how the exciting facility is utilising cutting-edge technology to work with parents and families as well as children who are deaf.

Between the Ashgrove centre and its other five centres around Queensland, Hear and Say provides services and programs to over 2,000 children, young adults and families including audiology, auditory-verbal therapy, occupational therapy and school hearing screening. They also provide services online, reaching out to rural and remote areas. I was also lucky to tour this centre with Councillor Steven Toomey, who represents the area of Ashgrove on the Brisbane City Council. Councillor Toomey's family has firsthand experience utilising the services of Hear and Say.

The visit to the Hear and Say centre was important for two reasons: firstly, to see how those in the Brisbane community with hearing impairment, especially children, are in safe hands at Hear and Say; and, secondly, to be shown how Chris and his team are ushering in what they call a new era of children who are deaf. I will explain what they mean by that. We have all seen videos of that special moment when the hearing aid or cochlear implant is switched on for the first time and a beam of light shines on the face of the toddler or infant. It really is inspiring and emotional to witness. But what Hear and Say and other similar organisations around Australia are doing is getting past the 'YouTube moment' and making sure that, if you are born with no hearing, you will have fewer limitations in adult life.

Over 90 per cent of children with permanent hearing loss are born to hearing—and thus listening and speaking—parents. New research and advances in hearing technology are now changing our realistic expectations for spoken language outcomes for children who are deaf. To put this into context: those born deaf more than, say, 15 or 20 years ago may have what is known as a deaf accent into their teens and adult years. That is often due to the limitations of the technology and techniques available at that time.

Due to technological and other advances, our expectations are becoming much greater. Children participating in a listening and spoken language (auditory-verbal) early intervention program perform better for spoken language and listening than a matched group of children in an auditory-oral (listening and lip reading) program or a bilingual-bicultural (Auslan and written English) program by three years of cochlear implant use. Technology has changed significantly and the use of cochlear implants, digital hearing and our understanding of auditory brain development and therapeutic techniques now means that, in 2016, there is a new generation of children who are deaf but can listen and speak and will not be limited by their hearing impairments. It is organisations like Hear and Say that are making that expectation a reality.

That brings me to the latter half of this motion. I note the assistance provided for deaf children under the Commonwealth government's Better Start program. The level of support required for a child who can listen and speak is significantly less than for one who will need ongoing one-on-one Auslan interpreter support. That is why Hear and Say is advocating for more funding to support children with all levels of hearing loss through classroom design, clever technology and teacher training rather than just Auslan support. This will make children who are deaf less of a minority, with educational and lifestyle outcomes equivalent to those of all other Australian children. I commend the great work of Hear and Say to the House and I sincerely thank Chris McCarthy and the whole team at Hear and Say for this tremendous work on behalf of the community.

Finally, a reminder to all that this Friday, 21 October 2016, is Loud Shirt Day. It is an excuse to wear your brightest clothes and raise money to help give the gift of sound and speech to deaf children. I encourage everyone to get involved and join me by wearing fancy stripes, florals, polka dots or paisley across Australian workplaces on Friday. It is a very worthy cause. There is still a lot of work to do and I look forward to continuing to work hard on behalf of Brisbane's deaf community of all ages including the clients, family and great staff at the Hear and Say centre in Ashgrove.

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