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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-09-22 Daily Xml
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International Week of the Deaf

Ms COOK (Hurtle Vale) (15:26): This week is International Week of the Deaf. The International Week of the Deaf is an initiative of the World Federation of the Deaf, and I believe this is its 62nd or 63rd year. It commenced in 1958 in Rome. It is celebrated annually by the global deaf community on the last week of September each year to commemorate the same month that the first World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf was held.

International Week of the Deaf is celebrated through a whole range of activities, which I have attended over many years. Specifically, in the last couple of years, I have really enjoyed attending some of the events and functions held by Deaf Can:Do. I have attended their Silent Breakfast in the past, which I am sure you can imagine is an enormous challenge for me because I do enjoy having a chat, and they do pick you up when you talk because it is actually against the rules.

A couple of years ago, I taught myself fingerspelling at the Silent Breakfast, and I still know how to do that today. I had hoped I might be able to combine a bit of my speaking with some fingerspelling but I am nowhere near coordinated or clever enough, sadly. I have enormous respect for interpreters who have that skill. I do not think I have the right/left brain thing going on that enables me to do that. This year, I was unable to attend the Silent Breakfast, but I wish to thank the Hon. Irene Pnevmatikos from the other house, who was able to represent the Leader of the Opposition and me at that event. I know she thoroughly enjoyed it and her attendance was appreciated.

I did attend the dinner that was held a couple of weeks ago by the Can:Do group called Dinner in the Dark, where you are blindfolded. It simulates vision impairment, and you need to eat your meal and drink and do all those things with a blindfold on. Again, it is very challenging if the person next to you decides that they would like to move your utensils. This year, my husband was next to me, so it was not quite so challenging, but thank you very much to the jokester a couple of years ago.

I did learn phase 1 of Auslan last year with the Can:Do team, and I found that provided me with amazing insight into the use of Auslan and the evolution of that language, which is quite intuitive. It is a combination of using shapes that represent the things you are trying to say and also using size and form with your hands. I would recommend it to anybody.

There are some come-and-try events this week. One is this afternoon, which none of us will be able to attend, but it is at the Duke of Brunswick at 5.30. In the City of Onkaparinga on Thursday, there are two events being held at 11.30 and 12.30 in the Port Noarlunga Arts Centre, so register online for those.

I think it is important to mention that many of the block funding programs that used to fund deaf groups and vision-impaired groups such as the RSB have been cut. We did campaign very early on to get some attention from the NDIS about guide dogs, and they have managed to solve that problem, so guide dog training is happening much better. One of the things we are worried about is Auslan interpreters at big events such as Carols by Candlelight, where you are supposed to use individualised funding. This could be a bit chaotic if you have 10 people who need to book an interpreter.

I would also like to mention that I hold a drawing competition in my community every year. This year, the theme was 'Butterflies, bugs and beetles' to recognise the small things in a big year of COVID. I would like to congratulate the winners:

Reynella East: Laila and Page;

Braeview Primary: Indiana, with a special mention to Ariannah;

Woodcroft College: Liam and Shelby;

Antonio: Charlotte and Tyler;

Prescott College: Darley; and

Morphett Vale East Primary: Jayden.

At Sunrise and Braeview I managed to dress up in the Book Week theme, and this year I dressed up like a cowgirl and had a great time. Stephanie won the award at Sunrise. I have not yet presented the awards at Emmaus, Coorara and Happy Valley, but I look forward to visiting you at assembly in the next few weeks. Thank you very much to all the entrants; they make the walls in my office look so much brighter.

Time expired.

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