Deafblind Awareness month 2022
This year for Deafblind Awareness month there were a number of activities at DBV:
- The Ross House building window display
- Deafblind Awareness workshops
- A national video collaboration with other state-based deafblind groups
- An event for members and the wider community celebrating deafblind awareness.
At the event on June 15, there was a presentation by DBV’s Alex Sar about his experience coming to our group, building his skills and confidence, and joining the management committee. Claire Fraser from Able Australia ran an art activity with DBV’s Robert Lokmer taking photos. Claire will join the artwork made with others from around the country and display it at the Deafblind conference in Perth at the end of the month.
The highlight of the event was celebrating with SEDB, a Deafblind community group in South India who joined us via a video call from Bangalore. There were lots of questions from each group to the other, and we really felt like we had found kindred spirits in another part of the world.
Issues such as a shortage of interpreters were common to both groups. At DBV we felt sorry for the interpreters in Bangalore who were working simultaneously with two deafblind people, using (one-handed) tactile sign language, and continuing without a break! They were very interested in our interpreting tables and want to know how they can make their own. We look forward to staying in touch and collaborating in future.
Deafblind Victoria 