Do you want to hear the stories from the National Deafblind Camp? At DBV cafe on 17th April 2024, our members shared their experiences. You can find videos and transcripts of their stories below.
Deafblind people from around the country came together for a fun-filled three days on Phillip Island, organised by Able Australia. This was the first national Deafblind camp in 4 years. It was great to catch up with old friends! The days were filled with socialising, outdoor activities, workshops, and a rock-and-roll disco evening.
Alex’s story
Alex: The camp was brilliant! For those that didn’t attend, hopefully hearing the stories will make you want to attend the next one. I really hope it does. We started off on Monday. After a brilliant lunch, we went off wine tasting, which was one of the most important parts of the camp. A lot of us weren’t interested in the history of all the wines. We were more interested in drinking, for some reason!
After that we did a trivia night on Monday night. I don’t want to throw any of our DBV people under the bus, but we do have some intelligent staff and maybe some who were cheeky enough to provide wrong answers during the trivia night. We had four staff in total: two are intelligent and the other two… sorry, you’ll need to work on your intelligence skills. Out of respect, I’m not going to name the unintelligent ones, but I did let my thoughts known to all of them afterwards. After the trivia we socialised.
Come Tuesday morning, before the rain came tumbling down, some of us did therapy stuff. There was orientation and mobility training, and art therapy. Some did the outdoor events. Then it came to the real part of the camp – the disco. We had a rock-and-roll theme, which was brilliant. We had dancing; a rock-and-roll dance session. We had haptic music vests on display as well. I don’t know how to put this, but I actually stole the show later on, in my costume as the lead singer of Bon Jovi. At that stage I was on the stage, had my guitar with me, ripped off my jacket, and threw it into the crowd afterwards. The disco lights were going, and the music was blasting on full volume. I was told that even people outside could feel the vibration. So that’s how good we were!
On Wednesday, to be honest, I’m not sure what half of the people did. But me and a particular person, Jasper, went off drinking. So, that’s my experience at camp. Now I’d like to …
Jeanette: You went out drinking in the morning?
Alex: aah um, I can’t, um, I can’t say yes or no, but Jeanette, I will tell you personally later. I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus.
Rodney’s story
Rodney: I’m going to tell you about my recent experience at the deafblind camp. It was a really, really, wonderful time. Got to catch up with some old friends and make some new friends. That was really wonderful. Some I haven’t seen for a very long time; four years since the last time we had a deafblind camp. So, it’s been fantastic.
I enjoyed most of the activities at the camp. We had the flying fox on one day. It rained a little bit that day, but it was pretty good. Next day was relatively relaxed. We socialised and caught up with friends and had a good chat. Then we did the orientation and mobility training. It was a good workshop and we had a discussion about that. We played some cards, and we played a few different games and stuff. That was nice. Tuesday night was a wonderful experience. We used the haptic vests to feel some music. That was really cool. Wednesday morning, I did a mental health workshop with Meredith Prain and that was a really good experience; a lot of information about controlling our mental health, and difficulties that come with mental health. So, that was really helpful. Overall the camp was a really wonderful experience.
Michelle’s story
The Deafblind camp was wonderful. Really fantastic. I think it was the best camp I’ve been to. I’ve been to about ten camps so far and this was the best one. There was so much catching up with friends, and chatting in sign language. It was honestly exhausting! My arms were tired; I was sore from all the chatting. It was great, just so wonderful! Really, really, awesome.
I particularly enjoyed the wine tasting that was a favourite. I actually bought some wine, I brought some home with me – maybe four or five bottles, of which there is maybe one left. We’ll get through them on the weekend perhaps. I’ll see if I can walk a straight line afterwards.
There were a lot of opportunities for me to talk with people about technology. There were people from NSW, someone from WA, and some regional deafblind people from other parts of the country. I love talking about this and helping others with technology. Like the Android phone system, Apple technology… there was a question about a smart TV and I actually didn’t know the answer. Luckily my commguide Troy was able to google the question and get the answer. So, that person was happy, and I was really thrilled.
I enjoyed… what is it called? The orientation and mobility thing, the training we did. That was wonderful. It has motivated me to have a conversation myself with an O&M in regard to using a wheelchair with a cane. I don’t know, it’s something perhaps I can look into now with an O&M. I also attended the mental health workshop. That was great. I really enjoyed the activity we did – relaxed breathing or controlled breathing. There was a tactile signal for when you breathe in and when you breathe out by using your hand. You can go through each finger… you can go up the finger to breathe in and down the finger to breathe out.
This event is supported by the Australian Government Department of Social Services. Go to www.dss.gov.au for more information.
