Deafblind Victoria ran a series of four workshops at Newmark Primary School in 2024, for younger students, teachers, parents, and older students. The last one was held on 11 November 2024 in perfect weather with 55 students in the beautiful courtyard.
Heather presented with two Auslan interpreters, sharing her story of growing up deaf, and then adjusting to life as a deafblind person by learning independence. Students explored a display table with objects from deafblind everyday life, such as a braille book, braille phone, and a vibrating alert pager (doorbell and smoke alarm).
We at Deafblind Victoria would like to say a huge thank you Newmark Primary School for collaborating with the Deafblind community and showing what Auslan language can mean for everyone.
Teacher Hillary Nguyen wrote:
“In 2024, the foundation and year 1 children at Newmark Primary met Heather from Deafblind Victoria. After launching the Auslan program at Newmark Primary, it was important for the older children to meet Heather as well. Heather spent some time sharing her story to the year 2/3, 4/5 and 6 children.
The children learnt about Heather’s way of life, asked questions, and participated in a blindfold activity where they had the opportunity to experience loss of sight, and being a guide! At the end of the session, children expressed that they learnt a lot about being deafblind, and that they had better understanding and empathy for deafblind people. Building authentic connections is so important at Newmark Primary.
The highlight was when some of our older children decided to use their newly learnt Auslan skills to introduce themselves to Heather! It was so wonderful seeing the children confidently try to communicate and connect to Heather using what they’ve learnt through our Auslan program.”
This project is supported by the Australian Government Department of Social Services. Go to www.dss.gov.au for more information.
