ATTENTION;  KIM GUSBERTI  -  KIM , HEREWITH AS REQUESTED THE FINAL
AMENDMENT OF MY TALK AT DARWIN PARLIAMENT HOUSE ON 27TH MAY:

I've been President on and off of the Deafness Association NT for the past
l5 years  I have a very severe hearing loss and went deaf at the age of
seven years, firstly through the middle ear infection which affects so many
indigenous people in the Territory, then through noise in the London Blitz.
Fortunately my hearing loss was diagnosed early and I sat in front of the
class and became an expert lipreader, as there were no hearing aids in
those days.  I have a small amount of conductive hearing left so I can
answer volume enhanced phones with the help of a very powerful bodyworn
aid.  I mention this because I was not born deaf:  I could hear perfectly
till the age of seven and was fully verbal.  The difference between my loss
of hearing and those who are born deaf is wide: those born deaf have never
heard sound and so find lipreading very difficult - signing is generally
their main means of communication.

I was fortunate recently to attend a Forum at Macquarie University
addressed by Donna Lee Sorkin from the USA who was President Clinton's
appointee on the US Access Board, which advises the US Congress on the
Americans with Disabilities Act - sadly, it seems that American law gives a
wider cover for people with disabilities than at present in Australia.

EDUCATION
I need to speak about the incidence of hearing loss in the Territory.  It
is estimated that one in seven people in Australia has a significant
hearing loss:  up here that figure is one in three, because there is such
widespread loss among Aboriginal people. They represent almost 30% of our
population, and it is estimated that a quarter of the adults and half the
children are hearing impaired through the middle ear infection that cost me
my hearing when young.
I wish I had a dollar for every time I'm told by people visiting remote
indigenous communities that they were moved to tears about the lack of
accommodation in the classroom for the children's  hearing loss.  There are
assistive listening devices, primarily the Sound Field syustem which raises
the general level of sound in the classroom.  This not very expensive
system is provided by limited funding through Australian Hearing
(Commonwealth), the State Government not contributing. There is very little
understanding of teaching children with a hearing loss, both in the rural
and in the urban schools.  When I visit classes in Darwin I always ask the
children how many of them have suffered from hearing loss when they were
young through middle ear infection and invariably about a third of them put
up their hands.  The teachers are always astonished.  Luckily for children
in urban areas this infection can quickly be cured with antibiotics: in
remote areas it is untreated and goes on to produce a permanent hearing
loss.  There is little or no understanding about the fluctuating loss that
accompanies this condition.  I have had Aboriginal mothers come into the
office saying that they have been told their child has little or no hearing
loss but they know they have.  If I offer a similar bodyworn aid to the one
I use, the mothers return saying their child has heard birds/cats/other
noise clearly for the first time.

Of particular concern is the lack of special Units for children with a
hearing loss.  Three years ago our Association applied to the NT
Anti-Discrimination Commission because there was no special Deafness Unit
after primary school, deaf children being expected suddenly to integrate
with mainstream following their very good program of Total Communication at
the Stuart Park Primary School deafness unit.  This caused serious
confusion and depression, and following our application a Hearing-Impaired
Unit was set up at Darwin High School, thus enabling deaf children to
progress to tertiary education.  A year after the Secondary Unit was
formed, the Primary Unit at Stuart Park School was closed down.  There is a
strong philosophy of oral teaching in the NT Education Department, despite
(as I said above) children who are born deaf not being able to lipread.  It
is likely that we shall once again have to approach the Anti-Discrimination
Commission to reinstate the Primary deaf unit as it is a disgraceful thing
that when I am asked by Interstate parents what facilities we have for
their deaf children I have to reply that there is nothing at that level.
This lack of early intervention to help our deaf children is unique in
Australia:  there is no other State or Territory which does not provide
specialist teaching for deaf children at both primary and secondary level.
Last week I was approached by a speech therapist at Daly River in a remote
area for advice on where a profoundly deaf Aboriginal boy of 8 years could
be boarded and had to refer her to the Townsend School in South Australia.
This is not the first time this has happened.

An excellent report was prepared by Bob Collins 'LEARNING LESSONS' three
years ago commissioned by the NT Education Department but little seems to
have been done to implement its recommendations.  Ongoing effects of
absenteeism from classes and subsequent educational under-achievement are
profound, with unemployment, depression and suicide resulting.  A far cry
from the US requirement to provide for "unique" needs.

DISCRIMINATION IN THE WORKPLACE
Our Association is well aware of this problem, one outstanding example
being the tutor of our Signed English class.  He came from East Timor when
he was young and became severely deaf at the age of six years through
over-use of antibiotics. He came from a different language background and
had a severe hearing loss,but he was enabled through attendance at the
Stuart Park Primary Deafness Unit and through the Secondary Deafness Unit
we had then to achieve a Year l2 pass.  Despite his being computer literate
and having a likeable personality he has never obtained a permanent job,
being employed by Darwin Airport for the past seven years in a part-time
capacity.  He has learnt in his job applications not to mention that he was
educated at Deafness Units, but the fact that he wears two obvious hearing
aids (this because of his severe hearing loss, although the aids enable him
to hear quite well) he is turned down at every interview.  He has even been
told the reason for this is because his aids are a give-away to his hearing
loss.  He has been entered by Quota International for "The Young Achiever
of the Year Award" and is certainly a great success among his pupils at our
Sign Language classes, most of whom are young teachers.  He desperately
needs a permanent job because he has just
married and his wife is expecting their child, but cannot get a permanent
job even loading shelves at the local Supermarket because of the prejudice
that exists in the public about hearing loss.

It should surely be a recommendation, as it is in the US, that employers
with l5 employees or more be required to provide reasonable accommodation
for people with a disability to do their job.  Their law prohibits
discrimination in employment for people who are qualified to carry out the
essential functions for a specific job.

ASSISTIVE LISTENING DEVICES AT PUBLIC VENUES
I am at present joined with six other deaf people to take action under the
DDA against various hotels which do not provide the basic needs of
travellers or those who attend public meetings.  These are: TV sets with
captioning facilities, telephones which have volume controls, telephone
typewriters (TTYs), emergency systems which cater for hearing loss (eg
provision of flashing lights), hearing loops for Conventions or Meeting
Rooms.  I do however think the best way to cope with this lack of provision
is through public awareness, and we are at present carrying out a campaign
to raise these points among local hotels and Convention rooms.  The Member
of Parliament for Araluen campaigned successfully recently to have hearing
loops installed at the recent Sitting of Parliament in Alice Springs and is
checking on the loop for our Legislative Assembly here.  We have campaigned
to have assistive listening devices installed in the newly-built Casuarina
and Palmerston complexes, using the DDA.

By and large we have found that the Act gives good protection and our own
NT Anti-Discrimination Commission has done good work on behalf of deaf
people, particularly in that it enabled the Darwin High School Deafness
Unit to be established.  It looks as though we shall once again have to to
to the ommission to reinstate the Stuart Park Primary Deafness Unit as the
only way we can get this essential facility up and running.
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HOPE THIS IS OK.     MARY SALTER