Nailed it: Robert Adam's Senate Submission

On a rainy Sunday afternoon I decided to go to the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) to finish looking at some of the fine Australian modern paintings I didn't quite get my fill of when I went for a fabulous sign interpreted tour a couple of weeks ago. The problem with that is that the NGA is near the National Library of Australia and I thought I would just pop in for five minutes to run "Auslan" through the search engine. Y'know - just for kicks! One hour later and I'm still here but I'm real happy because I've struck gold! I've come across the submissions to the senate inquiry into hearing health in Australia. The terms of reference for the inquiry are:
Hearing health in Australia, with particular reference to:

• the extent, causes and costs of hearing impairment in Australia;
• the implications of hearing impairment for individuals and the community;
• the adequacy of access to hearing services, including assessment and support services, and hearing technologies;
• the adequacy of current hearing health and research programs, including education and awareness programs; and
• specific issues affecting Indigenous communities.

The first thing I noticed was the use of the word "health" in the inquiry title and throughout the ToR, making the medical model of hearing the default conceptual frame for the whole exercise. Second thing was the diversity of organisations and individuals who made submissions - 187 of them! After clicking on a couple of submissions at random by an economist and a speech pathologist, I recognised a familiar name: Robert Adam. I and many other Auslan learners may know him as one of the guys on the Victorian video tapes who fingerspells way too fast for me to understand! (Note to self: must practice reading back more!) But to the rest of the world he is one of the Australian Deaf community's foremost members, and a prominent advocate for Deaf equality. Currently he is doing a PhD on contact between BSL and Irish Sign Language at the Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre at University College, London. (A topic for another blog post, perhaps.)

In Robert Adam's six-page submission to the senate inquiry he addresses some of the most prevalent myths about language acquisition by Deaf children, backing up his statements with strong evidence from peer-reviewed and published science from around the world. He also clearly shows that Australia is in breach of its international obligations on human rights regarding its lack of provision of services for Deaf people. It's impressive writing and I encourage people to read the whole six pages, but if you haven't got time, these are Robert Adam's recommendations:

"• That the Australian Government meets its obligations under the National Policy on Languages, the Disability Discrimination Act and the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by ensuring that every child born with a hearing loss have access to a sign
language.
• That the Australian Government implement a national strategy to ensure that all children with a hearing loss have access to Auslan as a first language on diagnosis.
• That parents of children diagnosed with a hearing loss have access to Auslan classes, and are able to meet with Deaf role models.
• That hearing parents of children with a hearing loss have access to support and Deaf role models in well-structured early intervention programmes.
• That all cochlear implantation programmes be required to incorporate Auslan classes for implantees and their families.
• That the education of Deaf children include such subjects as Deaf studies (including study of Deaf history, folklore, and Deaf culture)."

I couldn't agree more and I'm so pleased that the argument he has made has been delivered so succinctly and powerfully. Thank you, Mr Adam, you've made my week!

Now, off to the NGA for one more hour of inspiration!