04/09/2026
💞 A little about me and my Deaf journey.
I went to the Girls Waratah Deaf School for about a year when I was in kindergarten. I was born severely/profoundly Deaf, but my parents didn’t want me signing or mixing with Deaf friends.
I was then sent to the hearing school across the road from the Deaf school, although I still went back to the Deaf school for speech therapy.
Growing up, I struggled trying to fit into the hearing world. In high school I wasn’t doing very well, so I was moved into mainstream Deaf classes within a hearing school for a few years. I had also grown up believing that being part of the Deaf community was something to feel embarrassed or ashamed about. I missed my old friends from the hearing high school, so I eventually went back.
Life then became busy raising my family. When things settled down, in my early 40s I started reconnecting with the Deaf community and really learning Auslan.
I went on to complete Certificate IV, and during that journey I realised something very important about myself — I am a Deaf person, and being Deaf is part of my identity. 💞
I finally understood that I didn’t need to keep trying so hard to fit into the hearing world.
Today I have many Deaf friends, and my husband is also Deaf and an Auslan user.
This is one of the reasons I do what I do today. My goal is to encourage more hearing people to learn Auslan and understand Deaf people, helping make everyday communication easier and creating a more inclusive world for us all. 💞
