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Answer regarding ‘Universality of Deaf culture solutions’

6. What types of training would the captioners (if any) need to have? For example, if a Deaf people is taking medical courses, is prior knowledge required for the captioner?

Griffith does not train its captioners, we use an external agency to provide captions, live, in-class or remotely and for all our videos.

Our workload is too big for us to undertake this training and produce all in-house, hence we outsource this to a major captioning company and due to the huge workload, we provide, we receive a great rate.

The captioning company we utilise, is one that established educational interpreting support through one of our graduates who went on to build and develop the captioning program for them. The company will match jobs to staff skills and hence medical terminology with a team member who is familiar or has skills with such terminology.

We review our captions and request corrections when needed to ensure accuracy before students access them.

5. Does Griffith University have resources for Deaf access in the workplace?

Griffith employees who are Deaf, yes are supported – we can access a scheme funded by our federal government that will pay for Auslan and caption support and purchase of technical equipment.

Griffith has installed Visual Fire alarms for the staff members in DSSP, purchased visual doorbells for their offices and in general supports its staff members well.
The federal government scheme is available for all workers – who have consistent employment in Australia – so this is not just for Griffith.

Griffith has supported the DSSP staff teaching Auslan classes for other staff so more staff can learn Auslan to communicate with staff and students.

We do not offer resources for the external workplace when student has finished their degree, but we can advise and there are quite a few organisations that provide resources for the Deaf in their chosen work field.

4. Many Deaf in Australia have good language skills–signing Auslan and writing in English. How do you make this possible?

This is a general question and we cannot respond specifically- but the education system here does help to some degree with Auslan interpreters in classes and some support with core subjects. It is not perfect, and we still have gaps and deaf students who do not excel in the current system. We also have a great Vocational education system where students can top up study skills, they perhaps may have missed at school prior to entering University.

Many deaf students will still enter University with less than ideal English skills and so long as they can meet the inherent requirements of the course, we can support the English skills and written work to a degree. We have English Bridging courses that students can undertake, to enhance their skills.

3. Many Deaf are discriminated against because of their written language. Does this also happen in Australia? How do you deal with this situation?

If English skills are inherent in your course outcomes, you will need to develop English skills – we have bridging programs that can assist in this skill development. We also will negotiate reasonable adjustments for all written submissions that do not penalise spelling and grammar excessively. Griffith University also has a number of avenues for assisting student in review of written assessments and correction of writing and grammatical errors prior to submission. There are learning advisors and International students can use student lead organisations – especially in post graduate study that will review entire written assessments and correct errors.

Students should not be put off by level of English skills – this is a small barrier we can help address

With understanding of the content and research is paramount and then everything else is possible!

If deaf student wants to study a degree in teaching English, then high-level skills are critical and you have struggles in the English language, it is less likely to get reasonable adjustments for English. This is due to Australian legislation and requirements for testing in English and mathematical skills prior to graduation. In saying that we have many signing deaf students who have completed teaching degrees and are currently undertaking such either at Griffith or other Universities – so it is possible.

2. For international students that are Deaf, are they allowed to enrol in any course they want or they should enrol only in the course offered to the Deaf? Are interpreters provided to any course they want to take? Are there teachers who know sign language (e.g. Auslan)?

International students can enrol in any course, they need to meet entry requirements within courses – they are not limited due to Deafness or different hearing ability. It is important to note that if they meet entry requirements and ability to complete the course and meet inherent course requirements then they can enrol. We have an international deaf student currently in dentistry and have deaf students in many varied fields of study.

Interpreting support is provided in Auslan so international students who are deaf will need to learn Auslan to fully understand. Griffith University can assist in connecting students to local Deaf communities and opportunities to learn Auslan. Degree learning instruction can be supported with English captions – live in (on site) class while developing Auslan or English. Highly recommended that Auslan skills are developed prior to undertaking study. Sometimes, an immersion in an Australian Deaf family may assist this rapid development.

In the past Griffith has had teachers/lecturers who are fluent Auslan users or who are Deaf themselves. At present we do not –however things change, some students come in and study then become a lecturer, or sometimes we have lecturers learn the language for their own interests. At the moment there is a PhD degree about Auslan, by a student who is supervised by a Deaf supervisor who has a PhD degree as an Adjunct supervisor, so it is Deaf -led.

1. It is a wonderful Deaf support program. I wonder what the first step was to convince the university / the government to offer such support at the first place.

The first step would be to demonstrate a need for the support and your government legal frameworks around Disability Act. Every country is different with their own laws and policies. We will start with how we established our program. You may need to reference the existing frameworks to lobby for your area/university/governments.

The late Emeritus Professor Desmond Power AM, had a personal desire to see deaf people become teachers of the deaf. It was Des Power that established the innovative program to support deaf students through its bachelor of Teaching program in 1985 at the then Brisbane CAE (later merged with Griffith University). Five students started in 1985 in teaching program long before there was legislation requiring such equal opportunity. Des was ahead of his time, with program funded by Quota and Lions clubs for funds for interpreting and special grants for the first program of students. He did the fundraising and allocation.

The Deaf Student Support Program continues to provide the most extensive support service to deaf students in the country and it is leading in its field. With our educational interpreting support for students attending other Universities in Brisbane and in vocational education institutions. For over 35 years DSSP has been providing interpreting, note-taking, technology and educational support for deaf students. It is managed by Deaf staff and support deaf student undertake all manner of degrees, from teaching, science, social work, business and so forth.

Today Australian legislation requires all universities to provide support to deaf students wishing to undertake study if they meet entry requirements. Griffith’s DSSP does this so well that other major universities in the same city region employ Griffith to provide this support to its students at their institutions – University of Qld and Qld University of Technology. Griffith has also supported students at South Queensland University and Sunshine Coast University in the past as well. Griffith also supports many vocational education institutes of TAFE across Brisbane in provision of interpreting support and information on how to best support deaf students.

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