Get a legends. Welcome back to Roll with the Punches. I'm your host, Tiff Cook, and today I have got a rip up of an episode for you guys. This would have to be one of my favorite episodes and an episode that I did not expect to have such a profound impact on me and to be such an incredible experience to record. I knew that Rebecca Adam was an incredible human. She'd been recommended to me by Peter Billing. Thank you. Shout out to you, Peter. You're right, more right than you can never know. But when I finished this call, I just sat in complete awe and just buzzing about the experience I just had. It was so incredible to have a full conversation with someone who is profoundly deaf and speaking and being translated back to me in Osland. I was like a kid in a candy shop. And so Adam is the CEO of Expression Australia. She's doing incredible things. She's also a lawyer to the Supreme Court of Victoria and an absolute trailblazer. I hope that you enjoy this as much as I did, and maybe we can all go and do your course in learning Osland. Nobody wants to go to court, and don't. My friends at test Art Family Lawyers know that they offer all forms of alternative dispute resolution. Their team of Melbourne family lawyers have extensive experience in all areas of family law to facto and same sex couples, custody and children, family violence and intervention orders, property settlements and financial agreements. Test Art is in your corner, so reach out to Mark and the team at www dot test Artfamilylawyers dot com dot au. Rebecca Adam, welcome to Roll with the Punchers.

Get a legends. Welcome back to Roll with the Punches. I'm your host, Tiff Cook, and today I have got a rip up of an episode for you guys. This would have to be one of my favorite episodes and an episode that I did not expect to have such a profound impact on me and to be such an incredible experience to record. I knew that Rebecca Adam was an incredible human. She'd been recommended to me by Peter Billing. Thank you. Shout out to you, Peter. You're right, more right than you can never know. But when I finished this call, I just sat in complete awe and just buzzing about the experience I just had. It was so incredible to have a full conversation with someone who is profoundly deaf and speaking and being translated back to me in Osland. I was like a kid in a candy shop. And so Adam is the CEO of Expression Australia. She's doing incredible things. She's also a lawyer to the Supreme Court of Victoria and an absolute trailblazer. I hope that you enjoy this as much as I did, and maybe we can all go and do your course in learning Osland. Nobody wants to go to court, and don't. My friends at test Art Family Lawyers know that they offer all forms of alternative dispute resolution. Their team of Melbourne family lawyers have extensive experience in all areas of family law to facto and same sex couples, custody and children, family violence and intervention orders, property settlements and financial agreements. Test Art is in your corner, so reach out to Mark and the team at www dot test Artfamilylawyers dot com dot au. Rebecca Adam, welcome to Roll with the Punchers.

Oh thank you, Tiffany. It's good to be here with you today. And obviously I've got my own trepert to hear Mark quinn perfect.

Oh thank you, Tiffany. It's good to be here with you today. And obviously I've got my own trepert to hear Mark quinn perfect.

I was just going to explain to my listeners if they weren't listening to the introduction, that I would have pre recorded and read the biography of this show. I am having my very first semi Osland conversation with and hearing impaired guest, and I'm quite excited. I'm like a kid in a candy shop right now.

I was just going to explain to my listeners if they weren't listening to the introduction, that I would have pre recorded and read the biography of this show. I am having my very first semi Osland conversation with and hearing impaired guest, and I'm quite excited. I'm like a kid in a candy shop right now.

That's great. Oh, thank you, it's very kind of you. It's wonderful to be here today. And I think also it's my first podcast as well, so I've never done a podcast historically.

That's great. Oh, thank you, it's very kind of you. It's wonderful to be here today. And I think also it's my first podcast as well, so I've never done a podcast historically.

This is so great. I've got so many questions. I guess first, maybe let's get an introduction to you, Rebecca, Who are you? What do you do? And yeah, just give us a little bit of info.

This is so great. I've got so many questions. I guess first, maybe let's get an introduction to you, Rebecca, Who are you? What do you do? And yeah, just give us a little bit of info.

Sure, we thank you so much for the opportunity to talk about myself. And my name is Rebecca Adam. I'm also profoundly deaf. I'm a profoundly deaf person and I work as CEO of Expression Australia, Australia's oldest organization supporting deaf and hard of hearing people across Australia. I'm very fortunate to lead this amazing organization because we work with deaf and hard of hearing people across the country, as I mentioned, just to ensure that they can lead fully, independent and empowered lives just like any other person in the community. And we do this by specialized in targeted services similar to what you're seeing today. We provide old land interpreting, also support coordination in the Ia, services, age care, audiology, employment support, an array of services all aimed at enabling deaf and hard of hearing people to lead independent and empowered lives and where they're able to be fully informed and have choice of control around the decisions they're wanting to make every day like any other person in society.

Sure, we thank you so much for the opportunity to talk about myself. And my name is Rebecca Adam. I'm also profoundly deaf. I'm a profoundly deaf person and I work as CEO of Expression Australia, Australia's oldest organization supporting deaf and hard of hearing people across Australia. I'm very fortunate to lead this amazing organization because we work with deaf and hard of hearing people across the country, as I mentioned, just to ensure that they can lead fully, independent and empowered lives just like any other person in the community. And we do this by specialized in targeted services similar to what you're seeing today. We provide old land interpreting, also support coordination in the Ia, services, age care, audiology, employment support, an array of services all aimed at enabling deaf and hard of hearing people to lead independent and empowered lives and where they're able to be fully informed and have choice of control around the decisions they're wanting to make every day like any other person in society.

I love this so much. I've got so many questions. You made me think of two things, and one of them was earlier this year in summer, I went to a concert down in Sint Kilda. I think it might have been at the sin Kilder Festival, and it was the first time that I had seen the Osland interpreters on screen. I've got goosebumps thinking about it on screen interpreting the music, and I wanted to ask you, what is the experience of music to hearing impaired and profoundly deaf people.

I love this so much. I've got so many questions. You made me think of two things, and one of them was earlier this year in summer, I went to a concert down in Sint Kilda. I think it might have been at the sin Kilder Festival, and it was the first time that I had seen the Osland interpreters on screen. I've got goosebumps thinking about it on screen interpreting the music, and I wanted to ask you, what is the experience of music to hearing impaired and profoundly deaf people.

Yes, well, that's a really interesting question because naturally, if a person's there for their heart of hearing, it doesn't mean they can't enjoy music. So a lot of deaf people and heard of hearing individuals to enjoy going to theater shows, musical festivals, and some of us enjoy the lyrics that we're able to read and also the narrative that comes from each individual performer. So growing up as a child, I was very excited about kiss yes, I was a child in the nineteen seventies, so I do recall kiss and they're amazing outfits and we get very excited. My hearing friends would tell me about them, and we used to think they were very cute to look at, even though there was a lot going on with their face and being painted and so forth, but visually they were quite appealing and they had music that was part of their performance. It didn't mean that deaf and hard of hearing people couldn't enjoy that, but it was much more difficult back then. However, nowadays, as you've mentioned, we do have OSLON interpreters attending concerts to provide access, and that's part of a changing perception that we've seen in society and awareness on behalf of the community in terms of I guess people being inclusive. And also historically in the past prior to COVID, if we think about COVID, it was a very difficult time, but being aware that people had to make life or death situation decisions every day in various scenarios. So the flip side of that was that the various governments around the country, and I must appalled the Victorian government were the first two years Ozland interpreters in COVID press conferences on a daily basis to provide access to deaf people around what the situation was with COVID, social distance, thing wearing ppe. So the criticalness of inclusion at that point in time was important, regardless of the information being an emergency or a disaster, or even a pop concert in this instance, or a local festival. It's important that deaf people can be included and we have information available in Osland. So isn't that we're deef and hard of hearing? People in Victoria and Australia have been able to access information in lifetime just like any body else, to be able to make independent decisions through this process in accessing Osland. So it is important that community and agencies and society as a whole have started to think twice about okay, we need to provide access. Why should this only be limited to disaster emergency announcements like COVID. We can have access to wonderful fun events such as music festivals and pop concerts and be able to access the good that happens in society as well, which def people do enjoy. So I do see this as a growing part of many organizations who wish to be more inclusive and are aware of the community that they're servicing. So we can see this expanding into areas that haven't traditionally had Ozland interpreting, and we don't necessarily have access in all these fees, but there's much more work to be done to ensure that the world is a place that's positive and fabulous for everybody, and everybody has access to that, regardless of what kind of Australian person you are.

Yes, well, that's a really interesting question because naturally, if a person's there for their heart of hearing, it doesn't mean they can't enjoy music. So a lot of deaf people and heard of hearing individuals to enjoy going to theater shows, musical festivals, and some of us enjoy the lyrics that we're able to read and also the narrative that comes from each individual performer. So growing up as a child, I was very excited about kiss yes, I was a child in the nineteen seventies, so I do recall kiss and they're amazing outfits and we get very excited. My hearing friends would tell me about them, and we used to think they were very cute to look at, even though there was a lot going on with their face and being painted and so forth, but visually they were quite appealing and they had music that was part of their performance. It didn't mean that deaf and hard of hearing people couldn't enjoy that, but it was much more difficult back then. However, nowadays, as you've mentioned, we do have OSLON interpreters attending concerts to provide access, and that's part of a changing perception that we've seen in society and awareness on behalf of the community in terms of I guess people being inclusive. And also historically in the past prior to COVID, if we think about COVID, it was a very difficult time, but being aware that people had to make life or death situation decisions every day in various scenarios. So the flip side of that was that the various governments around the country, and I must appalled the Victorian government were the first two years Ozland interpreters in COVID press conferences on a daily basis to provide access to deaf people around what the situation was with COVID, social distance, thing wearing ppe. So the criticalness of inclusion at that point in time was important, regardless of the information being an emergency or a disaster, or even a pop concert in this instance, or a local festival. It's important that deaf people can be included and we have information available in Osland. So isn't that we're deef and hard of hearing? People in Victoria and Australia have been able to access information in lifetime just like any body else, to be able to make independent decisions through this process in accessing Osland. So it is important that community and agencies and society as a whole have started to think twice about okay, we need to provide access. Why should this only be limited to disaster emergency announcements like COVID. We can have access to wonderful fun events such as music festivals and pop concerts and be able to access the good that happens in society as well, which def people do enjoy. So I do see this as a growing part of many organizations who wish to be more inclusive and are aware of the community that they're servicing. So we can see this expanding into areas that haven't traditionally had Ozland interpreting, and we don't necessarily have access in all these fees, but there's much more work to be done to ensure that the world is a place that's positive and fabulous for everybody, and everybody has access to that, regardless of what kind of Australian person you are.

I love that, as weird as it sounds. I remember watching the Osland at that particular concert and like, I didn't take my eyes off them, I stopped watching the band, but I remember my mind going to this place of what am I missing out on by having hearing? Like what is the experience that you might be having and other hearing impaired people are having that would be profound, like lyrics and maybe like the sensory experience is there? Do you feel the vibration and the atmosphere around you more more acutely than I do because I'm overwhelmed with the sound.

I love that, as weird as it sounds. I remember watching the Osland at that particular concert and like, I didn't take my eyes off them, I stopped watching the band, but I remember my mind going to this place of what am I missing out on by having hearing? Like what is the experience that you might be having and other hearing impaired people are having that would be profound, like lyrics and maybe like the sensory experience is there? Do you feel the vibration and the atmosphere around you more more acutely than I do because I'm overwhelmed with the sound.

Yes, that's actually true. There is research that demonstrates that babies who learn Osland or sign language at an early age. It doesn't matter whether they're therefore they have hearing. They actually benefited through that mode of communication that supports cognitive development because they're using a part of the brain that they wouldn't ordinarily use. And when they're using verbal communication, that's one part of the brain it's used. But when you're using old language or roles Land, you're using a different part of the brain, so you're exercising more of the brain cells for a longer period of time, and that also assists in brain cognitive development. I have two children who can here and they're doing extremely well at school, and I like to think that that's also because they have access to both languages, to spoken English but also as Land sign language, and they've had that from birth, so they're able to sign as babies. And when I was growing up as a young child, my parents were both deaf, so we all communicated using Osland at home, and at that time it was kind of an embarrassing language. We were seen as being socially the inferior. There was stigma around sign language at that time, and I even recall my mother saying to me when we're out in public, oh, Rebecca, please don't sign in public. We don't want people staring at us. I think we're different, we're less than them. It was quite embarrassing. But at home we were comfortable signing to each other, but when we're out in public, I had to pretend I wasn't deaf. So if I think about that period of time and where we are now, and people eager to learn Osland, regardless as to who is therefore hearing, and family members who want to benefit from the advantage of using a visual language to communicat in terms of the acceleration of brain development, all those different reasons, it's amazing to see how from one generation to the next we've seen such an extraordinary shift in terms of perception of deaf people Oslan and the benefits that offers to Australians in general, of all walks of life.

Yes, that's actually true. There is research that demonstrates that babies who learn Osland or sign language at an early age. It doesn't matter whether they're therefore they have hearing. They actually benefited through that mode of communication that supports cognitive development because they're using a part of the brain that they wouldn't ordinarily use. And when they're using verbal communication, that's one part of the brain it's used. But when you're using old language or roles Land, you're using a different part of the brain, so you're exercising more of the brain cells for a longer period of time, and that also assists in brain cognitive development. I have two children who can here and they're doing extremely well at school, and I like to think that that's also because they have access to both languages, to spoken English but also as Land sign language, and they've had that from birth, so they're able to sign as babies. And when I was growing up as a young child, my parents were both deaf, so we all communicated using Osland at home, and at that time it was kind of an embarrassing language. We were seen as being socially the inferior. There was stigma around sign language at that time, and I even recall my mother saying to me when we're out in public, oh, Rebecca, please don't sign in public. We don't want people staring at us. I think we're different, we're less than them. It was quite embarrassing. But at home we were comfortable signing to each other, but when we're out in public, I had to pretend I wasn't deaf. So if I think about that period of time and where we are now, and people eager to learn Osland, regardless as to who is therefore hearing, and family members who want to benefit from the advantage of using a visual language to communicat in terms of the acceleration of brain development, all those different reasons, it's amazing to see how from one generation to the next we've seen such an extraordinary shift in terms of perception of deaf people Oslan and the benefits that offers to Australians in general, of all walks of life.

If you liked fascinating, I'm so fascinating by the idea of you growing up in that environment. Do you recall when I guess at what age you, what was I processing the world and knowing that there was this blockage between your ability to communicate and maybe was it limiting in how you felt your opportunities were available to you? Like, I know that you're an Australian lawyer and business executive now, which seems like a pretty amazing achievement. Did that come naturally.

If you liked fascinating, I'm so fascinating by the idea of you growing up in that environment. Do you recall when I guess at what age you, what was I processing the world and knowing that there was this blockage between your ability to communicate and maybe was it limiting in how you felt your opportunities were available to you? Like, I know that you're an Australian lawyer and business executive now, which seems like a pretty amazing achievement. Did that come naturally.

Yes, that's a really interesting point that you raise, because I've never seen myself as disabled, if you like, Yes, I have been labeled as a deaf personal, labeled as disabled because government and society have seen me in that light. But the label was set up by the general community who simply don't understand how to include somebody like myself. Issue is really because of the failure of the systems or society to actually include me, and growing up, I did actually see myself as a deaf person. I mean, my parents were deaf. I thought that was normal. I thought everybody else in the world was deaf like me. My grandparents, aunties, uncles, they could all use oslame, they could communicate and sign language so often I didn't all remember or no who is deaf and who could hear because they all signed. It wasn't until I went to school that I realized, Oh, there's these kids who are different to me. They speak and they can hear, and it became clear that they couldn't include me. I never felt like it was my fault. I felt it was their problem because nobody at home in my house had a problem. So it's interesting in the different perspectives. But I guess the light bulb went off, you know, I must have been I've got a sweet tooth that My grandmother, who could hear was very fluent in sign language, kept a jar of lollies on the top of the fridge, and when you opened the jar makes a noise, apparently, but I didn't know that at the time. So whenever I stayed with her, I would sneak into the kitchen when she was in the television room, and I jump up on the fridge, thinking she's got no idea opened the jar, and she's come walking in. I think, how did she know I was there? She know that I was opening the jar of Lolly's, and she caught me red handed, and she said, Rebecca, I can hear I can hear you. And I went, what do you mean you can hear me? She said, I can hear you, but you can't hear me. And then it sort of dawned on me that opening the jar of Lolly's makes a noise, and I thought, oh my god, I'm going to have a problem for the rest of my life with people like you hearing what I'm doing.

Yes, that's a really interesting point that you raise, because I've never seen myself as disabled, if you like, Yes, I have been labeled as a deaf personal, labeled as disabled because government and society have seen me in that light. But the label was set up by the general community who simply don't understand how to include somebody like myself. Issue is really because of the failure of the systems or society to actually include me, and growing up, I did actually see myself as a deaf person. I mean, my parents were deaf. I thought that was normal. I thought everybody else in the world was deaf like me. My grandparents, aunties, uncles, they could all use oslame, they could communicate and sign language so often I didn't all remember or no who is deaf and who could hear because they all signed. It wasn't until I went to school that I realized, Oh, there's these kids who are different to me. They speak and they can hear, and it became clear that they couldn't include me. I never felt like it was my fault. I felt it was their problem because nobody at home in my house had a problem. So it's interesting in the different perspectives. But I guess the light bulb went off, you know, I must have been I've got a sweet tooth that My grandmother, who could hear was very fluent in sign language, kept a jar of lollies on the top of the fridge, and when you opened the jar makes a noise, apparently, but I didn't know that at the time. So whenever I stayed with her, I would sneak into the kitchen when she was in the television room, and I jump up on the fridge, thinking she's got no idea opened the jar, and she's come walking in. I think, how did she know I was there? She know that I was opening the jar of Lolly's, and she caught me red handed, and she said, Rebecca, I can hear I can hear you. And I went, what do you mean you can hear me? She said, I can hear you, but you can't hear me. And then it sort of dawned on me that opening the jar of Lolly's makes a noise, and I thought, oh my god, I'm going to have a problem for the rest of my life with people like you hearing what I'm doing.

Oh that's the best. I've got a sweet tooth too, so I'm glad that I could use my hearing to not get busted by my mum. I actually grew up in a lolly shop.

Oh that's the best. I've got a sweet tooth too, so I'm glad that I could use my hearing to not get busted by my mum. I actually grew up in a lolly shop.

Oh perfect. Oh, I am actually wanted to run a lolly shop at some point when I was a young kid, and people would ask what would you like to do for a career, Rebecca, and I was like, I'd love to set up a.

Oh perfect. Oh, I am actually wanted to run a lolly shop at some point when I was a young kid, and people would ask what would you like to do for a career, Rebecca, and I was like, I'd love to set up a.

Shop, the best, the best. What are some of the things that the general public, like myself, would be blown away to know or understand about the way that you are living being hearing impaired or profoundly death that we wouldn't think of.

Shop, the best, the best. What are some of the things that the general public, like myself, would be blown away to know or understand about the way that you are living being hearing impaired or profoundly death that we wouldn't think of.

Sure, just thinking about that. Well, First of all, Ozland is not a universal sign language. A lot of people don't know that Osland is unique to the Australian context. It's our own language. It belongs to Australia Australian Sign Language, So Ozland is the acronym for Australian Sign Language a us la N and each country around the world has their own national sign language, so there is such a thing as a New Zealand sign language. But if sign language, American sign language, sign language, and how sign languages around the world have evolved and have mother sign languages differently to spoken languages. So American sign language evolved from French sign language, so there's a lot of similarities there. But Osland, because we were colonized by the British, we had British sign language evolved to Australian Sign language simply because there were a number of deaf people who came out to Australia who established deaf schools two hundred plus years ago through those individuals who were deaf leaders from the UK. Similarly, with the US, a person from France went over to Americas to establish a first deaf school in the United States. Therefore, there was French sign language influence in asl American sign language. And one question we should ask ourselves, I guess is you know why were you leaving foreign languages? I mean, you don't get me wrong, I love foreign languages like Italian, French, Mandarin, Cantonese, but historically I haven't. Young people learned sign language and schools because they have deaf children who are about in society and it's one of our own languages. So thankfully the federal government has started to invest more in Osland education. We have a kinder program here at Expression where we do support about twenty kindergartens with Osland training and the children absolutely love that. So we hope to expand that across schools and we've gotce PCE subjects also that are on offering and also courses for Iceland teachers. But again there's limited options for what is available across Australian schools, but I'm hoping to see a shift there in the future, and my sense is it'll be really wonderful to see Osland recognize as a part of our language policy in New Zealand. Some people may not know that New Zealand sign that we're just recognized as unlanguaged thereafter English and the Maori indigenous language. Similarly, in the UK they have English as a spoken language and British Sign language is recognized as a second language. We don't have that formal recognition here in this country, but I hope that we will receive that through the Australian government, and that'd mean that we would need to ensure that all communications are inclusive of deaf and harder hearing people moving forwards. There's a lot of work involved in that, but my sense is that would be awesome for Australia.

Sure, just thinking about that. Well, First of all, Ozland is not a universal sign language. A lot of people don't know that Osland is unique to the Australian context. It's our own language. It belongs to Australia Australian Sign Language, So Ozland is the acronym for Australian Sign Language a us la N and each country around the world has their own national sign language, so there is such a thing as a New Zealand sign language. But if sign language, American sign language, sign language, and how sign languages around the world have evolved and have mother sign languages differently to spoken languages. So American sign language evolved from French sign language, so there's a lot of similarities there. But Osland, because we were colonized by the British, we had British sign language evolved to Australian Sign language simply because there were a number of deaf people who came out to Australia who established deaf schools two hundred plus years ago through those individuals who were deaf leaders from the UK. Similarly, with the US, a person from France went over to Americas to establish a first deaf school in the United States. Therefore, there was French sign language influence in asl American sign language. And one question we should ask ourselves, I guess is you know why were you leaving foreign languages? I mean, you don't get me wrong, I love foreign languages like Italian, French, Mandarin, Cantonese, but historically I haven't. Young people learned sign language and schools because they have deaf children who are about in society and it's one of our own languages. So thankfully the federal government has started to invest more in Osland education. We have a kinder program here at Expression where we do support about twenty kindergartens with Osland training and the children absolutely love that. So we hope to expand that across schools and we've gotce PCE subjects also that are on offering and also courses for Iceland teachers. But again there's limited options for what is available across Australian schools, but I'm hoping to see a shift there in the future, and my sense is it'll be really wonderful to see Osland recognize as a part of our language policy in New Zealand. Some people may not know that New Zealand sign that we're just recognized as unlanguaged thereafter English and the Maori indigenous language. Similarly, in the UK they have English as a spoken language and British Sign language is recognized as a second language. We don't have that formal recognition here in this country, but I hope that we will receive that through the Australian government, and that'd mean that we would need to ensure that all communications are inclusive of deaf and harder hearing people moving forwards. There's a lot of work involved in that, but my sense is that would be awesome for Australia.

Amazing. Do you know the statistics on how many hearing impaired people we have in Australia.

Amazing. Do you know the statistics on how many hearing impaired people we have in Australia.

Yes, that's a great question, Tiffany. So it's believed that one in six Australians are affected by some form of hearing loss, including people who sign and people who don't sign. So if you can imagine it's around about five million people we're talking about in this country. That's a large number. And then one in five I mean if you think about older people, an aging population, so there's more people who are affected by some form of hearing loss and that number is increasing, not decreasing. And then you think about industrial noise that has impacts on people or people who go death suddenly overnight. So in this basically I'm looking at a significant number of people over the age of sixty five who might want to learn a little bit of sign if they can't read or see information, if they're in a nursing home or having care put in the home environment. We do provide all those services across those different plant groups depending on the needs. So there certainly is a need out there for more inclusion in terms of Bolsland communication.

Yes, that's a great question, Tiffany. So it's believed that one in six Australians are affected by some form of hearing loss, including people who sign and people who don't sign. So if you can imagine it's around about five million people we're talking about in this country. That's a large number. And then one in five I mean if you think about older people, an aging population, so there's more people who are affected by some form of hearing loss and that number is increasing, not decreasing. And then you think about industrial noise that has impacts on people or people who go death suddenly overnight. So in this basically I'm looking at a significant number of people over the age of sixty five who might want to learn a little bit of sign if they can't read or see information, if they're in a nursing home or having care put in the home environment. We do provide all those services across those different plant groups depending on the needs. So there certainly is a need out there for more inclusion in terms of Bolsland communication.

Wow, what can you recall as being some of your biggest challenges that you've come up against in life? You know that we haven't had the infrastructure to help you.

Wow, what can you recall as being some of your biggest challenges that you've come up against in life? You know that we haven't had the infrastructure to help you.

With Yes, I would say the biggest challenges would be the lack of availability of OSLAND or signed them with interpretives. That is very difficult to find a qualified interpreter and a competent interpreter and often when you book one, you need to book two weeks in advance because of the demand. The demand exceeds the supply and has for some time. We need more investment in OSLAND OZLAND training in schools tastes universities, though we have a bigger cohort with those skills and competencies to be utilized across the field. So for example, with the NDIS, which has been a fantastic scheme for people disabilities across the country, it also means that the demand has skyrocketed and more people are accessing Iceland interpretings. So the supply hasn't been able to keep up and that's not been matched by the level of investment for services, so training in TAFE in interpreting courses has lagged behind unfortunately. And every week we as STEFF people have to book weeks and months in advance, and we are one of the largest providers of ocelaniters in Australia, and even we're not able to keep up with the demand with the number of bookings that come in, so we need to invest more. I guess long term and alsome training.

With Yes, I would say the biggest challenges would be the lack of availability of OSLAND or signed them with interpretives. That is very difficult to find a qualified interpreter and a competent interpreter and often when you book one, you need to book two weeks in advance because of the demand. The demand exceeds the supply and has for some time. We need more investment in OSLAND OZLAND training in schools tastes universities, though we have a bigger cohort with those skills and competencies to be utilized across the field. So for example, with the NDIS, which has been a fantastic scheme for people disabilities across the country, it also means that the demand has skyrocketed and more people are accessing Iceland interpretings. So the supply hasn't been able to keep up and that's not been matched by the level of investment for services, so training in TAFE in interpreting courses has lagged behind unfortunately. And every week we as STEFF people have to book weeks and months in advance, and we are one of the largest providers of ocelaniters in Australia, and even we're not able to keep up with the demand with the number of bookings that come in, so we need to invest more. I guess long term and alsome training.

Wow, is there a technology that's being developed that is helpful in this area?

Wow, is there a technology that's being developed that is helpful in this area?

That's a great question. People often raise this when they talk about technology. I noticed a lot of research centers in universities have been looking at establishing avatars and the use of avatars and sign language. But because I was in a signingguage is a three D language. You can see the interprety using space. Facial expression is part of the language, the way they move their body, shifts their fingers and hands, so to capture all of that digitally is quite a mean feat and they would take thousands of hours of recordings to be able to replicate a real time interpreter. I've seen some examples across the world internationally, in none of them have quite reached the level of what you see technically in terms of accuracy that an interpreter or a face to face an interpreter can provide. Perhaps one day we might get there, but it is a challenge. I've seen several examples, but the fluency is not quite there compared to a human. Technically, they're not quite there. We do have a VRI video remote interpreting like what we have here. Mark could be in any stage or city around the world interpreting to me via zoom. The only issue is here. Sometimes the error rate increases because of the two D features the language being three D. But I've actually got Mark in the room with me, so sometimes I do look across my desk and see him in three D apart from two D on the screen. But we do have this format as a backup when we can't provide an interpreter face to face. But two D and on zoom cannot always one hundred percent replicate what you get in the real space. So through technology, I think it'll be really interesting about the changes that we can see in this base. And you know, I do think to myself, maybe holograms one day they might be a better fit but I haven't seen one that's impressed Biers yet.

That's a great question. People often raise this when they talk about technology. I noticed a lot of research centers in universities have been looking at establishing avatars and the use of avatars and sign language. But because I was in a signingguage is a three D language. You can see the interprety using space. Facial expression is part of the language, the way they move their body, shifts their fingers and hands, so to capture all of that digitally is quite a mean feat and they would take thousands of hours of recordings to be able to replicate a real time interpreter. I've seen some examples across the world internationally, in none of them have quite reached the level of what you see technically in terms of accuracy that an interpreter or a face to face an interpreter can provide. Perhaps one day we might get there, but it is a challenge. I've seen several examples, but the fluency is not quite there compared to a human. Technically, they're not quite there. We do have a VRI video remote interpreting like what we have here. Mark could be in any stage or city around the world interpreting to me via zoom. The only issue is here. Sometimes the error rate increases because of the two D features the language being three D. But I've actually got Mark in the room with me, so sometimes I do look across my desk and see him in three D apart from two D on the screen. But we do have this format as a backup when we can't provide an interpreter face to face. But two D and on zoom cannot always one hundred percent replicate what you get in the real space. So through technology, I think it'll be really interesting about the changes that we can see in this base. And you know, I do think to myself, maybe holograms one day they might be a better fit but I haven't seen one that's impressed Biers yet.

I'm so fascinated. If you could be inside my brain right now as I watch you and hear Mark, and watch Mark and the way that he speaks and translates, and it feels like, aside from having a male voice and you're a female, it feels quite fluent. And I can't vouch whether or not he's making any errors.

I'm so fascinated. If you could be inside my brain right now as I watch you and hear Mark, and watch Mark and the way that he speaks and translates, and it feels like, aside from having a male voice and you're a female, it feels quite fluent. And I can't vouch whether or not he's making any errors.

But the question I mean, I must say Mark is not saying this himself. He's very qualified. He's probably one of the most qualified interpreters in the country. So I'm very fortunate and he is qualified in both directions as a conference level for interpreter in both language directions. But I do trust he's telling you the truth and he's not making it up.

But the question I mean, I must say Mark is not saying this himself. He's very qualified. He's probably one of the most qualified interpreters in the country. So I'm very fortunate and he is qualified in both directions as a conference level for interpreter in both language directions. But I do trust he's telling you the truth and he's not making it up.

I'm actually saying it as he said that. I wondered if you were trying to sneakily tell me that he was underperforming, but he's actually telling me that he's kicking goals right now. How long does it take, for generally, how long would it take someone to become fluent in Osland and then to a level where they could translate.

I'm actually saying it as he said that. I wondered if you were trying to sneakily tell me that he was underperforming, but he's actually telling me that he's kicking goals right now. How long does it take, for generally, how long would it take someone to become fluent in Osland and then to a level where they could translate.

Again, that's a great question, Tiffany, So we have community courses here at Expression in Australia where people can learn the basics basic cause land like hello, how you general greeting? You watch the weather like it's a cold day to day or it's a hot day to day. And we have an eight week Level one courses which is kind of a level A one O one course. But if you're wanting to go into more community communicative style communication, there's different levels of certificates that can support you in a pathway through the tape and then we've got certificates on two and three and the Certificate three enables you to go into the tape sector. So from the community courses there is a pathway through to receiving a diploma and Icelandic tape. And again it depends on the student and it could be up to two years right mark, so two years and then for an interpreting diploma or degree that'll be another year on top of that. But again it's a lifetime of learning professional development to get to that point in time because within the interpreting profession you have the Power Professional or the CPI, then the interpreter level the CI and the conference level CCI level. So we do have a lot of graduate interpreters who work as community interpreters, and they do that for a few years, and they might work in education, so they're fully entrenched in the language. Because two defer people are the same, how signing differences are quite unique. One deaf person works in school, you're working with a deaf person who works in a large business or corporation, So all their dialectal differences need to be taken into account, their accents, if you like, and how they communicate. So it can take a few years to be working with different types of deaf people because we all signed differently, like everybody speaks differently, and it could be ten years plus of working with a wide range of people within the profession to be at the level that marks achieved.

Again, that's a great question, Tiffany, So we have community courses here at Expression in Australia where people can learn the basics basic cause land like hello, how you general greeting? You watch the weather like it's a cold day to day or it's a hot day to day. And we have an eight week Level one courses which is kind of a level A one O one course. But if you're wanting to go into more community communicative style communication, there's different levels of certificates that can support you in a pathway through the tape and then we've got certificates on two and three and the Certificate three enables you to go into the tape sector. So from the community courses there is a pathway through to receiving a diploma and Icelandic tape. And again it depends on the student and it could be up to two years right mark, so two years and then for an interpreting diploma or degree that'll be another year on top of that. But again it's a lifetime of learning professional development to get to that point in time because within the interpreting profession you have the Power Professional or the CPI, then the interpreter level the CI and the conference level CCI level. So we do have a lot of graduate interpreters who work as community interpreters, and they do that for a few years, and they might work in education, so they're fully entrenched in the language. Because two defer people are the same, how signing differences are quite unique. One deaf person works in school, you're working with a deaf person who works in a large business or corporation, So all their dialectal differences need to be taken into account, their accents, if you like, and how they communicate. So it can take a few years to be working with different types of deaf people because we all signed differently, like everybody speaks differently, and it could be ten years plus of working with a wide range of people within the profession to be at the level that marks achieved.

For example, Wow, does having hearing impairment or being completely profoundly deaf as you call it, does that give you balance issues?

For example, Wow, does having hearing impairment or being completely profoundly deaf as you call it, does that give you balance issues?

That's a really good question. I myself don't have balance issues, but I do have friends who are profoundly deaf who do have balance issues, and one of them particularly does fall over occasionally. I don't again, it would be a case by case. I do have friends who I go bike riding with who they fall off their bike every now and then because they've got balance issues. But I don't suffer from that. So again it's individual and case by case. However, some people who are deaf, do you, suffer from vertigo quite seriously and need to take medication to manage that. So again, and even profoundly deaf people have tenatus, which is really interesting when you think about, Wow, they can't hear anything at all, but they still suffer from tinatives. So being deaf doesn't preclude you from all these other challenges that anybody else can have in terms of you're hearing and what's happening mechanically in your ear?

That's a really good question. I myself don't have balance issues, but I do have friends who are profoundly deaf who do have balance issues, and one of them particularly does fall over occasionally. I don't again, it would be a case by case. I do have friends who I go bike riding with who they fall off their bike every now and then because they've got balance issues. But I don't suffer from that. So again it's individual and case by case. However, some people who are deaf, do you, suffer from vertigo quite seriously and need to take medication to manage that. So again, and even profoundly deaf people have tenatus, which is really interesting when you think about, Wow, they can't hear anything at all, but they still suffer from tinatives. So being deaf doesn't preclude you from all these other challenges that anybody else can have in terms of you're hearing and what's happening mechanically in your ear?

How annoying? Yes, you, So you're President of Deaf Sports Australia. Can you talk a little bit about about the deaf sports?

How annoying? Yes, you, So you're President of Deaf Sports Australia. Can you talk a little bit about about the deaf sports?

Well, I'll need to correct you. I used to be the Chair of Death Sports Australia. No longer, but I was very fortunate to be chair of Death Sports when we were hosting the Death for Big Games here in Melbourne way back in two thousand and five. So it was a fabulous event that was hosted here in Australia. And again it was a long time ago, but we had over one hundred countries come out to Melbourne to compete in the Deaflympics for at eighteen different sports. It was fabulous because it meant that Melbourne and Victoria was on the map on the world stage and they could experience sports for the first time with deaf athletes. So I meant that deaf and hard of hearing children had the opportunity to look at role models and giving them opportunities to be included in sport and also attend those events see deaf athletes and have such a professional event to make people more aware of what deaf people are capable of a training ground, I guess for the community sports to be able to eventually compete at a national and an international level, and often that's done through death Sports Australia and how people can achieve that through different national events amazing.

Well, I'll need to correct you. I used to be the Chair of Death Sports Australia. No longer, but I was very fortunate to be chair of Death Sports when we were hosting the Death for Big Games here in Melbourne way back in two thousand and five. So it was a fabulous event that was hosted here in Australia. And again it was a long time ago, but we had over one hundred countries come out to Melbourne to compete in the Deaflympics for at eighteen different sports. It was fabulous because it meant that Melbourne and Victoria was on the map on the world stage and they could experience sports for the first time with deaf athletes. So I meant that deaf and hard of hearing children had the opportunity to look at role models and giving them opportunities to be included in sport and also attend those events see deaf athletes and have such a professional event to make people more aware of what deaf people are capable of a training ground, I guess for the community sports to be able to eventually compete at a national and an international level, and often that's done through death Sports Australia and how people can achieve that through different national events amazing.

Are deaf people, I guess, particularly children. Are they limited by choice of getting into sports or is do they need to go through the Deaf Association or can they access general sports with their translator or what's the process for them.

Are deaf people, I guess, particularly children. Are they limited by choice of getting into sports or is do they need to go through the Deaf Association or can they access general sports with their translator or what's the process for them.

That's a really great question. It depends on how inclusive the club is or the particular sporting association, And I myself was involved in sport. I used to do rowing for school at university. I played netball for many years, so I struggled. I must have met a little bit from time to time because I can't communicate and understand the instructions from the ref And there's many deaf people who are outstanding athletes, like my husband. He was a world class athlete one the eight hundred meters at the Deaf Olympics in athletics, and he found it challenging because he had coaching, but when he was running, he couldn't hear the commentary or the feedback from the coach, so he would just run the way all the style that he was coached and guests and they couldn't take instruction while he was out in the field. So it is a bit of a joint effort between the athlete themselves and also the coach and the sporting organization to have an understanding as to how they can be inclusive. It can be done in many ways, not just through communication, but perhaps the use of flashing lights of the starting blocks if they're not able to hear. So we do have technologies such as that or swimming at the swimming pool, they have the lights go off, So there are strategies there and I think in the past people were probably a little bit unaware about the technology and the options available which did exist. So if you're wanting to liaise with somebody, you can certainly come to Expression Australia and talk about how can I make my organization more inclusive because we do provide deaf awareness training to quite a number of organizations, government departments, boarding organizations, schools, universities and medical profession first responders so that they're better equipped to understand what it means to be inclusive. And it's not only pertaining to sport. It can be when a person goes to receive a service from a government organization. We do a lot of those types of awareness trainings that are customized to that organization's particular needs, so simple adjustments that can be done to include the different hard of hearing person.

That's a really great question. It depends on how inclusive the club is or the particular sporting association, And I myself was involved in sport. I used to do rowing for school at university. I played netball for many years, so I struggled. I must have met a little bit from time to time because I can't communicate and understand the instructions from the ref And there's many deaf people who are outstanding athletes, like my husband. He was a world class athlete one the eight hundred meters at the Deaf Olympics in athletics, and he found it challenging because he had coaching, but when he was running, he couldn't hear the commentary or the feedback from the coach, so he would just run the way all the style that he was coached and guests and they couldn't take instruction while he was out in the field. So it is a bit of a joint effort between the athlete themselves and also the coach and the sporting organization to have an understanding as to how they can be inclusive. It can be done in many ways, not just through communication, but perhaps the use of flashing lights of the starting blocks if they're not able to hear. So we do have technologies such as that or swimming at the swimming pool, they have the lights go off, So there are strategies there and I think in the past people were probably a little bit unaware about the technology and the options available which did exist. So if you're wanting to liaise with somebody, you can certainly come to Expression Australia and talk about how can I make my organization more inclusive because we do provide deaf awareness training to quite a number of organizations, government departments, boarding organizations, schools, universities and medical profession first responders so that they're better equipped to understand what it means to be inclusive. And it's not only pertaining to sport. It can be when a person goes to receive a service from a government organization. We do a lot of those types of awareness trainings that are customized to that organization's particular needs, so simple adjustments that can be done to include the different hard of hearing person.

I love that Where have we made so.

I love that Where have we made so.

Booking interpreters is another example.

Booking interpreters is another example.

Workout where have we made the biggest advancements in the most recent years with deaf inclusion and the resources available?

Workout where have we made the biggest advancements in the most recent years with deaf inclusion and the resources available?

I think really again during COVID times, that was interesting. More awareness about old plane interpreting with your interpreter's working at the various premiers and Prime minister across the country for the daily press conferences. That was a huge step in the right direction. And also was I training. So there's been a lot of government investment in take particularly here in Victoria and in schools and in kindergartens, and that's had a huge impact. It's interesting because now when I go to my children's school, if it's a parent teacher interview, the teacher will just ask me, do you need an interpreter, Rebecca, And it's amazing. I mean, of course I do. But when my parents went to school, they were never offered that service. It never happened. But people actually thinking about this, and when I go to my children's parent teacher interviews, they'll just organize it straight away or even ask me or at the end of year graduation ceremony the book an interpreter and I don't need to worry about that. It's amazing. So the inclusion aspect I'd like to see more of, you know, or being confident to ask the deaf person, what are your needs? What can I arrange for you? Which service can I can I book it from? Because most step people would know which organization they can book an are from, or whatever service they're looking for.

I think really again during COVID times, that was interesting. More awareness about old plane interpreting with your interpreter's working at the various premiers and Prime minister across the country for the daily press conferences. That was a huge step in the right direction. And also was I training. So there's been a lot of government investment in take particularly here in Victoria and in schools and in kindergartens, and that's had a huge impact. It's interesting because now when I go to my children's school, if it's a parent teacher interview, the teacher will just ask me, do you need an interpreter, Rebecca, And it's amazing. I mean, of course I do. But when my parents went to school, they were never offered that service. It never happened. But people actually thinking about this, and when I go to my children's parent teacher interviews, they'll just organize it straight away or even ask me or at the end of year graduation ceremony the book an interpreter and I don't need to worry about that. It's amazing. So the inclusion aspect I'd like to see more of, you know, or being confident to ask the deaf person, what are your needs? What can I arrange for you? Which service can I can I book it from? Because most step people would know which organization they can book an are from, or whatever service they're looking for.

I guess if in previous time, in earlier, when you were a lot younger and when your parents were dealing with that, was it a case that people were kind of uncomfortable and uninformed and would tend to probably avoid engaging with you.

I guess if in previous time, in earlier, when you were a lot younger and when your parents were dealing with that, was it a case that people were kind of uncomfortable and uninformed and would tend to probably avoid engaging with you.

Oh yes, absolutely. Like I said, historically, people would stare at me when I was signing. I was seen as inferior or different. I wasn't normal, you know, people didn't want to engage with me. I remember going to university for a number of years where I didn't have interpreting access and I couldn't participate in those classroom discussions because people didn't actually think that I would need an interpret to participate, and nobody asked me, and there was no funding for I was interpreting. So I just went along some of my classes and lectures, meaning not very many to me, I must say, because was the point of me sitting there when I couldn't hear the lecturer. So I actually mostly sat there and read all the research and the notes myself, and that was a way, well, the only way that I could actually progress with my academic study. I did have access to a note taker, which is great. So the note taker would take notes, but in the live environment I couldn't participate or ask questions. I would read the notes several hours of days afterwards. So now there's certainly a lot more inclusion happening funding in this space. For I was named jepreters for university lectures, and not every deaf person is the same. Also, some deaf people may prefer to have notes transcribed so they can read the person's lips, and others may rely on hearing devices. So again it's about customizing the needs around the deaf person and what their requirements are. It's been a huge shift. It's wonderful to see, but we've got a way to go. Things aren't perfect, but they're so much better than what it was like growing up as a child. Through my experierience, and deaf people were probably very invisible from organizations, boards, leadership roles like myself because I know that I was the first deaf person to be the CEO here at Expression Australia, over one hundred and forty years has been no deaf person in the CEO role, So having role models deaf people at the management level they did have and a board level, but it's the first time they've had a deaf CEO here at this organization. And I also was the first deaf person to be admitted into practice in the Supreme Court of Victoria using sign language. I'm sure there were people with hearing loss but didn't sign, but I was the first signing deaf person. There was nobody before that. Again, so I didn't have role models. And time is you know, times are changing. It it's wonderful to see.

Oh yes, absolutely. Like I said, historically, people would stare at me when I was signing. I was seen as inferior or different. I wasn't normal, you know, people didn't want to engage with me. I remember going to university for a number of years where I didn't have interpreting access and I couldn't participate in those classroom discussions because people didn't actually think that I would need an interpret to participate, and nobody asked me, and there was no funding for I was interpreting. So I just went along some of my classes and lectures, meaning not very many to me, I must say, because was the point of me sitting there when I couldn't hear the lecturer. So I actually mostly sat there and read all the research and the notes myself, and that was a way, well, the only way that I could actually progress with my academic study. I did have access to a note taker, which is great. So the note taker would take notes, but in the live environment I couldn't participate or ask questions. I would read the notes several hours of days afterwards. So now there's certainly a lot more inclusion happening funding in this space. For I was named jepreters for university lectures, and not every deaf person is the same. Also, some deaf people may prefer to have notes transcribed so they can read the person's lips, and others may rely on hearing devices. So again it's about customizing the needs around the deaf person and what their requirements are. It's been a huge shift. It's wonderful to see, but we've got a way to go. Things aren't perfect, but they're so much better than what it was like growing up as a child. Through my experierience, and deaf people were probably very invisible from organizations, boards, leadership roles like myself because I know that I was the first deaf person to be the CEO here at Expression Australia, over one hundred and forty years has been no deaf person in the CEO role, So having role models deaf people at the management level they did have and a board level, but it's the first time they've had a deaf CEO here at this organization. And I also was the first deaf person to be admitted into practice in the Supreme Court of Victoria using sign language. I'm sure there were people with hearing loss but didn't sign, but I was the first signing deaf person. There was nobody before that. Again, so I didn't have role models. And time is you know, times are changing. It it's wonderful to see.

Wow, I feel fore like I want to say, I'm so proud of you, because all I can think of is how isolating and lonely being deaf would be in that environment, but also and powerless, like with you surrounded by that and not having anyone firstly to advocate, but even for you to be able to communicate with them so they can advocate if they wanted to. It feels like a really long road. And I think under that sort of upbringing to be able to come out of that and be doing what you do now, to have gone into academia and be sitting there as the first CEO, it's just it's amazing. Congratulations, Oh thank you.

Wow, I feel fore like I want to say, I'm so proud of you, because all I can think of is how isolating and lonely being deaf would be in that environment, but also and powerless, like with you surrounded by that and not having anyone firstly to advocate, but even for you to be able to communicate with them so they can advocate if they wanted to. It feels like a really long road. And I think under that sort of upbringing to be able to come out of that and be doing what you do now, to have gone into academia and be sitting there as the first CEO, it's just it's amazing. Congratulations, Oh thank you.

It's very kind of you. I must say I've had a lot of wonderful people around me supporting me, and even though the system hasn't always been particularly kind to me and various organizations, I've always had wonderful people in a circle around me to drive me to get to where I am. People have been very generous for their time, their support, who believed in me. So I'm extremely grateful at those people and also other dear people who are similar We've achieved amazing things. They do exist and they're out there and they've had similar experiences, and yes, you're right, it can be very isolating, but like I said, I'm very fortunate. At the same time, I'm very grateful that with these achievements, I do have pride in myself, even though you know, I've made mistakes and I've hit a lot of brick walls along the way. There's been a lot of failures. But I'm extremely grateful with what I've achieved and the wonderful career that I have now, and they're wonderful people have around me. I've got a wonderful thought here at Expression in Australia. I loved my job so much and I think I've got a quite good at the moment.

It's very kind of you. I must say I've had a lot of wonderful people around me supporting me, and even though the system hasn't always been particularly kind to me and various organizations, I've always had wonderful people in a circle around me to drive me to get to where I am. People have been very generous for their time, their support, who believed in me. So I'm extremely grateful at those people and also other dear people who are similar We've achieved amazing things. They do exist and they're out there and they've had similar experiences, and yes, you're right, it can be very isolating, but like I said, I'm very fortunate. At the same time, I'm very grateful that with these achievements, I do have pride in myself, even though you know, I've made mistakes and I've hit a lot of brick walls along the way. There's been a lot of failures. But I'm extremely grateful with what I've achieved and the wonderful career that I have now, and they're wonderful people have around me. I've got a wonderful thought here at Expression in Australia. I loved my job so much and I think I've got a quite good at the moment.

I love that I talk a lot about adversity on this show. It's kind of was born out of the idea of looking at people who had rolled with the punches. And I often ask, and it's interesting because you don't have a before and after story. However, you have this adversity that you've faced. What do you feel like you are grateful for because of Is there is something that you are so grateful that you have that you know that if it wasn't for this, you wouldn't have access to or you wouldn't.

I love that I talk a lot about adversity on this show. It's kind of was born out of the idea of looking at people who had rolled with the punches. And I often ask, and it's interesting because you don't have a before and after story. However, you have this adversity that you've faced. What do you feel like you are grateful for because of Is there is something that you are so grateful that you have that you know that if it wasn't for this, you wouldn't have access to or you wouldn't.

Feel These are really great questions, Tiffany, It's fantastic. I would say, I'm very grateful for people who have provided me with the support and have been with me through the good and bad, the difficult and challenging times. Those people who supported me all the way, some teachers from school, some people who supported me throughout my working career. There's people out there that I've had around me that I'm extremely grateful for who've really believed in me and helped me believe in myself. And I remember when I wanted to study law in the first instance, some people were like, this is ridiculous. How can a deaf person study law. But there were other people who said, yes, Rebecca, of course you can't, we should And of course I was naive as to how much work was involved in study six year years of academia, and I thought, well, some people told me I shouldn't, I can. So I'm extremely grateful to those people who were positive in encouraging me to pursue my goals, because, as you know, when you arrive at adulthood, you realize nothing comes on a plate. I mean, some of the young people may think differently now, but I learned this earlier on that nothing is going to come to you on a plate, and that you've got to work hard for it. So I'm extremely grateful for that early lesson back in the early days, which I learned earlier on, that nothing comes to you without hard work.

Feel These are really great questions, Tiffany, It's fantastic. I would say, I'm very grateful for people who have provided me with the support and have been with me through the good and bad, the difficult and challenging times. Those people who supported me all the way, some teachers from school, some people who supported me throughout my working career. There's people out there that I've had around me that I'm extremely grateful for who've really believed in me and helped me believe in myself. And I remember when I wanted to study law in the first instance, some people were like, this is ridiculous. How can a deaf person study law. But there were other people who said, yes, Rebecca, of course you can't, we should And of course I was naive as to how much work was involved in study six year years of academia, and I thought, well, some people told me I shouldn't, I can. So I'm extremely grateful to those people who were positive in encouraging me to pursue my goals, because, as you know, when you arrive at adulthood, you realize nothing comes on a plate. I mean, some of the young people may think differently now, but I learned this earlier on that nothing is going to come to you on a plate, and that you've got to work hard for it. So I'm extremely grateful for that early lesson back in the early days, which I learned earlier on, that nothing comes to you without hard work.

I love that. I was just thinking, as you were talking then, what you said earlier about the losing translation in that two D environment, and I was thinking back about going and you know, being in COVID and you just maybe communicating with your Osland speaking friends, it is it a challenge just online on zoom for you when when you're having conversations with the Osland with your friends. Do you lose translation then.

I love that. I was just thinking, as you were talking then, what you said earlier about the losing translation in that two D environment, and I was thinking back about going and you know, being in COVID and you just maybe communicating with your Osland speaking friends, it is it a challenge just online on zoom for you when when you're having conversations with the Osland with your friends. Do you lose translation then.

Yes, I mean not always. Sometimes it does happen if I know the person well enough, even despite the quality of the band with I still understand what they're talking about and there's less risk of things being lost in translation. But it was a new deaf person that I didn't know particularly well, a deaf person overseas in the UK who I've never met, Yes, there probably would be things lost in translation because we're working online and it's a two de format, so I need to be conscious and I might slow. We might slow as signing down, and also be more cautious around how clearly we signed to one another, rather than a more relaxed conversation at the normal speed I'm doing now. Because the interpreter is very familiar with me, so I'm always cautious with the speed of my signing. If it's a new person, and particularly working with new interpreters, we're not used to me, they've only just graduated and they're qualified, I have to sign much more slowly. I don't sign it the same speed that I'm doing today with Mark, for example, because I'm not sure of their level of fluency or understanding, and I try and be succinct in the signs that I use, so it's easier for them to read back my sign lang, which because that's quite a skill, it's not something that you develop overnight. It takes many years to be able to competently read back somebody who signs, because we all sign very differently, Like every daring person who speaks has a different voice, different deaf people have different signing styles, so we're always very conscious of that. If it's an interpreter who's lesser skilled, I'll flow down my signing and make it easier for the communication to proceed without any errors or mistakes, or less errors and mistakes, because it really does depend on the skill of the interpreter. It's not their fault necessarily. It depends where they are in their career. But like I was saying before, qualified interpreters come through NAHTI, and it doesn't mean that as soon as you're qualified you can go on interpreter a county court troil. For instance, you might need to wait if she years until you're up to that stage. You might be able to do one to one appointments, medical appointments and an expression. In Australia, we have a huge Bookings Team with around twenty five staff who work every day filling these types of bookings for interpreters to work in hospitals, doctors, appointments, lawyers, court cases, and they make sure that the interpreter is appropriately skilled and competent depending on the client's needs. And to be honest, it's a bit of an art form or I guess a science as well around matching the interpreter and their school sets with the clients or the appointments. So you can't just put any interpreter into any type of booking. That's quite nuanced. But I'm really glad you asked that question. It's an important one because often when I go to meetings, they say, oh, great, we're going to provide you with an interpreter. But if it's an interpreter who's not familiar with me or was not used to my accent, all the way I sign my meetings can completely go off the rails, as the interpreter had never met me before, they work familiar with dealing with this kind of context or environment, or didn't necessarily have the skills to be able to support the needs of the meetings. So having any INTERPRETEO is not familiar could totally throw the meeting out. But I'm really glad you asked that question.

Yes, I mean not always. Sometimes it does happen if I know the person well enough, even despite the quality of the band with I still understand what they're talking about and there's less risk of things being lost in translation. But it was a new deaf person that I didn't know particularly well, a deaf person overseas in the UK who I've never met, Yes, there probably would be things lost in translation because we're working online and it's a two de format, so I need to be conscious and I might slow. We might slow as signing down, and also be more cautious around how clearly we signed to one another, rather than a more relaxed conversation at the normal speed I'm doing now. Because the interpreter is very familiar with me, so I'm always cautious with the speed of my signing. If it's a new person, and particularly working with new interpreters, we're not used to me, they've only just graduated and they're qualified, I have to sign much more slowly. I don't sign it the same speed that I'm doing today with Mark, for example, because I'm not sure of their level of fluency or understanding, and I try and be succinct in the signs that I use, so it's easier for them to read back my sign lang, which because that's quite a skill, it's not something that you develop overnight. It takes many years to be able to competently read back somebody who signs, because we all sign very differently, Like every daring person who speaks has a different voice, different deaf people have different signing styles, so we're always very conscious of that. If it's an interpreter who's lesser skilled, I'll flow down my signing and make it easier for the communication to proceed without any errors or mistakes, or less errors and mistakes, because it really does depend on the skill of the interpreter. It's not their fault necessarily. It depends where they are in their career. But like I was saying before, qualified interpreters come through NAHTI, and it doesn't mean that as soon as you're qualified you can go on interpreter a county court troil. For instance, you might need to wait if she years until you're up to that stage. You might be able to do one to one appointments, medical appointments and an expression. In Australia, we have a huge Bookings Team with around twenty five staff who work every day filling these types of bookings for interpreters to work in hospitals, doctors, appointments, lawyers, court cases, and they make sure that the interpreter is appropriately skilled and competent depending on the client's needs. And to be honest, it's a bit of an art form or I guess a science as well around matching the interpreter and their school sets with the clients or the appointments. So you can't just put any interpreter into any type of booking. That's quite nuanced. But I'm really glad you asked that question. It's an important one because often when I go to meetings, they say, oh, great, we're going to provide you with an interpreter. But if it's an interpreter who's not familiar with me or was not used to my accent, all the way I sign my meetings can completely go off the rails, as the interpreter had never met me before, they work familiar with dealing with this kind of context or environment, or didn't necessarily have the skills to be able to support the needs of the meetings. So having any INTERPRETEO is not familiar could totally throw the meeting out. But I'm really glad you asked that question.

It's made me feel really appreciative of this podcast right now, and that because it's not only your time and trust in me to have this conversation you share with the world, but also you've booked someone else in the level of trust and the time and the value. I just thank you because I just was sitting there listening to that thinking this is a big deal, this is really cool.

It's made me feel really appreciative of this podcast right now, and that because it's not only your time and trust in me to have this conversation you share with the world, but also you've booked someone else in the level of trust and the time and the value. I just thank you because I just was sitting there listening to that thinking this is a big deal, this is really cool.

Oh, thank you. Well, it's really been such a pleasure talking to you, and thank you so much for having the opportunity for me to come and talk a little bit about what it's like to be a deaf person in Australia today. And I really do appreciate the opportunity. I've really enjoyed interview today. Thanks Tiffany.

Oh, thank you. Well, it's really been such a pleasure talking to you, and thank you so much for having the opportunity for me to come and talk a little bit about what it's like to be a deaf person in Australia today. And I really do appreciate the opportunity. I've really enjoyed interview today. Thanks Tiffany.

Is there anything that I haven't asked that you would like to share?

Is there anything that I haven't asked that you would like to share?

Well, I think if you're wanting to book an idlating interpret it for any purpose, please come and see us that expression Australia. We do have interpreters available for you.

Well, I think if you're wanting to book an idlating interpret it for any purpose, please come and see us that expression Australia. We do have interpreters available for you.

I'll have links to I'm imagining you have a website. Your website in the show notes whereabouts do people find you or do you have socials that they can follow on.

I'll have links to I'm imagining you have a website. Your website in the show notes whereabouts do people find you or do you have socials that they can follow on.

It'll be fantastic. So not only also interpreting, but we provide hcare support, audiology, employment support, all kinds of services. So we have it on our website.

It'll be fantastic. So not only also interpreting, but we provide hcare support, audiology, employment support, all kinds of services. So we have it on our website.

It's available for you perfect. I'll have it in the show notes. Thank you so much, Rebecca, and thank you so much to your interpreter, Mark.

It's available for you perfect. I'll have it in the show notes. Thank you so much, Rebecca, and thank you so much to your interpreter, Mark.

No problem. Thanks Tiffany, appreciated.

No problem. Thanks Tiffany, appreciated.

Thanks everyone for tuning in.

Thanks everyone for tuning in.

Thank you Bob,

Thank you Bob,