Petition to save sign language courses falls on deaf ears

By Jessica Yun.

The Deaf Society NSW (DEN) have created an online petition calling for NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli to include their sign language courses in their Smart and Skilled Program reform.
DEN’s Australian sign language (Auslan) courses will lose their subsidies under the new reforms as of January 1, 2015.
The Senior Policy Advisor of DEN, Susannah Macready said that this would have negative consequences on the students.
“What this means is that we won’t be able to accept any government funding for providing those courses, which will mean students will very likely be priced out of accessing our courses,” she said.
Students will have to pay commercial prices for previously government-funded courses if they study at the Deaf Society NSW. Instead of paying $870 , they will have to pay $3,700 for the Certificate II without the subsidy.
While TAFE does offer mostly the same courses as DEN, there are a few crucial differences.
“TAFE offers these courses generally over one year; we offer them over six months. And that’s a really key difference, because with the NDIS coming up, the problem is there’ll be a lot of demand and a lot of people will need to get qualified very quickly,” Ms Macready said.
“Going through TAFE will slow that whole process down.”
Following the NDIS roll-out in the Hunter, there has been a 119% spike in demand for interpreters. For deaf people, access to interpreters is crucial in order to have access to services such as medical appointments, legal services, workplace training, job interviews, and other situations.
Deaf Society NSW CEO Sharon Everson predicts cuts in this area could affect other government initiatives
“If that kind of growth in demand happens across the state as the NDIS rolls out, it could undermine the success of NDIS for deaf people.”
Deaf students stand to pay more for less. The most crucial thing lacking from TAFE courses is the sense of community and pathways to employment that DEN provides.
Georgina Giuffre is one of the many DEN students who helped put together the ‘change.org’ petition.
“At the Deaf Society you are exposed to deaf culture and the richness of Auslan that is not provided by other institutions,” she said.
“Through the Deaf Society courses I have met many people in the community; I have volunteered at festivals, gone to Auslan only weekends and barbeques. I’ve had the privilege to participate in and observe this wonderfully cultural and diverse community.”
A Department of Education and Communities spokesperson said the tendering process was highly competitive. Out of the 747 registered training organisations who applied for funding under the Smart and Skilled Program, only 338 were awarded contracts.
“…Some providers that met the required quality criteria were unable to be funded due to the relative priority of qualifications. Competition for funding meant the Deaf Society was not able to be supported at this time.”
Matthew Cooper is a legally deaf university student at the University of New South Wales. He has had learning experiences with both TAFE and the Deaf Society NSW, and is clear about the differences between each.
“TAFE doesn’t have any deaf community or environment. Essentially, you go to class, you go home,” he said.
“I can see the government’s point of view, they’re saying ‘we do provide a service, why don’t you use it?’ it’s just that there’s a better, more effective service out there, which the government isn’t allowing.”