practical living
Sign of the times
Free sign language service to be
made available in aged care.
By Conor Burke
The Australian deaf community
has scored a win with the
announcement that a free sign
language interpreting service will soon be
available for senior Australians in aged care.
The minister for aged care and senior
Australians, Richard Colbeck, said the
service will make the aged care system
more accessible for people who are deaf,
deafblind or hard of hearing.
“It will ensure that these people can
participate in the assessment, planning,
and review of their care – something which
may have been more difficult in the past,”
he said.
As it stands, the deaf community
struggles to find help within the aged
care system, and any deaf Australian over
65 misses out on NDIS funding, which
effectively leaves them out in the cold.
The MyAgedCare website currently lists
22 languages which can be interpreted, but
no Auslan interpreters are offered.
This was described as “distressing”
by members of the Australian deaf
community, who spoke to Aged Care Insite
last year.
The Australian Deaf Elders is an advocacy
group whose members have spoken at
community events organised by the royal
commission into aged care as well as at
the Melbourne hearing last October. They
say that they are “extremely worried” at the
prospect of entering the aged care system
in its current form.
The lack of access to interpreters can
make life difficult for the deaf community,
especially as they age. End-of-life plans
and managing superannuation can be
near impossible, and hiring their own
interpreters to come with them to the
doctor or legal meetings can set them back
$240 for two hours, and that’s when they
can manage to find one.
There are some government-funded
services for interpreters for the deaf, but
these only cover medical trips.
Without interpreters, the deaf often
have to rely on pen and paper, which, for
someone who has Auslan as their first
language, is problematic.
“Auslan has limited vocab. The gestures,
the words, are very different to a hearing
person. To write with pen and paper is
really difficult to get the message across,”
said Elizabeth Karn.
Group member Barry Moore said
that, with pen and paper, he might try to
communicate with someone and write
a paragraph, only to receive a two-word
answer.
“How do I understand these two words?
With an interpreter life would be easier,”
he said.
Jennifer Moore said she is frustrated as
she struggles to afford an interpreter on
retirement money and a pension and wants
to join an exercise group and live her life
to the full. She feels that she is “missing
out”, and she and husband Barry are
quite lonely.
“Jennifer says this really affects their
quality of life. To live a full life of what life
they have left, and to have the opportunity
to fully communicate with everyone, is
so important to them, to anybody … It’s
affecting their mental health,” Tina Karn,
the group interpreter and a child of a deaf
Australian (CODA), says.
The new service will provide appropriate
sign language assistance to people
who are receiving or want to access
aged care services.
Both face-to-face and online
interpreting, including on-demand video
remote interpreting, will be on offer
nationally, seven days a week and after
business hours when required.
Colbeck said that bookings for the sign
language service can be made online or by
phone, email or fax, and the government
will also commission translation of key aged
care documents and information into Auslan
videos and other materials that are suitable
for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
The service will be delivered through
Deaf Service’s Auslan Connections, and
they say this is a major step in addressing
the gap in funding created by the NDIS.
Deaf Services CEO Brett Casey said
this was a major accessibility milestone
for deaf seniors, many of whom have not
had regular access to information in their
primary language.
“This commitment by the federal
government creates a sustainable model
for this support, ensuring agency and
access for seniors to live the life they want,
and to gain equitable access to the existing
services provided to them.
Elizabeth Karn told Aged Care Insite
that she is happy that Auslan is finally to
be recognised as an Australian Language
through MyAgedCare.
“We would also like to encourage
Minister Colbeck to recognise that deaf
elders who will use this now accessible
service still desperately need this service to
accommodate their needs other than aged
care services and medical appointments,”
she said.
Tina Karn stresses the need for
interpreters to be available to allow elder
Australians to have an active social life.
“I would like for Minister Colbeck to see
that our deaf elder community, who are
a vulnerable group, need to be included
equal to those under the age of 65 who are
receiving NDIS interpreter funding for any
matters. This would be closing the gap of
exclusion for Australians with a disability,”
she said. ■
24 agedcareinsite.com.au