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We wish to put on record our appreciation for the knowledge and interest shown by the
Committee by its chairperson Senator Deborah O'Neill and members Senator Jenny
McAllister and Senator Jan McLucas.
Deafness Forum spoke about the case for making hearing a national health priority. It said
that due to the high social and financial costs that hearing loss has on Australian society, a
coordinated strategy that encompasses prevention, treatment and management would
achieve improved health outcomes for the large proportion of the Australian population that
is affected by hearing loss. Deafness Forum believes that this would be best achieved by
making hearing health a National Health Priority.
Deafness Forum then spoke about the governments plan to transition some client groups
from the Australian Government Hearing Services Program to the National Disability
Insurance Scheme (NDIS). This will happen regardless of the outcome of investigations
into the potential sale of Australian Hearing. The group most affected by this change is
Deaf and hearing impaired children and their families. Australian Hearing is currently the
sole provider of services to these clients.
The transfer of client groups from the Hearing Services Program to the NDIS would not be
a problem if it was just a change in Program responsibility and Australian Hearing, which
has an international reputation for delivering a high quality paediatric program, remained as
the sole provider of services to children. However, the change will see the introduction of
contestability.
This is concerning as the private market is untested in the delivery of services to this client
group. The introduction of contestability introduces significant risks in terms of access,
expertise, quality and standards.
Additionally, the Government is still to make a decision regarding the sale of Australian
Hearing. If the sale proceeds and the new owner decides to withdraw from providing
services to the more costly and challenging client groups, then the safety net of the
Government Provider will be lost.
Deafness Forum of Australia has developed a paper outlining the issues that need to be
addressed. Read and download Transition of the Australian Government Hearing Services
CSO Program to NDIS at http://www.deafnessforum.org.au/index.php/issues/112uncategorised/245-submissions
This honey pot effect, coupled with the fact that in many instances funding will now be
controlled by some of the more vulnerable members of our community, makes quality
assurance and provider oversight critically important. However, it is here where the NDIS is
potentially most at risk.
Dr Windholz pointed to the home Insulation Package as evidence of what can happen with
a scheme that does not adequately regulate the provider market.
The Australian Psychological Society also fears the impact of a marketplace culture and
its ability to ensure quality services.
... there will be considerable pressure on agencies to recruit a cheaper workforce with
inadequate knowledge, skills and experience to undertake the more high level services that
might be required by a person with a disability, it said.
The outcomes of the conference will inform advocacy activities in the mental health space
for Deaf Victoria.
Auslan Connections and Vicdeaf are supporters of this conference.
http://www.vicdeaf.com.au/files/editor_upload/File/Events/Expression%20of%20Interest%20%20Deaf%20Mental%20Health.pdf
NEW YORK, July 13, 2015 Hearing Access & Innovations Inc. today announced that the
NYC Taxis have begun to roll out hearing induction loop signage to indicate the presence of
the loop in the Taxi of Tomorrow. This moment in history coincides with the 25th
Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Hearing aids and cochlear implants deliver all sounds including those in the background.
To ensure customers who wear them can easily and clearly interact with each other,
hearing induction loops are present in the Taxi of Tomorrow. A driver and/or a passenger
who wears hearing aid(s)/cochlear implant(s) can now hear each other by switching the
hearing aid or cochlear implant to the T-setting (telecoil) and block background noise. In
the US, 48 million people have some form of hearing loss.
Passengers and drivers with hearing loss can hear where they are heading said Janice
Schacter Lintz, CEO of Hearing Access & Innovations.
No one should have to ask permission to hear.
Professor Christie Yoshinaga Itano from the Institute of Cognitive Science, University of
Colorado Boulder, USA gave the 2015 Libby Harricks Memorial Oration.
The Oration was a key-note address in Sydney Australia at the recent Australasian
Newborn Hearing Screening Conference.
Professor Yoshinaga-Itanos research was the first to demonstrate that when infants with
hearing loss are identified in the first few months of life and provided with appropriate
intervention services, that 80% these infants/children with significant hearing loss and no
additional disabilities are able to maintain age-appropriate language development and
intelligible speech in the first five years of life. As a result of this research, universal
newborn hearing screening programs were implemented in the United States.
The series was founded in 1999 to honour the first President of Deafness
Forum of Australia. For her work on behalf of hearing impaired people
Libby Harricks was made a Member of the Order of Australia. She was
appointed by the Government to the Board of Australian Hearing
Services and was asked to represent the needs of hearing impaired on
the Olympic Access Committee.
f) the progress of the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with
Disability and the findings, recommendations and outcomes from this process, and how this
data will, or should, be used to develop a needs-based funding system for students with
disability;
g) how possible changes as a result of the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on
School Students with Disability will be informed by evidence-based best practice of
inclusion of students with disability;
h) what should be done to better support students with disability in our schools;
i) the early education of children with disability; and
j) any other related matters.
HOW TO MAKE A SUBMISSION
Assistance can be provided by CDA to make an individual submission.
info@cda.org.au or by phone on 1800 222 660.
Submissions can be lodged directly to the Senate online by selecting upload submission at
http://goo.gl/y8S9BK
Service providers
Dates: 30 September 1 October 2015
Time: 10.00 am 4.00 pm
Registration: 3 options
Option 1:
$450 single room
$490 shared room
(inclusive of 1 night accommodation on 30 September)
Failing to get the gist of whats being said: background noise impairs higher-order
cognitive processing
Before *Sophie was diagnosed with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) we had been
noticing small things. Small, but significant. For example, she would become anxious
when in a noisy crowd. At birthday parties she would sometime put her hands over her
ears and ask to go home early.
It was also difficult to distract her when she watched TV. We would have to say her name,
make eye contact and repeat the instruction before she would respond. She was also tired
a lot of the time and often appeared worried, saying I lost my words mid conversation.
She would fall asleep in the car on the way home from school. On several occasions she
became teary before school as she worried about what was expected of her in class. I also
noticed when I visited the school that she played by herself - happily enough - but
regardless, on her own. She was also having a lot of trouble with reading and writing and
spelling. We thought this was a phase and that maybe we were expecting too much of her.
We were so very lucky to have a teacher that picked up her APD.
Once the hearing aids were in place and we had the system working properly, Sophie
began immediately to flourish. My initial fears of her feeling different' due to wearing the
hearing aids, and issues with self managing the devices were completely unfounded, much
to our relief.
Within 2 weeks we noticed that she was using more complex language and also, that she
was articulating clearly and accurately. Each day brought a surprise in some shape or
form, with language, or reading a road sign, and we were also delighted when her
confidence began to build. Two months into the APD treatments she began to spell. That
was a huge moment and I remember it very clearly; I had never been so proud of her.
Sophie is now nine months into her APD treatment and is still going from strength to
strength. She raises her hand to answer questions while in class and doesn't need to look
around to try and figure out what the rules are any more. She has become a leader.
She is a popular girl in her class now and often leads the play. And no more falling asleep
on the way home anymore either.
The National Foundation for the Deaf in New Zealand is conducting fundraising to
support 50 kids like Sophie who come from families that cannot afford to buy the hearing
equipment they desperately need to lead a happy life. Children must have diagnosed
Auditory Processing Disorder and be in genuine need.
The National Foundation for the Deaf, which has strong links with Deafness Forum of
Australia, promotes the rights, interests and welfare of the one in six New Zealanders with
hearing loss. It offers people support to communicate effectively, live positively and
achieve to their potential. It does this by collaborating with people who are deaf or hard of
hearing, and with professionals in our sector to address issues affecting human rights and
quality of life. The Foundation also works to address noise-induced hearing loss, and to
promote prevention.
*Real Case: name changed to protect privacy
The original Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin circa 1927