feature
School days
The Victorian College for the Deaf might appear quieter than most schools but take a look around and you ’ ll discover it ’ s a hive of activity , writes Carole Lander .
It ’ s 8.45am on a cold Melbourne morning as I watch children from Prep to Year 12 spilling out of cars and taxis in front of the imposing bluestone building that has housed the Victorian College for the Deaf since 1860 .
To discover more about this school I shadow Art and Careers teacher Merren Ricketson for one day . First up , a year 9 / 10 group is learning about glazes before colouring the precious ceramic pieces they made the week before . I am immediately struck by the lack of classroom noise . Kids of this age in a regular school usually have difficulty being quiet . Taking a closer look it becomes clear that these students have the same need to chat and joke but they do it with their hands . Many of them wear cochlear implants and utter cries that indicate they can hear each other to a certain extent .
Tyson Boal , an interpreter , explains that both hearing and Deaf babies acquire language at the same rate and exposure to it at an early age is essential . Babies from Deaf families can learn their first language ( i . e . sign language ) from birth and begin to sign at six months . Deaf children born into hearing families learn sign language later and this may be further delayed if they use assisted technologies such as hearing aids or cochlear implants .
Traditionally , those who regard themselves as culturally Deaf use a capital D , whereas in the medical model ( small D used ) a person wears a hearing aid or cochlear implant and sees themself as having an ailment that needs to be fixed . Wearing an aid may mean they can hear environmental sounds ( truck , bus , school bell ) but not necessarily that they can understand what is being said . Some Deaf students use both sign and spoken language proficiently .
This Art class is a double period ( 50 minutes ) and the students have two teachers . One is Deaf , the other ( Ricketson ) is not but she uses Auslan – the sign language developed by and for Australian deaf people and recognised by the Parliament in 1987 . Some migrant children know a different sign language , learned in their home country , but they quickly pick up Auslan when they become students at this school .
“ Not all the teachers here are Deaf but the idea is that they be proficient in Auslan because this is the language of instruction in the classroom ,” Boal explains . “ When it ’ s not possible for a teacher to use Auslan there will be an interpreter in the room .”
Next , I witness a careers session . A guest from Sign for Work ( another Deaf-related organisation housed on the site ) uses only Auslan to discuss job possibilities with the four students . Ricketson interprets for me in a whisper . One girl enquires about work in the airline industry ( apparently pilots cannot be Deaf but all other jobs are open ) and another wants to work with animals . A video on the wall features Deaf
38 vision and hearing impairment linkonline . com . au