Published on: 26th March 2025
Melissa Elmira Yingst, known as Melmira, shares what Deaf Space means to her: a place where Deaf people feel welcome, included, and free from communication barriers. She highlights the importance of learning sign language, centering Deaf perspectives, and ensuring Deaf people lead decisions about their spaces.
For Melmira, Deaf Space isn’t just physical — it can thrive online too. Imagine more international Deaf gatherings, where communities worldwide connect, exchange ideas, and learn from each other. The future of Deaf Space includes global connections (whether in-person or online), and the conversation starts here.
You can learn more about Deaf Connect’s Deaf Space project on our website: https://deafconnect.org.au/deaf-space
Transcript:
Hola. I’m Melissa Elmira Yingst. You may know me as Melmira.
I use my social media platform to discuss a lot of topics within the Deaf community, including interviews, taboo topics, and some of my many roles, both professionally and personally, always cherishing and valuing the Deaf community.
To me, Deaf Space means anywhere that we as Deaf people can show up and feel welcome, and feel free to be ourselves, without any apprehension about possible barriers to our communication needs, without feeling like we would be on a lesser footing to those in the hearing community, that we would be on an equal footing, that we can show up and be free of barriers, free of access issues. A place where we can feel whole.
In making a good Deaf Space, it’s really critical to have awareness. The more you know, the better ally to the Deaf community you can be. Learn sign language. I always say that this world would be a beautiful place if everyone could sign.
Now, I do acknowledge that Deaf people around the world use many different sign languages. There is not one universal sign language. However, you will notice that at international Deaf events, Deaf people from different countries who meet and engage with their own unique sign languages still find a way to connect and communicate because we have that innate knowledge of a sign language. So if everyone knew how to sign, how awesome would that be?
If you don’t know how to sign, it’s important to be aware of what it means to allow a place to be Deaf-centric. That means that Deaf people make the decisions about where the place is, and what it looks like, that their preferences and comfort level is taken into consideration. Always ask and include the Deaf community. Don’t make assumptions that you know what the community wants and then make those decisions. Always bring the Deaf community into the mix. Their perspective, and make sure their perspective is at the forefront.
How can Deaf Spaces thrive online? Hmm. Look, I would love to have more online international gatherings. And I know that time zones being different is a challenge, but I would love to have more gatherings online so that we could learn about different Deaf communities all over the world. It would be a chance for us to exchange ideas and experiences between Deaf communities. And I’m sure there in Australia there are wonderful programs and great things happening there that we could learn about and bring to our own local communities as well. And that is the power of exchanging and sharing information.
Hmm. The future of Deaf Space at a global level. I know that we have international gatherings, some that come to mind are WFD, and also Deaf sporting events like the Deaflympics. But what others do we have? Of course, there’s the Clin d’Oeil Festival. So there are a few, but we need more and for different purposes. Perhaps global Deaf leadership events, more entertainment events, more opportunities for us to gather.
And I know it’s very expensive to fly internationally and most people can’t afford to attend these events personally, but we have so many great online platforms now, like Zoom, with which we can gather to host webinars or even presentations. We could have a happy hour. It might be coffee time in Australia and wine time over here, but we could join. But of course, if you prefer to drink coffee at night and wine in the morning, you do you. But good opportunities for us to come together and connect.
Hmm. So these are my very quick thoughts.
Visual description:
The video opens with a still of the subject, Melissa Elmira Yingst, against mint-coloured plain background. In the upper right-hand corner is the Deaf Space logo. A title floats in from the left that reads “Melissa Elmira Yingst : Deaf Influencer.”
Melmira is featured in the video, sitting in front of a plain beige background. She has brown hair and wears red lipstick. Her top is plain and dark, and she is signing in a friendly way towards the camera in American Sign Language. On the right of Melmira is the Picture in Picture interpreter, translating Melmira’s signing into Auslan.
The end two slides of the video feature the logo in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. First, we see a headshot of Melmira on the screen with a headline that reads “Follow the Melmira show at: https://www.instagram.com/melmira”. Then, a large yellow tile in the center with grey text fades in that reads “Your Space. Your Culture. Join the Deaf Space conversation!” Below the tile is a QR code and URL that reads “https://deafconnect.org.au/deaf-space”.
