Published on: 9th December 2024
Deaf Space is where Deaf people come together—sharing, creating Deaf culture, and making a space that fits us.
From designing buildings and spaces to moving vases off tables and pinning speakers on Zoom, Deaf Space happens both face-to-face at festivals and clubs and online in our digital spaces.
We have a Deaf Space Project to explore Deaf Spaces in Australia and beyond. This project will gather information from experts and the community to identify what makes great Deaf Spaces and how to grow them.
What’s next?
- Community consultations across Australia in early 2025.
- Findings will shape our knowledge for building stronger Deaf Spaces.
Deaf Space. Your space. Your culture.
Descriptive transcript:
[Two women wearing black are standing against a plain turquoise background and signing in a friendly and professional manner towards the camera. The person on the left, Amanda, has blonde hair that is pulled back into a bun. The person on the right, Vanessa, has dark curly hair that is pinned back away from her face.]
[Vanessa] Hi, I’m Vanessa.
[Amanda] And I’m Amanda. I’m the Deaf Space consultant.
[Vanessa] Wow. It is so exciting to have Amanda on board for our Deaf Space project. You might be wondering what Deaf Space is. I’ll give you some examples. So, for example, when a whole lot of Deaf people get together and we’re all chatting like mad. Sharing information. Learning heaps using Auslan. You’ll notice that we naturally organise ourselves into a circle so that we can talk really comfortably.
Or when we go to a cafe, if there’s a water bottle on the table, we’ll move it out of the way so that we can clearly see each other’s hands, or even online, rather than trying to find the signers in the sea of faces. We’ll neatly pin the signers along the top so that we can see them.
So Deaf Spaces can be physical, like when we had Deaf clubs or say, Deaf festival. Or they can be online spaces like on Zoom. So there are a whole lot of different Deaf Spaces, but we really want to understand whether the way we have Deaf Space in Australia is the same as overseas or different.
So we have Amanda on board to work on the project. Amanda, could you tell me a bit about yourself and about the project?
[Amanda] Sure. I’m from New Zealand, but I’ve spent time in the UK and France and have watched how they develop their Deaf Spaces in their communities. So I’m very excited to be on board for this one-year project. I’m going to be consulting with Deaf Space experts from overseas and sharing that information here. And also I’ll be running some community consultations where we’ll get your ideas about what you think. They’re going to be in February and March next year in different states around the country. So I’m really excited to talk to you.
Keep an eye on the website for dates for the consultation. Once the consultations have finished, I will also write a report to try and envisage the future of Deaf Spaces in Australia.
[Vanessa] Maybe you’re wondering whether you should be involved. The answer is yes. We want as many people from the Australian Deaf community as possible to fill out our survey and to participate in the community consultations. Your contributions will really help us to understand what Deaf Spaces look like in Australia. And together we can then envisage really strong Deaf Spaces for the future. Because when you have Deaf Spaces, that means that the community can thrive.
So make sure you keep an eye on our website and keep an eye on our socials. We’ll be sending out lots more information soon.
[Both] Thank you.
