Lack of support for hearing impaired students

March 2009

James*and Kathy* are hearing impaired. They felt that their university was not providing the support they needed.

James and Kathy lodged a complaint with ADNSW.

James said he dropped out of his course because the interpreter only signed in English, not in Auslan. At the conciliation conference, the university agreed to acknowledge Auslan as the primary language of the deaf community, to provide an Auslan interpreter where possible for exams and assessments, and to provide other services as required.

Kathy said she was told by a staff member that she was taking on too big a load when she wanted to undertake a full-time course plus one additional subject. She felt it was her right to make this judgment and that the staff member was putting her down. At the conciliation conference, the university agreed to provide interpreters throughout Kathy’s course, and to let all students know about a local advocacy service which could negotiate with the university’s disability consultant to quickly resolve problems.

*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals.