“At Shenton College Deaf Education Centre, I saw a tremendous support network, especially from Deaf teachers who have unique stories, making me more open minded and accepting of Deaf culture. I also had academic support from them, especially my ATAR subjects. Furthermore, I met other hearing teachers who are keen to teach Deaf students. They help let my hearing teachers know about my hearing condition to allow me adapt learning in my classes.

Even more, there are jobs I had never heard of, such as notetakers and interpreters. This is showing me how much this SCDEC values accessibility in education for Deaf students and I never think of how this is such a big deal in Australia. There were even interpreters who have Deaf parents which is another unique story to hear. The more I meet them, the more I see diversities in Deaf culture. That’s what I realise that Deaf culture is not just targeted at Deaf-born people. It can target children with Deaf parents and others who become Deaf later. This is surprising as the definition of being Deaf is never exact.

At the same time, I was involved in different mentoring programs, especially Deaf camps, Wellbeing Day and visit to WA’s Governor’s house. These help me to socialise with Deaf friends, making me to be more confident in the way who I am. In the end, we are all unique to each other, supporting each other. Without SCDEC, I wouldn’t be able to further in my learning and build friendship with Deaf and hearing students. Lastly, I wouldn’t be able to understand the Deaf culture.

I am grateful for my Auslan teachers, Dr Karen Bontempo, Mrs Patti Levitzke-Gray, Deaf mentors and other support teachers because they raise awareness about the beauty of Auslan, Australian Deaf culture and Global Deaf culture. They are patient with me, enhancing my Auslan communication skills. They keep me updated with Deaf news, especially Deaf American Doctors and introduce me to the Deaf networks across the world.

I appreciate several notetakers and interpreters’ effort. They ensure that we receive proper information, clarifying any confusion from speakers. Learning from Auslan, I realise how difficult it is for interpreters, especially changing from a spoken language to a much more visual, sign language. Even harder, it can be stressful for them as they have to deal with unfamiliar academic terminologies. Similarly, notetakers have this issue. I remember my notetakers having to ask lots of questions to my teachers to ensure I receive the correct academic terminology. Overall, I am amazed by their resilience to keep up with both high school Year teachings and Auslan language for us.

I am glad to see hearing teachers who are not part of SCDEC being enthusiastic and patient with me too, believing in me to keep going through their lectures. They encourage me to seek help and let SCDEC teachers know, especially captioning videos. I appreciate them taking time to learn about how to communicate and appreciate how they put the best effort to help many Deaf students, not just me.

Thanks to Mrs Rae Walker, Mrs Mari Karvinen, Ms Leanne Potter and other support teachers, as they connected me to several societies, WA Children Foundation where I first made public speeches. They guided me for what university courses I would attend if I could not make my first choice for courses, equipping me with so much resources that I was motivated to shot my best for WACE exams. They ensure that I get the fair condition when taking exams and for my ATAR, urging several universities to take into account of my Deafness and its impact on my academic studies. Even more, they update me with scholarship applications and so many opportunities I never consider of.

Because of all of their invaluable help, I couldn’t thank enough of them for helping me reach my career goal which is Medicine at UWA. I badly want to acknowledge their efforts to help Deaf students so much to the point that I called my Deaf friend to plan a short graduation video. Overall, I am looking forwards to their furthering academic and social accessibility for Deaf students in future. I would strongly recommend that Deaf students should attend SCDEC. Even though if you want to be in a mainstream, you can still have the same support from notetakers, interpreters, Deaf mentors and more, which I received throughout my highschool years.”