Those signs will be commonly used by your resident, and it is vital that you understand the information being relayed to you.

But it is also vital that you sign clearly for the resident to understand you and the information you want to relay.

There may be differences in how deaf people sign, which is due to the different North and South dialects. This happened because of the Deaf schools established in Melbourne, Victoria and Sydney, NSW.

So for example, if you are using signs when in Melbourne, you will use the southern dialect of signing. It applies also to using the northern dialect when signing in Sydney.

Fingerspelling - spelling out the alphabet using your fingers - was used a lot in schools during the 1920’s.

If you do have a deaf resident who uses fingerspelling, it will be good for the resident and yourself if staff learn how to fingerspell well.

Saying a simple greeting can make someone’s day!

If you can learn some basic signs, it can help create a relationship between yourself and the deaf resident.

Some signs are included in this website, to help you with the most basic things you might need to know. There is a possibility that the resident may use different styles as they may have gone to a different school or come from another state. Be open to this possibility and do try to use their signs. They are NOT wrong, just using a different dialect of Auslan.

One thing about to remember about Auslan is that feelings are shown through facial expressions. If a deaf resident was to show they weren’t happy, they’d show this with facial expressions just like a resident who isn’t deaf would show they weren’t happy by the tone of their voice.