The Deaf Society’s Independent Living Skills Program provides specialist support and training on a one-to-one basis to assist Deaf people who have disabilities or who require extra assistance to live as independently as possible.

The Deaf Society employs a number of Community Access Workers who are bilingual in Auslan and English and skilled in supporting and training Deaf people with additional disabilities who need to develop independent living skills.

The Independent Living Skills Program includes:

• Providing specialist support services for clients who have additional needs, such as physical disability, health or behavioural problems and/or language or literacy issues, to improve their access to the wider community.
• Assisting clients to learn a variety of skills, including budgeting, cooking, travelling independently, using communication technologies (TTY, fax and SMS) and social behaviour, to enable them to live as independently as possible.
• Assisting clients to identify personal goals, identify appropriate training and encouraging educational opportunities.
• Providing access to leisure activities and social opportunities for clients.

How to become a client
Services and training are provided to clients of the Deaf Society's Independent Living Skills Program. To become a client:

• people can contact a Community Access Worker by telephone, letter/fax or face to face, to make a referral to the ILSP.
• the Community Access Worker will contact the person to make an appointment to get information. Then he/she will talk to the Manager about the client. When it is time to start work with the client, a Community Access Worker with the right skills and experience will be responsible to work with the new client.

Anyone including Deaf people, family, and service providers can make referrals to the Deaf Society for help from ILSP.

Deaf people can access the Deaf Society's ILSP service if they:

• have disabilities and/or need extra help to live independently
• have finished school
• are interested and want to learn

ILSP Guidelines
The Deaf Society has Guidelines (policies and procedures) for its Independent Living Skills Program. You can get a copy of these.

To find out more about these guidelines, click here.

D.E.A.F. Club

D.E.A.F. Club is Deaf Education, Activities and Fun Club.

To see more information, click here.