Lorraine is a Deaf hip-hop dancer from Melbourne. She is the feature dancer in this community service announcement.
What type of deafness do you have?
I’m pretty much fully hearing impaired, I can’t speak and I communicate through sign language and I can lip read a little.
How did it affect you growing up and the way you interacted with your family, friends and community?
I wasn't born deaf. I got Rubella when I was about 6months old, and what happened was I had a bad very bad fever and it burst my right ear drum and I can 50% hear on my left with a hearing aid :)....was it hard for me hmmm let me see, I guess I didn't really know the difference between a hearing and a hearing impaired. My family treated me like as if I didn't have anything wrong so I never thought I had anything different about me. Until I went to school in Australia that I realised I was different from my brothers and sister and to other people. Being deaf never really affected me as such because the people that I met me were interested in knowing how to communicate with me and they too never saw the deaf in me. They just speak to me and I just laugh and smile with them. I think most people like me when they meet me because I have good smile and I am patient with them when they me.
What can we all do to better understand the experience and needs of deaf people?
What would be really cool is for people to see deaf people as not a disability but with someone with an ability. Thank god for mobile phones :) that’s how I normally communicate with hearing people. I think it would be really cool for people to learn to sign basic signs such as the alphabet etc...
What is your association to The Deaf Society of NSW and how did you become involved?
Well it was quite funny how I got involved, I guess it was because I was seen on the show “So You Think You Can Dance Australia 2008”. When they saw that I danced, they contacted my sister and asked for me to be a star in a commercial that will be shown on TV very soon. |
