#deaf accessibility

Hi Australians! Without ongoing Federal Government funding, Auslan90 will end on 30 June 2026. Auslan90 provides short summaries of major topics every weekday with a longer deep dive on the weekend, in Auslan. 15 minutes of news a week is all that's available in the most familiar language for Australian Deaf people. For many Deaf Australians, this may be their main source of news if they're not skilled readers of written English.

I've lived in places I didn't speak the language on the news and I know how hard it is to stay connected with the news across that barrier. I urge you to support our Deaf community by contacting key ministers and asking them to continue funding Auslan90.

Minister for Communications, Anika Wells (NSW) Email: [email protected] Telephone: (07) 3266 8244

Minister for Health and Aged Care (including disability), Mark Butler (SA) Email: [email protected] Telephone: (08) 8241 0190

Minister for Social Services, Amanda Rishworth (SA) Email: [email protected] Telephone: (08) 8186 2588

Hi!

"Deaf" is capitalized when talking about being culturally Deaf and not capitalized when talking about the physical condition of not hearing.

A bright light to wake your deaf character up sounds fine! What else might work is being physically shaken, especially if they're a deep sleeper. Once they're awake the light doesn't need to be so bright--the normal glowing string is fine. (Although it makes me wonder, how will this string appear for blind people?)

Hello! Thank you for agreeing to help spread my survey.

https://forms.gle/RrDotB4yx4XbcgAm8

Through the years, I’ve seen t.v., internet, and snail mail advertisements for audiologist and hearing doctor services telling me I can receive help for my hearing loss and/or deafness, and just as they get my hopes up, right at the end of it, they show a PHONE NUMBER and instruct me, the viewer, the deaf/hoh person to CALL for an appointment.

At home depot there are signs with employees’ pictures that speak other languages. Maybe talk to your manager about giving that a try at your store? if that doesn’t work, if you can wear a bigger pin, that could be an improvement? Or just signing words randomly, and if a deaf customer sees you then they could try talking to you. 

Good luck!

Because of this I find myself kicked in the ass anytime a game has a purely sound based aspect and nothing visual. It makes me sad if I can’t do a feature or use it properly because it’s cue or indicator of it working is only sound based. Because I sure as hell don’t wanna go and put all sounds back on just for one small feature (however useful or important it is in the game)

And I realized that because of this I can probably relate to deaf players in that aspect. Getting sad when a game has a feature that’s fully built around sound, with no visual cues anywhere to help with it. Being sad over a thing they were led to believe they could do only to find out it’s not accessible to them

It reminds me of the whole thing where accessibility for the disabled benifits not just the disabled, but it can benifit other people too. Granted I can literally just… turn sound back on. Put my game headphones on. Yadda yadda, whereas deaf people can’t just do that

There’s not actually like a takeaway to this post I’ve just been thinking about it and I find it neat, that I could potentially relate to someone even though we relate for two different reasons. I will also always be (or at least try my very best to be) an advocate for those with a missing sense - of course, I mean, I myself am missing (one although it’s not that needed) (sense of smell) - so I’ve also taken the time to make sure I leave comments asking if games can add a visual feature to help. Because even though I don’t need it, even though I can suck it up and just turn my game audio on for once, deaf people very well may not be able to do that. For a variety of reasons. And I don’t want someone to play a game I like only to find it isn’t accessible for them! I want everyone to be able to play the games I really enjoy! Deaf or hearing