Did Henry Lawson create idyllic scenes of yarns around campfires because he was deaf and could not take part in them? IF HENRY Lawson was alive today, what would he say at a press conference? For starters, perhaps he would make a sardonic comment about his profile on the old ten-dollar note. However we could […]
From not deaf to Deaf
Travelling from “not deaf” to “Deaf” sounds like a minor edit in that most personal of journeys, of finding out who you are. But it took MICHAEL UNIACKE a few decades. It was no less than a minister in the Hawke Government who called me the worse thing I have ever been called. Of course […]
The truth that brings untold stories from the past
The history of deaf people in Australia is a treasure trove of stories mostly hidden. How do some of these stories emerge? Imagine this: a policeman attends an assembly hall packed with rowdy deaf people. There are more than 100 of them, and they are furious that the hearing men who run the deaf-and-dumb benevolent […]
The laughter of the tribe
When I was 18, I fell in with a group of young people. Like me, they were deaf. All of us spoke; at that time none of us used sign language. Among these people I quickly found a significant point of difference between people who were deaf and people who were not. It was laughter. […]
Deaf, Dumb and the Dinner Party
A forensic account of what goes on for the lone hearing-impaired person at a dinner party.