What's on at Expression Australia

Livi – Welcome

Welcome to our live event today! It’s so lovely to have so many people join us.
I would like to start by acknowledging that we are meeting on the land of the Wurundjeri people, and we pay our respects to elders and leaders past, present and emerging.
Today we will be talking with Nicky Long, our CEO, who will tell us about a lot of exciting things happening at Expression Australia, including who she’s been meeting with during her first few months; what programs and projects are on the go; and other exciting plans coming up.
We will also be talking to Sam Cartledge about a project in the area of employment, and talking to Natasha and Ramas and interviewing them about their part of this project.
I would like to introduce you to Nicky Long, who has been with us for a little over four months now. Welcome, Nicky.

Nicky – Address

Thanks, Livi – it's great to be here. I would rather be meeting all of you in person – and hope that COVID will allow us to do more soon!
In the meantime I spent some time meeting with a number of our partners across the sector, including our other Deaf societies, and local organisations such as Deaf Victoria.......what has struck me is how much passion and how vibrant the community and sector is. I look forward to being a part of this going forward.
Last month I was lucky enough to spend some time in Tasmania, and I hope that I’ll be able to meet all of you soon.
We have a number of events planned in the next few months – so please do try come and say hello when we have our next event in person. I’ll talk more about these events later on.
In the meantime, I want to hand over to Sam Cartledge, who is here to tell us more about a fantastic project we have been working on, called “I am Deaf”.

Sam Cartledge – I am Deaf

The 'I am Deaf' project is a marketing campaign aiming to encourage business owners to employ Deaf and hard of hearing people.
12 months ago we got funding under the ILC to develop a campaign to achieve these goals. The process we undertook was one of co-design - we consulted with Deaf people and workshopped the experiences, barriers and opportunities that Deaf and hard of hearing people have experienced in gaining employment.
We used this knowledge to develop 5 stories about different kinds of workers, and recruited Deaf actors to play the roles of the people in the stories.
We engaged with a video production agency who worked very hard - despite challenges during COVID, to film these 5 stories, about;

a community worker
a courier
a visual merchandiser
a hairdresser and
a cleaner.

We want to show you two of these videos tonight.
The videos may be a bit laggy because of Zoom, but because we are so proud of them, we want to share them with you anyway.
After tonight, the videos will be available on our website so make sure you go and have a look.
Let’s watch the videos on screen.

We hope that you enjoyed those videos. All videos can be viewed on our website and we will share the links in the Facebook Event and chat now. These adverts are on catch-up tv, and social media, including Facebook and LinkedIn – across Australia! It’s so exciting to see this campaign go live to showcase the talent and skills available in the Deaf community.
So far the response has been strong and we are starting to get new employers contact us with employment opportunities! So if you are looking for a new job, sign up with Expression Employment on our website or by emailing jobs@expression.com.au - we’d love to connect with you!
We have also made some fantastic resources for employers that are also available on our website www.expression.com.au/employer.
We’d like to talk to some of the people involved in creating our campaign. To do this I want to invite my colleague Nicholas Steer to facilitate a conversation with Ramas and Natasha who were involved in two of the videos that you just watched.

Nicholas Steer – Facilitate

Thanks Sam. I really enjoyed the videos and love how the campaign shows Deaf talent. (Nick – feel free to add any comments you have about the campaign)
I want to invite Natasha and Ramas on screen so that I can ask them a few questions about their involvement in the campaign and their experiences in the workplace. Please come on screen Natasha and Ramas.

I’ll start with a couple of questions about your experience working on the campaign.
Natasha, you work as a Community Support worker in different settings, and the video here was based on your own experiences. Can you tell us a bit about your experience making the videos and what this campaign means to you?
Ramas, you have a lot of varied work experience we could talk about, but for this campaign you played a Deaf hairdresser. We know you are not a hairdresser, but through this project you got experience as an actor. Can you tell us a bit about your experience working on a film set? What was the filming experience like?
(Both) More generally, outside of this project, I’d like to ask both of you whether you have experienced any barriers at work before and how have you overcome them? Maybe Natasha you can go first.
(Both) As mentioned before, the campaign is aimed at increasing employer awareness about hiring Deaf and hard of hearing people. What benefit do you think employers can get from hiring Deaf staff?
(Both) Do you have any advice for Deaf people currently looking for work?

Thanks Natasha and Ramas for joining us today. It has been great getting to know more about your involvement in this project and learn more about employment barriers for Deaf people in the workplace.
If you want to watch all the videos, you can view them on our website. Go to www.expression.com.au/employer.
I will now hand over back to Nicky.

Nicky – Address

Thank you Nick.
I just wanted to thank Natasha and Ramas for joining us today – this is an incredible project and we are so grateful to you – and all the others involved – in creating this campaign. We have no doubt that this will cause people to think twice and consider employing people who are Deaf. I do encourage you to contact our team if you want to talk about getting employment support.  
I want use this time now to let you know of some of our other projects that we have been working on.
We have developed an App called Auslan Anywhere to create a platform for Creators to share content so that families of Deaf and hard of hearing children can learn Auslan.
If you are an Auslan user this is a fantastic opportunity for you to get involved and give back young Deaf kids, by ensuring that they have the opportunity to grow up in a household that learns and supports them to use Auslan. We are looking for Creators to create content. If this is something you want to get involved in – or if you just want to know more – please contact our team on admin@auslananywhere.com.au.
On Saturday, 17 April from 1pm for a community event for Deaf and hearing families at Melbourne Museum called Expression Australia Family Day.
There will be Auslan tours, story time, pop-up classes and a Sign Choir workshop. All activities are bilingual in Auslan and English led by Deaf tutors and presenters in interpreters. We will also be launching our new App, Auslan Anywhere and will have staff on hand to show you how the App works and how you can get involved.
I hope to meet you at this event in person. To attend, make sure you purchase your tickets by going to our website and following the prompts: www.expression.com.au/events/family-day.
We’re also launching a Reconnect Program. This is a Victorian Government program funded under the Department of Education and is aimed at supporting Deaf, hard of hearing and LGBTQIA+ people living in Victoria who are disconnected from their community. The program encourages and supports participants back to education and skill development, supporting their reengagement in the community, work readiness and provides them with wrap around services catered to their individual needs.
The Reconnect Program is available to people 17 – 64 years of age, without work or study for 6 months or longer, people who are impacted by youth justice orders and Asylum seekers. For more information please contact our team.
Make sure you watch our new website for the latest news and events. Don’t forget that you can ask questions in Auslan or English and we get back to you.
Talking about questions, Livi – have we had any questions come through that I can answer?

Livi – Wrap up

It has been great spending time with you today and sharing some of the projects we have been working on.
We aim to do these “What’s happening at Expression Australia” events more often – so please let us know what you want to know about! Thank you for your time today!
Have a safe and enjoyable Easter break.