Fast Five with a deaf community advocate

From facing immense disadvantage in her early learning experiences to leading one of Australia’s most impactful non-profits supporting the deaf community, Rebecca Adam is achieving meaningful full-circle moments.

Born deaf, Rebecca faced disadvantage academically from an early age. Still, she achieved a university education and is now leading life-changing initiatives for the deaf community.

_{CEO of Expression Australia Rebecca Adam walking through the Melbourne office.}

Rebecca is also proud to have led an Auslan Emergency Interpreting trial last December with Expression Australia where deaf people could call 000 for ambulance, police or fire support for the first time in Australian history.

“000 and Emergency Services in Australia are incredibly important regardless of your financial situation and regardless of your disability,” said Rebecca.

“What’s happening with Optus at the moment, the lack of service to certain communities – people don't realise that that has been true of deaf people since time immemorial.”

The trial – that was fully-funded by Expression Australia – utilised their pool of interpreters to interpret between a deaf person and the service they required.

“Through this trial, we saved at least one person's life,” said Rebecca.

“That particular deaf person needed an ambulance because of a heart attack, and we used that trial to help that person call an ambulance and get the access they needed.

“We're now advocating very strongly to get government funding to launch a permanent program very soon.”

From isolation to inclusion

Although Rebecca is making strides in her career today, her undergraduate experience presented many challenges, as Rebecca was one of the first deaf students to study at the University.

“I didn't have interpreters – maybe on very rare occasions I did, but certainly not regularly,” shared Rebecca.

“I found it very difficult to participate in lectures. Generally, I would just watch and try and work out as much as I could.”

What’s more, Rebecca couldn’t engage with other students or her lecturers in the same way her peers could, to further discuss learning content.

“A lot of it was self-taught through what I was able to access – notes, textbooks and other material.”

There are, however, positive memories in Rebecca’s undergraduate experience – such as the educators who went out of their way to encourage her.

“I am very grateful for all of those professors who really gave me extra support and emotional encouragement,” she said.

Thankfully, when Rebecca returned to the University to study a subject at Melbourne Business School in 2020, her experience was a vast improvement from her undergraduate days.

“I had access to interpreters and I could fully interact with the class. It was phenomenal – I felt so much more empowered and included, and I really enjoyed going to class,” she shared.

“I'm proud to know that the University has changed since my time and has improved so much in this space.”

Art, science and accessibility

Rebecca’s latest touchpoint with the University is a partnership between Expression Australia and Science Gallery Melbourne for the upcoming Deaf Art Science Festival on 29 November.

The festival will be an exciting day of exploration and learning for members and allies of the deaf community, with a program of activities including a Deaf Awareness for Educators session delivered by Expression Australia.

“I'm incredibly proud and excited about this partnership with Science Gallery. Their values are incredibly aligned with our own,” said Rebecca.

_{Rebecca Adam meeting with her colleagues at the Expression Australia Melbourne office.}

“I would love to see deaf students come and enjoy opportunities and see that they have pathways to achieve anything in life, as any other student does.”

Rebecca also hopes the collaboration will encourage more deaf students to see that a university experience is possible for them – and even promote more deaf representation in academia.

“One day, I would love to see a deaf person leading the faculty, or becoming a world-famous academic in science or arts,” she said.

“I also feel this partnership has the capacity to influence a lot of other universities, galleries and other places in the academic sector – so I want to congratulate Science Gallery for their open-mindedness.

“It's incredibly rare to able to have this full-circle moment, and I’m feeling very fortunate to be able to experience it.”

Find out more about the Deaf Art Science Festival