23 August, 2011
HEARING AWARENESS WEEK 2011
Senator Mitch Fifield has welcomed Hearing Awareness Week 2011.
To mark Hearing Awareness Week, Senator Fifield joined with Senator Jan McLucas and Senator Rachel Siewert to host a Communications Access Expo in Parliament House, Canberra.
“Hearing Awareness Week highlights the achievements of Australians with a hearing impairment and also puts the focus on what we can all do to maintain hearing health,” Senator Fifield said.
“The Communications Access Expo celebrates and informs people about the rapidly improving technology which is creating new opportunities in communications access for people with hearing loss.”
“The Expo showcases and provides demonstrations of life-changing technology which is helping improve the opportunities to participate in society for people with hearing impairments,” Senator Fifield said.
Additionally, Senator Fifield joined with Senator McLucas and Senator Siewert in successfully moving a Notice of Motion in the Senate to recognise Hearing Awareness Week and to bring the Senate’s attention to the innovations that are helping Australians with a hearing impairment live a better life.
“The amazing technological advances that have been made to help people with hearing impairments are really on display during Hearing Awareness Week,” Senator Fifield said.
“Technologies which are designed to help students with hearing impairments participate to the best of their ability in their classrooms are an example of what could be supported under our Education Card policy.”
“Something as simple as real-time captioning of what a teacher is saying can help students with a hearing impairment achieve learning outcomes on par with their peers.”
“I encourage all Australians to take some time this week to learn more about hearing impairments and what we can all do to ensure our own hearing health,” Senator Fifield said.