Senior Australians who are deaf or hard of hearing will have access to sign language services for a broader range of daily activities as part of a Federal Government funding boost.
\nA $13 million injection will mean sign language services will be more accessible for deaf elders aged 65 and over.
\nMinister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Richard Colbeck, said the initiative marked an important milestone for elders who use Auslan in their everyday communication.
\nToday marks International Day of Sign Languages.
\n\u201cHearing limitations can have a profound impact on the daily activities of senior Australians,\u201d Minister Colbeck said.
\n\u201cThe Morrison Government is committed to ensuring anybody dealing with hearing loss can still live life to the full.\u201d
\nCertified interpreters will provide Auslan, American Sign Language and International Sign Languages as part of the new service due to launch in November.
\nSigned English for deaf consumers and tactile signing and hand-over-hand for deafblind users will also be available.
\nIt means those in need will have access to interpreters for a range of daily activities from face-to-face appointments and online learning to community and family functions.
\nThe service, which will also include on-demand video remote interpreting, will be offered nationally, seven days a week and after business hours.
\n\u201cI thank Australian Deaf Elders and members for advising how together we can address this gap and develop the new service,\u201d Minister Colbeck said.
\n\u201cI know many Australians who are deaf or hard of hearing have benefited from sign language interpreters at press briefings during the recent bushfires and the COVID-19 health emergency,\u201d Minister Colbeck said.
\n\u201cThe Government will continue to identify and remove barriers so senior Australians can live healthy, active and socially connected lives.\u201d
\nFor more information about this and other sign language services available to senior Australians visit the My Aged Care website or call 1800 200 422.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Senior Australians who are deaf or hard of hearing will have access to sign language services for a broader range of daily activities as part of a Federal Government funding boost. A $13 million injection will mean sign language services will be more accessible for deaf elders aged 65 and over. Minister for Aged Care … Continue reading “Sign language milestone for Senior Australians”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}