Twice a year, the University runs Deaf Awareness Training to provide an insight into the Deaf community culture, language and history, and equip staff and students with conversational skills.

With these sessions often full – and the positive feedback from participants – a decision was made to pilot a first run of the Auslan (Australian Sign Language) Basic course, conducted by Access Plus WA (formerly WA Deaf Society).

Participants had the pleasure of having Beti as their trainer. Her warm and bubbly personality helped to ease their first session jitters. Beti shared the challenges she experienced growing up being Deaf, as well as positive stories on overcoming the disability and now being a proud grandmother and trainer of Auslan.

The course covered Deaf awareness training, greetings, introductions and exchanging personal information, general vocabulary, and conversation skills.

The class started by learning to sign the alphabet. Some struggled at the start, but with the support of Beti and plenty of practice, they gradually got more fluent in the language. By the end of the course, it was amazing to see the participants conversing with Beti (through Auslan) beyond the course materials. 

Our next Basic Auslan Class

Kudos to everyone for taking the initiative to learn more about the language and for making time to practice. More people are learning Auslan each year, and Beti and her colleagues are looking forward to running more sessions at Murdoch. If you are interested in participating in our next Basic Auslan class, please register online. The start date for the class is Thursday 17 August and your class will run for 8 weeks.

Deaf Awareness Training

If you are unable to commit to a regular class, but still want to expand your skills, you can still sign up for Deaf Awareness Training. The next session will be held on Tuesday, 25 July 2023 from 2-4pm. To register, please email aaisupports@murdoch.edu.au.