We Connect, We Belong

This year we've been exploring the concept of Deafhood – an emerging concept which struck a chord with us all. First, we checked our understanding and then we learnt more in some workshops.

We wanted to create a sense of belonging for our deaf Outreach students so that they would know and be able to connect with other Deaf and hard of hearing friends. So we created a Deafhood Zoom Group with a group of eight students. We've connected twice each term on Zoom to explore different topics. This was a safe deaf space for us all to get to know each other and feel comfortable sharing.

Some of the topics we covered were:

• Getting to know each other
• Hearing Technology that some deaf people use
• What an interpreter is for
• Deaf jokes

All the students decided they wanted to meet face to face, so we had a Keep In Touch (KIT) day in Term 3. We played lots of games to get to know each other, and explored the Museum at Archibald Road to learn a bit about deaf history.

Best of all, two older deaf students, Tai and Nichola, came to visit us to share their experiences of growing up Deaf. They came back at lunchtime to join in – the girls played Uno and the boys played basketball. Together we also played Jenga and bounced jumbo balloons around! By this time, everyone had relaxed and was chatting away. It was a great way to build a sense of belonging and deaf identity. We are all keen to meet face to face again and we're looking forward to doing that in 2023!