THANK YOU!!
Well, it’s the week after the most amazing conference ever! (one of them anyway) Thank you so much for joining us, in-person or online.
We had two incredible days, with three hundred days to prepare, over two hundred attendees, fifty speakers, facilitators and chairs, thirty volunteers and helpers, twelve flavours of ice cream, ten spaces, three international presenters, two universities and one amazing Helping Hand inaugural award recipient (Janne Bidenko, see photo below). The program was jam packed with high-impact content and creative performances. Central to all this was the lived experience of dual sensory impairment-deafblindness, sharing and shaping knowledge.
We learned that Paola Murray and Michelle Stevens are tech experts, Dizzy Bility can bring down the house, Stephen Hallinan showed how community can help themselves and others, Jennifer Weir told us how society could do better by older people, Emily Shepard, Jamie Bennett and Madelene Rich showed us parent and carer perspectives, while Hannah McPierzie had multiple lenses, as researcher, Palliative care project leader and as a patient receiving a cutting edge brain stem implant. Yunie Rahmat demonstrated how the Indonesian deafblind people are resilient and remarkable in the face of limited resources. Rodney Adams and Haley Martin led a choir of attendees through Indigenous Sign Language and Blak Auslan. Jex Truran-Lakaev not only presented but was co-master of ceremonies. And Gail Box once worked for NASA. Top that anyone?!
Our presenters from overseas laid out best practice pathways for the future (Federal government funding please listen!!) with Peter Simcock demonstrating how upskilling the support workforce with university credentials yields benefits for all. Walter Wittich walked us through the new deafblind core sets (and speech to text kept calling these corsets as though this was a lingerie catalogue!) He showed how the sets were developed with lived experience, researchers, professionals and practitioners working together, and can be used in rehabilitation and research. Tara Brown-Ogilvy touched us, literally and figuratively, demonstrating the importance of social-haptic communication (or touch messaging), and how it can support many of us with fewer communication breakdowns. Tara also described the Confident Living Program for older adults living with dual sensory impairment, and how this improves quality of life with a weeklong sleepover at the Helen Keller National Centre in Long Island New York.
Thank you so so much to our incredible interpreters, led by Rosemary Profilio, who had a hilarious AUSLAN-off with Dizzy Bility to Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On, which finished conference proceedings perfectly! (See photo below)
IMPORTANT – FEEDBACK!
Please complete the evaluation forms for the conference. We’d love to hear both what you enjoyed, and if you have any constructive feedback for next time: https://redcap.mq.edu.au/surveys/?s=7RHYYNWCKDHRRFA8
Research workshop 1 game if you attended this: https://redcap.mq.edu.au/surveys/?s=C8WTK3XXE9C8XTPK
If you need a word document version of either of these, please email: conference@dsiporject.org
We want to do better, and all feedback helps shape future events. Let us know what you would like to see in the future. You can also just email us on the conference email with your thoughts if you prefer!
LINKS
Email: conference2025@dsiproject.org
E-book: Conference eBook – Filling in the gaps and joining the dots 2025.docx
PHOTOS
The photo to the right shows the Julie Wu lecture theatre. Dizzy Bility, a drag queen, is performing My Heart Will Go On in AUSLAN on the left. Rosemary, the interpreter, is on the right.
| The photo on the left shows Janne Bidenko, the inaugural Helping Hand award recipient, on the furthest left of the photo. In one hand, she is holding a painting of the AUSLAN sign for ‘friend’ and in the other hand she is holding the 3D printed award which is orange, black, white and yellow. Also in the photo from left to right is Justine Lorenz, Gail Box and Annmaree Watharow. |
The photo on the left shows Dizzy in her full glory, curled blonde hair, false eyelashes, blue eyeshadow, sparkly pink lipstick. Wearing a diamond necklace and short pink dress with multi-coloured hearts and rainbows on it, lip syncing to Beyonce.
The above photo, left to right is of Conference co-convenor Dr Diana Tang from Macquarie University, Janne Bidenko – Helping Hand award recipient, Gail Box – president of Deaf Blind Association NSW, and conference Co-convenor Dr Annmaree Watharow.