Dual Sensory Impairment Project
Capturing the hidden epidemic
Dual Sensory Impairment Project
Capturing the hidden epidemic
By Wilma Brass I often say; your body is the biggest thief you’ll ever meet! Or: The human body; wonderful design, LOUSY manufacture!!! Being born with a ‘stable’ disability, or getting disabled at a very young age, is one thing. It’s unfair, but from then on, you learn the tricks and skills you need to function to the best of …
DAY TWO PROGRAM Friday 28th November 2025 8:00am Registrations open at Susan Wakil Building, University of Sydney, Camperdown Campus 8:30am Acknowledgement of Country and Welcome to the Conference Day 2 Empowering Access: Technology and Inclusion Through a Deafblind Lens Presentation and live demonstration from the National Relay Service Introduction to Social-Haptic Communication 11:10am Morning tea break 11:30am Morning Workshops – …
Alarming thought for the day for a conference organiser: it is around three weeks until the big, beautiful conference co-convened by the University of Sydney and Macquarie University. But it is good news for conference attendees as the final program is released. Today we will share the day one program which is a combination of presentations, performances and ice cream (yes, …
On the 1st of November, Annmaree from the Dual Sensory Impairment project went to Perth to give a talk on grief and sensory loss. Part of this talk was centred around how to cope in a healthy way with bad days. We all experience grief, sadness, distress, anxiety, worry and more. One of our colleagues calls it BDBD: bad deafblind …
THIS WEEK’S REMINDERS Accessibility Travel Subsidies We will be sending out more information about the conference in the coming weeks, including the program, requests for further information, and workshop registrations, so please keep an eye on your emails. PRESENTER PROFILE Dr. Tara Brown-Ogilvie Dr. Tara Brown-Ogilvie (she/her) has over 14 years of experience in the DeafBlind community, working in roles such as …
The University of Sydney hosted an event on Monday, 8th September. We invited Professor Tom Shakespeare from the UK via Zoom to address the state of affairs in disability thinking and experience engaging us today. Tom is a renowned social scientist and a Professor of Disability Research at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He has published over a …
Like Charles Kingsford Smith, Billie Sinclair came into the world of flying at its glorious dawn. On October 3rd, 1932, fourteen-year-old Billie – the only deaf and blind child among students from the NSW Institute for Deaf, Dumb and Blind Children – receives a joy flight from the famous aviator. Strapped to a board in Smithy’s Fokker trimotor, the Southern …
Thursday 27th November, Friday 28th November 2025 REGISTER: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/national-deafblind-conference-tickets-1459528391709 This two-day, lived experience-led conference is a collaboration between the University of Sydney and Macquarie University. It is directly informed by the insights of people living with combined sight and hearing loss, gathered through the 2024 survey on community needs and wants, as well as by input from professionals, practitioners, and organisations …
This has been a big week: with a council cleanup, an occupational therapist home visit, the moving around of objects and furnishings alongside the purchase of items to make life easier or safer (or both). It therefore seems timely to write about home modifications. In my experience, very, very few professionals and organisations have experience in the complexities and challenges …
Annmaree Watharow, Susannah McNally, Skye Wallace and Amanda Francis Annmaree, Amanda and Skye from the Dual Sensory Impairment Project travelled to Helsinki for the Nordic Network for Disability Research conference held at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Annmaree, assisted by Amanda (social-haptic communication) and Skye (driving the tech devices and communication), presented on one aspect of the survey we …