Deaf Australian woman drowns saving her son
An unfortunate incident happened with a Deaf Australian woman on January 17th at Congo Beach in Australia. Leonie Jackson, who just turned 50 twenty-four hours earlier, drowned after rescuing her 10 years old son. People said she was a hero.
PHOTO 1: CREDIT TO NEWCASTLE WEEKLY (Link below)
Here is what happened based on several articles. Leonie went to walk on Congo Beach with her two sons. This beach is in a remote area and is known for dangerous rip tides and huge drops in sand level.
PHOTO 2: CREDIT TO SCIJINKS (link below)
The boys decided to go for a swim. When these two got in the water, the wind and the current shifted directions so Leonie called her two sons back, but her younger son had a hard time swimming out. Leonie dove in the water to help him. The both of them got caught in the rip tide. There was a surfer nearby and a few other people at the beach who got both of them out of the water. The youngest son was okay, but Leonie could not be resuscitated.
The Deaf community in Australia is absolutely devastated. According to The Deaf Society Facebook page, a non-profit organization, Leonie was the first Deaf CEO for The Deaf Society in 2015. Before becoming the CEO of The Deaf Society in 2015, Leonie worked with Ai-Media for 5 years on development and introduction of Ai-Media’s groundbreaking educational products that include Ai-live, Visible Classroom, captioning, etc.
This recent year (2020), Leonie was the Executive Manager and held a few other roles with The Deaf Society. She was one of the pioneers of Deaf Education and bilingual teaching in Australia. She was one of the strongest advocates for the Australia Deaf community.
Not just the Deaf community expressed their grief and tribute, but also hearing people in Australia such as the CEO of Ai-Media Tony Abrahams and Emma Watkins from “The Wiggles”, etc. have expressed as well for the loss of Leonie.
An anonymous friend of Leonie said she was a very friendly person and well liked. She was always dedicated to the Deaf community.
PHOTO 3: CREDIT TO DAILY MAIL BUT THEY FOUND THIS FROM LEONIE”S FB (link is the 1st article)
It is evident that Leonie was a wonderful person and advocate. We, the Daily Moth, send Leonie’s family, friends, and the Australian Deaf community our thoughts during this time.
Photo 1 credit: https://newcastleweekly.com.au/face-masks-a-new-challenge-for-deaf-community/
Photo 2 credit: https://scijinks.gov/rip-currents/
Photo 3 credit: (link is below)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9161633/Tributes-flow-mother-Leonie-Jackson-died-trying-save-son-Congo-Beach-NSW.html
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/she-is-a-hero-mother-drowns-saving-her-son-on-nsw-beach-20210119-p56v8t.html
https://7news.com.au/news/disaster-and-emergency/congo-beach-drowning-victim-is-identified-as-leonie-jackson-as-friends-and-colleagues-pay-tribute-c-1986329?fbclid=IwAR3GA2ECY8gILIHrizmqeQSqzojgILYvYirQLSqeirSM6SQmuECHvw8Mjgg
https://investorrelations.ai-media.tv/FormBuilder/_Resource/_module/mrqjYcygOECjoe_EOH9sjg/docs/media/20150506-Ai-Media's%20Leonie%20Jackson%20to%20Head%20Deaf%20Society.pdf