Leader of New South Wales fails to provide Auslan interpreters
In Australia, many deaf people are criticizing the new Premier of New South Wales, Dominic Perrottet, for not providing an Auslan interpreter for some of his most recent press briefings on the Covid-19 pandemic.
The city of Sydney recently ended its lockdown that lasted over 100 days. The Premier attended a bar to mark the end of the lockdown in front of reporters. But there was no Auslan interpreter.
A Deaf Australian named Sherrie Beaver immediately noticed and tweeted criticism on Sunday. She tweeted that a source informed her that Perrottet cancelled Auslan interpreters for all NSW press conferences.
Twitter/@isigniwander: “With Sydney exiting lockdown today, I have noticed there wasn't an Auslan interpreter present at this morning's presser with @Dom_Perrottet - same for the last few days. Source tells me Perrottet cancelled Auslan interpreters for all NSW press conferences.”
“This is very disappointing, as Deaf & hard of hearing people living in Sydney (and rest of NSW) deserve to access COVID-19 information in Auslan, particularly with COVID-19 restrictions changing from today.”
A NSW lawmaker, Kate Washington, who is an advocate for people with disabilities, said the Premier took a backward step by not providing interpreters and that “someone somewhere has decided to axe the Auslan interpreters.”
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The Australian Lawyers for Human Rights wrote an open letter saying not providing crucial health information in Auslan is a violation of the human rights of people with disabilities. The group said it is a violation of Article 21 of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
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A spokesperson for the NSW government said Auslan interpreters would be booked for some, but not all media events in the future as things start to go back to normal. The spokesperson said if there is a representative from NSW Health, there would be an Auslan interpreter provided.
Timeout.com reported that Perrottet’s predecessor, Gladys Berejiklian, had regularly provided Auslan interpreters for her press briefings.
The leader of the organization Deaf Australia told SBS News that there is also a lack of Auslan interpreters for Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s press conferences – with only six out of about 50 press conferences providing interpreters.
The interpreter controversy has some parallels with deaf people in the U.K. criticizing their government leaders for not providing interpreters for Covid-19 briefings and here in the U.S. when former President Donald Trump did not provide interpreters during the beginning of the pandemic. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also refused to provide in-frame interpreters for his Covid-19 broadcasts on television. In all of the above instances, it took court action before interpreters were provided.