DEAF HEAL'F (TO HEAL F riends) with Greetings from Deaf Health (ABN: 27 742 384 241) ORGANISATIONAL OVERVIEW We write to you in the capacity of regional Volunteer Deaf Consultants on behalf of our community based group Deaf Heal’f the fair go Deaf Organisation for Macarthur. . Deaf Heal’f is a community group for Deaf men and Deaf women of all ages meeting fortnightly. The group was established in late 2005, managed and facilitated by Deaf people of the Campbelltown region. The group operates voluntarily and to date unfunded by two trained and accredited Bi-lingual Deaf Community Workers at Eaglevale Central Leisure Centre.

Our organisations linguistically appropriate service, works intensely with Deaf and Hearing-impaired clients who wish to access community service support equitably as constituents of the Macarthur, Camden, Wollondilly and Wingecarribee Regions. We are the only linguistically appropriate Deaf service that work with Deaf clients who are members of the Cultural Deaf Community, a nationally recognised CALD group since 1988. Our clients are Auslan Language Users *(Australian Sign language of the Deaf) and are immensely disadvantaged in the generalist community in accessing appropriate services in the cultural language, Auslan, to enable them to communicate with generic service providers and their staff. Hence, I write to you to share our commitment to ensure that client’s access services equitably in the general community.

Current lack of coordination and linkages between services and agencies experienced by our constituents marginalise and isolate diverse communities. Our service empowers Deaf people to address these issues and create better community links with services. Our Deaf and hearing impaired people of the region experience marginalisation, social and cultural isolation, lack of interpreting services, limited access to various services, and restricted telecommunication access to services. Of course these factors have a significant impact on the care and standard of all services that they may try to access. This service will alleviate some of these margins and have long term benefits for the community.

Historically our group report a life time lack of confidence in generic health, safety, confidence and education services, as a result of linguistic boundaries in place restricting access to these services and many others s. Our service is benefiting our groups /individual independence, confidence and capacity to use the Health, recreation and relaxation services at Eaglevale Central AND in partnership with other generic and private organizations within the region It will profess any organization that supports Deaf Heal’f in the belief of access and equity increasing our group’s inclusion in the wider community as well as visibility reducing isolation of a marginalized people.

We look forward to working with other organisations in the region to create strong foundations to/with our Deaf and hearing impaired people to access Culturally and Linguistically CALD appropriate health, safety, health education, physical health, Deaf Specific Training and Community Development Support Services . Lorraine Mulley - Linda Wilson
Volunteer Deaf Health Consultants Deaf Heal’f – Eaglevale Central (" Deaf Business – The Business of Deaf ") Cnr Emerald drive & Feldspar Rd Eaglevale NSW