My Story, Growing up Deaf - Imogen

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hi, my name is Imogen, and I will be turning 17 this year. I am currently in year 11 where I am undertaking VCE. When I finish school, I am thinking I would like to study Physiotherapy however, I am keeping my options open.

Some of my recent accomplishments include: -

• Being selected for the Australian Deaf Swimming team and having the opportunity to travel to Argentina to swim at the 6th World Deaf Games in Buenos Aires last year in August 2023.This was an amazing experience not only swimming at an international level but also meeting lots of other young deaf athletes from around the world.I had such a fun time 😊
• Obtaining my Learners – and trying to get lots of driving practice.
• National Age Swimming Times- I have qualified for all 3 breaststroke events (50,100,200) for my age and I will be going to the Gold Coast to compete next month.
• I have enrolled to do my swim teacher’s course. I hope that I can find sometime between school and swimming training to work part-time as a swim teacher.

When I am not swimming or at school I enjoy catching up with friends and catching up on sleep.

Do you identify as Deaf or Hard of Hearing? Tell us about your diagnosis?

I identify as being deaf. I have a profound bilateral hearing loss.

If and what age were you fitted with a hearing aid or cochlear implant and what was that like?

I have cochlear implants. I received my first implant when I was 2 years of age and my second implant when I was 5 years of age. I have found that my first implant has been wonderful as it has given me access to spoken language and the hearing world. However, I never really took to my second implant and therefore I do not wear it regularly.

Are you oral and if so, what is your experience like learning a spoken language?

I am bilingual though I mainly use spoken language as I am the only person in my family that is deaf.I attend a mainstream school and most of my friends are hearing.

...it annoys me if I have missed conversations and I ask what was said, and I'm told not to worry about it....(and) people giving me condescending comments after they find out I'm deaf, and then treating you childish.

Imogen on interacting with friends.

Do you use Auslan or lipread, what age did you begin learning?

My first language was Auslan.Even though I was born deaf I wasn’t diagnosed with a hearing loss until I was 17 months of age. My parents then commenced Early Intervention and my family started learning Auslan. When I was 3 years of age, I attended Aurora School, and I attended the Early Education bilingual program. I attended Aurora school for 3 years doing 3-year-old kindergarten 4-year-old kindergarten and Foundation/Preps.After finishing at Aurora, I attended a mainstream Primary school that did Auslan as their LOTE. I also had a lovely support person at primary school who was studying and completed her Auslan Interpreting course during my primary years whilst she was supporting me. When I was in grade 6, I had 2 friends that had left the school and I decided at this time that I would like to make a move as I wanted to develop my Auslan. So, I left my primary school and attended the Victorian College of the Deaf (VCD). I had so much fun at VCD, and not only did I develop my Auslan I also had to become more independent. VCD is a long way from my home so for me to attend I had to catch a train from my house into the city and then another train from the city to Prahan. From here I walked. To school my mum travelled in with me on the first few days and my dad met me after school on the first few days to do the return trip. From then on, I was making my own way to and from primary school.

I had planned to study VCE Auslan however, unfortunately my family couldn’t find a school in Victoria that would take on external students to study VCE Auslan ☹

How do you communicate within your family and friends?

I talk to my friends and family.If I am not wearing my cochlear implant, then my family will need to sign to me, messaging and lip reading.

Tell us about going to school - what is that like? Do you have any help/ or assistance in the classroom?

At secondary school I have a Visiting Teacher who visits me once a week. My school is always asking me how they can support more in the classroom however, I don’t feel that I need extra support. If I don’t understand or if I need extra help, then I will talk or message my teachers directly. I have applied for special consideration for VCE, and Ihave been approved for having some extra time as well as a quiet room to complete my exams. School is ok! I do need to become better at time management as I have a lot of work to keep up with and I am doing an early 3&4 Biology subject.I have good teachers this year and a friend in each of my subjects. My closer friends are swimming friends and friends I have met outside of school.

What hobbies do you have? Did you play a sport- tell us about it?

I love animals, catching up with friends, sleeping and Snapchat. I am a competitive swimmer and I train up to 9 sessions a week including early morning and afternoon.As well as train I compete a lot over the weekend. Being a deaf athlete I have a classification - S15 – my classification enables me to swim in both multi class as well as my age so long as I have qualifying times.

Can you think of a situation when you had to overcome some obstacles because people didn’t realise you are DHH? Either at school, in public, at work or playing sport?

When I am swimming in competitions, I do not wear my cochlear implants. This is an obstacle for me in swimming meets as I cannot hear, and I rely on the starter light. Thank-fully at main events I can request an individual block starter light.In Melbourne, I always prefer to swim at MSAC as I can request a block starter light. It isn’t perfect as I must be in position waiting for the light whereas my competitors have more time, and they know when the race is about to start. Sometimes the light is forgotten, and I must be persistent with waving my hand and waiting for official to work out why I am not getting up on the block.

In regard to friendships, it annoys me if I have missed conversations and I ask “what was said” and I am told “don’t worry about it”. I often experience FOMO (fear of missing out) as I don’t always know what has been said in conversations. What annoys me is people giving condescending comments after they find out I am deaf and then treating you childish.

Tell us about some of your dreams and future ambitions.

My current goal is to get a World Trial Time for swimming.It is a very ambitious goal but that is what I am aiming for.

I would also like to be selected for the Deaflympics which will be in Tokyo Japan in 2025 which will be so exciting!

Before the Deaflympics I would like to learn some international sign language.

What key message would you give parents who are starting out their journey with a deaf/hard of hearing child?

You might feel like there is a lot of unknowns and lots of appointments, and more obstacles, however treat your child the same as their siblings, as their personalities become more individualised this will help you as a parent. Provide your child with lots of language and communication options .Be open to meeting lots of deaf people and other parents of deaf children.

I am so glad that my parents choose a bilingual path for me even though it isn’t always easy with accessing Auslan. I wish my parents and family were more fluent in Auslan even though I have good spoken language.

As you know, DCA have developed Puggles Swim to upskill swim instructors with skills to include a DHH child in their swim class. What is your opinion about Puggles Swim? Being a swimmer yourself, can you give us an example on what it was like for you?

Puggles is a fabulous tool to help young children learn to swim with swim teachers learning some Auslan signs and having some visuals. I was very lucky when I was young as I had 2 teachers that could communicate with me in Auslan. One of my teachers when I was 3 was a Teacher of the Deaf and my other swim teacher during primary school was a CODA (Child of Deaf Adult). Hopefully lots of swim teachers can be upskilled with puggles and more deaf children will have fun learning to swim. Hopefully more deaf children will swim competitively.I was fortunate enough to attend the opening of the puggles program.I also had fun being one of the people doing Auslan swimming signs for the puggles training. Maybe when I am working as a part time swim teacher ,I can learn more about Puggles Swim.

What is your favourite inspirational quote and why? (it could be your own motto you live be each day).

“ If your trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I’ve had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” - Michael Jordan