How would you go about teaching someone who couldn’t see or couldn’t hear?
For teacher Claire Tellefson it was that challenge that drew her to a career in deaf blind education.
The National Digital Literacy Co-Ordinator at Able Australia has just been awarded the David Blyth Award by Blind Citizens Australia.
This week she sat down with Peter Greco on Vision Australia Radio’s Talking Vision to talk about her rewarding career.
Proficient in both braille and Auslan (Australian sign language), Claire found the biggest tool in her teaching arsenal actually came from simple technology.
“The deaf blind community felt profoundly isolated and computers just opened up their whole world,” she told Talking Vision.
The invention of refreshable braille devices were the accessibility key they needed.
Photo: A refreshable braille machine.
“For deaf blind people who have no remaining vision, it’s the only access to information,” she said.
Digital literacy became her main aim, and as technology changed, she was there connecting people to the digital world.
The community became early adopters of technology because it allowed them to join local and international communities as social media became more mainstream.
“Facebook was a massive game changer for this group, because they had a lot of trouble just getting contacts,” Claire said.
“To just get people to give them their email addresses or their phone numbers because they didn’t have those social opportunities.
“With Facebook they could really reconnect with their school friends and their extended families.”
The tactile nature of braille also meant many could send and receive text messages – all done in a speed many sighted people take for granted.
Listen to Claire’s full interview in the player below:
Talking Vision is a weekly discussion of issues relating to blindness and low vision.
It includes stories of inspiration and achievement and information on services for the community.
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