ACT Deafness Resource Centre
By Lynne Clay
What’s that you say? Freemason welcomes the opportunity to present this article which has particular relevance to our brethren in the ACT and surrounding areas. We see evidence of hearing loss in many lodges so perhaps the ACT Deafness Resource Centre can help your lodge and your brethren.
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early 2.5 billion people worldwide – or one in four people – will be living with some degree of hearing loss by 2050, warns the World Health Organization’s first World Report on Hearing, released in 2021. The WHO report highlighted the increasing number of people living with and at risk of hearing loss.
Hearing loss is on the increase in Australia. This increase is largely due to an ageing population but increasing exposure to dangerous levels of leisure noise by younger Australians is another contributing factor. Independently funded by a Federal grant via the NDIS, the ACT Deafness Resource Centre (DRC) offers Hearing Awareness Presentations to community groups and organisations aimed at creating more awareness and information about resources available to people with hearing impairment issues. Just one of many valuable services offered to residents of the ACT and surrounding regions of southern and south-west New South Wales, these
www.masons.org.au
Presentations are designed to provide advice and guidance to help manage the effects of hearing loss on everyday life.
R Social situations – how to make it easier for those with a hearing impairment
Presentations can be tailored to an organisation’s specific requirements and can include topics such as: R Hearing Loss – how does it occur, statistics etc R Hearing Devices and how they work – hearing aids, cochlear implants R How to better communicate with someone with a hearing impairment
R Assistive Technology R And more… ‘The DRC team travels to towns and cities throughout the ACT and beyond – for example, Goulburn, Cooma, Merimbula, and even Wollongong,’ said the CEO, Glenn Vermeulen. ‘These presentations are free of charge to community and not for profit groups and can be delivered on site ... we are flexible regarding the time of presenting, including evenings etc.’ ‘The amount of content you might want will determine how long they can go for – alternatively we can design them to fit into a particular timeframe,’ he added. If you feel your masonic brethren could benefit from organising a DRC presentation at a forthcoming lodge meeting, contact the DRC by email at glenn.vermeulen@actdrc.org.au, by phone on 02 6287 4393 (mobile: 0400 201 852) or visit the DRC website at www.actdrc.org.au.
March 2022
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