Communicating overseas with the Goannas – Australian Deaf Basketball Team
Often, we take our ability to communicate for granted. As a native English speaker living in Australia, I expect to walk into any shop or meet any person and be able to communicate easily and effectively. For many of us, the only time we find ourselves unable to communicate is when we are travelling to a different country where English is not the primary language spoken. In these situations, often the other people have some English or we can always rely on pictures!
Over the last eleven years, I have found myself in a situation where this is not the case. Being thrown into a world where signed languages are how most people communicate and where spoken English is sometimes the third or fourth option if it’s an option at all. These situations have been when I have had the privilege of working as medical staff (not as a psychologist) for the Australian Deaf Basketball or Deaflympic teams. Most recently, this was during June this year when I flew to Greece with the Australian Deaf Men’s Basketball team (The Goannas), to support them through the Deaf Basketball World Championships.
When we are away at a tournament, all of a sudden, the world flips. I, as a hearing person, am no longer the majority, I am in the minority, with most of the people surrounding me being deaf. All around me are people communicating in signed languages from around the world, each as different as the spoken languages from around the world.
When I first started with the team, I knew minimal Auslan (Australian Sign Language), I could fingerspell my name, and I knew the sign for pizza and shower. I quickly realised this would not get me far in the world I had found myself in. This drove me to improve my communication skills in every way possible. I thought long and hard about how I communicated in spoken language, working on simplifying the complex terms I used and ensuring those who I was speaking to understood what I was saying. I also spent a year at TAFE learning Auslan, so I did not have to force these athletes to communicate in MY language. I could communicate in THEIR language.
Immersing myself in Auslan and the Deaf community taught me so much. Not only about how we all communicate and Auslan as a language but also about Deaf culture, identity, belonging, and accessibility. For so many people in the Deaf community, Auslan (or their signed language) forms part of their identity. This is how they find the people who truly understand them and the struggles that they go through every day. Being allowed to see inside this community changed how I see language and communication.
Working as a provisional psychologist, being able to communicate effectively is key in everything that I do. From my experiences working with the Goannas, I now understand what kids or adults who do not have the language to communicate go through. That feeling of everyone around you knowing what is happening and you are stuck in the middle with language whirling around you. It is a scary and frustrating experience.
As an adult, I could recognise this, I could learn Auslan, I could use an interpreter, I could write down what I wanted to say, I had many other options to find some way of communicating. The kids I now work with often do not have these options, which means that they are stuck in this scary, frustrating world of language they cannot participate in with no options other than to use behaviour to get them what they want.
I can not thank the Goannas enough for how they have changed the ways I communicate. The ways they have changed me mean that I am better equipped to help the children I work with as a provisional psychologist manage their worlds of whirling language.
The biggest thing that I have learnt from my time working with the team is that all forms of communication are important and everyone should have access to some (if not many) forms of communication. Also, with language comes identity; when you find your language, you find the people who understand you. From this comes growth and lifelong friendships.
For another perspective from one of The Goannas
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