WHAT ARE VCOD'S AIMS?

To lobby government departments and other organisations

for change and improvement in areas such as:

Recognition and acceptance of Deaf peoples' preferred methods of communication;

Appropriate awareness and acceptance of Deaf people in education and employment.

To strive for representation of Deaf people at government, business, community decision-making and program planning levels.

To promote community acceptance and awareness of Deaf culture and Deaf sign language (AUSLAN).

To advocate for the rights of the Deaf community


EXAMPLES OF ADVOCACY

VCOD assists Deaf individuals, Deaf organisations, parents and the Victorian (and Australian) Deaf community by advocating on their behalf on a range of issues.

VCOD works with government (Federal, State or Local), business and education services, community organisations and others to help improve access to services and increase the communities understanding of Deaf people.

One example has been networking with the National Working Party on Captioning - Victoria in lobbying for captioned news. After intense local and national efforts, captioning is now available on all channels between 6pm and 10 30pm seven days a week.

In relation to services to rural areas, VCOD was involved in consultation with the government about the development of services for deaf people in country areas. As a result of this consultation with other major Deaf service provided, Info Workers for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people were set up.

Other examples of VCOD's advocacy work are:-

* Legislation (smoke detectors)

* Emergency services (Intergraph)

* Employment

* School to work transition

* Interpreter services

* Education [incl. tertiary)

* Telecommunications - phone, internet, etc.

* TV captioning

* Local council services

* Deafblind support

* Country services

* Human Rights Commission

* Law services

* Senior Citizen services

* Audiology - Australian Hearing Services

* Transport

* Youth