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GRAEME Innes understands why Sharon Duchesneau and
Candy McCullough ``designed in'' their babies'
deafness so they would be just like them.
Innes is not deaf -- although he is blind -- but the
deputy disability discrimination commissioner with
the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
knows only too well the frustration the deaf
community has with the wider public.
``The deaf community [sees] their deafness not as a
disability but as a culture. These women are
choosing to bring their children up in the same
culture as themselves.''
He argues that it is just like two Italian parents
who arrive in Australia and do not speak English and
choose not to teach their children English.
``The problem with this whole debate is that it does
not regard Auslan, the deaf sign language, as a
language.''
Innes says deaf people communicate in a way
different to everyone else, thus isolating them from
the wider community. People with other disabilities
are still able to communicate and so don't
experience isolation to the extent the deaf
community does, he says.
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