00:00My name is Goka Ritsuko. I am a speaker of言語聴覚師.
00:04I learned that the support of the early-generation children and family are not the first-generation of the children's parents.
00:16The Shepherd Centre is a national non-for-profit that developed a holistic care program for deaf children.
00:21The Centre's CEO, Dr. Alicia Davis, said being able to successfully implement the model in Tasmania,
00:27convinced Japanese professionals that it could be done in Japan.
00:31The model prioritises early intervention, providing support across multiple specialists,
00:36empowering parents through education to help their child's development, and building community between families.
00:42Dr. Davis said hearing disabilities were the most common form of disability, with one in 300 people diagnosed.
00:48The Shepherd Centre will begin implementing their care model in Japan in August 2025
00:54and has support from both the Australian and Japanese governments.
00:58As a parent of a child with profound hearing loss diagnosed at birth, I'm very happy and thankful to see now,
01:07she's 16 years old, bilateral cochlear implants, bilingual, speaks English and Japanese,
01:14and just recently gave a speech saying that she felt like a normal hearing person in the world and didn't see anything all that special about the implants that she wears,
01:28aside from the fact that she needs to have them on all the time.
01:32So, although it was a lot of work and a lot of effort, we're very happy to see that that technology has enabled her to achieve what she has,
01:44and at the same time, we feel like that should be something that's available to every parent, every child.
01:51The team and I are proud to bring the Shepherd Centre's world-class care to children with hearing loss here in Shizuoka,
02:02and one day, all of Japan.
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