00:00Marking this year's International Week of Deaf People on the Bowling Green in Darwin.
00:07It's a chance for the Territories deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing to feel included.
00:15Nicole Davis didn't meet another deaf person until she was 12 years old.
00:20And that was her first exposure to the unique language of deaf Australians, Auslan.
00:26Nicole now works for Deaf Connect, Australia's largest deaf service provider, where she teaches others to sign.
00:34There's still not enough awareness about needing to provide interpreters for deaf people,
00:40and we really need to keep advocating for that access and for our rights.
00:47Auslan is 13-year-old Sophie Waldron's first language, English her second.
00:54She's been signing most of her life and uses it regularly at her school's deaf club.
01:00And this week there are hearing students who've come to our club to learn sign language.
01:06We have a special table set up.
01:09I feel more calm and connected and I just feel like I can engage more with people.
01:16Sometimes it is difficult to understand people when they're just speaking English.
01:20This event coincides with International Day of Sign Languages.
01:25And Darwin mum, Divya Prashad, knows three of them.
01:29Indian, American and Australian. All distinct.
01:34Moving to Australia helped her find her place.
01:37I felt so included and having access to the community here and the support has been wonderful.
01:43And I've realised that before that, before my life here in Darwin, there just wasn't the awareness of deaf community in my life.
01:54And now I feel like everything's improved here because of this.
01:58Here on the Bowling Green and further afield, deaf spaces help foster a sense of connection and belonging in the hearing world.
02:05Thank you so much for sharing.
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