WHEN EMERGENCIES HAPPEN: DEAF ACCESS MATTERS
Chelle Destefano with students from the Victorian College for the Deaf and Sunshine College
What does it mean to experience an emergency as a Deaf person?
While systems are in place to sound alarms to alert everyone during emergencies, are they truly inclusive? What if you’re Deaf? Chelle Destefano collaborated with students from the Victorian College for the Deaf and Sunshine College to explore Deaf perspectives on emergencies. Together, they developed the narrative, storyboarded, and created puppets embedded with circuits and flashing lights to express their views. Flashing lights serve as an accessible alternative to sirens and the repeated use of the Auslan sign for "adapt" serves as a powerful reminder of the need for systems and environments to evolve for greater accessibility. This work is intentionally not entirely subtitled.
How might technology reshape who feels safe in a crisis?
BIOGRAPHY
Chelle Destefano is a multi-medium and multi-disciplinary Deaf woman artist working in drawing, printmaking, painting, performance art, textiles, sculpture, installation and mixed media. She explores culture and identity including her Deaf culture and other forms of critical subjects surrounding identity and the environment, and her relationship with time and space.
With special thanks to Expression Australia and the students from the Victorian College for the Deaf and Sunshine College.
Photography credit: Phoebe Powell