I am a social worker, writer and public policy adviser with 30 years experience in Australia and the United Kingdom.
My essay about my deaf girlhood, I Hear with my Eyes, was published by Griffith Review in 2006 and republished by ABC Books in 2007 in A Revealed Life: Australian Writers and Their Journeys in Memoir.
I am currently undertaking a PhD in Creative Writing; my work in progress is The Art of Being Deaf.
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I was born in Brisbane, Australia in 1955. When I was three years old, I was diagnosed as deaf (‘moderate-severe, sloping to profound; unknown aetiology’) and attended the Yeronga Oral Deaf Pre-School and the Gladstone Road Deaf School at Dutton Park for the first five years of my education, before going on to All Hallows School in 1963 until 1972.
I won a Commonwealth University Scholarship and a Waterside Workers’ Bursary, and graduated from the University of Queensland in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts (majoring in English Literature and History). In 1976, I joined the Australian Public Service Inspector’s Office in Brisbane as a recruitment officer and began my part-time studies in social work before moving to Canberra as an Assistant Research Officer with the Commonwealth Government. I returned to Brisbane to complete my social work studies, graduating in 1982.
My 30 year career as a social worker, social policy officer and senior policy manager—in disability, health, housing and arts—has spanned all three levels of government in Australia and also took me to the United Kingdom in 2003 where I worked for 18 months as a policy manager in Kent County Council’s Strategy Unit. I have also worked for a Federal Parliamentarian as a speech writer and researcher, and for two Queensland Government ministers and the Office of the Cabinet as a policy adviser. I now work as an independent policy adviser and writer.
My publications include my memoir-book, Jack’s Story (1991, Allen & Unwin) in which I tell the story of my motherhood and grief following the sudden infant death of my son, several articles, essays, short stories and poems. My essay about my deaf girlhood, I Hear with my Eyes, was published by Griffith Review in 2006 and republished by ABC Books in 2007 in A Revealed Life: Australian Writers and Their Journeys in Memoir. It has also been reprinted in Link: disability magazine (October 2008 | Volume 17 Issue 4).
I am now writing an extended personal memoir-style essay, The Art of Being Deaf for my PhD in Creative Writing (University of Queensland). My exegesis is Hearsay: how stories of deafness and deaf people are told. My article, Shattering the Hearing Wall, was published in the July 2008 edition of the Journal of Media and Culture, at http://journal.media-culture.org.au/. I have two other journal articles in the pipeline, Sounds of Silence and Not Silent, Invisible, scheduled for publication in the United Kingdom and North America in late 2008-early 2009.
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| In my role as a professional writer, researcher and policy advisor, I: | |
 | facilitate the development of ideas through focus groups, seminars and workshops. | |
write essays, policy & agenda-setting discussion papers. | |
design and write supporting reader-friendly companion papers to more complex, detailed reports. |
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| My particular strengths are that I can: | |
| clarify what has been confused and confusing; | |
amplify what has been overlooked; | |
affirm what has been in doubt; and | |
consolidate what has been shaky or diffuse. |
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These results – clarity of purpose, amplification of detail, affirmation of direction and consolidation of achievements – are essential to our success and wellbeing as individuals, groups and organisations.
Documenting one, some or all of these qualities – depending on the issue at stake - also contributes to our sense of history, purpose and celebration.
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Thinking
I will work with you to explore your ideas by:
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| Clarifying the purpose and ambitions of your ideas. | |
Improving our understanding of the history of your ideas, including the roles and relationships of the people who will either be involved in or influenced by your ideas. | |
Researching and developing ideas for new strategies. |
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Mediating
I will mediate your concerns by:
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| Facilitating meetings, seminars and workshops to explore and test ideas and approaches to entrenched or emerging dilemmas. | |
Reviewing the effectiveness of current responses to issues and dilemmas. | |
Mentoring individuals and groups during this process. |
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Writing
I will advance the progress of your ideas development by:
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| Writing think-pieces, discussion papers and position papers on new and emerging issues. | |
Capturing the results of your consultative processes in the most appropriate and effective format. |
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Doing
I will design ways to put your ideas into action by:
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| Identifying actions that are meaningful, achievable and measurable. | |
Identifying potential partners who can contribute to your project's success. |
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