Emme

Emme, mid-40s, is a proud Deaf and First Nations woman. Auslan is her main language.

Growing up, Emme wasn’t allowed to sign. She used hearing aids, which didn’t always work, and tried to lip-read. If people didn’t face her and speak slowly she couldn’t understand them.

‘They forced me to be oral by depriving me of food until I said words correctly,’ she told the Royal Commission.

In early primary school, the principal moved Emme to a special needs class because she was so far behind her peers. Emme couldn’t communicate with the Deaf children in the class because she couldn’t sign.

‘I was bullied by the Deaf kids and bullied by the hearing kids.’

Emme struggled to learn in Auslan or English.

‘It was so stressful and tiring to communicate … I had to struggle every day. I didn't want to go to school.’

In high school there were no interpreters. Sometimes a teacher from the primary school interpreted for Emme.

‘He was not a qualified Interpreter and had only a basic level of signed English.’

Emme said she felt ‘angry and frustrated’ and was vulnerable.

At 14, Emme was raped.

Her mother took her to hospital.

‘Throughout the process, my mum had to interpret for me. It meant that my mum was talking to the doctor, and I had no idea what the process was in the hospital. I had to undergo a full physical examination so that the hospital and the police could obtain the forensic evidence. There was no interpreter at that time, only my mother.’

Police took Emme’s statement without interpreters.

‘They wrote questions down. I had no understanding of what they were asking, so I had to try to lip-read. I had to try and answer my questions that way, and through my mother as well … I just signed the statement because my mum said, “Sign.”’

In court, the teacher from Emme’s primary school interpreted for her.

‘An unqualified Interpreter became my only voice.’

There was no conviction. Lawyers told her mother it was because ‘the case was very weak’.

‘I started on drugs and abusing alcohol. I actually became a problem child from that time on because of those rapes.’

Emme started living on the streets.

Once, police arrested her for being drunk and took her to the watch house.

‘The police knew I was Deaf, and that I relied on hearing aids. I asked the police, “Please can you speak slowly so I can understand what you're saying?”’

Police told her they didn’t like her attitude and she had to stay overnight.

‘I had to remove the hearing aids, and my rings, and all personal items, and they put them in a property bag. Then they said, “Follow!” I had to follow, and we had to walk quite a long distance to the cells. I started to panic. I was … really young … I started to scream, and I asked for help.’

Police left Emme in a cell with no hearing aids.

She yelled and yelled. When no-one came she tried to suicide.

Police took her to hospital and released her without charge.

In her 20s, Emme started to access more Auslan and became involved in the Deaf community.

‘I work with the police a lot, and the police never think about their responsibility to provide an interpreter for a Deaf person. The police think it's a Deaf person’s responsibility. Or the police think that writing words down on paper – to communicate with a Deaf person – is good enough. It's not good enough.’

Emme said the courts are still poor at providing access to interpreters.

‘Adequate access to interpreters depends on where you are or where you live,’ she said. ‘Access to independent interpreters should be given to Deaf and hard of hearing people in all circumstances, and lack thereof should be made illegal.’