Oliver Lees
Victorian State Emergency Service (SES) volunteer Shanleigh Meldrum wants to see the emergency sector become more accessible for people with disabilities.
Ms Meldrum’s role as a dual responder with the SES Bendigo and Gisborne Units is heavily involved in community engagement, as she is the section leader for events and presentations at Gisborne.
And as someone that is hard-of-hearing, she knows first hand that there are ways in which the emergency sector could achieve greater universal accessibility.
Speaking at an online forum for International Day for People with Disability, Ms Meldrum said the public health restrictions of the past 18 months had thrown up further challenges of accessibility.
“I grew up hard-of-hearing, but I’ve probably never felt as deaf as I have through this pandemic. And I know that’s the same for a lot of hard-of-hearing people,” she said.
“As a deaf person myself, I always have to adapt the way I communicate. But if another person is wearing a mask, I can’t communicate, and if they’re not willing to pull it down, how do you deal with that?
“There are instances where I just don’t talk, because if I do, people will assume I can hear. It’s definitely affecting people more than it did previously.”
Ms Meldrum said basic emergency technology such as phone apps are often lacking the necessary resources to be used by everyone.
But Ms Meldrum said she has also been encouraged by her peers’ willingness to meet her halfway.
In 2019, when her hearing deteriorated rapidly, Ms Meldrum and her unit controller Mike Bagnall organised to have the unit complete four weeks of deaf awareness and Auslan training.
“Mike’s feeling that it was not me who needed to change, but rather that ‘we need to change for you’ really stuck with me, and everyone has benefited,” Ms Meldrum said.
“The unit undertaking Deaf Awareness training and basic Auslan was a huge benefit to me; communicating with me is second nature to them now. They know how to approach me, get my attention and communicate with me really well.”
