Tassie Families of Deaf Kids Camp

My name is Shannon Fox.  I am a mother to two beautiful daughters and am lucky enough to live in the gorgeous state of Tasmania, Australia.  I have started this page with one goal - to fundraise to help with the costs of hosting a Family Camp for Tasmanian Families of Deaf and Hearing Impaired Children.

My eldest daughter Olivia, now 10, was diagnosed with hearing loss at 3 years old.  

She had been growing and developing normally though her speech was not and we thought she was just a bit dreamy as she seemed to ignore us sometimes.  Our child health clinic arranged an appointment with Australian Hearing and the diagnosis was given - your child has moderate to severe hearing loss. 


Basically for Olivia, without her hearing aids it means that its as if your tv was on in a different part of the house and all the doors were shut, you could still hear sound, but not the words.


The diagnosis of hearing loss for children affects all parents differently, some are shocked, some grieve, most if not all are surprised.  90% of all children with any level of hearing loss from mild to profound are born to hearing parents.  Their deaf child is often the first deaf person they've met.  How we as families experience being parents, siblings, grandparents of a deaf child and the deaf child themselves experience deafness can vary depending on the hearing loss, access to services, access to mentors, access to information, and unfortunately the personal opinions of the person giving the information.  Parents of deaf and hearing impaired children all want the same thing for their children - the best they can offer to grow gorgeous resilient kids.

Deafness as a disability is isolating, and due to the unknown it presents to hearing parents, can be isolating for families too.  Often deaf children may be the only deaf or hearing impaired person in their class, their school or their community.  The only people they've ever seen wear hearing aids are seniors. 

I am fundraising to allow Tasmanian Families to come together as parents, siblings, deaf children, teens, and young adults to have fun, socialise and make new friends, meet a mentor and to talk about the experience of being a deaf or hearing impaired person, and about parenting a deaf or hearing impaired child or teenager.

I'm not an expert.  I'm just a mum with one experience of parenting a deaf child.  What I do know is that getting together and making new friends, accessing information, developing a supportive and social community has been essential to offering both of my daughters the best opportunities I can. 

The idea for a family camp in Tasmania came after I struggled to find any type of community or parent group for families of deaf children in Tasmania.  My family and I took a weekend trip to Melbourne to attend a camp and from the very start we were welcomed.  My daughter had never seen so many children with hearing aids and cochlear implants in one room - she was finally in the majority.  My youngest daughter found some fine friends to play with too and the girls father and I got to relax and have a cuppa with other parents and volunteers.  The best part of the whole camp had to be the panel evening in which four young adult deaf with varying degrees of loss talked of their experiences growing up deaf.  Finally, articulation of some of what my child is experiencing.  We've been to the mainland twice now for camps, and once for a deaf festival.

I am trying to raise as much as I can to offset the costs of such an event.  We're trying to do this on a shoe string - self-catering, bunk style accomodation, we'll wash the dishes ourselves!  The important part is joining together with other Tasmanian Families of Deaf to start a network of support - people who can share information, share a laugh, and share experiences.  I sincerely hope that you will support us in our goal.