Federal and state governments will respond to the Disability Royal Commission’s recommendations to improve interpreter pathways and workforce shortages after March 31.
But 20 years later, Ms Green, who now works as an Auslan teacher aide in schools, said she was shocked when she returned to her hometown to live."In Brisbane, there's a huge Deaf community … there's already those relationships between the deaf and the hearing, a lot more access to interpreters and deaf education," she said.
If Ms Cranston is sick or unavailable, the Deaf community relies on family or friends to interpret, or a virtual video service, which can glitch, or drop out from poor internet reception. "In some situations it can be deadly, especially if it is the wrong medication or dosage information being told, or misunderstanding over some health or personal issue."National shortageChief impact officer Brent Phillips said there was a national shortage of interpreters, but the issue was worse in regional and rural locations.
The Australian government's Disability Royal Commission report, released last year, recommended federal and state governments develop a workforce strategy to increase the number of skilled Auslan interpreters. "I moved to Rocky about 20 years ago and … there's more things to do, it's starting to become a bit more accessible and starting to change with the times which is great, that's what I love about this area," Ms Robertson said.