Gabrielle Hill – President
Gabrielle has three beautiful children, two profoundly Deaf sons and an older hearing daughter. Gabrielle says, “We are a signing family. As a family we are bilingual and bicultural with Deafness a celebrated part of life. The fascination of watching my sons’ language unfold inspired me to study linguistics and ultimately to become a teacher. The boys are avid readers and writers. This is my passion - literacy.” Gabrielle is currently enrolled in a Masters of Special Education, studying Deafness and Literacy.
Aileen Ryan - Vice President
Aileen and her family live in Raby, Sydney. She has three sons, one daughter and two grandsons. Her daughter has Down syndrome and was diagnoised with a hearing loss at age 4. Her daughter is in a hearing unit in high school and is dependant on the use of Auslan together with spoken language to be clearly understood. Aileen works with parents and professionals involved with children/adults with speech and/or developmental delay teaching and presenting talks on " key word signing". She has written three sign language resource books and been involved with Makaton Australia for many years. Aileen feels very strongly about sign language support for children during their years at school.
Amanda Li – Treasurer
Amanda is the mother of three children. Her 7 year old daughter is Deaf and attends a bilingual Auslan/English school in Sydney’s north west. “I’ve had very little experience with deafness prior to my daughter’s diagnosis, it hasn’t been easy and it has certainly opened my eyes to the state of our education system. I believe that parents are the best advocates for our children and by becoming involved in PCDE, I’d like provide support and information to other parents, and help them achieve their goals for their children.’ Amanda practices as a dentist part time, she has recently completed Certificate IV in Auslan and will go on to further study to become an Auslan Interpreter.
Vicki Cox – Secretary
Vicki is the mother of two girls who were both born profoundly deaf. Both have received cochlear implants and attend a Hearing Support Unit. “Prior to children, I had a career in marketing but the difficulties my two children encountered, inspired me to return to university to complete a Master of Speech and Language Pathology.” Vicki now works a a Speech Pathologist with children who have a range of special needs.
Kate Kennedy - Committee Member
Kate is a Sydney based working parent of three children in primary school, two of whom have a hearing loss. Kate says “I feel strongly about being an informed advocate for my kids. Our family have received a lot of support, information and friendship through various organisations over these last few years and by joining the committee of PCDE I hope to support other parents with practical, unbiased information as we all work towards positive outcomes for our kids.”
Mark Burfield - Committee Member
Mark is a new committee member and the father of three young children. The first was born profoundly deaf in 1999, received a cochlear implant in 2001, and she is currently in a public school Hearing Support class. Mark ’s concern is the maintenance and improvement of services for the hearing impaired in the education system and beyond. He is President of the P&C Association at his daughter’s school, Chairman of the scout group that she attends, and works as a Director and Treasurer of entities in Australia of the “Universal Peace Federation”.
Tracy McGee - Committee Member
Tracy lives at Emerald Beach, north of Coffs Harbour. She has a thirteen year old daughter who is profoundly deaf and communicates using Auslan and Signed English. She is fully mainstreamed in her local primary school. Tracy is actively involved in the Coffs Harbour Deaf Community. |
