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Media ArticleDeaf People in South Australia to be disenfranchisedMedia Release - 9 February 2007At a special general meeting called for 5.00pm today at DeafSA (previously the Royal South Australian Deaf Society, a motion to change the Society’s Constitution will mean that Deaf people can no longer be members of DeafSA and will no longer have any vote in what DeafSA does. Generations of Deaf people have been actively involved in the running of their Deaf Society and have served on the Society’s board. The current constitution guarantees Deaf people a minimum of 4 places on the board. It is proposed that all of this be thrown out at tonight's meeting and that Deaf people no longer have a guaranteed position on the board or any right even to be a member of the Society. The key changes propose that: "The existing clause 4 [ie membership] to become clause 5 and the current wording deleted to be replaced with the following:
The South Australian Deaf community is being reassured that this is not a takeover by Townsend House or a merger with Townsend House, it is only an "integration" with Townsend House. It has also emerged that many Deaf members of DeafSA did not receive a membership renewal notice last year when they should have done, so they did not realize they needed to renew their membership. This means that the number of Deaf people eligible to vote at tonight's meeting is much smaller than it would have been if they had received a membership renewal reminder. The Deaf community is being reassured that they will be invited to join reference groups to oversee the services provided by DeafSA. But reference groups have no power, the people on them have no vote. Australian Association of the Deaf (AAD) is seriously alarmed at these events. Whatever the reasons for the "integration" with Townsend House, there is no call to prevent Deaf people from being members of the organisation that serves their needs. AAD calls on all those involved in tonight’s meeting to vote no to the Constitutional changes, and to insist that Deaf people's right to be a member of DeafSA and have a vote be retained.
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