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Jody’s Stripping Away Stereotypes to Reveal Indigenous Pride

Resource type: News

Sunshine Coast Daily | [ View Original Source (opens in new window) ]

By Jody Barney

I am a Birri-Gubba/Urangan woman from southeast Queensland.

I am Aboriginal, I am deaf, I am gay and currently I am living in rural Victoria.

I’m not yet 50 but I have been doing my work for exactly 30 years.

As a deaf kid among a lot of brothers and sisters, I struggled with understanding the written language.

English is my fourth language. I first had a visual language, then various sign languages, gestures and spoken language – mostly with elders, family and people I trust.

But I was invisible then, like many young people I have worked with over the years. Invisible to others and also to myself.

Continue reading at the World News >

Jody Barney is an Atlantic Fellow for Social Equity.