NextSense, formerly the Royal Institute for Deaf & Blind Children, in Sydney provides a range of educational services for students with vision and/or hearing impairment, including specialist schools for signing Deaf students, oral deaf students, and students with sensory and intellectual disabilities.[1]
NextSense offers additional services such as therapy and braille text production, a children's audiology centre, and also conducts research and professional development through its RIDBC Renwick Centre. Historically it is an important centre of Deaf culture in Australia.
NextSense was opened on the 22 October 1860 by deaf Scottish immigrant Thomas Pattison, who was the school's first teacher. Located at 152 Liverpool St Sydney, the school was originally named the "Deaf and Dumb Institution of New South Wales". From its early days it was open to all deaf children, though many were turned away for lack of resources. Sydney was still a young city at the time, with only 80,000 inhabitants; the University of Sydney had been established a mere ten years prior and public education was in its infancy. The school began to take in blind students in 1869, and added the word "blind" to its name. It was predominantly a boarding school, and moved many times within central Sydney to accommodate more students as the school grew, including stints in Paddington and Newtown, before finding its present home in North Rocks in 1962. It currently operates several educational centres on New South Wales and offers some national services.
David Hunter, a former student of the school who had been blind from age 6, was elected as member of the NSW parliament (for Ashfield) when he was 35 and served there for 35 years (1940–1976). He was responsible for the passing of an Act in 1944 to make the education of blind and deaf children compulsory. Another well-known student was Alice Betteridge, the first Australian deafblind child to receive an education. She enrolled in 1908 at the age of seven where she learned to read and write, graduating as dux in 1920.
Schools within RIDBC
Today there are three specialist schools within RIDBC:
The RIDBC Alice Betteridge School, for children with sensory and intellectual disabilities (renamed from "The Special School for Multi-handicapped Blind Students" in 1990).
The RIDBC Garfield Barwick School, for "oral" deaf children who communicate using speech and assisted hearing. Opened in 1988 as a primary school to prepare deaf students for a mainstream high school.
The RIDBC Thomas Pattison School, which provides education in Auslan, Australia's Deaf sign language. Established in 1992 as the "Thomas Pattison Annexe", renamed as a school in 1997.
Children's services that RIDBC provide
RIDBC also runs a number of early childhood services. These include home based, centre based and remote early education programs for children up to 5 years who have sensory disabilities, as well as five special preschools (RIDBC Hunter Preschool, RIDBC Nepean Preschool, RIDBC VisionEd Preschool, RIDBC Roberta Reid Preschool, RIDBC Rockie Woofit Preschool) and support for children with sensory disabilities enrolled in mainstream preschools.
In 1997 RIDBC was pleased to announce a new program known as RIDBC Teleschool, which combines the existing Remote Early Learning Programs for vision impairment and hearing impairment.
In addition to its direct services, RIDBC aims to help as many deaf and blind children as possible through its RIDBC Renwick Centre, for research and professional education of those educating children with sensory disability. The RIDBC Renwick Centre is conducted in conjunction with the Macquarie University and offers a range of post-graduate courses (including a Master of Special Education in Sensory Disability) and continuing education activities. The RIDBC Renwick Centre attracts students from across Australia and internationally.
Community Support
RIDBC is a major Australian charity but relies heavily on Government subsidy and community support to continue its services. In 2010, RIDBC celebrated its 150th anniversary.
Ambassadors
Reuben Mourad – Australian TV personality, former national anchor, and weather presenter
Michael Parkinson – English broadcaster, journalist, author, and chat show legend
Tara Moss – Former model and international best-selling author
Justin Norris – Australian Olympic swimmer (butterfly and individual medley)
Names
1860 – Deaf and Dumb Institution of New South Wales
1868 – New South Wales Deaf and Dumb Institution
1869 – New South Wales Deaf Dumb and Blind Institution
1957 – Royal NSW Institution for Deaf and Blind Children
1962 – The institution provides the premises for two state schools operated by the NSW Department of Education: North Rocks School for Deaf Children and North Rocks School for Blind Children
1974 – Royal NSW Institute for Deaf and Blind Children.
1997 – Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children.
Crickmore, Barbara Lee (2000), An Historical Perspective on the Academic Education of Deaf Children in New South Wales 1860s-1990s, PhD thesis, University of Newcastle. Available for download.
Auslan is the sign language used by the majority of the Australian Deaf community. The term Auslan is a portmanteau of "Australian Sign Language", coined by Trevor Johnston in the 1980s, although the language itself is much older. Auslan is related to British Sign Language (BSL) and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL); the three have descended from the same parent language, and together comprise the BANZSL language family. Auslan has also been influenced by Irish Sign Language (ISL) and more recently has borrowed signs from American Sign Language (ASL).
Darlington is a small, inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlington is located about three kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. At the time of its incorporation in 1864, it had the distinction of being the smallest municipality in the Sydney metropolitan area, at a mere 44 acres. Darlington is bordered by City Road, Cleveland Street, Golden Grove Street, Wilson Street and Abercrombie Street.
Van Asch Deaf Education Centre was located in Truro Street, Sumner, Christchurch, New Zealand. It was a special school for deaf children, accepting both day and residential pupils, as well being as a resource centre providing services and support for parents, mainstream students and their teachers in the South Island and the Lower North Island.
Alice Mary Betteridge Chapman was an Australian woman known as the first deafblind child to be educated in the country.
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Leeds Society for Deaf and Blind People is a charity based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, that provides practical services to deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, blind and partially sighted people in the region. The charity has existed since 1866 and is one of the only charities of its kind in the country to provide services to those with both a hearing and/or visual impairment.
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Henshaws Society for Blind People is a specialist charity providing support, advice and training to anyone affected by sight loss and other disabilities.
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Edith Bryan was an English teacher of the deaf, who after teaching in England and Ireland, emigrated to Australia and became one of the educators who contributed to the development of Special Education in Queensland. Though trained in the oralist tradition, she supported the use of sign language and fingerspelling for teaching purposes. From 1901 to 1926, she was the head teacher of the school operated by the Queensland Blind Deaf and Dumb Institute. An activist, she pressed for the training of special education students to become mandatory, and fought for their teachers to be paid the same salaries as other teachers. From 1926 to 1937 she taught at the Queensland school where she became responsible for the courses for deaf students. After her retirement, she volunteered at the Edith Bryan Hostel, a facility that offered housing and medical assistance to deaf citizens. She is considered to be one of the two most influential pioneers of special education in Queensland.
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