Open Reply from the Board of ACARA Ltd
to Open Letter to ACARA Board from
Louise de Beuzeville
Della Goswell
Dr Jemina Napier
Associate Professor Trevor Johnston
Dr Adam Schembri
Professor Greg Leigh
Dr Breda Carty
Cc: Australian Association of the Deaf

Thank you all for your open letter to ACARA.

The Auslan Certification and Research Association Ltd (ACARA) is bound by its Constitution to represent its members as well as the Auslan using community in general.

Prior to the registration of ACARA over two years of discussions have occurred between the founders and members of the Deaf community, teachers of Deaf and other special needs, parents, community and support associations, translators and linguistic experts, in EVERY STATE OF AUSTRALIA. In fact the input of in excess of 500 individuals was taken into account. An email was also distributed amongst Auslan users NATIONALLY, on 5 May, 2006 for feedback as below:

This is an urgent request to one and all. Please forward to any other party who your believe could provide valuable feedback.

Could you please reply to this email and answer the following questions with reference to the Auslan industry at current.
A) With reference to Products:
1. Have you encountered Sign language based products within Australia that you believe are not actually Auslan based?
2. If yes, do you believe these products were adequately labelled as non-Auslan in basis?
3. Were any of these products labelled AUSLAN or Australian?
B) With reference to Services (Courses etc):
1. Have you encountered Sign language services within Australia that you believe are not actually Auslan based?
2. If yes, do you believe these services were adequately labelled as non-Auslan in basis?
3. Were any of these services labelled AUSLAN or Australian?
c) In General
1.Do you believe that the industry is adequately regulated?
2.If No, what additional regulation do you feel is needed and why?
3.Would you support an industry association that regulated sign language
products and services within Australia. (optional question)
4.Do you believe that Lee Bilby is adequately qualified to help establish and run such a body? Why?
5.Can you recommend any other persons/organisations that could assist in the regulation of the Auslan industry?
Relies ASAP greatly appreciated
Lee Bilby
Managing Director
Bilby Publishing & Consulting Pty Ltd
Ph 1800 245 297  Fax 1300 88 41 61  Email lee@bilby.net

ACARA’s Board is perplexed by your letter to them. We strongly disagree with the lack of notification.  Professor Greg Leigh was amongst several professionals and individuals who received an email from Louise Rakowski on 16 May, 2006 advising of the site.

In November 2005, Chris Bilby had a phone discussion with Professor Greg Leigh in which Chris raised the problem of imported sign language resources, and disclosed that Bilby Publishing consulted a qualified interpreter, Makaton presenter and baby sign course provider with regards to products it intended to distribute, as well as other qualified professionals from across Australia.

On 14 May of this year ACARA contacted RIDBC, Macquarie University and AAD, amongst others, inviting each individual organisation to become members of ACARA and make nominations of experts, such as yourselves, onto the Accreditation Panel. There has been no response from these three organisations, although a high level of response has been received by others.

The ACARA website makes no claims that research conducted by members has been published in academic journals. It has however been published by recognized Deaf and Educational Institutions. Why do you not recognize them? It may also be useful to point out that ACARA is an industry body, not an academic one. We welcome the input of all members into the review of research.

You claim that AAD “has a successful history of promoting Auslan as a language”. ACARA would question then what action AAD has taken to inform the general public of the difference between Auslan based resources and those which are based on foreign or made up sign languages, and the importance of Auslan use in Australia.

Over 10,000 copies of the Garcia program, which uses American Sign Language (ASL) were sold in Australia last year. There are numerous other products, some based on ASL, available in Australia and these are frequently not labeled as such. Our members have been told that they are unable to lodge complaints with Fair Trading with regards to these products, as there was no recognized national body to certify as to whether a particular resource is Auslan based or not. ACARA exists, amongst other reasons, to fulfill this market need.

It would be sensible for AAD and ACARA to work together on this, as well as with individual linguists from the various University Faculties Australia-wide by their presence on the Accreditation Panel. To date, AAD has not responded to this invitation.

We Note AAD’s Constitution:
1.19 To liaise with associations and organizations which serve Deaf people.
1.21 To establish, subsidise, promote, co-operate with, join, act as agent and delegate for or give financial assistance to any association … with objects similar to those of AAD …”
1.28 To do all such other things as are necessary, incidental or conductive to the attainment of the objects of AAD.

AAD’s Constitution states that it represents the interests of Auslan users. This excludes those children and adults that use Auslan but are not Deaf. ACARA seeks to represent ALL Auslan users, and is sensitive to the fact that non-deaf users are frequently ignored or excluded, despite them being dependant on Auslan for communication.

At the other end of the spectrum Deaf Children Australia’s Constitution in part under 2. Company’s Objectives states “The objects of the Company are to advance the welfare of children and young people who are deaf or have a hearing loss by, but not limited to:
2.5 providing information, support services and education resources to assist children
and young people with disabilities, particularly those with communication
disorders, when appropriate”

Three parents have taken action where others have been unable, or unwilling, to establish such an organisation. ACARA is only one month old and already has had over a dozen products withdrawn or relabeled as to which sign language they are based on.

We ask on what basis you make the claim “Given the apparent lack of qualified researchers or representative members of the linguistic community who have been listed as being associated with ACARA”? So far our Certification Panel ONLY contains qualified translators and teachers. Why do you not recognized them? Once again, if you are concerned, then ACARA would more than welcome you, and/or your organisation to join as well as nominating other experts who you believe are qualified to create a balanced panel balanced, according to your views as well as those of others.

It is of great concern that you seem to be taking the approach by refusing to take a much needed organization, and then criticising the outcome. In whose benefit do you believe you are acting?

ACARA will continue and would welcome your involvement. ACARA will be a stronger and more effective organization as more people and points of view become involved. If you really have the interests of Auslan, and the Deaf Community you purport to represent, at heart, you should become involved.

The opportunity to become members and make nominations is still open to you all, both individually and as an organisation.

Yours sincerely,

Chris Bilby
On behalf of ACARA’s Board

Note 1:  Louise Rakowski has a 70dB unilateral hearing loss and is a parent of three children, two of whom are hearing impaired. Louise has never, nor will she ever, state that she is an expert in Auslan as she is still studying and learning the language.  Her expertise is in parent support and this is where her interest lies in the establishment of this organisation.  If you would like to have a chat with her please contact her at louise@acara.org.au to arrange an appointment as she would be more than happy to discuss this with yourselves.  Louise has already had an informal meeting with Professor Greg Leigh on 23 May, 2006.

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From: Lou de B [luisitadb@optusnet.com.au]
Sent: 14/06/2006 12:31 PM
To: info@acara.org.au; aad@aad.org.au
Subject: An open letter to the board of ACARA

An Open Letter to the Board of ACARA

To: the Board of ACARA
CC: Australian Association of the Deaf

We, the undersigned, are a group of academics and other interested persons who work in the field of research into the linguistics of Auslan, and applied areas, such as interpreting and education. We are writing to express our concern at a number of statements on the website for a recently announced new organization‹ACARA (Auslan Certification and Research Association, Ltd.). Our primary concern is the claim that ACARA has been established to ³regulate, research and support the Australian Sign Language (Auslan) industry². Given this aim, it is of great concern that it would appear that individuals with appropriate credentials in these areas have not been consulted in the establishment of this organization or its panel. Particularly, it would seem that there has not been any extensive consultation with the representative body of Deaf people in Australia‹AAD.

It appears that no major universities or institutions involved in research into signed languages have been consulted in the lead up to the announcement of this new organization. For example, in Sydney, members of the sign linguistics group at the Department of Linguistics at Macquarie University, and academics and teachers at the Renwick Centre for Professional Education and Research (Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children / The University of Newcastle) were unaware of ACARA¹s establishment.

There are claims on the ACARA website that members of the organization¹s board have conducted research into various areas of signed languages. However, a search on the International Bibliography of Sign Language (the comprehensive and internationally recognized authority on published works in the area of signed languages and deafness studies) reveals no mention of any such published works. Further, the website states that ACARA will conduct research. It is acknowledged that research can take many forms. Nevertheless, it is the view of the signatories of this letter that there is a great need for there to be rigorous research into the nature of Auslan as a basis for the development of materials and resources associated with the recording and teaching of the language. It would be expected that such research would be subject to normal standards of academic quality and accountability (including, for example, publication in peer-reviewed journals).

A further issue of concern is the stated aim of the organization to ³to generally promote and lobby on behalf of the language². The Australian Association of the Deaf already has a successful history of promoting Auslan as a language. As the representative body of the community of Auslan users, AAD has a Board, which is duly elected by members of that community. Their preeminence in this role should be recognized and valued.

Language standardization and regularization is a complex area fraught with issues.
Ongoing peer-reviewed and published research by Dr Adam Schembri and Associate Professor Trevor Johnston has shown in detail the level of sociolinguistic variation that exists across the geographical and age range in Australia. Given the apparent lack of qualified researchers or representative members of the linguistic community who have been listed as being associated with ACARA, we are seriously concerned about any attempt by such an organization to assess whether resources ³accurately reflect² Auslan.

In light of the above concerns, we are writing to urge a pause in development of any agency seeking ³to regulate, research and support the Australian Sign Language (Auslan) industry² without a thorough process of consultation and the representative involvement of the communities that are fundamental to the issues at hand. At very least, those communities include Deaf Auslan users themselves, and the linguistic and educational research communities. Without question there are other groups that would rightly feel that they had a legitimate stake in the development of any such authority‹not least among those, of course, would be the communities of sign language interpreters and teachers.

Stated briefly, we believe that there is a need for a much more broadly based and representative approach to any attempt to develop an organization professing to the aims being stated by ACARA. We are keen that these serious concerns should be made more widely known.


Louise de Beuzeville
Della Goswell
Dr Jemina Napier
Associate Professor Trevor Johnston
Dr Adam Schembri
Professor Greg Leigh
Dr Breda Carty

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