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Blue background with a thin white border framing the page. In the top right corner is an outline of Australia with the words National Week of Deaf People on the West Australia side of the outline. In the middle at the top is the date 25 SEPT 2022. On the left is an abstract rectangular design. In the middle of this page is typed in capitalised letters: NATIONAL WEEK OF DEAF PEOPLE and at bottom is the subheading DEAF LEADERSHIP FOR TOMORROW. In the bottom right is the page number 1.
White background with a thin blue border. Image of a woman jumping in delight with the male plugging in at the power point and an exaggeratedly large light bulb with a delighted face lit up and arms in the air as if to say ‘yay!’
Halo, the green-blue paper plane with a smiley face, is flying above this growing process.Â
On the bottom right is the page number 2.Â
White background with a blue border. On the left is a girl wearing a light bulb helmet on her head and a ‘yay!’ facial expression. In the middle is a light bulb with arms and legs like a human, with a ‘yay!’ facial expression. On the right is a boy wearing a light bulb helmet on his head, feet clapping together and wearing a happy facial expression. Halo, the green-blue smiley faced paper plane, is flying from left to right above the trio.Â
On the bottom right is the page number 3.
White background with a thin blue border. Image of a runway with glowing lights and Halo, the blue-green paper plane with a smiley face getting ready to land. On the bottom right is the page number 4.
I am passionate about leadership. Everyone, EVERYONE is capable of developing leadership skills. There is no one way to be a leader – there are many different types of leadership. Some examples of leadership include supporting people to achieve their dreams, the sharing of information so everyone can access it or training people in learning new skills. There are a lot of different skills and types of leadership on the leadership spectrum, which is amazing. Being a leader is important, so that you can pass onto the next generation your knowledge and skills, and be a role model in the community.
Imagine this: you’re wanting to be a leader but you don’t know what you need to do to achieve that. You learn the skills every day, and a good place to start is by identifying the strengths and weaknesses you have. Unpack both. Identify how you continue to strengthen the qualities you have and feed these qualities into changing weaknesses into strengths. Having weaknesses is a good thing; it’s not possible to have 100% strengths only. Your weaknesses are what makes you a better leader – if everyone was the same it’d be boring and uninspiring. Your weaknesses provide momentum to do better.
You, the Deaf community, have a responsibility to support the youth of the community, to share information, inspire them, be role models, and not judge. There’s no need for negative put downs or judgement, or be argumentative when someone disagrees with you. Diplomacy and collaboration is important. It’s so important to support our youth – if we couldn’t do that, what do you think would happen to the Deaf community? It might gradually disappear.
Imagine this scenario, where you are involved in actively supporting and encouraging young Deaf individuals to develop leadership skills. Just like the lights that turn on simultaneously to provide you with direction as you land, it’s the same as supporting, encouraging, providing light and thus direction to young people, helping them to develop and grow.
When water is directed to provide power to a generator to light up the runway, it encourages the plane to land smoothly and safely. You know then that the future is good when you can do that.
I really encourage the Deaf community to find their groups. Develop a way you can demonstrate support and share knowledge. It doesn’t have to be a massive project; it can be a small one too. Please volunteer when and what you can. Volunteering your time is vital. I understand that nowadays there is a huge focus on business and money but finding your passion and heart for the Deaf community is so important. There’s more to life than just money.
