Deaf Education Network

One of Australia’s leading providers of specialist services for deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing people and their families. Our focus is ensuring that you have access to all areas of life on an equal basis with others. We want you to thrive!

We support you to make choices and take actions to change your life. Whether you want to improve relations with your family, find a job you enjoy, learn new skills like cooking, move out of home, develop your English or Auslan skills or any combination of the above – we’re here to support you to thrive.

Deaf life: Your way, your language. We work with deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing people to break down barriers, create choice and support you to reach your goals. The first recorded information about the Deaf Community reports that European deaf people arrived in the Sydney area as early as 1790. Sadly, there is little information about the indigenous Deaf Community prior to colonisation. Some deaf migrants were convicts sent from Britain as punishment for various crimes while others migrated as free settlers.

There were no formal meeting places for deaf people in the Sydney area for most of the 19th Century. Deaf people met at the deaf school premises and at churches which provided special services. They often congregated around lamp-posts to converse in sign language. Later, Deaf adults met together at St Alban's Church, Darlington.

In October 2013, we turned 100 years old and celebrated our Centenary with special events throughout the year which include: hosting the 2nd International Conference of the World Federation of the Deaf; staging an International Deaf Film Festival and the launch of a multimedia website showing our history and that of the NSW Deaf Community NSW in detail. The Deaf Society is not-for-profit public company limited by guarantee and is a charity.