The latest 35 graduates from our Master of Disability Studies program are now on a path to change even more lives, having gained knowledge and skills to support people with sensory disabilities.

Ann, who was part of our graduating cohort, has lived experience with disability and says this has helped her fully understand the impact disabilities can have on individuals and their family, friends and working environments.

Ann has vision loss and lost her voice to spasmodic dysphonia—a neurological voice disorder characterised by involuntary spasms of the vocal cord. She completed our Education: Blindness/Low Vision specialty, one of three specialisations offered alongside Education: Deaf/Hard of Hearing and Sensory Disability. The course has given her the confidence and ability to achieve a leading role in disability services in the education community.

‘I want to devote my energy to encouraging and supporting students and their teachers,’ she says.

Ann chose our program, which is offered through NextSense Institute in affiliation with Macquarie University, because it offered ‘an intensive program that I felt would both provide up-to-date research on this issue and also a practical course that would prepare me for work in this field.’

She says she found it very helpful to access the course online. ‘I could re-listen to lectures as often as I wished. I used the 'read aloud' capability of Word and PDF documents, which was excellent. Special mention must be made concerning the assistance I received from all the lecturers and the accessibility support team.’

Ann says she’s ‘absolutely thrilled’ to have graduated.

While the course is online, there are many opportunities for collaboration, and this year’s cohort developed a wonderful rapport. One of the graduates, Drew, couldn’t make it the ceremony, so his fellow students brought a cut-out of his face to ensure he didn’t miss out on being in the group photos.

Professor Greg Leigh, Director of NextSense Institute, was the Occasional Speaker at the graduation ceremony for the Faculty of Arts. He shared memories from his own graduation 45 years ago and the importance of using one’s education and influence to make a difference in the lives of others.

He emphasised the lifechanging role that teachers can play. ‘To those of you graduating in Education or in Disability Studies … please know that you have perhaps chosen the most influential profession of all.'

He ended his address by posing a question to the audience: ‘How will you use the privilege of [your] influence wisely and effectively?

Check out some photos from the day below.