A Lilydale local and Mooroolbark Cricket Club player has been appointed to the Victorian Disability Advisory Council (VDAC), set to help provide policy and strategic advice to Minister for Disability Lizzie Blandthorn over the next three years.
Melissa Hale is a proud deaf woman with a history of work in community service, community sport and advisory roles.
Ms Hale said she was raised in a hearing world, speaking and listening, and at the age of 19 discovered the deaf community and started to develop her sense of identity and who she really is.
I had a terrible time at school in particular, I was the only deaf kid at school and it was a toxic and exclusive environment, I had very little self worth,” she said.
“I came to a crossroads at the age of 17. I went for a hearing test, and the audiologist told me that what little hearing I had left was almost gone and I had to make a choice whether to have a cochlear implant or not,”
“But because I had ignored it for so long in my quest to be invisible, pretending to hear when I couldn’t, and not wear my hearing aids, there was no guarantees it was going to work for me, so I was up against a real possibility that I wouldn’t be able to hear, or communicate with anyone around me.”
Ms Hale is one of 13 members of the VDAC who will hold their places until 30 July 2028, eight of which are new this term.
Ms Hale said a weekend with her cousin in South Australia, who was also deaf, before she started university and underwent her cochlear implant (CI) surgery changed her life.
“The difference between me and him, was he was completely immersed in the Deaf community, I went to see him, and he took me to a national deaf basketball tournament where Deaf basketball teams from across Australia were competing with each other,” she said.
“I met so many people who were just like me. Some could speak, some could sign, but it didn’t matter, I remember sitting on the spectator bench, and being surrounded by people who just wanted to talk to me, get to know me, they made me feel so welcomed and treated me with so much love and kindness,”
“The tournament was three days long and I didn’t eat or sleep for three days because I had found my people. I had found real friendships that I still cherish today, just in that instant. While I went ahead with the CI operation, and it thankfully did work, I no longer cared so much about the outcome because I knew that I was going to be ok.”
Ms Hale is currently also serving as an advisory council member for both Disability Sports Australia and the Department of Transport and Planning’s Accessible Transport advisory council. She was also recently a Change Our Game Ambassador for the Office for Women In Sport and the Head of Deaf Women’s Cricket for the now closed Deaf Cricket Australia.
Ms Hale said inclusion and using sport, particularly Deaf cricket, as a platform and vehicle to bring people together and give people a purpose to join together was the sole reason why she did what she did.
“In exploring my purpose, I have now moved on from sport as a vehicle and look at inclusion and belonging more broadly, I define my career purpose to influence change in society to become more disability inclusive so that people with disability have more communities and spaces to feel a sense of belonging,” she said.
“I feel there are not enough leaders that have lived experience that reflect the wider community, leaders in prominent positions of power should come from the backgrounds that they are representing, but often this cohort do not have access to the education, career pathways and
opportunities to be able to lead,”
“In activating my purpose, I have learnt that to be a truly successful person, you need to own your whole self-flaws and all, I have chosen to use my lived experience as a Deaf woman as a force for change.”
Chris Varney and Mija Gwyn have been reappointed as Chair and Deputy Chair of the VDAC respectively. Mr Varney is the founding director and Chief Enabling Officer of I CAN Network, Australia’s largest autistic-led organisation, mentoring over 3,000 young people annually.
Ms Gwyn is the Head of Youth Disability Advocacy Service (YDAS), and has led and coordinated community development, film festivals and arts projects in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Ms Hale said being absolutely and unapologetically proud of who you are and the diversity you bring to the community will change the attitudes and mindsets of everyone we meet along the way.
“To start this cultural change, I believe that there needs to be more leaders in visible and prominent positions of power and change makers that come from the backgrounds that they are representing,” she said.
“I believe that people with disability need to lead all decision making about people with disability, in government, service provision, advocacy and more,”
“Often this cohort do not have access to the same education, employment and opportunities as the mainstream community to be able to lead, this is why opportunities like the Victorian Disability Advisory Council are so important.”
