Inclusive Juries—Access for People who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Blind or Have Low Vision: Consultation Paper (html)

2. Vision and hearing loss in the Victorian community

2.1 In this chapter we consider the cohort of people who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or who have low vision in Australia and Victoria. There is limited data on the prevalence of hearing and vision impairments in Australia,^[1] and a lack of up-to-date data for Victoria. In addition, the statistics relate to proportions of the overall population rather than the smaller proportion that may be eligible for jury service.^[2]

People who are blind or have low vision

2.2 A person is considered blind if they ‘cannot see at six metres what someone with normal vision can see at 60 metres or if their field of vision is less than 20 degrees in diameter’.^[3] A person has low vision if they ‘have permanent vision loss that cannot be corrected with glasses and affects their daily functioning.’^[4]

2.3 The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) describes ‘vision impairment’ as:

the partial or full loss of sight in one or both eyes. Visual impairment may be the result of disease or injury, may progress over time, and may be permanent or corrected with visual aids (such as glasses) or with surgery.^[5]

2.4 The 2015 report A Snapshot of Blindness and Visual Impairment in Australia estimated that there were 576,000 people who were blind or visually impaired in Australia, and 66,000 people who are totally blind in Australia.^[6] The number of blind or visually impaired people was projected to reach 800,000 by 2020.^[7] This increase was predicted due to the ageing population ‘and the fact that the risk of eye disease increases three-fold for each decade over the age of 40’.^[8] The report found that 60 per cent of blind or low vision service clients were 65 years or older.^[9]

2.5 According to 2014 ABS data, there were an estimated 34,900 people in Victoria with complete or partial blindness (from a total Victorian population of 5.8 million people).^[10] Vision Australia estimated in 2015 that there were approximately 89,500 people with vision impairment, and that this was likely to rise to around 138,000 by 2030.^[11]

People who are deaf or hard of hearing

2.6 The World Health Organisation describes someone who is hard of hearing as having:

hearing loss ranging from mild to severe. People who are hard of hearing usually communicate through spoken language and can benefit from hearing aids, cochlear implants, and other assistive devices as well as captioning. People with more significant hearing losses may benefit from cochlear implants. ^[12]

2.7 Someone who is deaf is described by the World Health Organisation as a person who has ‘profound hearing loss, which implies very little or no hearing. They often use sign language for communication.’^[13] The Deaf community is a distinct ‘linguistic or cultural minority group’ whose use of Auslan is the main unifying factor.^[14]

2.8 People who have been deaf since childhood often have different lived experience and support preferences to those who lose hearing later in life or are hard of hearing. The former are more likely to know and use Auslan as their ‘primary or preferred language’, and to identify as part of the Australian Deaf community.^[15] Those that become deaf later in life, or are hard of hearing, are less likely to use Auslan or require interpreters, and are more likely to use hearing enhancements and identify with the primarily English-speaking ‘hearing’ community.^[16]

2.9 Some people who are deaf from birth are not part of either the hearing or Deaf community and have learned little language. People who are deaf with ‘minimal language competence’ cannot communicate through English language or Auslan and cannot read or write English.^[17] People in this group often communicate through gestures known to their close family or household and require these people to act as intermediaries who support them to communicate with others.^[18] An inability to communicate in this manner would preclude jury service on the basis of English language skills, regardless of deafness.

2.10 The most recent statistics on people who are deaf or hard of hearing were collated by the AIHW in 2016 based on 2014–15 ABS data. Key findings include:

Over three million Australians (14 per cent) had at least one long-term hearing disorder.

The proportion of people with long-term hearing disorders increased with age, from three per cent of children aged 0–14, to 49 per cent of people aged 75 and over.

The most common long-term hearing disorder in Australia was complete or partial deafness, which affected one in 10 Australians.

More than 1.1 million people (4.9 per cent) had other diseases of the ear and mastoid, and 79,000 (0.3 per cent) had otitis media (middle ear infection).^[19]

2.11 The number of Auslan users has increased significantly since it was first measured by the Australian Census in 2001, when Auslan users numbered 5,306. This increased to 11,682 in 2016.^[20] The 2021 Census will refer to Auslan as a language option for the first time.^[21]

2.12 Again, Victorian data is limited. VicDeaf stated that out of Victoria’s population of 5,737,600 in June 2013, ‘over 900,000 people in the state have a hearing loss’.^[22] In 2016 the Victorian Government reported that there were 2,874 Auslan users in 2016 (up from 2,566 in 2011).^[23]

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

2.13 The First Peoples Disability Network has found that Australia-wide almost half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a disability (45 per cent). Of those, 47 per cent have a sensory disability, which includes problems with sight, hearing or speech.^[24] Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are ‘10 times more likely to live with hearing impairments than the rest of the population’,^[25] while rates of low vision and blindness are three times higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.^[26]

2.14 According to the 2016 Census, approximately 0.8 per cent of the Victorian population identifies as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (1.6 per cent of the population of Victoria excluding Melbourne, and 0.5 per cent of the population of Melbourne).^[27] The participation of Indigenous people who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or with low vision as jurors may be limited by additional factors. For example, higher rates of incarceration for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people may mean that there is a greater likelihood of disqualification from service under the Juries Act.^[28]

Conclusions

2.15 The subject groups comprise a small proportion of the overall Australian and Victorian populations. This number is expanding in line with ageing population trends. However, only a small number of people are likely to need to serve with support on Victorian juries. The Juries Commissioner, has advised that in the last five years Juries Victoria has received approximately six enquiries from people with hearing or vision impairments who wished to serve as jurors but for whom supports were unable to be provided and who were therefore unable to serve.^[29]

2.16 The way that each person experiences their vision or hearing loss is unique and will vary considerably. Flexibility will be needed about the range of supports that can be offered to assist people to serve. We discuss this in Chapter 8.

1. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australia’s Health 2016 (Catalogue No AUS 199, 13 September 2016) 119 <https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/australias-health-2016/contents/summary>.

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2. There were 4,274,340 people on the electoral roll in Victoria as at 2 September 2020 (18 or over). Jurors are pooled from this group, less those deemed ineligible or disqualified under the Juries Act 2000 (Vic): ‘Electoral Roll Statistics’, Victorian Electoral Commission (Web Page) <https://www.vec.vic.gov.au/enrolment/electoral-roll-statistics>. Approximately 76 per cent of the Victorian population is over 20 years old (the overall population is 5,926,624): ‘2016 Census QuickStats: Victoria’, Australian Bureau of Statistics (Web Page) <https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/2?opendocument>.

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3. ‘Blindness and Vision Loss’, Vision Australia (Web Page) <https://www.visionaustralia.org/information/newly-diagnosed/blindness-and-vision-loss>.

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4. Ibid.

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5. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Eye Health (Catalogue No PHE 260, 30 August 2019) <https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/eye-health/eye-health/contents/how-common-is-visual-impairment>.

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6. ‘A Snapshot of Blindness and Low Vision in Australia’, Every Australian Counts (Web Page, 1 October 2015); B Ah Tong et al, A Snapshot of Blindness and Low Vision Services in Australia (Australian Blindness Forum Report, August 2015) 5 <https://www.vision2020australia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/A-snapshot-of-blindness-and-low-vision-services-in-Australia-1.pdf>.

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7. B Ah Tong et al, A Snapshot of Blindness and Low Vision Services in Australia (Australian Blindness Forum Report, August 2015) 5

   <https://www.vision2020australia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/A-snapshot-of-blindness-and-low-vision-services-in-Australia-1.pdf>, citing Access Economics, Listen Hear: The Economic Impact and Cost of Hearing Loss in Australia (Report, 2006) <https://hearnet.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ListenHearFinal.pdf>.

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8. B Ah Tong et al, A Snapshot of Blindness and Low Vision Services in Australia (Australian Blindness Forum Report, August 2015) 5 <https://www.vision2020australia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/A-snapshot-of-blindness-and-low-vision-services-in-Australia-1.pdf>.

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9. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Eye Health (Catalogue No PHE 260, 30 August 2019) <https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/eye-health/eye-health/contents/how-common-is-visual-impairment>. See also more recent data for 2017/2018 can be found in B Ah Tong et al, A Snapshot of Blindness and Low Vision Services in Australia (Australian Blindness Forum Report, August 2015) 8 <https://www.vision2020australia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/A-snapshot-of-blindness-and-low-vision-services-in-Australia-1.pdf>.

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10. Australian Bureau of Statistics, National Health Survey: First Results, Australia, 2014–15 (Catalogue No 4364.0.55.001, December 2015) <https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4364.0.55.0012014-15?OpenDocument>; Australian Bureau of Statistics, Population by Age and Sex, Regions of Australia, 2014 (Catalogue No 3235.0, 18 August 2015) <https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/3235.0Main%20Features202014?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3235.0&issue=2014&num=&view=>.

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11. Vision Australia, Submission No 112 to Family and Community Development Committee, Parliament of Victoria, Inquiry into Social Inclusion and Victorians with a Disability (March 2014) <https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/fcdc/inquiries/57th/Disability/Submissions/112_Vision_Australia.pdf>.

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12. ‘Deafness and Hearing Loss’, World Health Organisation (Web Page, 1 March 2020) <https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss#:~:text=Over%205%25%20of%20the%20world’s,will%20have%20disabling%20hearing%20loss.>.

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13. Ibid.

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14. ‘Becoming a Part of the Deaf Community’, Hearing Australia (Web Page) <https://www.hearing.com.au/Hearing-loss/Management/Becoming-a-part-of-the-Deaf-Community>.

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15. Deaf Australia, Submission No 37 to Australian Law Reform Commission, Equality, Capacity and Disability in Commonwealth Laws (20 January 2014) 14.

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16. ‘Community and Culture’, National Association of the Deaf (Web Page) <https://www.nad.org/resources/american-sign-language/community-and-culture-frequently-asked-questions/>.

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17. William Hewitt, Court Interpretation: Model Guides for the Policy and Practice in the State Courts (Report No 167, National Center for State Courts, 1995) 161; Office for Disability Issues, ‘Some Differences in Deaf People Using Interpreters’, New Zealand Office for Disability Issues (Web Page) <https://www.odi.govt.nz/nzsl/tools-and-resources/some-differences-in-deaf-people-using-interpreters/>.

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18. William Hewitt, Court Interpretation: Model Guides for the Policy and Practice in the State Courts (Report No 167, National Center for State Courts, 1995) 161.

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19. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australia’s Health 2016 (Catalogue No AUS 199, 13 September 2016) 2 <https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/australias-health-2016/contents/summary>.

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20. Deaf Australia, ‘Census 2021’ (Media Release, 9 June 2020) <https://deafaustralia.org.au/media-release-census-2021/>.

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21. Ibid.

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22. Victorian Deaf Society (Vicdeaf), Submission No 88 to Family and Community Development Committee, Parliament of Victoria, Inquiry into Social Inclusion and Victorians with a Disability (February 2014) 2 <https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/fcdc/inquiries/57th/Disability/Submissions/88_Vicdeaf.pdf>.

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23. Department of Premier and Cabinet, Population Diversity in Victoria: 2016 Census (Report, 30 May 2018) 19 <https://www.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-08/Full-Report-Population-Diversity-in-LGAs-2016-Census-Web-version-30May18.PDF>.

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24. First People’s Disability Network, Submission No 355 to Productivity Commission, National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Costs Position Paper (July 2017) <https://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/220492/subpp0355-ndis-costs.pdf>.

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25. ‘10-Point Plan for Implementing NDIS in Aboriginal Communities’, First People’s Disability Network (Web Page) <http://fpdn.org.au/10-point-plan-ndis>.

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26. Joshua Foreman et al, National Eye Health Survey 2016 (Report, 2016) 18.

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27. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing: Reflecting Australia—Stories from the Census, 2016 (Catalogue No 2071.0, 23 May 2019) <https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/2071.0~2016~Main%20Features~Aboriginal%20and%20Torres%20Strait%20Islander%20Population%20-%20Victoria~10002>.

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28. Thalia Anthony and Craig Longman, ‘Blinded by the White: A Comparative Analysis of Jury Challenges on Racial Grounds’ (2016) 6(3) International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy 25, 26; Juries Act 2000 (Vic) sch 1.

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29. Information provided from Juries Commissioner to Victorian Law Reform Commission, 6 October 2020.

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