Inclusive Juries—Access for People Who Are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Blind or Have Low Vision: Report (html)

3. People who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or have low vision in our community

Overview

• People who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or have low vision comprise a small but increasing proportion of the overall Australian and Victorian populations.

• As the population ages, more people selected for jury duty may need reasonable adjustments to enable them to serve.

• Aboriginal people are more likely to be deaf, hard of hearing, blind or have low vision than the general population.

• It is important to make juries more representative by facilitating access to people in the subject groups. The benefits of this reform will flow to the justice system, regardless of the number of trials likely to be directly impacted by the use of reasonable adjustments.

A note on population data

3.1 The data is limited on how many people are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or have low vision in Australia, and there is a lack of up-to-date data for Victoria.^[1] The available statistics relate to proportions of the overall population rather than the smaller proportion that may be eligible for jury service.^[2]

3.2 As the Victorian population ages, it is likely that the number of people in the subject groups will increase.^[3] The number of Victorians aged 65 and over is set to triple by 2058.^[4]

People who are blind or have low vision

3.3 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]

3.4 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’.^[6] A person has low vision if they ‘have permanent vision loss that cannot be corrected with glasses and affects their daily functioning’.^[7]

3.5 Based on census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Vision Australia estimated in 2014 that approximately 357,000 people in Australia were blind or had low vision. This number was predicted to increase to more than 564,000 by 2030.^[8] In 2014, Vision Australia reported that approximately 89,500 people in Victoria were blind or had low vision, and that this was likely to rise to around 138,000 by 2030.^[9]

People who are deaf or hard of hearing

3.6 The World Health Organisation describes someone who is deaf as having ‘profound hearing loss, which implies very little or no hearing. They often use sign language for communication’. They describe someone who is ‘hard of hearing’ as having ‘hearing loss ranging from mild to severe’.^[10]

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

• Complete or partial deafness affects one in 10 Australians.^[11]

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

• The proportion of people with long-term hearing disorders increases with age, from three per cent of children aged 0–14, to 49 per cent of people aged 75 and over.^[12]

3.8 In 2015, the ABS reported that:

• More than one in four people with disability used communication aids such as cochlear implants or speaking aids.

• Use of hearing aids by older Australians increased from 28 per cent in 2009 to 32.6 per cent in 2015.^[13]

Australian Sign Language (Auslan)

3.9 People who are deaf from birth or childhood are more likely to know and use Auslan as their ‘primary or preferred language’, and to identify as part of the Deaf community.^[14] The Deaf community is a distinct ‘linguistic or cultural minority group’ whose use of Auslan is the main unifying factor.^[15]

3.10 The use of Auslan has increased steadily in Australia.^[16] The Australian Network on Disability reports that there are approximately 30,000 Auslan users in Australia.^[17] The 2021 Census referred to Auslan as a language option for the first time.^[18]

3.11 Victorian data on Auslan use is limited. In 2016 the Victorian Government reported that there were 2,874 Auslan users (up by 12 per cent from 2,566 in 2011).^[19]

Deaf Interpreters

3.12 Some people who are deaf cannot communicate through the English language or Auslan and cannot read or write in English. They often communicate through gestures known to their close family or household and require these people to act as intermediaries to communicate with others.^[20] Deaf Interpreters with specialised communication skills sometimes work together with Auslan-English interpreters to bridge gaps in information. This enables people without English or Auslan skills to communicate with others when needed.^[21]

3.13 If a person cannot communicate in or understand the English language, they are ineligible to serve on a Victorian jury. This rule applies to everyone.^[22]

Aboriginal people in the subject groups

3.14 According to 2016 Census data, 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).^[23]

3.15 Aboriginal people are more likely to be deaf, hard of hearing, blind or have low vision than other Victorians. In 2018, 24 per cent of Aboriginal people of all ages in private households were living with disability.^[24]

3.16 The 2018–19 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey included a hearing test, which demonstrated that 43 per cent of Indigenous Australians aged seven and over had measurable hearing loss.^[25] Non-Indigenous Australians tend to develop hearing loss with age, but Indigenous Australians often acquire hearing loss in childhood.^[26] Indigenous Australians over the age of 40 have nearly three times the rate of vision loss of other Australians.^[27]

3.17 Lack of access to and lower uptake of health services are key factors that cause this disparity, according to the AIHW.^[28] The AIHW highlighted eye health and hearing health as ‘key challenges’ for Aboriginal people in its 2020 report on health in Australia.^[29]

1. Census data from 2021 will be released in a staged approach from June 2022: ‘2021 Census Data Release Timeline’, Australian Bureau of Statistics (Web Page, 16 July 2021) <https://www.abs.gov.au/census/2021-data-releases>; ‘Australia’s Health 2020’, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (Web Page) <https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-data/australias-health>.

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2. There are 4,340,793 people on the roll in Victoria as at 1 March 2022: ‘Electoral Roll Statistics’, Victorian Electoral Commission (Web Page, 2021) <https://www.vec.vic.gov.au/enrolment/electoral-roll-statistics>. Jurors are pooled from this group, less those deemed ineligible or disqualified under the Juries Act 2000 (Vic).

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3. Chronic eye conditions vary in their presentation, treatment and consequences, but almost all are more common in older people. ‘Eye Health, How Common Is Visual Impairment?’, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (Web Page)

   <https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/eye-health/eye-health/contents/how-common-is-visual-impairment>.

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4. ‘Ageing’, Department of Health and Human Services Victoria (Web Page, 2020) <https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/ageing>.

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5. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Eye Health (Online Report, Catalogue No PHE 260, 11 February 2021)

   <https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/eye-health/eye-health/contents/how-common-is-visual-impairment>.

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

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7. Ibid.

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8. 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) 2. A more recent study of the prevalence of blindness and low vision was undertaken by B Ah Tong et al, A Snapshot of Blindness and Low Vision Services in Australia (Australian Blindness Forum Report, August 2015).

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9. 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) 2.

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10. ‘Deafness and Hearing Loss’, World Health Organisation (Web Page, 1 April 2021) <https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss>.

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11. This can be compared to 0.6% of the population that has complete or partial blindness: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australia’s Health 2016 (Australia’s Health Series No 15, Catalogue No AUS 199, 13 September 2016) 117 <https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/australias-health-2016/contents/summary>.

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12. Ibid 117–118.

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13. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Use of Aids and Equipment by People with Disability in Australia (Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia, Information Sheet, 2015).

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14. 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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15. The Australian Government recognised the Deaf community as a language group in 1991: ibid 5–6. See also ‘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>. For a discussion of Deaf culture: see Deaf Australia, ‘Deaf Culture’, Aussie Deaf Kids (Web Page, October 2021) <https://www.aussiedeafkids.org.au/deaf-culture.html>.

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16. From 5,306 in 2001 to 11,682 in 2016: see Deaf Australia, ‘Census 2021’ (Media Release, 9 June 2020).

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17. ‘Disability Statistics’, Australian Network on Disability (Web Page, 15 November 2019) <https://www.and.org.au/resources/disability-statistics/>.

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18. This data is due to be released in June 2022: Deaf Australia, ‘Census 2021’ (Media Release, 9 June 2020).

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19. Department of Premier and Cabinet (Vic), Population Diversity in Victoria: 2016 Census (Report, 30 May 2018) 19.

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20. See, eg William Hewitt, Court Interpretation: Model Guides for the Policy and Practice in the State Courts (Report No 167, National Center for State Courts, 1995) 161–2. See also 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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21. Judicial Council on Cultural Diversity, Recommended National Standards for Working with Interpreters in Courts and Tribunals (Report, Second Edition, March 2022) 36, 88.

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22. Juries Act 2000 (Vic) sch 2 cl 3(f).

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23. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing: Reflecting Australia—Stories from the Census, 2016 (Catalogue No 2071.0, 23 May 2019).

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24. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Disability, Ageing and Carers Australia: Summary of Findings (Catalogue No 4430.0, 24 October 2019).

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25. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australia’s Health 2020: In Brief (Australia’s Health Series No 17, Catalogue No AUS 232, 2020) 62 < https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/australias-health-2020-in-brief/summary>. This survey collected information from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of all ages in non-remote and remote areas of Australia, including discrete Indigenous communities. The scope of the survey was all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in private dwellings. Interviewers conducted face-to-face interviews in all selected households. An adult was asked to respond on behalf of children aged less than 15 years. The overall coverage of the 2018–19 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey was approximately 33% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons in Australia: see ‘National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey Methodology, 2018–19 Financial Year’, Australian Bureau of Statistics (Web Page, 11 December 2019) <https://www.abs.gov.au/methodologies/national-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-health-survey-methodology/2018-19>.

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26. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australia’s Health 2020: Data Insights (Australia’s Health Series No 15, Catalogue No AUS 231, 2020) 114 <https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports>.

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27. Joshua Foreman et al, National Eye Health Survey 2016 (Report, 2016). The National Eye Health Survey used stratified, multistage random-cluster sampling and examined a total of 3,098 non-Indigenous Australians aged 50 years or older and 1,738 Indigenous Australians aged 40 years or older. The age-adjusted prevalence of vision impairment (13.60%) and blindness (0.36%) in Indigenous Australians were both three times higher than in non-Indigenous Australians (4.57% and 0.12%, respectively), cited in Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Indigenous Eye Health Measures 2020 (Report, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2020) 1 <https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports>.

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28. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australia’s Health 2020: Data Insights (Australia’s Health Series No 15, Catalogue No AUS 231, 2020) 114 <https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports>.

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29. Ibid 111.

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