Cirrus@Austlit

'Our knowledge of the deafness of major figures in Australian literature, such as Henry Lawson, remains obscure. Other writers who have revealed deafness may not have considered themselves as part of the deaf community. An exception comes from the writings of John Patrick Bourke (circa 1888–1960).' (Publication abstract)

'Deafness Gain continues the story of Deafness Down. Believing he would become an accountant like his father, Mike commences a job with the tax office, and a six-year part-time course leading to a Bachelor of Business in Accounting. Again he struggles to comprehend what goes on around him in the new pursuits of employment and a vast soul-less tertiary institute.

'Life is transformed when he meets a group of young deaf people. (“This is the new language”) He is now with deaf people, and the intense ease of communication with them dominates his life. Through exploring deafness he reaches out to a world far wider than the expectations of family. Being with deaf people helps him connect with hearing people, some of whom have a very different outlook on life. He fails accountancy, embarks on welfare studies, and moves in with his girlfriend. He quits the tax office and starts work at the Adult Deaf Society of Victoria, and begins to absorb sign language. Mike takes in a five-day workshop on small groups, the only deaf person among 12 hearing people who sit around and talk. In forensic detail the memoir covers Mike’s bitter struggle to take part. But it ends in a powerful and moving climax with the words spoken to Mike by one of the hearing participants.'

(Source: publisher's website)

'In 1960, a six-year-old schoolboy, Mike, was fitted with a hearing aid. This was no sleek hi-tech number, invisible as it nestled behind the ear. It was a bulky thing worn on the body, with a highly visible cord snaking its way from the collar of Mike’s school shirt to the earpiece. It was hard having to wear this wretched thing, but Mike had no choice.

'He was one of a family of five children, four of whom, inexplicably, were born deaf to hearing parents. His parents put aside the repeated shock of deafness appearing again and again in their children, and did their best to create a normal family environment. The four deaf children all had hearing aids, and all could speak.
In telling about the years in a hearing school from a deaf point-of-view, Deafness Down is not a story of triumph over adversity. Deafness is too subtle for that. It’s a story of a dogged persistence as Mike encounters situations at school in which again and again, he relies on instinct and guts. He doesn’t always get it right, but amid the confusion and struggle, he finds there are often some schoolmates with a strange knack of knowing how to help.

'Deafness Down is an absolutely authentic account of an impairment that is very common and very rarely told.'

(Source: publisher's website)

'Who is Edith Ackers? All we know is that she is deaf, and her father, Benjamin, is one of Europe's most powerful champions of oralism, the belief that deaf people can be taught to speak. Oralism is sweeping through late 19th-century Europe, threatening to overturn the lives of deaf people, and making sign language redundant. David Archer, a young English journalist, is at first convinced that oralism will bring deaf people into the hearing world. But the passion of deaf people, their defence of sign language, and their resistance to the idea that hearing people know what's best for them, convinces him otherwise. At a public meeting in London, Benjamin Ackers, a wealthy barrister and member of British Parliament, declares that oralism has restored his daughter to hearing society. However he keeps her hidden. With the help of some hearing supporters, Archer decides to track her down. But the immovable forces of influence, money and power produce an unexpected result.' (Publication summary)