Board
Catherine Clark
President
president@deafvictoria.org.au
Catherine Clark is the current President of Deaf Victoria, having taken up the role in February 2019. She has a long personal and professional career in the Deaf sector for over 30 years, taking on leadership roles in both as a volunteer, manager and leader within her community. Her most recent appointment was a member of the Victorian Disability Advisory Council (VDAC) and a Board member of Deaf Children Australia. She has extensive experience in project management, community development, strategic planning and maintains a highly ethical and personal approach to her work. With lived experience as a Deaf person, Catherine looks forward to achieve the objectives set out in Deaf Victoria’s strategic plan, 2018-2023.
Preferred pronouns: she/her
Hannah Britton
Vice President
Hannah is a proud Deaf woman who has an immense passion for the Deaf community especially within community advocacy and equality in sports. Hannah recently graduated from Deakin University with Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science and Bachelor of Business (Sport Management). Hannah also recently completed Diploma of Interpreting (LOTE to English) from RMIT University. Hannah’s goal is to create a movement that aligns with Deaf Victoria’s values for the Deaf Community with exciting opportunities. Hannah currently works in the Disability Sector as a Local Area Coordinator for NDIS. Hannah is also involved in Deaf Sports especially with the Deaf Aquatics Australia, she is the Australian Deaf Swimming Team’s current Team Manager.
Preferred pronouns: she/her
Olivia Beasley
Secretary
Olivia has background in advocacy & stakeholder engagement and is a Projects and Engagement officer in deaf society organisation. She is from Deaf family and she brings lived experience of Deaf community and culture to Deaf Victoria with strong passion in sharing advocacy skill. Olivia also have strong involvement with Victorian Parliament through Youth Parliament Program, with the experience, she is able to bring understanding of educating political system and advocacy skill to young community.
Preferred pronouns: she/her
Ryan Malonda
Treasurer
Ryan is a young and highly passionate Deaf professional working in the Australian Public Service (APS) at the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). He brings to the Deaf Victoria Board an in-depth technical knowledge of the disability sector, legislation and interface with mainstream and community services. He draws from both his own lived experience as a Deaf Queer man as well as his industry knowledge of disability, given past experience as a Disability Support Worker and Auslan Teacher.
Ryan's long term goal is to become a practicing psychologist to support d/Deaf or Hard of Hearing individuals with their mental health. In his spare time he volunteers as a Communication Guide for Deafblind individuals.
Preferred pronouns: he/him
Staff
Philip Waters
General Manager
Philip Waters was a Senior Consultant at the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, and before that a Senior Policy Officer in the Office for Disability in the Department of Health and Human Services (now Department of Families, Fairness and Housing). Philip was a Board member of Deaf Victoria in 1999 and he is delighted to return to Deaf Victoria in a management role. Additionally, Philip has supported many organisations over the last 15 years in a voluntary capacity. He served on boards and advised various Disabled People’s Organisations (DPO’s), both in Australia and internationally. He brings with him a passion to make a difference in the lives of Deaf people and their families.
Preferred pronouns: he/him
Brent Rogers
Individual Advocacy Officer
Brent has a strong passion for accessibility and equality for the Deaf and HoH community. He brings enthusiasm into his role, advocating for individuals, empower all Deaf and HoH people with essential information, building allies and breaking through barriers.
Brent welcomes all to say hello at our office, and he is always here to lend a hand or advocate on your behalf! He likes the quote by Jim Rohn, "Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by CHANGE." which is something he believe in, so contact Brent for anything related to our community.
Preferred pronouns: he/him
Sophie Li
Information & Communications Officer
Sophie has over 10 years of communications and marketing experience for many deaf organisations in Victoria and Queensland. Born profoundly deaf, she grew up learning to hear and speak with two cochlear implants and learned Auslan fluently when she was 23 years old. She is passionate about raising awareness for deaf and hard of hearing people and loves learning new things everyday, especially new signs in Auslan. In fact, she has a passion for learning sign languages and is working on building an online global sign language dictionary called SignHow.
Sophie enjoys salsa dancing, beach volleyball and loves learning how to renovate properties!
Preferred pronouns: she/her
Jasmine Sherrifs
Deaf Mental Health Policy Officer
Highly experienced in social work, Jas is passionate about systemic change and peer-work, and have worked across a range of sectors including mental health, disability and aged care, often in direct practice providing one-on-one service. As a result, Jas is excited to move into policy and impacting access to the system after experiencing gaps and barriers within the mental health system both as a service user and a service provider. Jas is Deaf and came home to Auslan after going through the mainstream education system.
In their spare time Jas does freelance writing, visual arts and textiles. They have a dog Crumpet who is terrified of hot air balloons and loves prolonged eye contact.
Preferred pronouns: they/them
Jo Richards
Intake & Advocacy Officer
Jo worked as a Teacher of the Deaf for over 5 years, she is very passionate about Deaf and HOH children’s education and ensuring they have the best access to their learning. She was also an Auslan teacher for over 10 years to a wide range of people from all walks of life in the community. Jo is from Bendigo and has a history of volunteering, organising deaf gathering for social events. Jo has been part of Deaf sport where she participates in squash and played for the first Deaf women’s cricket in Victoria a few years ago before the pandemic started. Jo had meningitis as a baby and was diagnosed profoundly deaf at the age of two. She grew up mostly spoken English language and when Auslan become a recognized language, she became more confident and has used Auslan with fluency ever since. Jo is very excited to be on the team.
Preferred pronouns: she/her
Sandra Spadea
Deaf Community Mental Health Officer
Sandra's passion for mental health awareness comes from her experience with mental health and criminal justice system for herself, her deaf parents and Coda brothers. She was part of the steering committee for ‘Let’s talk about mental health and deaf people’ conference in 2015, which she went on to gain her Certificate IV in mental health and other drugs.
Sandra then worked as a Therapy Assistant for a deaf mental health service provider where she developed an in-depth understanding of the issues faced in our diverse community. Sandra is inspired to improve the system and break down barriers.
Sandra enjoys the simple things in life, spending time with her kids and cooking curry dishes, with thanks to her Indian grandmother!
Preferred pronouns: she/her