Queenslanders of the year

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Tags: awards and prizes, summer-2010, volunteers

2010 Queenslander of the Year Dimity Dornan

Two outstanding women with UQ connections have been named the 2010 Queenslander and Young Queenslander of the Year.

Giving deaf children an opportunity to hear earned UQ graduate and current PhD candidate Dimity Dornan the Queenslander of the Year title, while 19-year-old Yassmin Abdel-Magied was named Young Queenslander of the Year for her work with Youth Without Borders.

Mrs Dornan, a speech pathologist, founded the Hear and Say Centre in 1992 and Hear and Say Worldwide in 2007.

She said being named Queenslander of the Year had given her and her team a “huge buzz”, but the improved outcomes for deaf children were the real cause for celebration.

“Deaf is not deaf anymore,” Mrs Dornan said.

“When you consider that hearing loss is the most common disability in newborns worldwide, and that we know how to treat it, we really are standing at the point where the treatment of polio was 20 years ago.”

The Hear and Say Centre teaches deaf and hearing-impaired children to listen and speak.

It has services for 400 children in six centres across Queensland, as well as a program for families living in regional and remote locations.

In 2007, Mrs Dornan started Hear and Say Worldwide, and there are now people who have trained with the organisation in 11 countries.

Throughout her career, Mrs Dornan has strived to quash traditional beliefs that deaf children cannot learn to hear, listen and speak well enough to be clearly understood.

These myths have been investigated through her PhD research, which compared children with severe hearing impairments to children who had normal hearing.

The results showed there were no differences between the two groups in terms of their progress in listening, speech, language, reading, mathematics and self-esteem.

Another Queenslander making a big social impact is Miss Abdel-Magied, a third-year Bachelor of Engineering student.

Miss Abdel-Magied received the Young Queenslander of the Year award for her work with Youth Without Borders (YWB), a group that strives to empower young people to work together and implement positive change.

She founded YWB in 2007, the same year she was named Australian Muslim of the Year.

Originally from Sudan, Miss Abdel-Magied said she was passionate about helping people with big ideas achieve their goals.

“Everyone has their key passion, but I’m interested in helping whoever I can in whatever way possible,” she said.

By Penny Robinson

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