Clare Guria is the leader of a hearing-impaired team who, with support from the Australian Government through the PNG-Australia Partnership, provided technical advice and input into PNG’s first Disability Inclusive Communication Guide.
Law and justice agencies and other groups can now use the Guide to improve communication and build respectful relationships with staff and clients with disabilities.
As a child growing up in Wewak in East Sepik Province, Clare was active and outgoing until one morning in 2006, at just 16 years of age, she had the scary experience of waking up to find that she had lost her hearing.
An even greater challenge though was overcoming the prejudice she experienced from others.
“It was hard growing up. I got bullied and left out because I could not hear.”
Years later, even after achieving significant academic success in PNG and in Australia, Clare – like many other deaf people and people with disabilities – still encounters discrimination and abuse on a regular basis.
Despite losing her hearing, Clare completed her Grade 12 at Wewak’s Mercy Secondary School and a two-year Certificate in Painting, Decorating, and Sign Writing at Madang Technical College. Under her mother’s guidance, in 2015 she applied for an Australia Awards scholarship and in mid-2016 started a design degree at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane.
Clare embraced the opportunity and in 2020 graduated with an Honours degree in Interactive and Visual Design.
She also won a People’s Choice Award for her final year thesis on e-Bilum (woven bilums with integrated electronic components). After graduating, Clare returned to Port Moresby with two goals: to build her career in design and to help improve the lives of people with hearing impairments and other disabilities.
As Vice-President of the National Capital District Deaf Association, Clare’s greatest motivation is to ensure that in the future, young girls with hearing impairments do not have to deal with the sort of challenges that confronted her. She believes the path to achieving that is by empowering people with disabilities to learn about their rights, further their education, speak up when faced with discrimination, and know how to seek help when faced with injustice.
“I want to help people with disabilities reach their own potential and be game changers in our society. When we help them, they help themselves and those around them,” she says