Drisana Levitzke-Gray (born 1993[1]) is an Australian disability rights campaigner from Perth, Western Australia. She is an advocate for deaf culture, and a native speaker of Auslan.[2] In 2015, she was the Young Australian of the Year.[3]
Personal life
editLevitzke-Gray was born from a line of deaf women, and is the fifth woman on her line to be deaf or partially deaf: great, great-grandmother Eva Johnston, her daughter Dorothy Shaw, Danielle Shaw, Patricia Levitzke-Gray, and herself.[2] Her father is also deaf, and she has a deaf brother.[2]
Deaf culture
editLevitzke-Gray was selected in 2011 by Deaf Australia to attend the World Federation of the Deaf Youth Section Leadership Camp in Durban, South Africa, and the World Federation of the Deaf General Assembly.[2]
Levitzke-Gray attended the Frontrunners[4] international deaf youth leadership course in 2012 and 2013.
In January 2014, Levitzke-Gray was the first deaf person in Western Australia and Australia to participate in jury duty.[5]
Awards
editExternal links
editReferences
edit- ^ a b The Deaf Odyssey of Drisana - Photos, photographs, Drisana Levitzke-Gray, 4 January 2015, accessed 26 January 2016
- ^ a b c d e f "About Me!". The Deaf Odyssey of Drisana. Australia. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
- ^ "Australian of the Year: Rosie Batty awarded top honour for efforts to stop family violence". ABC News. Australia. 25 January 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
- ^ "International program | Frontrunners | Hedensted". www.frontrunners.dk (in French). Retrieved 2024-11-22.
- ^ WA woman 'first deaf Australian to participate in jury duty', Sylvia Varnham O'Regan, SBS, 24 January 2014, accessed 26 January 2015
- ^ Young Australian of the Year 2015 - Drisana Levitzke-Gray - Deaf advocate, Australian of the Year, accessed 7 February 2022
- ^ 2015 Young Australian of the Year: Drisana Levitzke-Gray, David Flannery, ABC News Online, 26 January 2015