A World Within a World

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
28 Apr 2010

Stephen Lawlor

In helmet, goggles and leathers, Steve Lawlor roars up to the Ephpheta Centre in Punchbowl on his super-powerful Yamaha XJR 1300 motorbike. Carefully parking the big bike, he strips off his biking paraphernalia and in chinos and a casual shirt, he strides into the Centre.

The first, and as far as anyone knows, the only non-hearing man or woman anywhere in the world to head up a Catholic facility for the deaf, Steve became part of Church history in 2005 when he was appointed director of the Ephpheta Centre at Punchbowl by the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell.

"I believe the Cardinal thought appointing a deaf person as director of the centre would be a good opportunity for leadership role modelling for Sydney's deaf community, and I try to be that and to be a strong leader," he says.

Tall, charismatic, with an easy smile and keen sense of humour, Steve is not on director of the Centre but part of its chaplaincy team, describing his job as "the middle man" between the Catholic ministry and the city's 500-strong deaf community. Along with organising weekly "signed" Masses for the city's deaf community, and overseeing Centre's famous "signing choir," Steve uses his skills with information technology to develop spectacular power point presentations for the deaf which are used as part of the Mass. He also spends time each week visiting the deaf whether in nursing homes, hospitals and in their own homes and provides pastoral support for deaf people in prison or who are isolated, lonely or ill. Steve is also always on hand to give reassuring counsel to families with whose baby has been diagnosed as deaf, and offers them practical as well as spiritual support.

Stephen holds grandchildren Ethan and Eva and
his wife, Nola holds Ashton and Jacinda

Married to Nola for 38 years, the couple has two sons and two daughters and are the proud grandparents to Ethan, Eva, Ashton and Jacinta. What's remarkable is that although Steve is profoundly deaf, his children and grandchildren were all born with normal hearing.

Unlike many deaf people, Steve is able to speak and is also an expert lip reader. But the language he prefers to use is Auslan or Australian sign language. So to interview him is to watch his hands moving expressively as he smiles or frowns to give emphasis to what he is saying - all of which is seamlessly translated by a hearing Nicole Clark, who works with Steve at the Centre and is an accredited interpreter for the deaf.

The only one among his siblings to be born deaf, it is thought Steve was able to hear until he was about three years old. "No one knows why I lost my hearing at three, or what caused it; and at first when I didn't respond, my parents simply thought I was being a bit stubborn or lazy. It was only later it occurred to them I might not be able to hear."

Diagnosed as profoundly deaf, Steve spent his first few years at St Joseph's Primary in East Sydney which was run by what he calls "Butterfly Nuns."

"In those days nuns still wore those fabulous habits. But unable to hear, I didn't understand much of what was going on. So I tried to follow whatever everyone else was doing and got by that way."

It was a hit and miss form of education, but all this changed when seven year old Steve became a boarder at St Gabriel's School for Deaf Children at Castle Hill. And it was here, he first discovered sign language.

"At St Gabriel's we were forbidden to sign in the classroom where all the emphasis was on speech therapy, lip reading and articulation. But we'd sign to each other anyway, sneaking signs from under our desks or when the brothers weren't looking, as well as in the playground."

But picking up sign language in this manner was a bit rough and ready and Steve did not become fluent in Auslan until friends took him Sydney's Deaf Club shortly after he left school.

"The club was a real culture shock and from leading a pretty quiet life I suddenly found myself surrounded by hundreds of deaf people all talking a mile a minute using their hands and having a great time. That's when I really learned to sign and it quickly became the language I was most comfortable using."

Although Steve made many hearing friends at the litho printers where he worked on the creative side as graphic reproducer for more than 30 years, it was the deaf community where he felt the most at home.

"It's important to understand deafness from a cultural perspective rather than a medical perspective. We see ourselves as a cultural minority and like all minorities we have our own language and are a world within a world."

Although Steve says most deaf people have hearing friends, they are usually happiest socialising with other deaf people and almost always will prefer to marry a deaf person rather than one who can hear.

With a grin, he hastens to add that deaf people having nothing against the hearing and don't intend to exclude them from their lives. "Most of us grew up in hearing families or have hearing children of our own. We also have hearing friends. But when it comes right down to it, we're most at home with other deaf people because we understand one another and think the same way."

So it comes as no surprise to discover Steve's wife Nola is also deaf. According to Steve the pair met and fell in love after being introduced to one another on a Wednesday night at Sydney's Deaf Club. "But Nola insists she met me years before when we were both still at school and St Gabriel's visited Newcastle and Rosary Convent's Waratah School for Deaf Girls where she was a pupil."

For both Nola and Steve, their Catholic faith has been the mainstay of their lives as has the Ephpheta Centre.

"Through the Centre the deaf can become fully involved in their faith and their Church," Steve says. But he is quick to point out that although those who visit the Centre are deaf or hearing impaired, for those who have been born deaf, or have been deaf from an early age, deafness is not regarded as a handicap or disability.

"Deaf people have wonderful fulfilled lives and Nola and I are living proof of that," he says with a broad smile, then reaches for his helmet and goggles and prepares to take off on his Yamaha XJR 1300 on his pastoral rounds for the day.