Empowered Voices, Shared Futures: Connecting young people with cochlear implants across Australia and Japan
Young Australians with cochlear implants will soon join their Japanese peers in a new leadership program connecting lived experience with conversations shaping the future of hearing health policy, as Australia and Japan celebrate 50 years of friendship and cooperation.
The Shepherd Centre has been awarded a $112,150 Australia–Japan Foundation 50th Anniversary Grant to deliver Empowered Voices, Shared Futures: Celebrating Australia–Japan Leadership in Hearing Health, a two-day program across Sydney and Canberra bringing together young people with cochlear implants from both countries to exchange ideas, build networks and contribute to the future of hearing health.
For many participants, it will be the first time they have met someone their own age from another country who understands what it is like to grow up with a cochlear implant. Beyond sharing similar technology, they will share experiences of navigating education, friendships, identity and independence while living with hearing loss.
Delivered by The Shepherd Centre and Macquarie University, in partnership with Cochlear, the program will connect participants with policymakers, surgeons, clinicians, researchers and industry leaders from Australia and Japan to explore hearing health systems, access to care, emerging technologies, models of service delivery and more.
At the heart of the program will be the young delegates themselves. Bringing their unique perspectives, they will share their everyday experiences, identify common challenges and develop recommendations to strengthen hearing health policy, improve access and inclusion, support transitions to adulthood, and encourage deeper collaboration between Australia and Japan.
“The people who live with hearing loss every day bring perspectives that no report or dataset can capture,” said Dr Aleisha Davis, Chief Executive Officer of The Shepherd Centre.
“This program gives those voices the opportunity to influence the future of hearing healthcare across two countries. By bringing young people together with clinicians, researchers and policymakers, we’re creating opportunities for lived experience to inform decisions about services, systems and policy. That’s where meaningful change happens. We are celebrating 50 years of friendship between Australia and Japan and taking this a step further by looking towards the future too.”
The funding forms part of the Australia–Japan Foundation’s 50th Anniversary Grant program, which commemorates five decades of the Australia–Japan relationship and supports initiatives that celebrate collaboration, innovation and mutual understanding.
The grant recognises The Shepherd Centre’s longstanding leadership in hearing health and the strength of its partnerships across research, clinical care and innovation in Australia and Japan.
For The Shepherd Centre, Empowered Voices, Shared Futures represents more than an international exchange. It is an investment in the next generation of hearing health advocates and leaders, whose experiences and ideas will help shape the future of hearing healthcare in Australia, Japan and beyond.
Read Senator the Hon Penny Wong’s official announcement here: https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/media-release/strengthening-australia-japan-ties-50th-anniversary-treaty