Greta's Story - Telethon Speech & Hearing

Greta’s Story

“The common theme is working together to bring about the best possible outcomes for students and their families. It has always been a collaboration.”


To celebrate our 50th year anniversary, Telethon Speech & Hearing (TSH) will be showcasing 50 stories of people who have been a part of our organisation’s history since 1967.

Greta

Today’s highlighted story is from former TSH supporter, Greta Payne.

Greta Payne (nee Atkinson) was one of the stalwarts who worked quietly behind the scenes to help get the Centre on its feet.

She was employed by the Education Department, but had a special responsibility to consult with and counsel parents of young children whose deafness had just been confirmed. You might imagine the importance of her role in helping those young parents to come to grips with the problems that they, and their child, faced. Greta would often refer parents to us because she was supportive of the objectives then identified.

Greta took herself off to Manchester to be trained as a teacher of the deaf and did this at her own cost. It should be remembered that, at that time, the facility to train teachers of the deaf was only just beginning to be established in Melbourne and Manchester University’s course already had an international reputation.

Formally trained teachers of deaf were a pretty scarce commodity. That’s why we had to seek teachers from overseas sources.


About Greta

Greta Payne (nee Atkinson) has been a friend of Telethon Speech & Hearing since the 1960s. Working as a teacher of the deaf outside the organisation, Greta helped to refer parents to our centre where appropriate.