Melissa Hale had been working with Deaf men’s cricket for many years when she posed the question: “What about women?”.
While there were very apparent barriers for Deaf men to participate in the sport, Hale would often watch them join local cricket clubs through their fathers, brothers, uncles and other support systems.
For over 140 years, there had always been Deaf men’s cricket competitions– nationally, internationally and locally, in Victoria. The same couldn’t be said for women.
“Deaf and hard of hearing men had so many more opportunities to enjoy the game, but also enjoy the camaraderie of being a part of a team, developing their cricket families and homes away from home,” says Hale.
That’s why, at a Cricket Australia meeting in 2018, Hale brought up the possibility of creating a Deaf women’s competition.
“The staff member looked at me for a second and said ‘well, if you can get two teams up, we will put on an exhibition match’,” Hale recounts about the pivotal moment in her advocacy journey.
“Within 48 hours, the Deaf community had come together, formed two teams, and changed the lives of many Deaf women and girls across Australia,” she says.
It was the first Deaf women’s cricket competition in Australia. Now, there are three fully formed Deaf women’s cricket teams playing for their states at the National Cricket Inclusion Championships in Brisbane in Marchant Park, and Hale says at least half of these women play regular cricket.
“I feel really strongly about the phrase ‘You can’t be what you can’t see’,” says Hale. “It is important that people with lived experience lead in the spaces that affect them. Only they know intimately how being a person with that experience affects their lives and how they experience the world around them.”
As a proud Deaf woman herself, Hale has been leading and driving change through Deaf cricket for years. Most recently, she was selected as a Change Our Game ambassador to shine a light on the need for accessibility of Deaf women in sport.
Hale is one of eight inspiring women chosen by the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation for the Change Our Game movement. It raises awareness on key issues through the platform between now and International Women’s Day 2024.
One of the biggest messages Hale is working to elevate is that not everyone is starting from the same place – a point particularly relevant to Deaf and hard of hearing women and girls.
“From my experiences in cricket, women and girls are only in recent times getting access to the game through their clubs in their own teams in safe and inclusive environments.”
“For Deaf and hard of hearing women and girls, many have never had the opportunity to pick up a ball or bat or understand the rules because of the double disadvantage they have had,” she says noting that it can often be hard for these players to “fit in and communicate effectively at local cricket clubs”.
“It’s for these reasons that we cannot have the same expectations and apply the same rules of men’s cricket to a group that is only just starting out. We need to pivot and adjust to fit,” she says. “This doesn’t make women’s and girls’ sports less deserving, important or exciting – it’s just a different starting point.”
Hale also says that while she feels a great responsibility to open doors for Deaf and hard of hearing women and girls, she cannot speak for everyone’s different lived experiences.
“Leadership for me means capturing as many voices of Deaf and hard of hearing people that I can, and elevating them all as equally as I can, by stepping out of the way, and opening the doors to let others lead,” she says.
What this really comes down to, Hale says, is having empathy and understanding that we all “have a deep human need to belong”.
“We need to ask ourselves: ‘Are we doing things the way that we have always done them, just because it’s the ‘rules’, or are there truly things that we can adjust in our sports to make them more inclusive of everyone?’,” she says.
“Sometimes the smallest adjustments can make the biggest difference to inclusion.”
Between now and International Women’s Day 2024, Change Our Game Ambassadors will use their platform to help drive change and raising awareness on key issues and barriers for women in sport. The Change Our Game series is put on by the Office of Women in Sport and Recreation. Be sure to follow the Ambassadors’ journeys through @ChangeOurGame on socials.