ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

Rosie Malezer is a Gubbi-Gubbi woman whose country includes the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay and Burnett Mary Regions.  She lives and writes in Finland, and has eleven books in print, including children’s books, non-fiction and YA/adult fiction.  I stumbled on her book How to Be Deaf on a trail from another book at Goodreads, and after I’d read it I made contact with Rosie and asked if I could feature her in Meet an Aussie Author.

1. I was born in Gubbi Gubbi Country to a Gubbi Gubbi dad and an Irish/Scottish mum. Mum left. Dad raised me on his own.
2. When I was a child I wrote some short stories, the most notorious of which was “The Shark-Infested Dam.”
3. The person who inspired me to write was Enid Blyton. Reading her books made my day.
4. I write in perfect solitude within myself. As a Deaf/blind author, I need my “tools” to get the job done.
5. I write when I am not busy reviewing books submitted by other authors. I truly have to be in the zone to write.
6. Research is essential when writing non-fiction books. I write about my domestic violence and Deaf experiences often.
7. I keep my published work/s in as many book stores and libraries as possible. I write so others can broaden their knowledge.
8. On the day my first book was published, I was thrilled. “How to be Deaf” shows the difficulty in being Deaf in an audist[1] and surdophobic[2] world.
9. At the moment, I’m writing about my experience as a Neo-Natal Kitten Fosterer, which will hopefully be released this year.
10. When I’m stuck for an idea/word/phrase, I go to http://www.thesaurus.com to find just the right way to express myself.

[1] Audism is the notion that one is superior based on one’s ability to hear or to behave in the manner of one who hears, or that life without hearing is futile and miserable, or an attitude based on pathological thinking which results in a negative stigma toward anyone who does not hear. (Wikipedia)

[2] Surdophobia is the hostility, intolerance or fear against Deaf people, Deaf culture and the Deaf community. … It can consist of a range of negative attitudes towards Deafhood, the idea of deafpositive and Deaf rights. (This definition came up on Google search results page but the Wikiwand site from which it came seems not to exist any more).

How to be Deaf is Rosie’s account of the experience of suddenly becoming totally deaf after 40 years in the hearing world.  There are lots of helpful tips for anyone coming to terms with a similar experience, but as I’ve said in my review, How to be Deaf is not just a self-help manual for the deaf.  Also very valuable are Malezer’s  anecdotes about the insensitive ways that hearing people behave because they don’t know any better, and the book offers guidance for everyone who encounters deaf people and wants to treat them with respect.  There are Dos and Don’ts about how to interact with deaf people, about how to help without making assumptions or compromising independence, about the issues that are specific to the deaf community, about terms and expressions that are offensive, and about solutions both short and long term for communication difficulties.  You can find out about Rosie’s other books and where to buy them at her website. 

Rosie is proudly independent and she makes her living as a copy-editor, proof-reader, author and translator.  See the card below for contact details:

Thanks for sharing your story, Rosie!