Webinar: A Different Kind of Seeing: How Language and Literacy Changed
My Life
Presenters: Marie Younan and Jill Sanguinetti
Date: Thursday, 20th August 2026
Time: 5.00 pm NSW (AEST)
Webinar recording and Certificate of attendance available here
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Abstract
Marie Younan was an Assyrian refugee who was blind, had never been to school, and knew very little English when she came to the Migrant Women’s Learning Centre in 1990. Her adult literacy class with teacher Jill Sanguinetti and assistance from a braille support teacher, set her on a pathway which led to a tertiary qualification, work as a professional interpreter in three languages, and a rich social life in both the Assyrian and mainstream communities.
Years later, Marie and Jill wrote a book together about her early years In Syria, Lebanon and Melbourne, her learning as a blind student in a mainstream literacy class and her many achievements along the way.
In this webinar, Marie and Jill will talk about Marie’s process of gaining an education and the process they shared in writing Marie’s life story. ‘A Different Kind of Seeing’ was published by Scribe in 2021.
