Today we share historic news about one of our industry-leading members, Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC).
Here is a message from Chief Executive, Chris Rehn.
Today, RIDBC, along with its group of services, unveiled its new brand and positioning, as a single, unified organisation—NextSense.
NextSense brings together RIDBC and its groups and services, including Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre (SCIC), Renwick Centre, RIDBC schools and preschools and other historical brands and names we’ve been custodians of.
Our rebrand is an exciting opportunity to build a bigger platform to advocate for change. We are all excited about this new chapter, and our ability to connect to more people than ever before.
You can’t be around for over 160 years without evolving.
When Thomas Pattison, a deaf migrant from Scotland, opened Australia’s very first school for children who were deaf in Sydney way back in 1860, he was determined to give children with hearing loss every chance in life to reach their full potential.
Since then, we’ve done a lot of growing. We’re now an organisation that provides services for both children and adults, and for people with hearing or vision loss.
So, what we needed was a name that would tell our full story, a name that truly reflected who we are today and who we will be into the future—one organisation, one purpose, one brand, with so many ways to help people with hearing or vision loss.
Today we have the largest cochlear implant program in the country. Our postgraduate program is an industry leader. And we’re at the forefront of research and innovation in our field.
Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children—RIDBC—doesn’t tell the full story anymore. We needed a name that could take us into the next 160 years.
So, why NextSense?
Next signals our ongoing commitment to innovation at every level of service. We’re here to break down barriers, and help our clients, their families, and the community achieve whatever they want to do next.
And Sense embraces not only both hearing and vision, but the intelligence, empathy and understanding it takes to enhance futures.
So, the name might be new, but NextSense represents everything we’ve always been. It builds on our rich history and underlines our commitment to world-leading service, research, innovation, and educating the next generation of experts.
NextSense purpose and ambition
As part of our rebrand journey, we redefined our organisational purpose:
We exist to enhance lives by working with people who have hearing and vision loss, so together we can redefine what’s possible.
We also set ourselves an ambition—as a unified organisation, we lead and influence the field of hearing and vision, through dedication to our services, and advancing research, education, innovation and technology.
All of this comes together as we look at the future we’re building together.
Whilst our name and logo will change, our brand is much more than that. It’s about the entire experience that our partners, clients, advocates, donors, volunteers and staff take away when you deal with us.
I genuinely can’t wait to work together with our partners and supporters to advance our shared goals, advocate to create a world that is more inclusive, accessible and supported—to build the future of NextSense, and everything we can make happen next.
So that we can lift the limits on what’s possible.
Chris Rehn
Chief Executive, NextSense
Nextsense.org.au
