SignDNA is the home of Aotearoa New Zealand’s visual Deaf history.

Married recently at St Patrick’s Church, Paraparaumu were Kaz and Pam Witko, the only daughter of Mr and Mrs Howell. The couple will live in Perth.

Imagine a packed stadium and not one of the 10,000 spectators’ voices heard by the athletes competing. That was the scenario painted by deaf table tennis and basketball player Kaz Witko who travelled with the New Zealand team to the international deaf sports convention in West Germany last year.

A field officer for the deaf, Mr David Chilwell, a former president of the Christchurch Deaf Club, has been appointed in Christchurch as a result of a grant from the Lottery Funds Board.

Deafness has failed to keep John Mansell from a successful career as a rugby league referee. "I know the rule book inside out. If you know the rules and the signals well there's no reason why a referee has to talk."

Sign language interpreter Rosie Henley translates for the deaf beside Speaker of the House Jonathon Hunt as MPs debate legislation making New Zealand sign language an official language.

The 1989 "friendly games" are underway. That is the unoffical title given to the Games for the Deaf which the Minister of Health, Mr Caygill, officially opened on Saturday.