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

James Whale can speak as well as any 5-year old but sometimes he lets his hand do the talking. The Wellington boy and his family are among the dwindling number of Kiwis who can use NZSL.

Arash Tayebi’s idea to develop sign language avatar technology is personal. And while Kara Technologies is still in the pilot stage, Tayebi hopes the technology will become easier to access as 24/7 teachers or in emergencies.

Seven Japanese climbers, members of the Tokyo Deaf and Mute Climbing Society, flew on to Mt Cook yesterday, ignoring warnings of avalanche danger near their base camp.

Local bodies in the Wellington region are still inconsistent about the reductions they offer in dog registration fees for deaf owners, says the New Zealand Association of the Deaf.

Deaf people are angered and disappointed by the threat facing the TV show News Review.

For the first time in their lives, Pam and Kay, who are profoundly deaf, can talk to each other by telephone. The Combined Societies for the Deaf is hoping to get telephone-type equipment in airports, police stations, taxi offices and emergency service switchboards.

A Northland advocate is behind a campaign to get deaf-friendly fire alarms installed in public buildings, after a deaf university student was left behind during a drill. Whangarei's Kim Robinson, chairman of Deaf Action New Zealand, is driving the petition to make visual fire alarms - similar to what many deaf people have in their homes - mandatory in public buildings.

What do you do in the deaf unit at Hutt Valley Memorial College when everything is spic and span ready for a Duchess to pay a visit and someone spills a pot of black ink on the carpet?