Articles

Deaf pupil Rahui Lee, 11, leads the year 7 and 8 class in a sign language game of mastermind, in which pupils have to guess a mystery four-digit number by signing.

One local mariner, 66 year old, Laurence Schischka and his family, enjoy and succeed in sailing in total silence. Schischka, his wife Sylvia and their sons are oblivious to the creaking of the spars, the whir of winches, the thundering of wind billowing sails, even the sloshing of waves against the hull.

For the last 15 months, the Independent Theatre of the Deaf has performed in venues all over Auckland as the Deaf Sign Singers.

“Here I can be myself.” That’s how 17-year-old Northlander Naomi Ngawati sums up the Language Days (organised by Ko Taku Reo) she’s been attending since she was a child.

The principal of the School for the Deaf, Sumner, died in Christchurch today after a short illness. Herbert Pickering was 64 years old.

For many people in the Deaf community, the coronavirus pandemic was the most they had ever seen their language on television. But its meant more than simply accessing information – it includes the Deaf community in conversations.

A multimillion dollar education centre is helping deaf students communicate. More than 400 people attended the opening of the Kelston Deaf Education Centre (KDEC) rebuild on February 28, 2017.

Research on the complex sign language that deaf New Zealanders have created could push education authorities to recognise the language's authenticity. It has taken an American linguist to document the distinctive language.

Trevor Fear, Auckland's newly-appointed deaf welfare officer talks about his experiences, the deaf community and their needs.

Stress and anxiety is bubbling in the Deaf community as it struggles to communicate with the public through face masks. They were “struggling” at the supermarket because they relied on lipreading to communicate. “Masks are creating a bit of a problem."

The first big controversy wracked the sixteenth World Games for the Deaf in Christchurch yesterday, when members of the Soviet table tennis team had to take an audio test because of suspicions that they could hear too well.

Swimmer Michael Lynch claimed New Zealand's second medla of the World Games for the Deaf when he took the bronze in the 100m butterfly.

The Friends of the Deaf has paid £3000 for a three-quarter acre site at 166 Balmoral Road and in the new year it will begin to erect there the first permanent institute for deaf adults in New Zealand.

The Ivan Curry documentary has prompted the deaf community to insist that professional sign language interpreters be used in all police and court work in future.

Whilst most parents face months of sleepless nights when they bring a new baby home, Jackie and Steven are confronted with the opposite problem of not being able to hear their babies crying.

This fascinating book provides insight into a community about which most people are unaware. This is the world of Deaf culture, of Deaf as an identity, not a disability or deficit – Deaf with a capital D.

To most of the athletes attending the sixteenth World Games for the Deaf the social side of the event is as important as the competition. For the 10 days of the games the athletes and deaf officials are living in their ideal world – using their form of communication.

A Wellington club for the deaf has started a drive to raise funds to build clubrooms. Club members, many of whom are tradesmen, want to build the clubrooms themselves.

The four skipped by Margaret Coutts lost both matches at the national women's bowls tournament in Wellington yesterday. But they didn't mind.

Wearing a face mask is meant to help slow the spread of Covid-19. But for Tokoroa’s Roger Drower, who is partially deaf, they’ve left him feeling discriminated and isolated.

Applications are invited for the first New Zealand course of interpreter training.

A revolutionary device which opens up a whole new world for those born deaf is now being demonstrated in Wellington. New Zealand is the only second country in the world to adopt the system so far.

Seven young girls will make their debut at a ball to be held by the Auckland Deaf Society; they will dance the debutante walz without hearing the music.

Susie Ovens, born 97% deaf, uses mime as one of the many methods to relate to the hearing world. She is also a member of the “Deaf Sign Singers”, a group of 11 deaf people who perform sign language to music.

The deaf community of the lower North Island gathered in Palmerston North on the last weekend of September to honour a teacher and chaplain, mentor and friend who has worked with the deaf since 1972.

Seventeen New Zealanders, en route to the tenth annual International Games for the Deaf in Washington D.C., have been squeezing some Mexico City sightseeing into a brief lay-over during their trip. New Zealand's contingent, headed by Stewart Smith, includes a basketball team, wrestler, trackmen, table tennis players and a swimmer.

Although many people will not have heard of the World Games for the Deaf, New Zealand's involvement with them spans 40 years. The first information about the games reached New Zealand in 1949 and the New Zealand Amateur Sports Association was formed.

Three years of lobbying for more support has finally borne fruit for the Taranaki deaf community. An office of the Deaf Association opened in New Plymouth this week, to provide needs assessment, information and some interpretation services for deaf people.

A job advertisement for a field officer for the deaf in Wellington, a resourceful person experienced in Social Work to assist deaf clients and carry out liaison and information work on matters relating to deafness.

A crowd of 4000 cheered and waved as about 1400 athletes and officials resplendent in national colours marched into the stadium as a reminder that the first World Games for the Deaf were held in Paris in 1924.