Articles

Wayne Riggs (Wellington) beats Shaun Ruffel (Taranaki) to the wicket in a practice game by members of the Central District Deaf Sports team before the Saturday match against an Australian deaf team.

Deaf people were incensed when a television commentator at the Commonwealth opening last night referred to an athlete as "deaf and dumb".

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.

Lower Hutt's Myra Sullivan showing hearing people how to use sign language at a workshop for the deaf held at Wellington College of Education yesterday.

Mrs Lilian Walton of Kilbirnie is the proud owner of a new machine which enables deaf people to talk on the phone. For Mrs Walton, the teleprinter means she can "talk" to her deaf son and his deaf wife.

Kevin Stokes wishes more people spoke his language. He would also like to see it recognised, as New Zealand's third official language, alng with English and Maori.

Christchurch's devastating earthquakes changed the lives of many people. Timaru couple Julie Nielson and Paul O'Donnell could finally turn off their television subtitles thanks to the sign language interpreters who stood beside Christchurch mayor Bob Parker as he addressed the public on a daily basis.

"This is the first time we have ever seen deaf children dance to a gramophone" said Dr. Irene Ewing delightedly when with her husband, Dr. A.Ewing, she visited St Dominic's School for the Deaf at Island Bay, Wellington.

The New Lynn Lions Club has scored a first. The club is the first in the country to sponsor deaf youths on an exchange overseas. It is sending Sally Robertson (19) and Lyndon Malcolm (19), both of Titirangi, to Oregon for about eight weeks.

For most of the week, the deaf in New Zealand are shut off from the television communication the rest of us take for granted. But for half an hour each Sunday, they can join the rest of the world, through a special programme called News Review.

A Christchurch man has designed an international first for the World Games for the Deaf, designing a visual starter for athletic and swimming events.

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

A summary of each sport featuring in the upcoming VXI World Deaf Games in Christchurch – soccer, table tennis, volleyball, basketball, handball, track and field, wrestling, cycling, swimming and badminton, with New Zealand contenders for medals.

Says Pam: “I think for me I live in two worlds and have two languages, the deaf language and the hearing language. I speak the deaf language because I was brought up with it.”

About 100 interpreters have been trained in Christchurch over the last year. The classes were organised by the hearing people but the deaf were the teachers. It is only the second time that New Zealand sign language has been taught in this country.

Napier Deaf brother and sisters – Doreen Howell and Ray Forman – talk about their experiences in the 1931 earthquake.

Deaf students have the right to equal access to tertiary education but who will pay for sign language interpreters?

Stewart Smith who is deaf, has been in teams which have won the New Zealand fours twice, and one of his team has won the Auckland singles three years running.

Penny Went collected a silver medal at the last World Games for the Deaf – now she is home and aiming for gold.

Debutantes who were presented to the Mayor and Mayoress Mr and Mrs Ashby at the first ball organised this week by the Auckland Adult Deaf Society.

Children Of A Lesser God, a play that tackles the communication problems faced by deaf people, opens at Circa tomorrow night. Suzanne Pollard talks to two of the cast about their roles.

The bride and groom and three other members of the wedding party were deaf and 30 of the guests had also attended the School for Deaf at Titirangi, where the bridge and groom met. Mr Moore says that although a wedding of a deaf couple was not unusual in Auckland, he thinks it is the first time such a ceremony has taken place in Northland.

The Manawatu Deaf Drama Group (MADEDRA) will present a show at Abbey Theatre, before taking it to Auckland for the Deaf View Conference and eventually, hope to travel overseas.

A full page update from The Press, on the results from the World Games for the Deaf - Saturday 14 January. Smith smashes record; Medal prospects; Basketball chance; Fast Swimming; Close tennis final.

World Deaf Games Chaperon Kath Smith – her husband is the manager and both are also deaf – adjusts swimmer Rossell MacKenzie's hat at a final outfitting in Auckland.

New Zealand's Kevin Lawrence won silver in the World Games for the Deaf marathon yesterday, but had to survive a protest.

The New Zealand mountaineer who conquered Mt Everest 30 years ago, Sir Edmund Hillary, has criticised the decision of the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, to remove deaf Japanese climbers from Mt Cook.

New Zealand athletes who took part in the World Deaf Games in Cologne arrived home unhappy about losing their bid to host the 1985 Deaf Games in Christchurch.

Twenty marae across Northland want to grow the number of whānau who can speak te reo Māori ... in sign language. An eight week course, He Aha, is about to get under way to help whānau improve communication with tangata turi.

Profoundly deaf people, particularly those deaf from birth of an early age, have needs which are not being met by the existing psychiatric services and institutions, says Pat Dugdale, Field Officer for the New Zealand Association of the Deaf.