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Sign language interpreters have made it possible for a deaf Victoria University lecturer to serve on a jury which is believed to be a first for New Zealand.

On a recent Saturday, I was lucky enough to meet members of the Auckland Deaf Society at a working bee they were holding to improve the grounds of the city's Deaf Welfare Centre. The centre, incidentially, is a very fine building – it has the biggest sports hall in Auckland with a floor area 110 by 60 feet.

The deaf defendant in the aborted Wanganui murder trial has no legal right to an interpreter, through the Justice Department says it is providing one.

From the day a child is diagnosed as being profoundly deaf, he should learn the system of "total communication," advocates Australian educationist Mr Brian Reynolds.

The documentary 'The Remand of Ivan Curry (One, Sunday 9.35) was the story of how a man could spend two years in a New Zealand prison without trial. A deaf man arrested for a murder he did not commit who was kept in jail through lack of police investigation then turned back onto the streets with nothing, not even an apology.

A fight has begun against a justice system which some deaf people regard as denying them basic human rights.

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.

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.

So far, four teleprinter phonetype telephones have been installed in the homes of totally deaf people in the Wellington area. They can be hired from the Wellington branch of the New Zealand deaf communications network.

This week is Deaf Awareness Week. Nelson Mail reporter interviewed two women from Nelson's deaf community this week: Fliss Maera and Susan Thomas. The Nelson Club has between 25 to 30 members.

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.