Ephpheta: June 1980 (Vol. 3, No. 2)

Some of the items featured in ‘Ephpheta: June 1980 (Vol. 3, No. 2)’:

• Deaf Awareness Week was held on 19 to 25 May 1980. It was held at Downtown, Auckland hosted by Quota. There were various displays of each group’s activities (NZ Association of the Deaf, the NZ Federation for Deaf Children and the Hearing Association). Cake stalls were held each lunchtime by various groups in turn. The highlight of the week was the Cocktail Evening on Sunday 25 May at the Downtown Shopping Centre Walkway. 460 people, both hearing and deaf, gathered for a speech by former Governor-General, Sir Denis Blundell, interpreted by Bruce McHattie, the President of the NZ Association of the Deaf. 
• A Total Communication Mass: Father John McAlpine seems to be working very hard at learning Total Communication. Everyone at Mass was spellbound. Many deaf people for the first time could follow the Mass and everyone enjoyed it more. There was also a Total Communication leadership course at Knock-na-Gree between young deaf and hearing persons. John Hunt says that everyone should learn Total Communication for a better understanding towards the Deaf World.
• Stephen Leach of Kelston has won a four-year scholarship to Gallaudet College in Washington D.C. He leaves next year and is the first New Zealand student to study at the college. Stephen hopes to qualify as a secondary school teacher for the deaf.