
2011
video – Taonga source: Asia Downunder
I’m Deaf, Let’s Talk
Meet Karishma Mohan, one of the faces of NZSL Week 2011. Here, we get a glimpse of Karishma's life – both home, work and socially. She is studying to become a teacher with a practicum at Kelston Deaf Education Centre's pre-school.


biography
Profile
Jennifer Brain (QSM)
Jennifer received the Queens Service Medal in 2007 for services to the New Zealand Deaf Community. She was well known for her leadership with the New Zealand Association for the Deaf. Jennifer became the first Deaf Leadership Tutor promoting community and Deaf youth leadership, before becoming the first Deaf Chief Executive Officer in 1999. Through her work, Jennifer was ahead of her time with the strategic planning of many Deaf community projects including Deaf awareness and Deaf leadership.

1989
video – Taonga source: Television New Zealand Archive
Interview with I. King Jordan about Deaf education
The first Deaf president of Gallaudet University, I. King Jordan, is visiting Christchurch, New Zealand for the World Games of the Deaf in January 1989. Dr King Jordan is interviewed about the changes he has implemented at Gallaudet University, and Deaf education in NZ.

NZSL Stories


1966
publication – Taonga source: New Zealand Deaf News
NZ Deaf News: Autumn 1966 (Vol. 3, No. 3)
NZSL Stories


1944
article – Taonga source: NZ Tablet
Catholic Education For Deaf-Mute Children
The story of Catholic Deaf-Mute education, what has been done for deaf students by Dominican Nuns, and the new St. Dominic’s School for Deaf Children in Wellington.


1989
article – Taonga source: The Dominion
Board of trustees accepts extra challenges at school for deaf
Board member Ava Buzzard, who has been deaf since birth, is excited by the chance to have a greater role in a school she has been involved with for many years.


1974
article – Taonga source: Eastern Suburbs News
Successful integration of the deaf depends on community attitudes
If a New Zealand-born person doesn’t speak good English, people are likely to assume such a person is unintelligent. Such an assumption is wrong when the person is born deaf.


1998
video – Taonga source: AUT Visual Languages Section
Memories of Susan Thomas (1998)
Susan, born as the only deaf person in a hearing family, talks about the dialect differences in sign between the South Island and the North Island, oralism, moving cities, participating in the Trans-Tasman Games, and meeting her husband, Paul.




1969
publication – Taonga source: New Zealand Deaf News
NZ Deaf News: 1969 (Vol. 6, No. 3)


1986
video – Taonga source: Television New Zealand Archive
Te Aro Deaf students featured in ‘The Video Dispatch’
Heather Campbell, a Teacher of the Deaf, talks about the need for Deaf children and their families to have access to language early in life. This episode screened during Deaf Awareness Week in 1986.





1995
publication – Taonga source: National Foundation for Deaf and Hard of Hearing
NFD Communicate: September 1995




NZSL Stories


1989
video – Taonga source: Deaf Aotearoa
National Foundation for the Deaf promotional video
National Foundation for the Deaf produce a promotional video explaining their role and the purpose of their member organisations.


NZSL Stories


1981
article – Taonga source: NZ Listener
Communication
Whakatane teacher Ruth Gerzon looks at some of the problems facing the deaf, in particular the controversy on how they should be taught.


2023
video – Taonga source: Speak Up Kōrerotia
Speak Up Kōrerotia – Deaf Education in Aotearoa
This special NZSL Week show looks at the history and progression of deaf education in Aotearoa over time, from the oral method of communication taught for decades to the current use and teaching of NZSL. We interview Kay Drew (former teacher at the Van Asch Deaf Education Centre in Christchurch, and a CODA - child of deaf adults) and Sara Pivac Alexander (Te Herenga Waka Victoria University)




1959
video – Taonga source: Susan Hamilton
Parent’s Day at Kelston School for the Deaf (1959)
Annual Parent’s Day at Kelston School for the Deaf, with rides (horses, fire tank and alike!), performances and end-of-year prizes.




2017
publication – Taonga source: Deaf Education History Aotearoa NZ
Yearbook: van Asch Deaf Education Centre, 2017





1978
article – Taonga source: Courier News
New Deaf Unit at Hutt Valley College
Nine third-formers, all described as "profoundly deaf", began secondary school this year at Hutt Valley Memorial Technical College.


1950
article – Taonga source: St Dominic’s Catholic Deaf Centre
Dominic’s School Impresses Experts On Training Of Deaf
"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.








1968
video – Taonga source: St Dominic’s Catholic Deaf Centre
A Deaf Child in the Family
“A Deaf Child in the Family” is an award-winning film which shows authentic scenes from Deaf education centres at Kelston, St Dominics and Sumner, produced as a resource for families of deaf children.












Est. 1992
COLLECTIONS – CURATED BY SIGNDNA: DEAF NATIONAL ARCHIVE
Rūaumoko Marae
Rūaumoko Marae has been part of Deaf Māori community for 30 years and is a central part of Deaf Māori community. It's a place where Deaf Māori can just be; they can connect and learn about te ao Māori.


1994
video – Taonga source: St Dominic’s Catholic Deaf Centre
Pilgrimage to the original St Dominic’s Wellington school
A group of past pupils visit the original Dover Street location in Island Bay, Wellington, as part of the Golden Jubilee of the founding of St Dominic’s School for the Deaf.








1980
article – Taonga source: Education News
“Deaf kids aren’t dumb you know?” 100 Years of Education for the Deaf
Van Asch College, as it will now be known, is no longer a school exclusively for the deaf.


1995
publication – Taonga source: National Foundation for Deaf and Hard of Hearing
NFD Communicate: February 1995




NZSL Stories


1955-65
video – Taonga source: St Dominic’s Catholic Deaf Centre
A montage of St Dominic’s Christmas Picnics between 1955 and 1965
Footage from 1955 – 1965 during the annual Christmas Picnics held by St Dominic’s School for the Deaf in Island Bay. In New Zealand fashion, Santa arrives on horseback, bringing presents to the pupils who all take turns riding the horse!








1980
article – Taonga source: The Evening Post
Duchess gets magic carpet treatment
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?


1995
publication – Taonga source: National Foundation for Deaf and Hard of Hearing
NFD Communicate: December 1995




NZSL Stories


2004
video – Taonga source: Rūaumoko Komiti
Opening of the Advance Centre
The opening of the Advance Centre, a tertiary support centre for Deaf and hearing impaired students in the Auckland region, attended by Hon Ruth Dyson, Minister for Disability Issues, and Patrick Thompson - Māori Deaf leader.




2008
video – Taonga source: Attitude Pictures
Nirvana teaching Sign Language
She’s a great mum and teacher and she’s deaf. Nirvana Graham is creating history by teaching our third official language in mainstream school.




1997
publication – Taonga source: Deaf Education History Aotearoa NZ
Yearbook: van Asch Deaf Education Centre, 1997





1946
article – Taonga source: St Dominic’s Catholic Deaf Centre
Teaching The Deaf To Speak
Margaret is one of some 21 kiddies, aged from five to seven years, who for the most part born deaf, are receiving special instruction at St. Dominic's School for the Deaf at Island Bay, Wellington, the first Catholic institution of its kind to be established in the Dominion.












