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Six months after deaf and hearing-impaired children in the region lost their deaf tutor, problems with the teaching of NZSL continue. "NZSL is not a choice, it's a necessity and we have to give these kids a voice," mother Charmaine Strickland said.

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.

The New Zealand cricket team beat Australia at the Petone Recreation Ground. You would be forgiven for not knowing the match was on. Media coverage, or rather the lack of it, is a major problem for disabled sport.

One of the crowd favourites at the sixteenth World Games for the Deaf has been the blind and deaf wrestler from Canada, Pier Morten. Although being disadvantaged by not being able to see his opponents, Morten fights tenaciously and reacts speedily to holds applied on him.

Two Napier indoor basketball players have been selected for the Silent Olympics at Washington D.C. in June 1965. The two deaf players are Mervyn and Ray Foreman. Both brothers, who have played basketball since 1949, have represented Hawkes Bay in inter-provincial play. In 1951, the brothers moved to Auckland, where they played for the Deaf Demons and also represented Auckland. Their selection for the New Zealand team for the Silent Olympics was announced this week.

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.

Nine third-formers, all described as "profoundly deaf", began secondary school this year at Hutt Valley Memorial Technical College.

Poor access to emergency services for the deaf could result in a death unless some action is taken soon, say advocates for the deaf. A petition has just been launched to ask Telecom to provide a relay service for that deaf people can call for help.

New Zealand swimmers Kathryn Olsson and Anva Cosgrove made their first appearance in the pool in the 100m freestyle. They finished fifth in their respective heats and failed to make the finals.

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.