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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.

There is still much lack of understanding among the general public about the needs of deaf people, says Pat Dugdale, field officer in Wellington for the New Zealand Association of the Deaf.

Auckland film-maker Ann Andrews has embarked on a project that Television New Zealand initially regarded as unpalatable last year She is making a film about deaf people. Anne is allowing the deaf to use their first language – sign language.

Bruce McHattie, having just returned from a world conference for the deaf in Rome, says that New Zealand is so far behind in the rest of the world in services for the deaf.

Teaching for almost 50 years has proved a rewarding career for Terry O'Brien, who has witnessed the development of deaf education. He has seen the transition of deaf education from an emphasis on teaching verbally and through text, to an emphasis on Signed English then NZSL in the 90s.

Curry, who was deaf after suffering meningitis as an infant, spent two years in jail before being brought to trial on a murder charge a jury took just two hours to throw out.

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.

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.

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.

Local man Lindsay Jones has a national reputation as a skilful storyteller. Unless more people learn sign language, however, that recognition is likely to remain limited mainly to the deaf community.

One local mariner, 66 year old, Laurence Schischka and his family, enjoy and succeed in sailing in total silence. Schischka, his wife Sylvia and their sons are oblivious to the creaking of the spars, the whir of winches, the thundering of wind billowing sails, even the sloshing of waves against the hull.

Two years ago, the New Zealand Dominicians opened a Catholic school for deaf children at 15 Dover Street, Island Bay, Wellington. The article records the impressions of a Wellington journalist who visited the school recently.

Applications are invited for the above position based in the Wellington Welfare Office for the Deaf. Interpreting work will include areas such as welfare, court, political meetings, medical, etc. Application giving full curriculum vitae and a VHS video tape of yourself of no less than 15 minutes presented in sign language.

A course to train professional interpreters for the deaf, now being run in Auckland, is the first of its kind in New Zealand.

For many people in the Deaf community, the coronavirus pandemic was the most they had ever seen their language on television. But its meant more than simply accessing information – it includes the Deaf community in conversations.

Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People has become the first and only government ministry with a name in all three of New Zealand’s official languages.

Lack of access to interpreters means deaf children are missing out on education. There are about 3600 children in the deaf education system, of which about 96 per cent attend mainstream schools. There are just three NZSL educational interpreters working full time with students, meaning most children were missing out.

Deaf people have evolved a sophisticated language which is little understood by hearing people and is officially ignored, according to American linguist Marianne Collins-Ahlgren.

"There's still a lot of barriers for deaf people in this country," says Erica, who lost her hearing when she was six months old. "We face all sorts of challenges that hearing people take for granted, such as finding interpreters to help us with schoolwork or meetings at work."

The Deaf Sign Singers have a busy schedule this year with performances throughout the North Island.