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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.

Growing up in Feilding Della Roache used to like going to the pub to pick up her dad. Now she's the bar manager at the Himatangi Beach Cosmopolitan Club. And she's deaf.

In spite of wet weather, there was a large attendance of Catholic clergy and public at the blessing and opening of St. Dominic's School for the Deaf and Dumb, at Dover Street, Island Bay, yesterday afternoon. This school, conducted by the Sisters of St. Dominic, is the first Catholic School for the education of deaf-mutes to be established in New Zealand.

“Speaking hands, hearing eyes” is the title of an Australian folk song about the deaf. It is also the dictum by which Anne Tweedie lives and why she has started a Theatre for the Deaf.

A requirement by the Transport Ministry in Dunedin for hearing-impaired drivers to obtain a doctor's certificate before being granted a licence has angered national licensing co-ordinator. An agreement was reached in 1982 by representatives of the ministry, Automobile Association and ear specialists that loss of hearing was no handicap to private motorists.

The Wellington Association for Deaf Children writes to the editor covering Total Communication, the difficulties in the school system, the need for an interpreting training programme, and the need for deaf people to make their own decisions.

Research on the complex sign language that deaf New Zealanders have created could push education authorities to recognise the language's authenticity. It has taken an American linguist to document the distinctive language.

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.