Hi, I’m Craigo, Vice President of Deaf Aotearoa
The Government is consulting with the Deaf community about some initial proposals to amend the NZSL Act.
Deaf Aotearoa will provide our feedback on this.
We are interested in your views as members, this will help us finalise our advice to the Ministry of Social Development.
The New Zealand Sign Language Act was created in 2006 and it made NZSL an official language.
That time, this was a great achievement for the Deaf Community, and it continues to be a really important way of ensuring our language is treated the same as te reo Māori and English.
In the past sixteen years, we have seen the establishment of the NZSL Board and the development of the NZSL Strategy, which has helped look after the language and monitor the effectiveness of the Act.
Now it is time to review the progress made since 2006 and think of ways to make the Act work even better for the Deaf community.
We need to make this review count. We won’t get another opportunity for many years.
If an entity like the NZSL Board is written into the Act:
- what purposes, functions, powers, and responsibilities should it have?
- what structure could the entity take? like a Board? Advisory Group? Commission?
Feedback to Deaf Aotearoa closes on 11 November, so please make time to do this.
Any questions about related to our feedback, please contact us.
Email: president@deaf.org.nz
Thank you
Share with your family and friends!