Kia ora I’m Craigo, president of Deaf Aotearoa Executive Board. This is an update to the community.
Our MSD contract for NZSL Interpreters has been changed again, which means limited funding for interpreters for legal, housing, etc. If you require NZSL Interpreters within these scenarios, please contact iSign and they will try find funding for you.
Zoe (Youth Board President) and I will be attending the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) 75th Anniversary Conference in Rome. This will be a valuable opportunity to network with delegates from around the world and proudly represent New Zealand on the international stage.
The Executive Board met at the end of June and approved the Deaf Aotearoa budget for the 2026/27 financial year.
In early June, Oliver Ferguson, several Youth Board members, and few of Deaf Aotearoa staff attended the NZSL + AI Forum in Wellington. There was a lot of valuable information shared and many important discussions with peers. The Executive Board is carefully considering how AI is evolving and how Deaf Aotearoa can respond to these developments in an appropriate and responsible way.
The Executive Board is now preparing for the upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM), which will be held in November 2026.
Applications for the CEO position have now closed, and the recruitment process is underway. We will provide an update to the community once a new CEO has been appointed.
Thank you.
Thank you for the update, can you please explain more about limited funding for legal? NZSL is an official language and does it mean that Deaf people cannot access to interpreters in courts, legal proceeding, etc.? It seems that the system is not working properly, and there is a need to investigate this.
What happened to the properties owned by the Deaf Association NZ in Wgton and Chch?
What happened to local funds raised by the local offices in those 2 areas?