Deaf Aotearoa President’s Report
Kia ora koutou,
We have much to celebrate this year and I am very proud of the achievements we have made over the past year.
I am very happy to see the work that the Deaf Aotearoa Maori Advisory Group are doing and also the work the New Zealand Sign Language Board and the Office for Disability Issues are doing with Māori Deaf.
I was pleased to attend the opening of two new Deaf Aotearoa offices in South Auckland and Napier.
I would like to thank the Deaf community for their involvement in the development of Deaf Aotearoa’s new Strategic Direction. Our new strategic direction sets out our key goals for the next 10 years, 2021-2030 and there will be many opportunities for the community to be involved in this.
Thank you also to those of you who contributed to the Deaf Way review that has been underway over the past 12 months. I look forward to receiving the report early next year and to making improvements in how we carry out our work.
A huge thank you to Lachlan, and Deaf Aotearoa’s staff and the NZSL interpreters for their hard work, continued flexibility and adapting their styles of working to accommodate the ongoing COVID-19 situation whilst maintaining high levels of service delivery and support to the Deaf community.
To my colleagues on the Executive Board, who give up their time to lead this organisation, I thank you for all your efforts and I acknowledge, on their behalf, the hard work of the DAHL Board who make sure that the business of Deaf Aotearoa and their delivery of services to the Deaf Community are successful. Thank you to Oliver Ferguson who stepped down as president in March this year for your hard work and commitment over the past 10 years. Thank you also to David McKee for your five and a half years as chair of the DAHL Board. The DAHL Board plays a very important role in ensuring Deaf Aotearoa’s financial, legal and health and safety obligations are met and provide great support to Lachlan and his team.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge and thank all our funders and supporters for their continued partnership and collaboration with Deaf Aotearoa.
Nga mihi maioha (thank you with appreciation)
Joanne Klaver
President