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Deaf community fights to be heard on funding | Stuff.co.nz
Manawatu's hearing-impaired community's plea for funding has fallen on deaf ears.
It has been a year since the Government stopped funding New Zealand's four deaf tutors, who taught hearing impaired children New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL).
Without them, 260 Manawatu children with hearing impairments have had to resort to DVDs and dictionaries to learn the language.
As NZSL is the third official language in New Zealand, parents have been lobbying for the Government to reinstate the positions.
One of the redundant teachers was Feilding's Jackie Davidson who has struggled to find teaching work this year.
Mrs Davidson is deaf herself and used to teach children from Taranaki to Paraparaumu every week.
"I still love teaching deaf children NZSL but I'm not sure if I've got a fulltime job next year," she said.
"When the funding was cut, we in the deaf community lost a lot of confidence in the Education Ministry.
"Children and families are being left to their own devices to find resources over this 12-month period since the funding ceased."
She said there had been many discussions on a national level about changing things but nothing had happened "locally" so far.
"It looks like the Government is taking its time on this."
To add to the community's frustration, Manawatu's Deaf Aotearoa branch lost two of its only hearing staff in May.
The remaining staff are hearing impaired and talk mostly through sign, texts, emails and faxes.
The deaf education review was due to be released at the end of November but had not been finalised.
Manawatu's hearing-impaired community's plea for funding has fallen on deaf ears.
It has been a year since the Government stopped funding New Zealand's four deaf tutors, who taught hearing impaired children New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL).
Without them, 260 Manawatu children with hearing impairments have had to resort to DVDs and dictionaries to learn the language.
As NZSL is the third official language in New Zealand, parents have been lobbying for the Government to reinstate the positions.
One of the redundant teachers was Feilding's Jackie Davidson who has struggled to find teaching work this year.
Mrs Davidson is deaf herself and used to teach children from Taranaki to Paraparaumu every week.
"I still love teaching deaf children NZSL but I'm not sure if I've got a fulltime job next year," she said.
"When the funding was cut, we in the deaf community lost a lot of confidence in the Education Ministry.
"Children and families are being left to their own devices to find resources over this 12-month period since the funding ceased."
She said there had been many discussions on a national level about changing things but nothing had happened "locally" so far.
"It looks like the Government is taking its time on this."
To add to the community's frustration, Manawatu's Deaf Aotearoa branch lost two of its only hearing staff in May.
The remaining staff are hearing impaired and talk mostly through sign, texts, emails and faxes.
The deaf education review was due to be released at the end of November but had not been finalised.