The guide was developed with the help of the Superdiversity Institute, government departments and members of the Deaf community
A practical guide has been released to help public service departments and ministries give effect to the New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Act.
The Giving effect to the New Zealand Sign Language Act guide was developed with the help of Chen Palmer and the Superdiversity Institute for Law, Policy and Business, which worked with the Office for Disability Issues, Deaf organisations, members of the Deaf community and government departments. The Superdiversity Institute said that the guide is geared towards assisting departments in giving effect to the Act’s principles via policies and practices “in order to promote access to government information and services for the Deaf community.”
“The guide has also been developed for the Deaf community and people who are Deaf, to be able to know what standards they can expect departments to adhere to in their dealings with them,” said Chen Palmer managing partner Mai Chen, who chairs the Superdiversity Institute. “The Superdiversity Institute is privileged to have been involved in this work, given its importance to enabling a significant number of New Zealanders and their whānau to access government services and to have input into policies and laws.”
About 23,000 New Zealanders communicate via NZSL, including hearing parents with Deaf children.
“The NZSL Act defines the ‘Deaf community’ as the distinct linguistic and cultural group of people who are Deaf and who use NZSL as their first or preferred language, and people who are Deaf and who identify with that group,” Chen explained. “As at the 2018 Census, 7,647 people were unable to hear at all, and 55,221 people had a lot of difficulty hearing.”
Under the Act, which was passed in 2006, the following principles are outlined:
The Act also cemented NZSL as an official language in the country and its ability to be used in legal proceedings.
