July 2004 - Tracey Napa

It’s been a marvelous month, not only for the Deaf Mental Health Service (‘DMHS’), but also for the entire New Zealand Deaf Community. The staff members from DMHS recently attended a three-day National Deaf Conference. It was a brilliant opportunity to congregate and attend an impressive range of presentations. In addition, we were able to celebrate the amazing achievements made in Deaf Culture that the deaf community have been striving towards, including the EG Deaf Olympics, the NZ Sign Language Bill, and the growth of our service, the Deaf Mental Health Service.

This month I was motivated into joining pro-activist Deaf lobbyers to make a video submission in sign language supporting the passing of a NZ Sign Language Bill. I reached this decision after listening to an inspiring presentation about the persistent work and progress people are making towards a NZ Sign Language Bill being passed as New Zealand’s third officially recognized language. All power to Deaf Culture!

This is a milestone achievement for the Deaf community and goes a long way towards helping equal opportunities by allowing equality of access to language, and the breaking down of communication barriers.

I was especially proud of the DMHS staff presentation, which conveyed information surrounding DMHS issues. The presentation received great interest and the audience consisted of specialists from countries around the world. It was awesome to be involved in the event, and a highlight was the first ever NZ Deaf short film competition, which featured so much amazing creative talent. It was not only a thoroughly informative weekend, but also immensely entertaining. An excellent chance to catch up with longtime Deaf friends, and to meet new ones.

Cheers,
Tracey

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