Media release: National Foundation for the Deaf

Auckland, March 18 – The National Foundation is asking all political parties to commit to revoking the ACC 6% threshold if they become part of the government after the general election.

The Foundation is presenting a petition to Parliament on Wednesday (March 23) calling for the threshold to be overturned so cases of hearing injury are judged on their merits, rather than denying rehabilitation according to a unreliable set formula.

“We are going to be asking the political parties to nail their colours to the mast on this,” NFD Chief Executive Louise Carroll said today.

“Opposition politicians we’ve spoken to agree the threshold is unfair and unjust, but we want them to go further than just support our case – we want them to commit, as part of their manifesto, to abolishing the threshold if they become part of the government this year.”

Mrs Carroll said the petition, which was still circulating nationally, had thousands of signatures, with more being added over the days before the petition is presented.

“Given the low profile hearing has, and the other issues affecting the country such as the September and February earthquakes in Canterbury, and the Pike River Coal Mine disaster, we are happy with the response,” she said.

“The threshold is creating distortions in the way hearing injuries are being assessed, because medical specialists are being forced to apply formulas to hearing injury rather than make clinical judgements.

“Some of the doctors are not happy with this, the clients are being denied the rehabilitation they need, and people’s lives are being disrupted because they are left to struggle with hearing injuries that should be treated.

“Noise damages the high tones of our hearing we need to understand speech in everyday background noise, and because of the way hearing is measured, it takes a lot of damage in those tones to get a total 6% hearing loss.

“Hearing damage is the only injury that must meet a specific threshold before ACC will accept a claim. That is unjust and immoral.”

The NFD will present the petition to Labour leader Phil Goff at Parliament at 11am.

ENDS

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