Address to the Auckland Deaf Society at the opening of their new premises in Balmoral

For seven decades this club has played an invaluable role in the lives of deaf people in Auckland, and I would like to pay tribute to all of its members that have made the club such a success.

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2.00pm Auckland Deaf Society, 164 Balmoral Road, Balmoral.

Rau rangatira maa,
tenei te mihi ki a koutou i runga i te kaupapa o te ra.
Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

[Distinguished guests, greetings to you gathered here for this purpose today. Greetings once, twice, three times to you all.]

[sign hello in NZSL]

Good afternoon,

I am very happy to be here today to celebrate the opening of your unique new premises.

And they ARE unique.

The Auckland Deaf Society is the only incorporated deaf society in the world to own - and operate - its own premises.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on that - and on the vision and energy you have brought to bear on this huge project to bring it to completion - and in time to celebrate your 70th birthday.

For seven decades this club has played an invaluable role in the lives of deaf people in Auckland, and I would like to pay tribute to all of its members that have made the club such a success.

I would like to pay special tribute to two people who have been part of this club throughout those seven decades: Ray Whiting, who joined in 1939 - that's 68 years ago - and Kathleen French who joined a year or two later.

The loyalty of club members is also remarkable - for example we have life members John and Laura Hunt who have travelled all the way from Melbourne to be here today.

Of course those who have put a lot into the club, have also got a lot out of it!

Physical centres like this one, devoted to providing social and recreational activities for Deaf people, play a vital role in enabling Deaf culture - and New Zealand Sign Language - to thrive in this country. The Auckland Deaf Society's vision specifically mentions providing "a place to use New Zealand Sign language".

Well, you've now got a state-of-the-art place to use it in!

This impressive building could be seen as symbolic of the advancement of the Deaf community.

Deaf people in New Zealand have a proud history of activism in working to make sure the needs of their community are met.

This can be seen in their lobbying for official recognition of New Zealand Sign Language - a campaign of almost 20 years duration that resulted in the passing of the New Zealand Sign Language Act last year (2006). And the Deaf community played a major role in the development of that legislation.

Government departments are now implementing the Act in relation to their own specific work. They consult the Deaf community on matters relating to New Zealand Sign Language, and they are expected to use it in the provision of information to the public.

The Deaf community has also played a significant role in other recent advances - both for Deaf people and for disabled people in general.

For example, it was a complaint by two Deaf community members to the Human Rights Commission that resulted in the establishment of the Telecommunications Relay Service in November 2004. This service continues to operate on a seven days a week, 24 hours a day basis. And Deaf people sit on an advisory group to help the Ministry of Economic Development monitor the Relay Service's performance.

Deaf community members have also been instrumental in getting captioning on to television screens and into videos and movies - through providing captioning services as well as through advocacy and lobbying.

They also played a role in getting the United Nations Convention of the rights of people with disabilities adopted in the United Nations in December 2006.

But it's not all work and no play. And neither should it be. Recently there has been formal recognition at government level that Deaf people - and, more generally, disabled people - have a right to recreation and leisure activities..among the other rights they have.

The New Zealand Disability Strategy has as its vision an inclusive society that highly values the lives of disabled people and continually enhances their full participation in that society.

Participation in recreation and leisure activities is integral to this. The Strategy spells this out in Objective 9, which reads: "Support lifestyle choices, recreation and culture of disabled people". This includes four actions - including "Support the development of arts, recreational and sports projects, including those run by and for disabled people".

The Auckland Deaf Society may be said to specialise in this field!

Not only have you just participated in the 47th New Zealand Deaf Games, held here in Auckland over Labour Weekend;
not only did you contribute members to the New Zealand Deaf Lawn Bowls team that recently brought home medals from Wales; not only are many of you training in a variety of sports for the World Deaf Olympics to be held in Taipei in 2009 - but you also decided to celebrate your 70th Birthday in September, throwing a James Bond-themed "007 Ball" and danced the night away!

There will be plenty of scope for an even wider range of activities with these fabulous new premises - and the Auckland Deaf Society is clearly set to have another seventy sensational years.

Thank you.

ends

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