The Toolbox has a range of videos on sign language for everyday life

Using the world of gaming to teach kids sign language

Coffee making course for students of Newlands College Deaf unit

Sign language interpreter Kelly Hodgins shows us how she interprets four very different songs

Kelly Hodgins explains the intricacies of translating speech, song lyrics, rhythm and melody simultaneously

NZSL Presenter Theresa Cooper signs some helpful words to know when you’re talking about art

Madison Davy received cochlear implants at 3 years. Established Taranaki youth group (13-24 yrs) for hearing-impaired.

Fiona Murphy's memoir "The Shape of Sound" explores her experience of being deaf

RNZ interview (7 April 2021): 32:54 min

A sign-language expert interprets at a Parliament's law and order select committee meeting, 2009

Auckland Museum provides NZSL visitors with information about exhibits

Nelson supermarket to trial sign language aisle during COVID-19, Sept 2020

Masks and perspex screens used as barriers against Covid-19 caused issues for people with hearing problems

Police Officer who learnt sign language grew up with parents who are deaf

Māori sign language tutor helping bring communities together across Te Tai Tokerau, 2022

Prior to 1880, only private tuition was available in NZ by migrants who used BSL (British Sign Language)

Miss Dorcas Mitchell taught 5 children including 3 Bradley children in Charteris Bay, Banks Peninsula from 1868 to 1877

Other children went overseas to schools for the deaf in Australia, Britain & the US

The Education Act 1877 required all children to attend school – excepting those with disabilities

Free primary education (5-15 year olds) & compulsory for non-Māorii between 7-13. Exception: children with disabilities.

In 1878, Parliament accepted proposal for a residential school for deaf children from William Rolleston (MP for Avon)

This was the first time in the world a government had funded a residential school for educating people who were deaf

In Nov 1878, Sir George Grey, Colonial Secretary, began recruiting for a suitable teacher

He wrote to Julius Vogel, then the Agent-General for NZ in England, to advertise for applicants

Gerrit van Asch was selected from the 17 applicants (which included Dorcas Mitchell)

Asch (born in 1836) had trained in Holland & Germany before moving to England in 1859 where he set up private schools

Asch arrived in NZ in Oct 1879 & opened the 'Institution for the Deaf and Dumb' in Sumner on 10 March 1880

The school opened with five pupils and by the end of June there were ten - three girls and seven boys

The Congress of Educators of the Deaf (Milan, 1880) recommended the oral method as the most effective way of teaching

Training was given in lip-reading & speaking. Signing was prohibited in classrooms until 1979.

Newspaper reporter visited the school during May 1880 and gave an account of the teaching activities

Asch's report on progress made by 19 June 1880 was presented to Palriament

Director's annual report, 1885

From Jan 1886, the Institution leased a former boarding school

Description of a visit to Sumner School, 1886

By 1890, vocational training in farming and domestic work is given as well as classroom lessons

As roll has grown to 42 boarders & 3 teachers; the classrooms & boy boarders move to a larger house & teachers live-in

Mrs Buttle was appointed Matron in 1893

As 'Miss Young', she was previously appointed assistant teacher at Sumner in 1882 until leaving in 1884

School Attendance Act (7 Nov 1901): Deaf or blind children aged 7-16 to be given "efficient and suitable" education

Parents were to arrange private tuition at own expense or enrol their children at an "Institution" (i.e. Sumner)

In 1901, the first-day pupil (Hilda Illingworth) enrols

Annual report (1904) includes operational costs for Sumner

Due to increase in student numbers, a new Main Building opened in 1905

The building had specially planned classrooms and dormitory accommodation

In March 1906, Asch retires & J. E. Stephens becomes Principal. Renames Sumner "The School for the Deaf".

In the article, Stephens describes the career paths taken by pupils who have left the school

Preparatory / preschool for deaf students opens in 1909

In his annual report (1908), Stephens recommended having a preparatory / preschool which opened the following year

Reporter visits Sumner School and views classroom activities, 1910

Dr. Arthur Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, visited School for the Deaf at Sumner, 5 Sept 1910

Describes how oral system of reading from teachers' lips has superseded manual system of words spelt out on fingers

Report (1914) prepared for Government by Sumner Director Stevens on oral versus silent teaching in Gt Britain & Europe

As teachers favoured oral over silent classes taught mainly by manual alphabet & by writing, it continued to be taught

Education Act 1914 made it obligatory for reporting of young people with disabilities to Dept. of Education

Parents, teachers, police & charitable institutions required to notify about children aged over 6 and under 21 years

In 1921, Education Dpt announces Special Schools Branch to establish special day classes in existing schools

Chlldren & adults to have teachers trained at Sumner. Classes to be modelled on an existing class in Wellington.

Early 1921, Sumner's satellite school shared upper floor of Myers Park Kindergarten. About 5 children attended.

The school shifted in 1932, but returned in 1935 for 7 years. Floor was shared by the Hard of Hearing League for adults.

James Crawford becomes new Director of Sumner School, 1922

Crawford, who was first assistant teacher at Sumner, replaced J. E. Stevens who had retired

Special teacher training commences at Auckland Teachers' College, 1941

Previously training took place 'on the job' at Sumner

New policy (1944): All speech & hearing defect specialists to be trained at one centre - Christchurch Training College

All teacher courses to be at Auckland Training College, & physical education and special Home Science courses at Dunedin

Teachers of the Deaf are trained at both Teachers Colleges in Christchurch & Auckland, 1949

In 1940, Herbert Pickering of the Royal Deaf School, Manchester, was appointed Principal of the Deaf School at Sumner

A new Boy's House was built in 1938 and the older one demolished

During WW2, Pickering also opened the 'School for the Deaf' at Titirangi for safer travel by North Island students

Possibility of Japanese submarines in the Cook Strait had caused concerns for N. Island students travelling to Sumner

Hotel Titirangi (built 1930) bought by Min. of Education in 1942 & altered for use as a residential school until 1960

More than 60 students arrived in Sept 1942 while alterations were still underway

Sumner kept operating in the South Island. Video includes students & teachers, 1947

Interview with teacher at the 'School for the Deaf' at Titirangi, 1949

When the building at Titirangi was taken over by the Army, the school temporarily relocated to Mt Wellington

Video includes Sumner School's 75th Jubilee, 1955

All students had received hearing aids in 1953 & four sets of group hearing aids were installed in 1954

In 1958, the 'School for the Deaf' at Titirangi moved to purpose-built premises in Glen Eden

Titirangi building became a teacher in-service residence named after the Superintendent of Education Frank Lopdell

Kelston School for the Deaf opened on Archibald Rd in Glen Eden, 1958

& then to Archibald Rd

In the 1960s, teaching at Kelston School focused on the speech training of Deaf children

During 1960s many babies born deaf due to maternal rubella epidemics which led to deaf units in mainstream schools

Deaf units opened in Te Aro (1959), Linwood North (1960), followed by other schools, to teach students near their homes

Sumner & Kelston provided 8 itinerant teachers attached to mainstream schools

Their role was to support children, parents & teachers

Sumner's Director Herbert Pickering addressed speech therapists and parents of deaf children, 1960

The gathering was held at the Palmerston North Hospital

NZ's National Film Unit: 'A Deaf Child in the Family' (1968) produced with assistance of Sumner School for the Deaf

Sefton Bartlett becomes Principal of Sumner School, 1974

Each child receives two hearing aids. A Resource Centre and Library is set up for use by the whole region..

A High School Department is established at Sumner

Senior students enrolled in part-time courses at the Christchurch Technical Institute (now Ara) in 1976

The name New Zealand Sign Language and the abbreviation NZSL appeared in the mid-1980s

This followed Marianne Collins–Ahlgren’s doctoral research which documented the grammar and lexicon of the language

A Deaf Studies Research Unit was established at Victoria University & produced a range of reports

The Unit also collaborated with the Deaf Association to produce a research-based dictionary of NZSL

Sumner School for the Deaf changes its name to 'van Asch College' in 1980

The United Nations declared 1981 the International Year of Disabled Persons

In NZ, Telethon raised funds used for Teletext, Total Mobility services & other services benefitting disabled people

Teletext information service launched in 1983/84 until 2 April 2013

First sign language interpreters' training in NZ held Auckland Univ of Technology with David & Rachel McKee in 1985

As part of the 14 weeks of training, students met Deaf people & recorded signs used

NZSL Educational Interpreters were used for the first time in classrooms in 2000

Itinerant teachers of the Deaf in lower half of North Island & the South Island employed by van Asch Deaf Ed. Centre

New Zealand Sign Language Bill was introduced to Parliament on 7 April 2004

Since May 2003, the Office for Disability Issues had consulted with the Deaf community & drafted proposals for the Bill

New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006

NZSL to be the preferred language of deaf people, & conferred with official language status (11 April 2006)

In 2008, NZ ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2007)

Sign languages seen as equal to spoken language. Further information: www.odi.govt.nz/what-we-do/ un-convention.html

Report (2010) for Min. of Education recommends sign language even if also learning to speak, & placing students together

Of the c.3000 deaf children, most have cochlear implants or hearing aids, but only 300 use a form of sign language

2011 review of the effects of the NZSL Act held by the office of the Minister for Disability Issues

Submitters claimed still encountering same barriers faced pre-2006, but the review recommended no changes to the law

Attitude Live video (2016) about a teen attending Kelston Deaf Education Centre

To access sign language lessons, student moved from a school on Coromandel coast to Auckland when aged 13 years

Teacher shares her experiences of Deaf and hearing impaired students in mainstream schooling, 2016

A review of NZSL interpreting standards / developed for the New Zealand Sign Language Board, 2016

Article (2016) discusses need for more interpreters in schools & support for deaf people finding employment

A 3-year Bachelors degree from AUT was required. Having to study in Auckland was a barrier for some.

The National Foundation for Deaf and Hard of Hearing blames earbuds & phones for 13-14 yr olds' hearing loss, 2019

Research paper: The social and education experiences of adolescents who wear hearing aids, 2023

Swimming events included "Putiki Deaf and Dumb Alphabetical Club" holding a 60 yards race for a large iced cake, 1901

At 4th International Games for the Deaf and Dumb, referee stops football play by holding up a handkerchief, 1935

Wellington Society for the Deaf table tennis team with shield, 1955

National Deaf People's Sports Convention, 1969

Manawatu Deaf Society Netball, 1980

Bill Tindall (cyclist) in World Games for the Deaf hosted by Christchurch in 1989

Badminton player Gillian Ramsay with medals won at New Zealand games for the deaf, 30 Oct 1992

Lawn bowls has been a popular sport among both deaf and blind people.

Auckland Deaf Squash Club at World Deaf Squash Championship, NZ, 2010

Auckland's Deaf rugby team, the Marlins, 2016 (Attitude Live video)

Experience of losing hearing when playing in NZ Roller Derby team, 2016

Imbecile Passengers Act (1873) required “cripples, idiots, lunatics, infirm, blind, deaf and dumb”, to have £100 bond

Bond payable by person responsible for the ship to cover any aid from public or charitable institutions within 5 years

Imbecile Passengers Act updated 1882. Unpaid bonds could be recovered in court by two Justices of the Peace

"The Imbecile Passengers Act, 1873", "Amendment Act, 1875" & "Extension Act, 1879"" were repealed

In 1908, Minister of Immigration urged by Australasian Deaf and Dumb Association to remove "deaf and dumb" from 1882 Act

Having to pay a bond had deterred a shipping company from accepting deaf mute passengers

"The fertility of the unfit" by William Allan Chapple (1903)

Advocated sterilisation for people with mental, moral and physical defects, including deafness

In 1906 Truby King started the Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children in Dunedin

By 1914, there were over 50 branches & it officially became known as the Plunket Society

New Zealand branch of the London Eugenics Education Society formed in 1910

Whereas negative eugenists sought to limit fertility, positive eugenists supported policies to increase population

New Zealand League for the Hard of Hearing formed at public meeting in the Auckland Town Hall, 16 March 1932

It was started by Kathleen Hurd-Wood who trained as lip reading teacher in 1926 and offered free classes in Hamilton

Over the years various branches of the NZ League were formed throughout NZ

Article discusses the League's activities and progress made by 1940. (See Table of Contents for link to the article)

The NZ League began lip reading classes in May 1934, and held promotional sessions

The League also conducted hearing tests and gave advice about buying & using hearing aids

Demonstration of audiometer by the League with students at the Thorndon School in Wellington, 1940

Centennial Hearing Week held in Wellington, 11-17 March 1940

NZ League for the Hard of Hearing addressed by Sumner's director Pickering who discusses lipreading, 1943

Hutt Valley Speech Therapy Association address by Sumner's director Pickering on topic "Education of the Deaf", 1945

The League advocated the needs of the hard of hearing to the Government and promoted community awareness

The League also arranged social events for its members

Disabled Persons Community Welfare Act, 1975

Aimed to provide financial & other community support for those whose impairment not caused by accident

The NZ Audiological Society (NZAS) formed 1976 & audiometrists included in 2012

The Society is one of eight organisations that are members of The National Foundation for the Deaf.

NZ Association of the Deaf (NZAD) was formed in 1977 & renamed Deaf Association of New Zealand in 1991

Formed to represent deaf adults (including helping with employment & aged care) & support young people & their families

The first Deaf Awareness Week in NZ was held in Auckland in 1978

Quota Club Club of South Auckland ran an intermediate schools poster competition

National Foundation for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (NFDHH) formed 1978

A coalition of 10 professional & community groups seeking to improve the health, welfare & education of deaf people

Leaflet for parents about child hearing was produced by the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society, 1980

First nationally held Deaf Awareness Week was in 1983

The Deaf Association organised the national event, to raise awareness by hearing people

Disabled Persons Assembly formed in 1983 as an umbrella organisation for disabled people

Disability included in the Human Rights Act 1993

Sign Language Interpreters Association of New Zealand (SLIANZ) formed in 1996

Hearing test held at a mobile clinic in Porirua, 1993

New Zealand Disability Strategy implemented 2001

A review of progress made by central government agencies & other agencies’ policies and services was carried out in 2007

Office for Disability Issues was set up by the Government in 2002

It has the goal of creating a ‘non-disabling society’ – a place where people with disabilities have equal opportunity

Article (2005) on hearing loss being under-reported, under-diagnosed and generally underrated by society

Article by Philip Bird & Greg O'Beirne appeared in 'The New Zealand Medical Journal', Vol 128 No 1419: 7 Aug 2015

Since 2007, awareness of NZSL has been promoted through NZSL Week which has been held usually in May

This campaign is run by Deaf Aotearoa NZ, with financial support from the Government and other sources

A national newborn hearing screening programme was first rolled out between 2007 to August 2010

Newborn hearing screening had been initiated by former Waikato DHB on 20 Feb 2004

Deaf Association of New Zealand says only 4 interpreters in Sth Island, 2008

Calls for more sign language courses as there is only one available and located in Auckland

Oticon Foundation developed two booklets in Samoan & Tongan languages: Au Meafaalogo and Ko Ho'o Me'a-Fanongo (2008)

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People New Zealand [electronic resource] : research report, Dec 2008

Report by Market Research Society of New Zealand

Deaf Association of New Zealand renamed Deaf Aotearoa on 4 Sept 2009

Video about Te Awamutu Hearing Association, 2011

A small group for the Deaf in South Auckland is developing sign language in Māori, 2012

First International Day of Sign Languages held on 23 Sept 2014

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) wanted to raise awareness of the significance of sign language

A NZSL expert says the need for more Māori gestures in sign language is increasing, 2014

A New Zealand Sign Language Board with two deaf Māori representatives to be set up by end 2014

'New Zealand Sign Language Strategy 2018-2023' produced by NZSL Board

The Strategy was released by the Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni

Deaf Māori call for trilingual sign language interpreters - speaking English, sign language and te reo Māori, 2019

Public awareness has also increased with sign language classes being held in some public libraries

NZ Festival of the Arts offered a programme of touch tours, audio described performances and events, 2020

The performances and events were for deaf and hard of hearing audiences

World Health Organization (WHO) launched the first World Report on Hearing on 3 March 2021

Interview with NFDHH Chief Executive Natasha Gallardo about the report's findings

Impact of COVID-19 on the deaf and hard of hearing, 2021

NFDHH calls for closed captions to be used more widely, clear masks, & businesses to resource staff to communicate

Ka puāwai ngā kōhungahunga turi, 2021

A study of the nature and impacts of early intervention for Māori deaf children and their whānau

“Giving effect to the New Zealand Sign Language Act : a guide for Government departments”, 2021

The guidelines were developed by the Office for Disability Issues

NZ Ministry of Health, "Provisional health of disabled people strategy" (12 July 2023)

Set the direction & long-term priorities for disabled people, including the Deaf community, over the next 10 years

Ear horn which was used by Wesleyan missionary John Hobbs until his death in Auckland in 1883, aged 83

Length is approx. 47cm long and "funnelled" sound into the ear. It has two eye hooks for rope/ribbon/string etc

Ear trumpet with ostrich feathers attached to disguise the trumpet (no date given)

Toward the late 19th century, hidden hearing aids became increasingly popular

A pair of tortoise shell trumpet earhorns or hearing aids, c.1890

The Akouphone: First portable hearing aid using a carbon transmitter invented by Miller Reese Hutchison in Alabama, 1898

A carbon transmitter amplified weak audio signals through electric currents. (But device was large & sat on a table.)

The Acousticon: smaller portable hearing aid developed by Hutchison in 1902

Acousticon had a battery in a pocket & sound was conveyed from small disc hung on the vest to small receiver held to ear

The Vactuphone: a vacuum tube hearing aid patented by Earl C. Hanson in 1920, & decreased in size by 1940s (see image)

A telephone transmitter turned speech into electrical signals which amplified as they moved on to the receiver

Hearing aid adverts appear in NZ during 1929 for London firm C. F. Rein and Son

Hearing aids included: "Aurolaid," "Aurolese," non-electric Phones, Invisible Silver Tubes, and Whispering Tubes

Rein's Bonavox is invented in 1936 & advertised in NZ

The hearing aid sits behind the ear where it is almost invisible

Boots, the Chemists established a Deaf Aids Department in 1938 & stocked Rein's products

Stock included Rein's Scientific Whispering Tubes, Invisible Meatus Tubes, Aurolese aids & Oravox electric models

Hearing aid & bag

The hearing aid worked off 6 standard torch batteries wired together

Rein Oravon hearing aid

Two 2 external speakers, one earpiece and one control unit, plus a leather carry case.

Audiometric test used to decide type of hearing aid: Ortho-Tronic vacuum tube, or Ortho-Technic carbon type, 1945

Vacuum tube hearing aid - amplifier and batteries worn around the neck & microphone was hand-held

A Western Electric model 134-B vacuum tube hearing aid with a black bakelite case, c.1946

Tuning forks used in tests for hearing by using a vibrating tuning fork of known frequency as a source of sound

Tuning fork is placed at various points around the head & ears for bing test, rinne test, schwabach test, and weber test

Earring hearing aid, c.1955

Hearing aid with an aluminium case and a microphone at the front, c.1956

Philips hearing aid made in Holland

Cochlear ear implant

The first cochlear implant was implanted by William House and John Doyle of Los Angeles in 1961

Hearing aids, 1967

A small transistor hearing aid with a gold coloured metal case and a small microphone on the front, c.1970s

Siemens transistor hearing aid, c.1970s

Siemens' eyeglass frame has flesh-coloured hearing aids mounted on the end of each arm

Teletypewriter (TTY). 1973

Electronic device used for text communication over a telephone line

High tech hearing aids available during 2000s

New options include hearing amplifiers and PSAPs (Personal Sound Amplification Products), & Bluetooth connection

Video (2008) of person's experience of hearing through cochlear implant

Radio New Zealand interview on how cochlear implant works, 2016

Hearing aid has a digital filter which amplifies sound & isolates speech from background noise, 2017

It also adjusts the volumes of each separately.

Common hearing aid choices are: behind-the-ear, on-the-ear, in-the ear, in-the-canal, & completely-in-the-canal

Research show hearing aids may help protect against dementia, 2023

RNZ interview (29 March 2023): 17:14 mins

27 July 2019: Arash Tayebi describes how Kara Technologies uses AI to translate books, audio & video into sign language

RNZ (26 Nov 2022): Interview on how Kara Technologies is using avatars (5:39mins)

RNZ video (27 March 2025) includes AI being used to transcribe text into voice in a mainstream classroom