New Zealand Sign Language Bill - First Reading

Mr Speaker,

On behalf of the Green Party, I should like to congratulate the Labour Government and the New Zealand Deaf community on the introduction of this Bill. It has been a long time coming and I am sure there will be some celebrations tonight, and even more when the Bill finally passes later this year.

I would like to assure everyone who has had a role in supporting and drafting this legislation that the Green Party heartily endorses it, and will be voting for the Bill at every stage of its process through Select Committee and the House, taking into account, of course, any necessary amendments which might arise from closer consideration of its detail.

The New Zealand Sign Language Bill before the House this afternoon is aimed at providing formal legal recognition of for the first time, and marks a significant step forward in the history of how our society treats Deaf people and their culture and history.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, as in other parts of the world, there has been a long and difficult struggle in terms of getting Sign Language understood for what it is, a real and living language that is part of a culture which has as much depth and validity as anyone else's.

As one of those who come from the majority culture, with little prior knowledge of Sign Language and the history it embodies, I have to acknowledge our own shameful story as a nation, in which the use of Sign Language actually used to be prohibited in New Zealand, and in which for many years deaf children were condemned to inadequate and often inappropriate teaching and learning in speaking and lip reading rather than in their own language.

In our country, as in others overseas, hearing society discouraged generations of deaf people from using Sign Language in the misguided belief that the only way they could and should survive was by using English. This lead to low literacy levels, multilevel misunderstandings between deaf and hearing people and a cycle of oppression and disenfranchisement, which is still with us today.
As the Deaf community has tried to tell the rest of us over and over again, sign language is a language just as real as Maori or English or any other spoken language around the world. And just as there is a gap in understanding and cultural awareness between people who can't comprehend or speak each other's oral language, the same thing happens when our majority culture is unable to understand or communicate Sign.

When that incomprehension and inability on our part is added to the patronising attitudes which have so often characterised majority society's approach to people who are deaf, it adds up to a situation in which a substantial minority of people are scorned and derided, and denied the major tool which might allow them to achieve and maintain a sense of identity and pride.

As one person has said, quote "Stop wanting to cure us. Accept us as we are. Deafness is part of our identity." Sign language encapsulates and expresses that identity, and I cannot comprehend how those of us who aren't deaf have dared to deny those who are the right to full use of your own language.

Sign language is the native language of many Deaf people, and often of their close family members and teachers too. Sign language not only helps define the Deaf community, but through it also allows the community's members better access to all other parts of education and training, including the ability to learn other languages and skills.

Beyond this, Deaf people in our country have also had — and continue to have - a really hard time within the justice and medical systems, places where an inability to communicate clearly and well can ultimately have life threatening consequences.

It is great that we finally have a party in Government which is committed to recognising New Zealand Sign Language as an official language of our country. It is a pity that it has taken Labour this long since the 1999 election to get this Bill to the House, but at least it is happening now. It's also good that the Government took the time to carry out a consultation process in 2003 in an effort to get the thoughts and feelings of the Deaf community on priorities for the Bill.

I guess my main concern now is that the Bill doesn't go far enough, but at least it is a beginning. Not only will NZSL become an officially recognised language with the ability for people to use it in all court proceedings, but the Bill also lays the way open for the setting of competency standards and principles to guide government departments on the use they should make of NZSL. I am very interested in what the next steps will be after this Bill, particularly in areas like public broadcasting, education and health.

There is a lot more that needs to be done to ensure all Deaf people gain the ability to fully participate in society. I hope the passage of this Bill later this year will pave the way for much greater recognition and financial support for the provision of NZSL training for deaf children, for deaf adults who are eager to study NZSL academically, for deaf people who want to learn it for the first time, and for teachers and other professionals who work with Deaf children and adults.

I also hope that the mass media will become more responsible in the provision of translation and captioning so that Deaf adults and children can enjoy and benefit from a much wider range of movies and television programmes, and that the profession of sign language interpreting becomes recognised, supported and resourced to a greater degree that obtains at present.

I also look forward to the day we see the first MP in this House from the Deaf community who is able to represent their sector to the rest of us in New Zealand Sign with the same linguistic ease as speakers of Maori and English.

In conclusion, I would once again like to reiterate the Green Party's support for this Bill. We acknowledge that it could go a lot further and that it will take more than a simple Act of Parliament to bring about all the changes that are needed, but at least we are on the road to achieving official recognition of NZ Sign Language by 1 January 2005, and this is indeed something worthy of celebration.