Sign for Health: advancing accessibility for a better deaf community inclusion

The Need

There is a significant social need to address inequities faced by the Deaf and hard of hearing community in New Zealand. Challenges include a lack of awareness and understanding of effective communication, which affects access to health services, education, workplaces, and community support. Issues such as inadequate interpreter booking and misunderstandings regarding English literacy levels exacerbate these problems. The Deaf and hard of hearing community, including Māori Deaf individuals, often experience barriers to accessing essential services and fully participating in society.

The Project We Fund

This project aims to enhance accessibility and inclusion for Deaf and hard of hearing New Zealanders through the following initiatives such as online interactive courses by providing free, self-paced online courses on New Zealand Sign Language, Deaf culture, and the effective use of interpreters. Empowerment and advocacy – by equipping the Deaf community with self-advocacy skills to understand and assert their rights. Course development by collaborating with the Deaf community and organizations to develop and offer additional courses on Deaf culture and global sign languages, available for free on the Deaf Way NZ website.

The Result

Deaf Way NZ will implement analytics to track course completion rates and gather feedback from participants. The feedback functions will collect demographic information, such as employment status, ethnicity, and gender, to better understand the impact of the courses. Progress will be monitored against established targets to ensure effectiveness and continuous improvement.

2025 Midterm Report

Deaf Way NZ made significant strides in addressing social needs through their initiative primarily aimed to enhance awareness and inclusivity for the Deaf community in New Zealand, while fostering trans-Tasman collaborations with Australia. By launching six online, self-paced courses and hosting a webinar on “Allyship” during NZSL Week, they reached out to 135 participants directly and expanded its influence through social media, reaching 9,340 indirect beneficiaries.

Over the year, the organization directly supported 353 individuals, creating a substantive impact on their lives, as evidenced by improved confidence, self-awareness, and stress management among participants. Moreover, this effort played a crucial role in strengthening social cohesion within the community. 

Testimonies

“I am a hearing person and I came across the webinar because I follow Expression Australia on Instagram. I’m originally from Aotearoa (Ōtautahi) but now live in Australia (Melbourne) and I work in HR / People & Culture. I have an interest in and work on DEIB projects, but this was my first introduction to allyship with the deaf community. My mum put herself, my brother and I through NZSL classes when we were kids and while I’d forgotten almost everything except for the alphabet and a few words here and there, I decided to start relearning so I can strengthen the way I communicate with others (NZSL for now, because the resources online are better, I’ll eventually learn more Auslan at some stage).My knowledge is very basic and I sadly don’t know any deaf people but I’ll eventually connect with the community. I think our only connection as a company to the deaf community is that we occasionally engage their services for sporting events instead of using an interpreter. Hopefully that will change – tonight was a start.

I learnt a lot tonight and I wrote a lot of notes which I’ll share with my manager. I thought it was ‘interesting and valuable’ (to use the survey language) and I’d love to see more webinars like tonight’s. I really, really loved how honest it was and how it allowed me to take in the experiences of each presenter. It deepened my understanding of the deaf community, and I feel better equipped to start becoming an ally.
Thank you to everyone involved in putting tonight’s webinar together and for hosting such a thoughtful session. I look forward to the next one.” -Malisa-

“Awesome! Thanks to Deaf Way for organising the webinar tonight, such a great and powerful learning opportunity for everyone… What
a fantastic panel and moderator! What’s a good and bad ally? Cultural appropriation, equal respect and empowerment for NZSL, Auslan or other SL or the Deaf community… so much to learn from each other!! I found it really refreshing and non bipartisan (right word?) with no political bias… yes there’s a cultural lens too… Maori Turi, Sth African, Kiwi and Aussie views!” -Angela-

“Loving it! Really good. We need more of this!” -A Deaf New Zealander-