Being heard

New Zealand sign language

everywhere, every day

NZSL is an official language of Aotearoa New Zealand, alongside te reo Māori. It is the first language for many Deaf people living in New Zealand – and for a significant proportion of Deaf people, NZSL is their only language. Being able to learn, access, and use NZSL is essential for Deaf people to achieve access to health, education, employment, and society.

The Ministry of Disabled people and NZSL Board, Te Orange Reo Rota, has set out a draft strategy to propose the change needed across government – and across the public – to support and enable the Deaf community to be able to fully participate in society using NZSL. The Deaf community experience barriers in using NZSL to access services. These barriers are heightened for Turi Māori in accessing te ao Māori. There are also barriers for many Deaf communities in using NZSL to access services, including Deaf Pasifika, rainbow, and Deaf+ (Deaf with an additional disability) and the deafblind community. 

As part of its vision “New Zealand Sign Language everywhere, every day”, the Board wants New Zealanders to be able to incorporate a few NZSL phrases into their everyday - everyday signs such as ‘good morning’ and ‘good afternoon’, in the same way many New Zealanders have adopted ‘mōrena’ and ‘kia ora’ into everyday language. 

It is the aim of this strategy that through everyday use, the attitude towards, and status of, NZSL will lift, leading to more people going further and becoming fluent NZSL users.