Profiles
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Focus on employment
Judy Small works as a policy analyst for the Office for Disability Issues, located in the Ministry of Social Development. The role of the office is to lead and contribute to policy development across all of government, to support the Minister for Disability Issues and to lead the implementation and monitoring of the New Zealand Disability Strategy.
Policies range from access issues regarding buildings and housing, to getting sign language officially recognised in New Zealand. Judy answers email and assists the Minister by preparing disability-related briefings and letters. She is also involved with work around the disability strategy.
To access the Internet for research, email and reference materials, Judy uses a laptop with Jaws screen reading software. She also has a portable note-taker called a BrailleNote. Her guide dog Winston assists her with mobility, particularly in new environments.
Vocational employment advisors are:
Auckland - Eleanor Wicks ph 09 355 6879; Hamilton - Bob Wicks ph 07 838 7516; Wellington - Shirley Hampton ph 04 380 2139; Christchurch - ph 03 375 4319; Dunedin - Paula Waby ph 03 466 4250.
Helen Keller Communication Day
Helen Keller Communication Day is June 27. It's the sole day of the year devoted to raising awareness of the deafblind community. The volunteers' page looked at the work deafblind volunteers do. Here we profile extraordinary deafblind individuals who know no bounds.
Kathleen Maynard
Through good luck and generosity Kathleen Maynard, a director of Deafblind UK, made her first trip to New Zealand in March.
During an interview on British television to promote deafblind appeal week, the 80-year-old Londoner mentioned that she would like to visit family in New Zealand.
A businessman watching the interview decided to pay for Kathleen's ticket.
She accepted his offer, and headed south with a lifelong friend as her interpreter, celebrating her 80th birthday in Invercargill.
Kathleen has been totally deaf since her twenties. In her fifties, her eyesight failed. Today she uses manual signing to listen, and communicates through speech.
She has given a lot back to the deafblind community in Britain, organising a local club for deafblind people, and serving as a director of Deafblind UK for the past 25 years.
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Since losing her sight Kathleen has learned to play the piano by touch. She cooks and cleans for herself, and enjoys walking her toy poodle.
Michelle Brewer
One of the challenges of being deafblind is lack of public awareness, says Michelle Brewer, office administrator for Deafblind NZ.
Already congenitally and profoundly deaf, in 1991 she was diagnosed with Usher's syndrome, a degenerative condition that affects both hearing and sight. She was living in England at the time, and initially resisted having her condition examined. "People thought that I was drunk because I couldn't find keyholes."
Since diagnosis, her sight has gradually deteriorated. Yet while Usher's syndrome presents challenges, the greatest hurdle has been other people's perceptions of what she can and can't do.
In the last ten years she has worked as a credit assistant for Compaq, travelled to Greece and Guatemala, and owned and operated a secondhand shop in Auckland. With the use of a hearing aid she's more than capable of managing an office.
She deals with people's lack of awareness by being open about her condition, and by reminding herself that their ignorance is their own problem.
Phillipa Gray
"They're neat and fun. You meet people who know how it feels," Phillipa Gray says, of taking part in the 2003 Vision Impaired Games. Around 80 school students compete in the games, held every second February, and Phillipa was one of only two deafblind competitors this year.
Phillipa's mother went with her and while her 14-year-old daughter didn't win, she ran and swam her personal best.
"I beat all the people who beat me in Christchurch two years ago."
She's made new friends around the country and still keeps in touch with them.
Phillipa's not interested in limitations. She rows and snow skis as well. "On the mountain, everything's so big, you just go in the same direction as everyone else. No, there isn't anything I haven't been able to do yet."