Today is the start of awareness about our Deaf Culture, History, and our language – sign language. Every year, our Deaf awareness is fundamental to everyone to learn about us so they (businesses, educators, technological) can improve tools and preserve our Deaf history and sign language. 

Has anyone considered other countries like Haiti, India, Somalia or Pakistan? There are thousands of Deaf people living there, and they are struggling for equal rights in their communities. 

Monday 20th September 2021

Cherishing Deaf History

“Deaf communities and our sign languages have existed for several centuries. Today, we take the time to cherish the proud histories of deaf peoples and our thriving communities, and the many people, deaf, codas, allies, who have worked together to enable the flourishing communities found today around the world.”

Preserving our Deaf history is the critical resource and tool to teach the future generation about our past, even present times. What about our sign language? Yes, we must continue to use sign language as our first language rather than speaking (oral). 

Our Deaf history was ignored by scientists, educators, priests, parents of Deaf children and professionals many years ago and the ban of using sign language in educations during the Second International Congress on the Education of the Deaf in Milan in 1880. The reality of banning sign language made a massive impact on many Deaf children and people to abandon sign language and be forced to use oralism in education. Many deaf teachers of the deaf children were fired from teaching D/deaf children because they could not lip read or speak while working at the Schools for the Deaf. Today we, Deaf people, see this past as discrimination and stopping many Deaf people from signing, and it was against the choice of freedom to sign than to speak anywhere. Many D/deaf children went through Language deprivation from five years old. Because ninety to ninety-five per cent of D/deaf children are born to hearing parents, many of these D/deaf children are encouraged to acquire a spoken language. Deaf children acquiring spoken language use assistive technology such as hearing aids or cochlear implants and work closely with a speech-language pathologist. Yes, this is the sad and disappointing result that parents of D/deaf children have not been influencing to know more about our Deaf culture and sign language over many years. 

Let go back to our country – New Zealand. There was no school for the Deaf before the 1880s since the first European immigrants arrived in New Zealand in the early 1800s. Yes, we have a small number of D/deaf adults and children who arrived in New Zealand and the parents of D/deaf children sent to Deaf Schools in Australia, the USA and the UK after the 1830s. 

One of the immigrant families was concerned about the lack of Deaf education here, and the father of deaf children wrote a job advertising in the newspapers and the church newsletters. One young lady answered to his advertising, and she came to NZ via Australia before the 1870s. The lady was a teacher of the D/deaf children, and she came from a small number of deaf family members. Nevertheless, her family were involved with the Church ministry in Scotland, Australia and Canterbury. Her name was Dorcas Mitchell, and her life was a mystery as Jean explored further into her life and tried to understand why she took up the post here. The father and his wife of the D/deaf children lived in Charteris Bay. 

That is where our Deaf history starts there.