The theme for today is ‘Putting Deaf People on the Agenda’.
Thursday 21st September 2023
“Deaf communities worldwide work to ensure policies and programs reflect the lived realities of deaf people’s lives. Today, we call upon national governments, international institutions, research centres, and policymaking bodies to centre deaf people in their work. There is still a significant lack of data on deaf people’s lives and less on the right to use national sign languages. Today, we highlight the research done on deaf lives to date and call for more disaggregated data collection and monitoring of deaf people and sign languages.”
Upon reflection of the history of New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, it is evident that there is a significant lack of information pertaining to the number of D/deaf individuals residing in households or rented homes, particularly those with disabilities. The result of finding information is due to a need for more data or inadequate record keeping. It has come to my attention that the Ministry of Health, now called Te Whatu Ora, has records of this data that have yet to be disclosed to public agencies. We must ensure the needs of all individuals are met and that no one is left behind, particularly those with disabilities.
As a deaf historian/researcher/blogger, I request information on the geographics of the population, such as Rubella (German Measles), Glue Ears, Whooping cough in the household, genetics, and timeline from the 1830s to the present and how many D/deaf people and D/deaf with disabilities people living in one region to another region.
The important part is how many people have hearing loss, have difficulty mobility, or are involved with loud sounds without earmuffs/plugs in the workplace, rock concerts, or medical incidents. The staff of Te Whatu Ora approved my request letters based on what type of research the public uses the data, e.g. writing a book, a website post, presentation, and record collection for the Deaf History project. It is only sometimes an easy option if they decline my request, and I source other ways like the Newspaper Past website, Journals and Magazines, Letters and Diaries and Parliamentary Papers. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers
While in the Waikato EGL Leadership, I consistently ensured I utilised the most superior data question tools/kits for my research. I discovered exceptional resources through websites such as The Washington Group on Disability Statistics and the Pacific Group on Disability Statistics (PGDS). These tools proved to be indispensable in facilitating my efficient gathering and analysis of data.
https://www.washingtongroup-disability.com
https://www.washingtongroup-disability.com/pacific-group-on-disability-statistics-pgds/
Recently, we have a new website called Figure NZ (https://figure.nz), which shows many graph charts, flow charts or bar charts. One of the data officers team is D/deaf.
