Deaf Action NZ want better access for deaf/hard of hearing people in politics and interpreters at political events.
As part of 1 NEWS NOW's regular Political Showdown series, we asked National's Judith Collins and Labour's Carmel Sepuloni if they think the issue is important.
This interview was conducted in April.
National MP Judith Collins: I do, actually.
I think it's, and I guess I'm speaking from some personal experience, because my mother was very profoundly deaf, and so she had hearing aids and things, but even then she was down to two per cent hearing in one ear and five in the other.
So you're not talking about much coming through. And I just think that it is very, very difficult and it's not just the hearing aids themselves, because sometimes they magnify the noise and sometimes they work better for some people and not for others.
But I actually think that the deafness is the silent disability, and it's something that we should try and make sure that we do better with.
Labour MP Carmel Sepuloni: I agree, I recently met with Deaf Aotearoa and meeting with the disability community regularly given my role as Minister for Disability Issues.
New Zealand sign language is also an official language, so we need to make sure that we give those people who use New Zealand sign language access to that language.
I don't think it was good enough that during the political debates access to the sign language was delayed, and so they didn't get to experience it at the same time.
It's a culture for many deaf people, as I said it's an official language, we want New Zealand to be inclusive and accessible for all people including our people who are deaf, but all disabled people, so this is one area that we need to put our work into.
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