Kiwi staff signing up for sign language week

Businesses are getting behind the language in a bid to communicate better with deaf visitors.

Sign language advocates say they're seeing more and more companies encouraging their staff to learn the language.

It's New Zealand Sign Language week and Auckland Zoo, MOTAT and Auckland War Memorial Museum have been among those to embrace it.

Merge New Zealand is an organisation which champions the promotion of sign language through organised workshops.

The company’s co-director Victoria Lessing said, “the Merge team of sign language tutors have been really busy”.

Ms Lessing said it’s “really those businesses and organisations that already have deaf staff, or those that are customer facing, engaging with the public, front line staff”.

1 NEWS went along to the first of six training sessions, at MOTAT.

The organisation’s public programmes coordinator Mark Webster said, “it's really important for our hosts and all of our team to be able to communicate to as many visitors as possible in as many different ways as possible”.

MOTAT senior host Faith Williamson said, “retail can definitely benefit from it, places like MOTAT... anyone dealing with customers”.

The group is learning basic sign language specific to their workplace.

“Communication of where things are, how are you doing, what time the tram goes, where the tram goes, that the trams are free, that kind of thing,” said Mr Webster.

Merge NZ co-director Jaime Brown said, “as sign language becomes more recognised and more accepted as a real language people are realising the importance of having sign language education for their staff”.

“I think it's a fun language to learn and I think that makes a difference,” she said.

“If it's fun people are more likely to engage in it and want to learn more”.


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