Media release

September 12 2016

Stratford Teenager Nominated for Award

Being born profoundly deaf has encouraged Taranaki’s Madison Davy to prove herself as a valuable advocate for deaf New Zealanders.

The 17-year-old from Stratford is an active member in the deaf community and her support for her community has landed her a finalist spot in the 2016 Attitude Youth Spirit Award. The national awards celebrate the excellence and achievements of Kiwis living with disability and chronic health.

Madison first established a youth group for hearing-impaired Taranaki youth in 2015. The group is designed to encourage those in the deaf community to link to others within Taranaki.

“I started the Taranaki Deaf Youth group as I’ve always wanted to keep deaf teenagers together in my area and make new friends,” says Madison.

In August this year, Madison arranged for the group to attend a workshop at the Len Lye gallery event ‘When Science and Art Come Together’.

“One of my goals is to make sure other deaf teenagers know they are not the only ones experiencing challenges, because there are always others out there who can help,” Madison says.

Madison’s mother Kelly says her daughter wants to hold events throughout the year.

“Madison wishes to bring more awareness about deafness to the community”, says Kelly. “She wants to be a mentor for other deaf youth and support and guide deaf children.”

In 2014-2015 she was the student representative on the combined Board of Trustees for the Deaf Education Centres at Kelston (Auckland) and Van Asch (Christchurch) and she has been attending committee meetings for the NZ Federation for Deaf Children since age five.

Madison also sailed the Spirit of Adventure in May, celebrating the 10th anniversary of Sign Language New Zealand. The five-day voyage, coordinated by Deaf Aotearoa, gave several hearing impaired youth the opportunity to sail New Zealand.

“It was hard work but it was also heaps of fun,” says Madison.

There are eight categories in the 2016 Attitude Awards, with some new awards this year: Youth Spirit, Making a Difference, Emerging Athlete, Sporting Spirit, Spirit of Attitude, Artistic Achievement, Entrepreneur and Employer Award.

The overall winner of the Attitude ACC Supreme Award is selected from the category winners and a People’s Choice winner and Hall of Fame inductee are also announced at the black tie event to be held on 29 November in Auckland

Dan Buckingham, Chair of the Attitude Trust, says: “Once again I take my hat off to the judges for managing to narrow down the record number of nominations we had to just 24 finalists, across the eight categories. Now I’m looking forward to getting to know the finalists as we travel around the country filming with them and sharing their stories.

“Thank you to our fantastic family of sponsors who have allowed us to once again shine a light on some great Kiwis living with disabilities doing some great things.”

Dan encourages everyone to visit AttitudeLive.com in early November to see short films of the finalists and to vote for the person most deserving of the ‘People’s Choice Award’.

The Youth Spirit Award is sponsored by Barfoot & Thompson. Peter Thompson, Managing Director, says Barfoot & Thompson is humbled to have the opportunity to be part of the Attitude Awards.
“As a family run business with family values it is an honour for us to again be involved with such an inspiring event. We would like to wish all finalists the very best of luck for the Youth Spirit Award. Just remember, in our eyes, you are all winners.”

The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) returns as the principal sponsor of the 2016 Attitude Awards. Other Sponsors supporting the Awards are: The Lion Foundation,
Westpac, Drake Medox, Ministry of Health, Westpac, Manawanui InCharge, Ricoh, HealthCare NZ, Air New Zealand and NZ on Air.

ACC Chief Executive Scott Pickering says ACC is proud to be principal sponsor of the Attitude Awards for the ninth year, as well as sponsor of the Supreme Award and the Employer Award categories.

“The Attitude Awards are important because they remind us that everyone benefits when we all look at what we can do, rather than what we can’t,” Mr Pickering says. “This year’s finalists have an impressive list of achievements, and ACC is delighted to acknowledge New Zealanders who live life to the fullest, achieve their goals, and are role models in our communities.”

For tickets to the Attitude Awards gala evening on November 29 contact Terri Cavanagh at terri@attitudeawards.org or phone 09 378 1565.

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