NZSL users feel they have once again been left out in the cold by TVNZ.

Despite NZSL being one of New Zealand’s official languages, sign language users will once again not have access to the election debates.

TVNZ will provide live captioning, but many Deaf people feel that this is not sufficient, saying that captions are often hard to follow, especially when there are multiple speakers.

TVNZ cites logistical challenges as the reason for not including NZSL interpreters in their live broadcast. In response, Deaf Action, in conjunction with Deafradio, will broadcast their own alternative version of the election debate this evening, complete with two interpreters.

https://www.facebook.com/deafactionnz/

Kim Robinson, Chair of Deaf Action, says that the Deaf Community has heard the logistics argument many times before, meanwhile 20,000 NZSL users are being excluded from fully participating in the election debate.

“Even with Jurassic technology, it's not hard to have a 2 in 1 camera format which gives a picture in picture coverage of a NZSL Interpreter. Interpreters in this format have been used in Parliament for NZSL Week, and for the Budget on Parliament TV.”

For details of tonight’s protest, please contact info@deafaction.org.nz.

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