No Captions Or Interpreters Cut Deaf People Out Of Live Treaty Principles Submission Hearings

Thursday, 30 January 2025, 9:16 pm
Article: RNZ

Layla Bailey-McDowell, Māori News Journalist

Disability advocates are appalled there is no close captioning or New Zealand Sign language interpreters for live oral submissions on the Treaty Principles Bill.

Submissions on the bill are being heard by the Justice Select Committee for the next two weeks.

Emily Writes, Director of Awhi Ngā Mātua - a community for parents of disabled, neurodivergent, and medically fragile tamariki - said many in the disabled community, particularly deaf people, submitted on the bill - but are being excluded.

"It's absolutely crucial for oral submissions, particularly in this case, to be accessible to all tangata whaikaha, disabled and medically fragile people."

Writes said the bill is something tāngata whaikaha and their whānau believe is important.

"It's going to have an impact on health and directly impact the lives of a lot of tangata whaikaha. So, to exclude them in this way from being able to follow oral submissions is awful."

Awhi Ngā Mātua was appalled by this "lack of basic inclusivity," Writes said.

"It feels like what is happening here, is that basic inclusivity is being seen as a nice-to-have, rather than something that absolutely must happen."

She said accessibility should have been discussed well ahead of time and disabled people were always an afterthought.

"[Parliament] owe deaf and hard of hearing viewers an apology for the lack of inclusivity. But more than that, they have to absolutely be looking at why tangata whaikaha, why hard of hearing and deaf people need to be included."

"It is just not acceptable in 2025 to not be considering inclusivity and Parliament need to be able to include everybody in democracy. This is not a hard ask."

Access Matters Aotearoa is one of three organisations in New Zealand offering interpretation services.

In a statement, co-chairperson Rebekah Graham said the Select Committee's failure to offer NZSL interpreters was concerning.

"This oversight excluded deaf New Zealanders and denied a group of citizens their right to fully participate in fundamental democratic processes."

"NZSL is an official language of Aotearoa New Zealand. The Justice Select Committee must immediately remove this barrier to democratic participation and ensure all future hearings are fully accessible."

"Access Matters Aotearoa is available to provide advice and recommend qualified NZSL interpreters. There is no excuse for inaccessibility in our democracy."

Deaf Action New Zealand chairperson Kim Robinson said the lack of accessibility was upsetting for those in the deaf community that want to be involved - including himself.

"Deaf and Hard of Hearing are a part of the democratic process in society. Where does it say to exclude us?"

In a statement sent to Robinson and RNZ, Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson said digital accessibility was important to them.

"The decision was made not to caption the live streaming of oral submissions due to technological limitations with the current platform, and ongoing offensive mis-interpretation of te reo Māori by the automatic captioning function. Captions are available once the video is uploaded to Vimeo slightly later. Ensuring this functionality is available is a priority as we upgrade our systems."

Robinson said this response was disappointing and that the government has an obligation under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) to ensure that immediate access is there.

"It's a human right, and we see this as discrimination."

Robinson said excluding them meant they could not have a say nor follow what is going on.

"This bill is talking about equity. Equity for whom? You? Me? Who? Where is the equity? The current treaty already has this, [and] the Government is ignoring the access provisions."

He said Parliament are "being lazy" and should have made an effort to ensure full access.

"This bill is for everybody, and given the high number of submissions, this should have been considered."

Robinson said lack of accessibility is not a onetime occurrence and has been an ongoing issue since 2018 - and that he has filed complaints to the Human Rights Commission in the past.

He said he is thinking about filing a complaint to the Human Rights Commission on this matter.

In another statement to RNZ, Wilson said NZSL interpreters are provided for committee hearings where submitters require it to engage with select committees.

"The Office of the Clerk is not funded to provide NZSL for all select committee hearings. Committees have in the past requested that interpreters be made available for hearings on a particular items of business. In such cases the provision of NZSL interpretation service is dependent on the length of hearings and available resources, including the availability of suitably qualified interpreters."

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