March 2006 

 

Jury duty is something many people would rather avoid – but David McKee jumped at the chance late last year, becoming the first Deaf juror to serve in New Zealand. Before the New Zealand Sign Language Bill came into force, we talked to McKee, a Lecturer in Deaf Studies at Victoria University, about his jury experience, what the Bill means for the workplace, and how barriers to employment for Deaf people can be overcome. 

 

 

A: It’s very important because the Bill will really advocate for Deaf people’s right to use their own language, and it means Sign Language interpreters will be able to make it possible for Deaf people to be involved more in society.  I was quite excited about the jury duty because I knew I’d be breaking down barriers and opening doors for other Deaf people who in the future wanted to participate. 

 

 

A: It depends on where and what kind of workplaces. For example, the university where I work is very supportive. It will provide interpreters, my department will pay for interpreters… but many other workplaces aren’t as supportive. Deaf people often don’t have Sign Language interpreters because the workplace itself has to pay for it… and they often put up with being excluded a lot, particularly in blue collar jobs or small companies. I hope the NZSL Bill will raise people’s awareness of their obligation to provide access for deaf employees, but on the other hand if employers think – ‘gosh if I employ a deaf person I’ll have to provide an interpreter for them - it’s going to cost me money’, maybe they won’t employ them in the first place. It’s a bit of a Catch-22. 

 

 

A: In America Deaf people have an absolute right to force institutions to provide interpreters, and also other disability support services. The American Disability Act says that if the employer has more than a certain number of employees, they must provide equal access for employers – it might be 20 or 30 employees within a company. 

 

 

A: Provide equipment for the deaf person who needs it, say a flashing doorbell light, a TTY phone, fax machine, maybe a text-phone, access to email, all of those things so they can communicate with their employees, providing interpreters if the need arises, for example workplace meetings. 

 

 

A: No. Not really. Some are aware, but others just take it for granted that they’ll be on a lower footing. The Deaf association does try and lobby and provide locational support and make employers aware of Deaf employees’ rights, but they can’t do the whole job. 

 

 

A: Well yes and no. Sometimes they might know of a Union, but they can’t go to Union meetings because they don’t have sign language interpreters …They’re not full participants in the workplace often. 

 

 

A: The biggest excuse employers use is the phone: ‘Oh, you can’t use the phone? Oh sorry, we can’t hire you.’ But now with the relay phone service there’s really no excuse.

 

I think better education is the biggest factor that is going to increase job opportunities. At the moment, many many children are mainstreamed in schools, and when they are mainstreamed many are not getting really good support services.   They don’t get sign language interpreters in classrooms, most of children in fact still don’t sign in school, they’re still struggling with learning orally, and they’ve still got a very high failure rate. I think they need early access to using Sign Language as a language of education.