At last week's Rotary meeting we heard from speaker Pam Lyons. Pam is a Resource Teacher working for Van Asch Education Centre in Wellington. She is currently studying for the Specialist Post Graduate Advanced Diploma in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Endorsement.
After retelling to us some of her background Pam told us about the history of deaf culture. In the 19th century prominent figures in deaf education, had been debating the effectiveness of oral-only education (lip reading) versus an education that utilises sign language as a means of visual communication, culminating in the Milan Conference in 1880. Milan 1880 was a historic event in deaf education that nearly led to the death of sign language and led to the Dark Age of Deaf Education. It was not until the 1970s that sign-language use was revised and in 1995 began to be introduced into NZ deaf education centres. The New Zealand Sign Language Act came into effect on 6 April 2006 which saw NZSL become an official language in New Zealand alongside English and Te Reo Maori. Since this time New Zealand Sign Language Week has been commemorate on 2nd-8th May.
Pam also talked about Audiograms how to read them. An Audiogram is a graph or chart that displays the results of your hearing test.
Questions led to a discussion about cochlear implant treatments. A cochlear implant is an electronic medical device that replaces the function of the damaged inner ear. Unlike hearing aids, which make sounds louder, cochlear implants do the work of damaged parts of the inner ear (cochlea) to provide sound signals to the brain.
Pam's talk concluding with some examples of sign language and the sign language alphabet.
Olivia was the club speaker for the 3-minute talk slot and gave us her account summary of the Wanganui District conference.
