(New Zealand Disability Strategy Objective 6: Foster an aware and responsive public service; Objective 8: Support quality living in the community for disabled people)

The channels of communication available in society need to be accessible so that disabled people can use them as they require, both to receive information and to communicate with others.

Major developments in recent years, which provide a foundation for further actions, have been the implementation of New Zealand Relay (NZ Relay) in 2005 by the Ministry for Economic Development to provide a telecommunications service for people who are Deaf, hearing impaired, Deaf-blind, or speech impaired; and the passing of the New Zealand Sign Language Act in 2006, which recognised New Zealand Sign Language as an official language.

Telecommunications services

A number of developments are underway:

• A trial is running between July 2009 and November 2009 of a Video Relay Service operating under NZ Relay, which enables users of New Zealand Sign Language to communicate via video through the internet or videophone.
• The Ministry of Economic Development is consulting with users of NZ Relay and other stakeholders on the most appropriate services for it to provide and on the best ways to fund its services. The consultation is running from October 2009 – December 2009.
• Extra funding has been provided by government to keep the Video Relay Service running for another year while the results of its trial and the consultation on NZ Relay are considered.

New Zealand Sign Language interpreters

The Office for Disability Issues has provided a grant to evaluate a one-year pilot post-graduate skills diploma course in New Zealand Sign Language interpreting. The course, to be provided at Victoria University of Wellington and beginning in the summer term of 2009/2010, is the first post-graduate Sign Language interpreters course in New Zealand. It is aimed at enhancing the communication between Deaf people and hearing people in complex settings, including legal and medical settings.

Broadband access

In 2008/2009, the National Library of New Zealand installed free broadband access at public libraries (over 500 libraries in 119 library sites) to help give blind and vision impaired people access to the internet. This initiative comprised the investigation, testing and installation of two software products: a portable screen reader called NVDA which reads information out loud, and Magnifying Glass which zooms on to the screen area which the mouse is hovering over. In October 2009 this initiative received the Extra Touch award, made annually by the Association of Blind Citizens for outstanding contributions towards improving access or services for blind or vision impaired people.

Access to broadcasting programmes

The Ministry of Culture and Heritage is undertaking a work programme to ensure that people with sensory impairments can access broadcasting programmes. This work includes the examination of options such as increased captioning and the introduction of audio description services. Its timing is still to be determined.