Deafblind Association New Zealand

Taringa Turi Kāpō Rōpū

Deafblind Association of New Zealand
Charitable Trust

Date Registered 28/08/2016
Charities No. CC53793.
Be Seen Be Heard Be Connected Strategic Plan 2023-2026

Table of contents

Vision and Mission

For deafblind New Zealanders and their families to be empowered, connected, and included.

Vision

For deafblind New Zealanders and their families to be empowered, connected, and included.

Mission

To partner with deafblind New Zealanders to support opportunities for connection and inclusion. We work to promote and represent the interests of people with deafblindness, their families and carers, and to encourage self-determination by people who are deafblind.

Principles and Values

Principles:

Out guiding ethical principles are to:

  1. Act with care and respect for individual and cultural differences.
  2. Avoid doing any harm.
  3. Actively support Te Tiriti O Waitangi.
  4. Respect the confidences with which we are entrusted.
  5. Promote the safety and well-being of individuals, families and whanau where combined deafness and blindness are involved.
  6. Seek increases in the range of choices and opportunities for deafblind New Zealanders.
  7. Be honest and trustworthy in all relationships and transactions.
  8. Work within the scope of volunteerism and the memorandum of understanding with the RNZFB.
  9. Treat colleagues and associates with respect.
  10. Ensure employees and contractors feel safe and supported in their roles.

Values:
Our shared core values from the Code of Ethics and Values are:

  1. Respect for human dignity and worth.
  2. Partnership and equity.
  3. Personal autonomy.
  4. Personal integrity.
  5. Social justice.
  6. Commitment to purpose.
  7. Responsible advocacy, advice and caring.
  8. To be accountable.
  9. Listen to learn.
  10. Accept fair criticism so we can get better.
  11. Have difficult conversations as a path to improvement.

Goals and how we’ll get there

Goal 1. Improved Connections for Deafblind

We continue to build our existing networks (local and national) to encourage confidence and leadership for them to become self-sustaining. The goal is for local networks to meet kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face) twice a year at a minimum, gradually managing their own transport requirements. National networks will meet in the manner most appropriate to their aims. We will establish another two networks per annum. Two volunteers can be assigned to each geographical network. We will be a connecting service for deafblind to reach each other and their communities, including lifelong learning opportunities. We support whānau and natural supports of deafblind to grow their confidence and knowledge of needs. Goal 2. Our Congenitally Deafblind Tamariki/Taitamariki We meaningfully improve the experience and connections of congenitally Deafblind young people and their whanau to support lifelong learning, growth, and meaningful development.

Goal 3. Access, Communications, Technology

We will maintain and improve communications specific to deafblind, including regular updating of website, Telephone Information Service (TIS), email contacts, braille, NZSL, CDs, and large print formats for relevant newsletters and updates. Across all of our contacts we will promote the need for access to appropriate technology, as well as training to support participation of all of our community in their medium of choice. We support deafblind to attain the tools and technology they need to reach out to one another and to our organisation in their preferred way, including audio technology such as hearing aids. We collaborate with key organisations in the development and training of tactile communication methods and Communicator Guide services, being mindful of cultural sensitivity to Tactile Communication methods as we lay the foundations for the association to take on a greater role in the future to improve the lives of deafblind.

Goal 4. Growing Confidence and Leadership

We foster tūrangawaewae – a sense of belonging. We will create opportunities for people to tell their stories in a safe way that is inclusive of Te Ao Māori, Pasifika, diverse cultures, gender, Rainbow, and youth. We recognise the intersectionality of identity may mean different communities have different priorities. This includes Meet and Greet sessions and a place on our website for stories/guest blogs. We seek our mandate from the voices of the community, and support the people behind the voices into leadership opportunities as the central stakeholders. We connect the community with monitoring mechanisms so we have ownership of change and outcomes.

Goal 5. Advocacy and Global Relationships

We advance the issues relevant to deafblind to service providers, ministers and governmental senior officials, agencies, and other stakeholders, seeking to systemise our relationships with key government officials. We draw on the support of our Patron, Hon Ruth Dyson, and our working relationship with organisations in the Blind and Deaf Sectors, including the Blind Sector Network Aotearoa, Blind Low Vision Education Network NZ, Deaf Aotearoa, NZ Relay Services, Partners in Care - Health Quality and Safety Commission, and the pan-disability sector. We actively contribute to the global conversation on deafblindness through regular communications, memberships, and attendance at conferences nationally and internationally. We will consult first with our community and send feedback regularly to support informed decision-making for meaningful inclusion.

Goal 6. Sustainability

We grow our funding streams to secure a sustainable future for the organisation. This enables building of peer-to-peer support and facilitates the gatherings and communication platforms critical for our community to share their stories, experiences, challenges, solutions, participation, and leadership skills. Emotionally and physically safe travel and meeting places are non-negotiable in financially sustaining groups. A national Deafblind gathering remains a financially sustainable biennial event. Attendance at conferences and work streams for communications with the World Federation of the Deafblind, Pacific Disability Forum and Deafblind International are budgeted for.

The Board is transparent in its decisions, stays focused on its priorities, meets the obligations of the charity, demonstrates effective leadership, shows foresight with respect to risk management, effectively balances its paid and voluntary capacity, has succession planning always on the table with an induction programme for new Board Members, embraces governance upskilling opportunities and self-appraisal, fulfils their fiduciary responsibilities as individuals and as a Board, behaves ethically at all times, and is accountable to the deafblind community and funders.

The Executive Officer and contractors have skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the deafblind community and their issues, behave at all times in a way that upholds and enhances the reputation of the organisation, and recognises that Aotearoa NZ is a small place with a lot of overlapping interests and relationships.

We are not limited by our imaginations as we embrace the kaleidoscope of diverse deafblind needs!

Aotearoa and Global Context

Our work is informed by the following overarching strategies:
Te Tiriti o Waitangi:
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/populations/maori-health/te-tiriti-o-waitangi
Pae Tū: Hauora Māori Strategy:
https://www.health.govt.nz/publication/pae-tu-hauora-maori-strategy
Pacific Disability Forum: Towards an Inclusive and Resilient Pacific for all Persons with Disabilities
https://pacificdisability.org/what-we-do/
United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD):
https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-persons-disabilities
New Zealand Disability Strategy 2016-2026:
https://www.whaikaha.govt.nz/about-us/programmes-strategies-and-studies/programmes-and-strategies/new-zealand-disability-strategy
Sustainable Development Goals:
https://www.undp.org/sustainable-development-goals

About Us and Contact Details

About Us

The Deafblind Association NZ was established as a charitable trust in 2014 and registered as a Charity in 2016. Deafblind Association NZ is a not-for-profit organisation and receives no funding from central government.
There is much to do in raising awareness of what dual sensory loss means. We recognize deafblindness as a distinct disability and advocate for formal and legal recognition nationally. We are inspired by the need for deafblind to have an improved connection with their communities – geographical, online, individual, local, national, and international. Though communication can be a challenge, we are fostering healthy, accessible engagement between deafblind, their whānau, service providers, funders, non-government organisations, and local and national government. We commit to ethical practice, empathy, respect, and genuine consultation. Fostering relationships through active participation is front and centre to what we do.

Be seen, be heard, be connected!

Contact Details