Weekly update: 14 March 2025
Kia ora tatou,
Hello to all of us,
Thanks for keeping your expressions of interest for Conference rolling in! Later today I will be sending out registration forms to those of you who are lined up to come so far. 😊
This is our primary focus just now, alongside keeping our peer-to-peer support groups going.
Thanks to aimee this week especially for pulling this together. She does a fantastic job for us in amongst a lot of other commitments. 😊❤️
I also want to acknowledge our Board, who do so very much behind the scenes with our subcommittees to keep everything rolling smoothly. Cheryl, Board Secretary, does everything asked of her and plugs in so many other creative ideas as well which makes me smile!
You, of course, are part of the team too. When I do my mihi at events, part of it is "Ko Taringa Turi kāpō Ropu taku whānau". That means something like "our deafblind community are whānau to me and that is how I am identifying in that context".
Please see below for all other updates this week and events. 😊
In this week's newsletter
New section! To help you navigate our newsletter, we'll now include a list of contents after Amanda's introduction. Feedback always welcome. 😊
Consumer opportunity - Pacific Member for the Northern Regional Consumer Council
Students seeking your feedback about audio description and AI
Consumer opportunity - Pacific Member for the Northern Regional Consumer Council
From Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission.
Health NZ Northern Regional Consumer Council is seeking a Pacific person to join their team.
"Are you passionate about improving health services for Pacific communities? Health NZ’s Northern Regional Consumer Council (RCC) is looking for a Pacific member to bring their lived experience and community voice to the table.
"The Northern RCC works to ensure health services are designed and delivered in a way that meets the diverse needs of our communities. As a member, you will provide valuable insights, advocate for Pacific health equity, and contribute to improving the consumer experience."
You can find out more about this and other opportunities at the link below.
Consumer opportunities (Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission)
Students seeking your feedback about audio description and AI
From the BlindDiscuss mailing list.
My name is Denys. I’d like to share a project close to my heart: MAIIA, an audio description tool I built after years of struggling to help my grandmother, Maiia, access films. She lost her vision four years ago and with no Ukrainian audio description available, I personally created audio description for over 15 movies so she could continue enjoying content.
Now, with a team of talented classmates (no corporate ties or funding), we’ve trained an AI model to automate parts of this process. We know most synthetic audio description falls short - flat narration, awkward timing - so we’ve focused on making our TTS sound less robotic. It’s still rough, but my grandmother uses it daily, and we’re improving it weekly. After months of testing with her and consulting accessibility experts, we're ready to share our prototype with this community.
We’re not here to sell anything. Instead, we'd be incredibly grateful if you could spare three minutes to test a short segment of our audio description for the movie "300" and complete two brief feedback forms. We can’t compensate you yet, but we’ll use every critique to refine the tool, and publish updates openly.
Thank you for considering our request. Your expertise would help make MAIIA better for everyone who deserves equal access to visual content. We’re just students, and we’re committed to listening.
Thank you for the consideration, Denys
- Link to the first form - please fill out before watching
- 300 movie clip (YouTube)
- Link to the final form - please fill out after watching
New events
Audio described School of Rock - Palmerston North
From Audio Described Aotearoa.
Act Three Productions in Palmerston North have an accessible performance for their upcoming production, School of Rock.
Based on the hit movie, School of Rock follows Dewey Finn, a failed, wannabe rock star who decides to earn an extra bit of cash by posing as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school. There he turns a class of straight-A pupils into a guitar-shredding, bass-slapping, mind-blowing rock band. But can he get them to the Battle of the Bands without their parents and the school's headmistress finding out?
- When: Saturday, 26 April: 12:30pm touch tour; 2pm audio described performance.
- Where: The Regent on Broadway, 53 Broadway Avenue, Palmerston North.
- Approximate run time: 3 hours including 20 minute interval.
- Accessibility Tickets: Adults $38.50, children $28.50.
To book tickets and for all enquiries: please phone Act Three Productions on 06 355 0499 or email admin@actthree.co.nz.
Holders of PNCC Companion Cards are welcome to use the card to receive one complimentary companion ticket with your accessible ticket booking.
You can read more about the School of Rock on the Act Three Productions website below.
Act Three Productions current shows: School of Rock
Event reminders
Remember to check out new documentary series Sight Unseen, from Able and NZ On Air, which talks with vision-impaired people around Aotearoa New Zealand. Audio descriptions accompany each of its 5 episodes - there are around 180,000 New Zealanders who are vision impaired.
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Check out our calendar of events for reminders of all the other events coming up, and updated dates for our regional peer-to-peer gatherings.
Calendar / events (Deafblind Association NZ)
Other newsletters
DPA (Disabled Persons Assembly) Information: 7 March 2025
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The D*List
The D*List website is an online culture magazine that creates space for disabled people to tell their own stories through features, columns and news reporting.
Link to weekly update below.
The D*List Delivered (Substack)
Following is a link to have a browse of The D*List website or sign up to receive their weekly newsletter.
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Be Seen be Heard be Connected weekly update, and mailing list
You can find our weekly Seen Be Heard Be Connected updates (ie our newsletter) on our website, at the following link.
Our weekly updates (Deafblind Association New Zealand)
You can also sign up for our weekly newsletter, and / or our mailing list DBANZ Discuss, at the links below. Please feel free to spread the word 😊
Ngā mihi mahana,
Warm regards,
Amanda
Feedback requested reminders
"Improving the sustainability of Disability Support Services" paper - alternate formats available
Alternate formats for the Cabinet paper on 'Improving the sustainability of Disability Support Services' are now available on the MSD website.
Improving the sustainability of Disability Support Services (MSD)
This paper contains Cabinet decisions for next steps to improve the sustainability of Disability Support Services. It follows the recommendations from the Independent Review of Disability Support Services.
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The Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 - alternate formats, and have your say
Phase Two of the Inquiry primary focus is reviewing key decisions made by the New Zealand Government in response to COVID-19 during 2021 and 2022, about vaccines, lockdowns, testing and tracing technologies, and public health materials (eg masks).
The audio can also be found on TellMe under option 522.
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Nominations are still open for the World Blind Union scholarships!
Find out more about the 3 scholarships and 2 funds (World Blind Union)
You can also check out open nominations and available roles in our 21 Feb update.
Open nominations and available roles: 21 February 2025 weekly update
Survey about online safety for young disabled people
All is for All would like to invite you, you whānau, and support workers (if applicable) to participate in a survey about your experiences navigating online and social media spaces and to learn about the types of training and learning opportunities you would like to see delivered to support young disabled people and their support networks with learning about online and social media safety.
Find out more in our 21 February 2025 weekly update
The survey is short and should only take 10 minutes to complete. We value your input and perspective, and your participation in the survey would be greatly appreciated.
Online safety and social media survey (All is for All)
If you have any questions or feedback about the survey, please do not hesitate to contact Natalie Robinson by emailing natalie@allisforall.com.
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Submission opportunity to influence more content in audio description and captioning
The Ministry for Culture and Heritage has released a discussion document on "modernising regulation and content funding arrangements for New Zealanders". Part of this includes increasing captioning and audio description.
More information, and the full paper (Ministry of Culture and Heritage)
Blind Citizens NZ will be making a submission. Any thoughts you care to share will be very much appreciated.
Find out more in our 21 February 2025 weekly update
Submissions close 11:59pm on 23 March 2025.
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Research about the education and employment of deafblind people in low / middle-resource countries
Deafblind International’s Global Research Initiative coincides with a research project on the education and employment of individuals living with deafblindness around the world.
The Université de Montréal are currently looking for persons living with early-onset deafblindness (while being a child or youth) to participate in interviews about their experience growing up deafblind. The goal of the project is to tell the stories of persons living with deafblindness, and to learn from the experiences, so we can do better.
Find out more in our 21 February 2025 weekly update
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National Housing Survey
The Urban Advisory is running a longitudinal study so there is no foreseeable closing date. The survey asks how people make their housing choices and what they want to see happen with housing in the future, with the intention of helping New Zealand better respond to housing needs and demand.
Completed surveys are eligible for entry into a quarterly prize draw to win a $200 Prezzy Card. It is an online survey through Qualtrics and is expected to take less than 30 minutes to complete.
New Zealand's Housing Survey (The Urban Advisory)
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Public library use and accessibility
Blind Low Vision NZ Client Training and Engagement Senior Advisor Tom Smith asks: “Is there anybody willing to be interviewed about their use of public library services and accessibility?"
Email Tom for details, at tsmith@blindlowvision.org.nz.
Regular / ongoing events
No Labels on Wellington Access Radio
You can listen to the show on Wellington Access Radio on Tuesday just after 1pm, or the following Tuesday at the same time.
If you miss the scheduled show, you can check it out later online at the link below.
No Labels (Wellington Access Radio)
Or you can subscribe to the show via your preferred podcast player to check out this episode or previous episodes of the show.
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Blind Spot, Radio Southland
Monthly show hosted by Carolyn Weston.
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Disability Disrupters podcast
From Disability Responsiveness NZ, the podcast features news, views and interviews with disabled people from around the world.
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Entertainment with Able
Able is a not-for-profit organisation working towards a more inclusive Aotearoa, believing everyone should be able to access news, entertainment and culture. Funded by NZ On Air, they’re Aotearoa’s leading provider of media access services, including captioning services, subtitling and audio description.
Listings are available at the following browser links:
A link to Able's website to subscribe to the weekly newsletter with listings and picks of the week follows.
Deafblind Association NZ access to TellMe
See TellMe numbers for your area
End of report and this week’s update.
Amanda Stevens
Executive Officer
Taringa Turi Kāpō Rōpū
Deafblind Association New Zealand