THE WELFARE OF THE DEAF

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 979, 23 May 1930, Page 10

THE WELFARE OF THE DEAF

SO sei-ious is the handicap imposed on children who face, life without the faculties of hearing- and speech that adequate State provision for specialised training is both a duty and a necessity. Up to a point the community, acting through its appointed representatives, has faced its responsibilities to young deaf and dumb citizens. The Government institution at Sumner is recognised as a model of its kind, and has produced a laudable record of successful treatment. But the time has arrived when a solitary school for these unfortunate New Zealand children cannot offer convenient facilities for North and South combined. There is need for a second institution, situated preferably at Auckland-—now the converging centre of practically one-third of the country’s total population. The necessity for ample and easy provision is intensified by the fact that scientific modern training on tried and proven lines has produced remarkable results in even the worst of cases. The success at Sumner of a process that may be described loosely as a careful circumvention of existing handicaps, in itself is the greatest and plainest argument in favour of extended facilities. Jt is true that the Sumner School for the Deaf is open to children from North Cape to the Bluff and that, excepting special circumstances, the sending of children to this Canterbury institution is almost compulsory; it is equally true that for many Auckland parents and children, too, this is a decided hardship. It can readily be understood that, apart from any monetary considerations, parents woxild much prefer greater possibility of access to their children during long months of separation. The move to induce the Government to extend the training of the deaf and dumb, initiated at a public meeting last evening, was on sound lines, and the formation of a body to be known as “The Auckland Association for the Welfare of the Deaf” is deserving of full encouragement as a means of achieving the desired objective by concerted effort. As was pointed out by a speaker,- the present classes at the Newton East School eater only for those partially deficient hi speech and hearing. Much fuller facilities for training are needed in Auckland, and if the results secured at Sumner are to be made possible here, a prop-erly-equipped institution, suitably situated, is essential. When the co-operation of the Auckland Education Board is secured (for it is hardly conceivable that this would be withheld) the newlyformed association will be in a position to present to the department a strong ease. In the meantime the authors and supporters of the movement may go forward with confidence, assured of the lively support of all who have at heart the wellbeing of afflicted children.