Jonny’s last column for 2016:
People at the premier seemed genuinely riveted apart from the periodic interruptions of my mokopuna who kept calling out ‘Poppa, Poppa’ when she spotted me, but hey, she was genuine.
We, at Tiaho, have recently been very busy doing genuine things.
What do I mean by genuine? You may well ask.
Last week we held a celebration of the International Day of People with Disabilities. People were genuinely celebrating, dancing to the Polynesian beats and doing the hula with the local coppers.
It was genuine because there were more disabled people on the canopy bridge than people who were there because they were being paid to be there supporting their clients.
It was genuine because people were having a good time. People were genuinely smiling as opposed to the more purse lipped attempts you tend to see around at this time of year.
Two days before that Tiaho Trust, hosted a Premiere viewing night. We had champers (not genuine) and we had finger food which was as genuine as if it had been hand-made and home baked by the Hatea Lions Club – which of course it had. The food had that genuine taste of deliciousness that can only come from an old-school approach to catering.
The two video productions we were premiering were genuinely unique and genuinely Northland.
The first, Sign High, was a 15-episode TV series Tiaho developed with funding through the NZ Sign Language Board. It promotes NZ Sign Language in a really genuine way, primarily because the two presenters were Deaf.
Alana Best, (a NZSL Tutor with a degree in Applied Science) and Mita Moses, (Legendary local man mountain) talked about using sign language at the doctors. They interviewed others to show how Deaf people could order from McDonalds, signed about texting 111, filmed in the court, filmed in the hospital, the list goes on.
People at the premiere seemed genuinely riveted apart from the periodic interruptions of my mokopuna who kept calling out “Poppa, Poppa” when she spotted me but, hey, she was genuine.
The TV series teaches people how to sign in NZ Sign language, the appropriate use of sign language on a marae and how sports such as rugby league are constantly using signs as an intransigent part of refereeing.
The project was genuinely hard to bring to fruition; coaxing away the tension between Deaf culture and TV culture into pulling the project the same way to produce something we are all genuinely proud of.
The second video production was called No Problem, You’re Welcome. This is a training video designed to teach businesses how to give great customer service to a fairly large market segment of their customer base those with disabilities.
We used a genuine professional actor, we used genuine disabled people, we even used a genuine ‘silver fox’ as one of the main presenters. The video played out bad scenarios that genuinely made your toes curl and then reran the scenario showcasing best practice. These examples make one think, ‘how bloody obvious!’
Yes, it’s been a very busy time for us. It’s been rewarding, positive, meaningful, but I do have to confess that probably much like the rest of the Tiaho Team, I for one, am genuinely knackered.
Photo courtesy of John Stone/Northern Advocate
Downloadable pdf below:
| Available Downloads | Type | Size |
|---|---|---|
| The importance of being genuine | 349 KB |