Stories of Hawke's Bay's deaf school heard

UNIQUE HISTORY: Local resource teacher of the deaf Juliet Clarke has compiled the history of the Onekawa Deaf Unit in Napier. Photo/Paul Taylor

By Anneke Smith

UNIQUE HISTORY: Local resource teacher of the deaf Juliet Clarke has compiled the history of the Onekawa Deaf Unit in Napier. Photo/Paul Taylor

Among the schooling communities in Hawke's Bay perhaps one of the most unique is the deaf community; many of whom were taught at Napier's Onekawa Deaf Unit.

Their stories, heard over the past two years by resource teacher of the deaf Juliet Clarke, have now been compiled into a one-of-a-kind book 'Hearing Aid Bras and Other Stories 1969-2014' that gives readers a perspective on education like no other.

Book author Juliet Clark, who saw the rise and fall of the Onekawa Deaf Unit, was well-equipped to detail the ins and outs of the school and what was at times a very lonely job as a teacher of the deaf.

"I can remember feeling quite isolated as the only teacher of the deaf in the school. I had no input into teaching options such as mainstreaming, unit or reverse integration, I was just told what was going to happen," she wrote in the book.

Mrs Clarke had her first encounter with a profoundly deaf child at the age of 14 and has since gone on to dedicate more than three decades of her life to teaching deaf children.

"I try to give the kids the skills they need to cope independently, how to make friends and how to be a friend," she said.

In the early 1960s a major rubella epidemic left a large number of profoundly deaf children throughout New Zealand and the Onekawa Deaf Unit was among the earliest deaf units in the country.

Previously children had been unable to attend mainstream schools so they were sent as boarders to either Sumner School in Christchurch or St Dominic's in Fielding.

However once Onekawa's deaf unit was built children from Havelock North, Hastings, Napier and even Te Pohue travelled to the school daily to be taught to speak. Sign language was not permitted in education at the time.

At its peak in 1975 more than 30 children attended the Onekawa school and over time enrolment numbers dwindled as many families opted for their children to attend a mainstream school.

Mrs Clarke continues to travel around the Bay's mainstream schools to work one-on-one with deaf students.

Today's book launch will be attended by several past pupils of the Onekawa Deaf Unit who now have their experiences permanently encapsulated in Mrs Clarke's book.