Kia Ora, my name is Hemi, this is my sign name. I live here in Hamilton.
I am going to talk about how I learnt that ‘I can’, and what an impact that had on me. It was at a Life Skills course. Who was the teacher? It was a Deaf woman – her name is Ava and her name sign is this.
At the time I would say I can’t, I can’t and she would say no! you can! You can! Get going!! I would look at her and wonder what she was on about. She asked ‘did I want to be always holding hands with my mother and father? No, you can do it yourself’! She said I can be independent.
This forced me to look at myself, then I thought, I can. I got really excited then I started to think… am I allowed to? Can I do it? I kept going through the course, learning so much. It was really valuable. What Ava taught me was really good, thank you Ava for teaching me.
This meant I could go out into the world to do anything, I can investigate information for myself, I can do whatever I want to do. I can socialise well. That’s how I came to be the person you see now.
Thank you for watching
Tena kotu katoa
