The Silent Leadership Challenge is a hearing loss challenge for corporate and community leaders to raise awareness and funds for the vital work of The National Foundation for the Deaf in New Zealand.
One in six New Zealanders have some type of hearing loss. It robs them of the full ability to hear, which is fundamental to participating in work, education, family and social activities.
Those taking part will help to:
- Change workplace attitudes to hearing loss prevention
- Increase workplace understanding and empathy for those who are deaf or hearing impaired.
All particpants who have raised 32,000 NZ Dollars so far, are at the leading edge of a vital campaign to change attitudes and improve the quality of life for New Zealanders who are hard of hearing.
They will carry out the following four communication challenges in one day while wearing bright yellow MSA ear protectors to simulate deafness:
- One-to-one meeting
- Team meeting
- Social get-together
- Watching TV at home
According to the NFD in New Zealand the funds raised in sponsorship donations will sustain the Foundation’s vital advocacy, prevention and support work. For example, you’ll fund ongoing human rights advocacy to remove barriers that prevent New Zealanders who are hard of hearing from participating fully in society. Urgent issues in 2014 are:
- Inequitable funding of hearing aids and FM equipment for children with Auditory Processing Disorder
- Poor broadcast captioning
- Unjust ACC hearing aid funding for a generation of older people who lost their hearing at work
- Bullying of those with hearing loss.
To support the fundraising visit the NFD Campaign website here.
