We are pleased to share that our Board Chair Mr. David Kent has been honoured as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in the New Year Honours 2025 for his services to the Deaf and hard of hearing community.
Mr. Kent is widely respected due to decades of volunteering advocacy work focused on equality and equity for the Deaf and hard of hearing community. He initially became involved with the Southern Hearing Charitable Trust (SHCT) when he himself became a recipient of cochlear implants. Mr. Kent is 75 and has been Deaf since his mid-20s. His life was transformed when hearing was restored to one ear after his first cochlear implant in 1998. He received a second implant in his other ear in 2011.
Mr. Kent recognised that the funding for this remarkable life-changing technology was extremely limited and has made it his life’s work to see that this inequity was overcome. This has involved:
- Campaigning for greater increase in captioning for free to air television and digital media.
- Uniting the hearing sector nationally to collaborate to support the Public Health Programme and its shared vision.
- Providing regular input and advice on services and programmes to ensure they are fit for purpose.
- He was involved in the development of a Public Health Programme aimed at driving systematic change in the hearing health sector, with a particular focus on early intervention, healthy aging and reducing inequities that exist for our Māori and Pacifica populations.
A press release is available here.