The mother of four has devoted her entire adult life to ensuring those who need it have better access to education. First as a tireless advocate for her three profoundly Deaf children, and more recently as a torchbearer for her profoundly Deaf granddaughter and the countless adult learners she has supported through teaching English as a Second Language and workplace training. June has spent over three decades at the coalface, and she knows first-hand that every learner has unique needs and responds to different styles of learning.

“I don’t believe in only one way – you have to find out which is the best way for each person or group of people,” says June. “To ensure every learner receives the best support to thrive you need to throw in whatever works.”

June learnt this the hard way. Her first-born son (now 35) is profoundly Deaf, her second son (33) is hearing, and her twin daughters (31) are both profoundly Deaf. 

“It was a total shock – I’d never even met a Deaf person before I had my son, I was completely oblivious. It turned out that both my husband and I had a recessive gene that we were unaware of because it hadn’t shown up in either of our families for hundreds of years.”

Not one to sit around feeling sorry for herself, June leaped into action. 

“I was brought up to believe that education was important, so I thought if I’m going to make sure my children get an education, then I need to know about teaching. I educated myself so my children could have access to education and also because I knew I’d have to be their advocate. I needed to feel confident that if I had something to say, I knew what I was talking about!”

She headed to Massey University to study human development, language development and teacher aiding before going on to study English as a Second Language at Trinity College. She also attended numerous NZ Sign Language (NZSL) classes taught by Deaf adults - and still learns this from her children today as the language continues to evolve.

“For three of my kids their first language is NZ Sign Language - spoken English is their second language.  At the time there were not that many teachers who could successfully bridge the gap between NZ Sign Language and spoken English so I felt like I had to know how to teach English as a Second Language in order to have the greatest possible impact.”

The journey saw June give up her successful secretarial career and instead forge a path as a highly regarded teacher, initially working with children, and later, adults. After gaining her New Zealand Certificate in Adult Literacy and Numeracy Educator and a tertiary teaching qualification she discovered a passion for workplace training, and she’s been hooked ever since. Not surprisingly, June’s unique life experiences have seen her excel in this field. 

“My personal experiences have given me more empathy, particularly for second language learners and those with dyslexia. We had so many different languages and forms of communication going on in our household. I’d have to use a mix of sign language and spoken English to cover my bases with everyone, then the group of four kids had their own way of communicating with each other, and the twins had a different way again. In New Zealand Sign Language there are certain rules, but I’d break all the rules to find what worked best – much like I do now in my work with learners at Education Unlimited.”

As an Education Unlimited trainer, June uses every tool in the toolkit to ensure her learners reach their full potential - and in doing so she’s transforming Kiwi workplaces, one learner at a time.

And as New Zealand celebrates NZ Sign Language Week this week, we ask this remarkable mum and educator what we can do to make New Zealand workplaces more Deaf-friendly. Here’s what she says…

“Most importantly of all, embrace inclusion – that’s something we need to get a lot better at. Don’t be afraid to have Deaf people, they offer their skill set, the same as others do.  There are lots of different ways to make workplaces more Deaf-friendly. If you’re having a health and safety meeting, for example, bring an interpreter along, a lot of deaf people actually have funding for this. Don’t just assume people will be able to read your lips really well. In fact, don’t assume anything! Think about each individual, what skills they have, and what they need to learn. Everybody has incredible skills; you just need to discover what it is they need in order to tap into these skills.”