Nicolas San Miguel’s passion for space comes from his father, who once dreamed of becoming an astronaut and spent many evenings describing space explorations to his son, outlining the stories that the moon and different constellations lay out in the sky. In closing it, she added, “I believe from a symbolic spiritual perspective that where my grandparents could not support my father I am able to bridge an inter-generational sense of healing through my relationship with my father and offer my support as his child a Child of a Deaf Adult.” Opening her application essay, Te Maari stated, “Through my father, I am of Māori descent and belong strongly to this culture that we live and breathe here in New Zealand.”
The Millie Brother CODA Scholarship funds will assist her in returning to school full-time as an adult. “With a deep compassion and understanding of disabilities and all walks of life, Tiffany has an exceptional ability to be empathetic toward others and shows this by way of constantly volunteering her time to meaningful and purposeful causes.”
“This attempt to learn a new language fluently not only for herself, but to better equip her to support a much larger cause is an exact reflection of her character and determination to help others,” a colleague wrote in a letter of recommendation. She was formerly a police officer and worked with the Māori Land Court to research and pursue litigation to preserve historical land. Over the last few years, Te Maari has worked in education, teaching New Zealand Sign Language classes and helping to design Māori-focused adult education courses. Her background shows commitment to bridging gaps many Codas face. She hopes to use this fluency to assist in the development of Māori Sign Language and further support the wider deaf community in New Zealand. Upon completion of her coursework, Te Maari will be one of few individuals in New Zealand fluent in all three official languages: English, Te Reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language. “Being inspired by my father’s parents who obtained their degrees in Māori Indigenous Studies in their seventies before they passed away, I have decided to commit myself to studying Te Reo Māori to become fluent so I can better support and walk alongside my father in his dedicated life-long mission.” “A part of the reason this development has occurred is because my father has been an instrumental advocate for Deaf Māori and pressing for the native group to be recognized as a separate group with their own unique requirements that are needed for them to learn, achieve and succeed and excel in life,” Te Maari wrote in her scholarship application. It is largely on the part of Te Maari’s father, whom she said has long advocated on behalf of deaf Māori and is the inspiration for her own studies in Te Reo Māori. His parents did not have the resources needed to learn sign language, leaving communication the biggest barrier to access to his culture and heritage.Ī new push seeks to change that, reconnecting deaf individuals of Māori descent with their culture through the development and creation of Māori Sign Language-a separate language connected to the spoken native language of Te Reo Māori, rather than the English-derived New Zealand Sign Language. A Coda of Māori descent, Tiffany Te Maari grew up strongly connected to the culture of indigenous peoples to New Zealand, while her father, who was born hearing and became deaf at 18 months after contracting meningitis, had limited access.
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