Appleby, Alistair

Born at Devonport near Auckland; deafness suspected in infancy but not actually diagnosed until age 6 1/2. Attended regular school, supplemented by an itinerant (oral) teacher fof the deaf, and suffering bullying and harassment from hearing classmates. After graduating, worked a string of different blue-collar jobs until entering a university at age 24; he still struggled there due to the lack of interpreters and other aids, but managed to graduate with a marketing degree in about 1991. At first ignorant and then outside the Deaf community, he began to ease into it beginning in his mid 20s, joining a club for oral deaf persons. Got a job working for the government in Wellington, then with the Deaf Association of New Zealand, the latter position finally forcing him to learn sign language and begin embracing his deaf identity. After being laid off, he switched to working for the Hearing Association in equipment service and support. Moved to London, England about 2000 and met and married Caroline Cummings, also deaf, there.