Dr David McKee, of Wellington, CNZM for services to New Zealand Sign Language and the Deaf community
Dr David McKee and his wife established and taught the country’s first full-time New Zealand sign language (NZSL) interpreter training course at Auckland Institute of Technology (now AUT). He helped set up the New Zealand Sign Language Teachers Association and the Sign Language Interpreters Association of New Zealand. He was the first Deaf Lecturer and Researcher at a New Zealand university, co-establishing Victoria University’s ‘Certificate in Deaf Studies: Teaching NZSL’ course. He was Director of the Deaf Studies Research Unit and Consulting Editor of the first dictionary of NZSL. He helped set up a bilingual committee at the Auckland-based Kelston Deaf Education Centre. He is a member of the Ministry of Education’s NZSL Sector Advisory Group. Dr McKee was Chairperson of Deaf Aotearoa Holdings Limited.