There are calls for more deaf New Zealanders to get into construction by industry training organisation BCITO.
About 4500 people across the country use sign language as their main form of communication but there's still barriers for them getting into the workforce.
Baz Kay has been working as a qualified builder in Christchurch for three years but there was a time when he didn't think it would be possible - as he was born profoundly deaf.
A lack of support during school left him with literacy issues and the feeling he’d only be able to do low-skilled work. It meant, for 20 years, he filleted fish.
But now he's now in his happy place since getting a trade.
"I enjoy it," said Kay. "Being inside and outside, getting exercise, doing different things."
He was supported by BCITO to complete his qualifications. They'd help with things like using imagery to define building terminology and his wife, Liz Kay, would help by interpreting it into sign.
Baz said the learning journey was a big challenge.
"They gave us a whole lot of books for the theory I had to complete. It was really hard."
"We need employers to just open up their minds and give them a go," added Liz Kay.
And the construction industry is certainly in dire need of more workers.
It's estimated the workforce will need to grow by at least 40,000 people in the next 30 years to fully address New Zealand's needs, according to the Infrastructure Commission.
It's why BCITO has launched a new online resource to encourage more employers in the construction industry to take on deaf New Zealanders.
"It's to give them the opportunity to achieve as anyone else would," said Andrew Green, BCITO principal advisor for learners with disabilities.
"We use the whiteboard often to write down things, the foreman will write things down for me," said Baz. "If we have a staff meeting, they'll book an interpreter for me, so I know what's going on."
With currently about 40 hard of hearing people training as apprentices with BCITO, Baz is proof that they can all thrive as tradies too.
