Happy birthday, Mojo!

Today is Mojo Mathers birthday (Nov 23, 1966).

Mojo Mathers became the first deaf member of New Zealand's parliament when she ran as a Green candidate in 2011. She was born profoundly deaf and is a lipreader. She began to use sign language in the late 2000s New Zealand became the first country to adopt sign language as an official language in 2006 and now, some 25,000 people use sign language in the country. The New Zealand government provides interpreters in Parliament as well as for major speeches and announcements.

She became a policy advisor for Disabled Person's Assembly of New Zealand (DPA) in 2019 and was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to people with disabilities.