Joan Saunders left school at 14 with a 97% hearing loss and she was also thought to be mentally retarded. Her teacher advised that a job as a scullery maid was Joan's best prospect.
More than 40 years later, still profoundly deaf, she graduated MA (Hons) from Auckland University and is now a practising psychologist.
Joan Saunders tells Jack Perkins the remarkable story of her fight to cope with her disability and the prejudice it attracted.