This awesome review was sent to me by Rachel! Being the movie addict that I am I decided I needed to help Red out a bit and do a review of Hoyts in Riccarton and when better to do this but a long weekend! So this theatre is about a 10min walk from work and that’s good because for me it means one less taxi! Access up to the first floor is good, and no doubt aided by being in

“If you dream it and believe it, you can achieve it”. This is the motto of motivational speaker and track champion Cameron Calkoen, so it’s no surprise that he’s the one behind the revolutionary step in the world of mentoring, a programme he’s dubbed “Carabiner”. Carabiner is a mentoring project developed in conjunction with the North Shore LIFE Centre, and aims to contribute towards a society where young people with disabilities are optimistic about the future, and are supported and

…If you live in Australia! In yet another chapter of the Look-How-Far-Behind-NZ-Is book, the NSW Govt has set up a hotline for members of the public to dob in those who are abusing or misusing the mobility parking scheme. If someone has cause to believe an individual has stolen or borrowed illegitimately a disability parking permit, or obtained one by fraudulent means, they can call this phone line. Additionally, if you see a car parked in a mobility parking space

Once again, New Zealand trails behind the rest of the world in social policy and disability awareness innovation. While we’re still plugging various Government strategies, plans, and obscure visions, the UK has launched a disability awareness award.   The qualification, obtainable by businesses, govt departments, bus services, and any other public organisation, is achieved by answering a series of questions on topics such as the meaning of disability and impairment, disability rights and the language of disability.  The award helps to solidify

If you live in Auckland and currently use one of those ARTA cards for half-price taxi fares, listen up: this one’s for you. The Cerebral Palsy Society, the wonderful people that they are, are running a limited pilot programme called getOutThere, which encourages people with cerebral palsy to participate actively within their community. How are they hoping to achieve this, I hear you ask? Well, successful applicants are given a set of taxi vouchers (~$200 worth for the 6 month

See, in my frantic desperation to complete my 2500-word essay by tomorrow, I completely forgot that the RNZFB’s Blind Appeal Week kicked off yesterday! I know, shocking, but I’m making up for it now so let it go ;P The foundation has approximately 12,000 members which it helps with a range of things, from translating text into braille, daily living assistance, and much much more. There’s plenty of ways you can help out: become a volunteer, help collect at your

The BBC have published a fascinating article on disabled people and their issues surrounding sex, most notably whether it is acceptable for disabled people to visit brothels to seek a form of companionship that, due to their impairment, they might not otherwise experience. Obviously there are moral dilemmas in any discussion surrounding brothels and consequent objectification of women, but I imagine for some disabled people they provide a solution to a need that is right up there with the provision

In part two of today’s look-at-this-neat-disability-focussed-website series, NZ On Wheels have posted a great writeup about Wellington’s beautiful botanical gardens and its level of accessibility for wheelchair users. Check out the excerpt below: The lower section is nice and flat, with good, sealed tracks and the cafe – get to this part of the botanical gardens from the Tinakori Rd entrance. The rest of the gardens gets pretty steep, and we mean steeeeeep. You will definitely need a hand with

Following on from this story regarding Wellington’s brand new Liberty Swing for wheelchair users, our friends over at the Tiaho Trust have posted a new story on Northland’s similar acquisition! It’s situated in the Town Basin playground, and again operates through a refundable deposit-for-a-key system. To read more, or to check out the neat video of what it all looks like, check out tiaho.org.nz.

Brought to my attention by Barbz over in our forums, it was quite startling to discover a law change coming into effect later this year which may force some sheltered workshops to close. The Disabled Persons Employment Promotion Act, which allowed employers to create tailored working conditions for disabled people, will be repealed in December, forcing some of those who employ disabled people, particularly those working in the IHC workshops, to provide them the same minimum wage and holiday rights