Following on from discussion surrounding the raising of the fine for parking in a mobility space from $40 to $150, it was suggested by a reader that a different kind of parking abuse goes on every day, a type of abuse which is arguably a bigger problem than mobility parking misuse. It surrounds the use of footpaths as ‘alternative parking spots’, thereby blocking its use by anyone that can’t skip nimbly past the offending vehicle. A truck parked across a

The internationally acclaimed art exhibition, “Intimate Encounters: Disability and Sexuality”, is coming to New Zealand! The exhibition, two years in the making, is a collection of works by photographer Belinda Mason-Lovering, who travelled across Australia, turning ordinary disabled people’s lives, dreams and desires into these wonderful images. Described as “An exhibition that will challenge archaic perceptions that disabled people can’t or shouldn’t enjoy healthy sexual lives.”, by Tiaho Trust CEO Johnny Wilkinson, it’s shaping up as a showcase not to

It’s being reported that the officer responsible for tipping a paralysed man out of his wheelchair has been arrested for ‘abuse of a disabled person’. The officer in question, Charlette Marshall-Jones, was arrested on Saturday morning, and going on the level of the offence, could go to prison for 5 years. I, for one, am all for it! What do you think is an appropriate penalty?

Dear oh dear, and here I was thinking our Australian neighbours were a people of integrity. The under-arm incident aside, this is probably the most mind-boggling case I’ve heard from across the ditch in quite some time. An Australian man is currently in court for attempted murder, after shooting his disabled son in the face. That’s right, shooting his son in the face. The son, who has an unspecified intellectual impairment, has been under his father’s care for 39 years,

So you’ve arrested a disabled man, and you need to strip search him. How do you go about this? … Tip him out of his wheelchair so he falls flat on his face, of course! Well, perhaps that’s not the way you or I would go about it, but we’re not the Florida Police Department. Four US Sheriffs are on the way out the door after tipping a paralysed man out of his wheelchair after he ‘refused to stand up’.

It’s a common pastime of mine to watch those with mobility permits exiting their cars, watching for the slightest signal of mobility impairment, ready to pounce on those failing to show any such signs. However deep down, I know there are impairments which are ‘invisible’, and no doubt result in many unkind stares from naive individuals such as myself. There’s a really interesting article over at Mercurynews.com detailing just these kinds of stories, and was really enlightening for me to

This is what I love seeing, disabled people doing awesome stuff. It was reported today in the Herald that year 13 Westlake Boys student Ryan Leitch “topped the world” in his NCEA Level 3 Geography exam, such a grade achieved by only around 36 students every year. It is of little consequence to his academic success that Ryan also has muscular atrophy, but nonetheless the entire article has this tone of “Wow, look how well this kid has done, even

To be honest, I’ve never been to China, nor do I have any real desire to do so. However, for many of our nation’s Paralympians, they’ll be heading over there in September, in the valiant quest for sporting glory! The question is, how truly accessible is Beijing? Will our boys find themselves stranded at bus stops and taxi stands with no way to get to the competition venues? I’ve heard a thing or two about Chinese attitudes towards disabled people,

I’m sure you’ve all read the headlines about the blind couple who were charged $85 on top of their room charge because their guide dogs, shock horror, left hair on the carpet. If this is news to you, the story basically surrounds the indignation expressed by this blind couple after being charged extra by hotel staff because of the mess their guide dogs left in a “newly refubished” hotel room. And by mess, I mean dog hair. Which, I imagine,

To celebrate the last weekend of my summer holidays, some friends and I are off to “New Zealand’s leading edge summer festival” – Splore! So whilst I won’t be updating the site over the weekend, I’ll be sure to take plenty of pictures and write up a comprehensive review when I get back. To be honest, I find festivals to be some of the least accessible events to disabled people, so it’ll be interesting to see how Splore stacks up!