Well – have you?! I’m pleased to announce I’ve scooped an interview with the Minister for Disability Affairs, Hon. Ruth Dyson, at the end of next week, and I’d love to know what you’d like me to ask her! Leave your questions for the Minister in the comments below, and I’ll try to squeeze them in! Full interview transcript to follow late next week

Consider this: you’re waiting to be picked for the NZ Paralympic team and training your arse off to show the selectors you’re ready, when someone nicks your car, containing all your training equipment. Well that’s just what happened to previous Paralympic medallist Matt Slade, when thieves stole his car, along with all the stuff in it, including specially-designed trainers and even his wheelchair! Some people, eh? Let’s hope the idiots who took it realise that a wheelchair might actually –

From the blog of Philip Patston… www.200gr8.com 27 March 2008 Here’s an innovative idea…NOT You bring around 800 of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs together to celebrate five years of excellence in social innovation. You call it the 2008 Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. You hold it at the prestigious Saîd Business School at Oxford University. You hold the opening plenary at the Sheldonian Theatre on a cold, wet, spring day in March. You forget to open the only

Around the top of the list for any traveller to Auckland should be Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World. Hidden away along Quay St, you’d never think such a massive aquarium was hiding under Auckland’s stunning coastline! But the shark-infested tanks are there, along with the myriad of other brightly-coloured sea creatures, and is most definitely worth the rather exorbitant entry fee. I spotted one mobility parking spot, and the rest of the parking spaces were all full, so it might even

Are thousands of our lives set to change forever? Or will the status quo prevail? Whatever the outcome, you’ve gotta admire Melanie Trevethick’s tenacity in taking the MOH vs. ACC battle to the High Court in Wellington. The court case is set down for today and tomorrow. Would I love to be entitled to the same things as the guys on ACC are? Absolutely. Is that would should happen? Certainly. Do I think it will happen? Somehow, I doubt it.

No, this isn’t a post about the latest dance-crazed reality TV series to hit our screens, it’s an invitation to learn from the best – NZ’s very own Touch Compass integrated dance team. If you’ve ever wanted to give dancing a go, this is a fantastic opportunity to learn from the professionals! Touch Compass are running two community workshops later this month at Auckland’s TAPAC Performing Arts Centre. Wanna know more? The details are below, or click here for a

“Don’t worry, we won’t be removing your support, it’ll just take 3 weeks for you to get your notes from your notetakers from now on.” That’s the message that disabled students are getting from the Manukau Institute of Technology, as they look to make budget cuts. As it is, the disability support office has had one of its three staff culled, and while students are assured they’ll still receive support, it will “operate under a more constrained budget”, MIT’s PR

Yeah yeah, this old chestnut. And to be honest, until the punishment for misusing a mobility parking spot is instant life imprisonment, this chestnut will likely remain a thorn in disabled people’s side forever. But it’s always nice to hear people providing a fresh and ‘real’ perspective on the issue. The North Shore Times have run a story this week about 20-year-old Auckland Uni student Narissa Siemonek, who is making a plea to local councils to tighten up the enforcement

What do you enjoy doing on a Sunday afternoon? Looking up random synonyms on your Mac? No? Well, me neither. But someone out there in this crazy world evidently does, and one day stumbled upon a rather peculiar one. For those of you – like me – with an Apple Mac, open up your Thesaurus widget, and type in “observe”. Check out that example of the verb in use! It goes like this: “I observed this wheelchair dude in the

Well in case you were worried that we were still living in a country where disabled people weren’t expected to go to Uni until they were 21, you can now rest easy again. Thanks to a hasty Cabinet meeting to correct an archaic funding anomaly which prevented Ryan Leitch going to Uni, Ryan can now get funding for the support he needs, and start his Geography degree. Good stuff, I reckon, but wow – not before time!