I’ve often wondered what it would be like to be deafblind. Not in a perverse, gosh-how-bizarre way, but more to discover how someone copes without two of the senses we so often take for granted. To think that communication would be tactile only, and that so much of your worldly experience would be defined by touch, taste and smell, is mind-boggling to comprehend. So I set out to find a little bit more, and I happened across this blog entry

I’ve noticed that the rest of the world seems abuzz with disability awareness weeks at the moment, a quick trawl through the internet reveals various initiatives going on here, here, and here. My question for you is this: do we need a disability awareness week here in NZ? What could it accomplish? What activities/events would you like to see incorporated? Should we jump on this bandwagon, or are we already well served with awareness campaigns such as the upcoming Blind

I know this isn’t entirely NZ-focussed, but it’s a cool little movie this guy made and I’m all for giving credit where it’s due. And this kid deserves oodles of it, because it’s people like him, who are using new media in positive and powerful ways, which make people sit up and actually take notice. US teenager Benjamin Snow, 19, recently entered his short film ‘Thumbs Down To Pity’ in a film contest created by the United Nations, ‘Film Your

I think people who smoke are silly in the first place, but new research has shown that if you smoke and have multiple sclerosis, you’re even sillier. The research suggests that smoking increases brain tissue shrinkage in those with MS, and could, as a result, affect the severity of their impairment. Doesn’t sound like much fun, really. Anyway, far be it from me to make judgments about others’ chosen pasttimes, however suicidal they might be, so to read more on

Figures released today by Statistics New Zealand and reported by nzcity.co.nz show that over 600,000, or around 14% of New Zealanders have some sort of disability. These figures include specifics such as: Over 166,000 New Zealand adults have a disability which has been caused by an accident or injury 10% of children are considered disabled Two-thirds of those over the age of 15 who have a disability have a physical impairment Most interestingly, the report says that 45% of adults

As user ‘sophieg’ pointed out over at the forums, it is the annual Blind Week appeal coming up towards the end of the month – October 23 – 29, to be exact! Not knowing much about what the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind do, a quick squizz around their official site reveals a huge list of awesome stuff the Foundation does on a day-to-day basis to assist blind, deafblind, and vision-impaired people. Their services include things such as: