walking . is . overrated

Some things really baffle me. One of those things is when a teenager with Down’s Syndrome is prevented from participating in a mainstream schooling environment because he isn’t allocated sufficient support funding, and, by mere virtue of the fact that he’s disabled, is seen as “a potential danger to themselves and others”. I’ve just been […]

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I very rarely get upset. But today, when trying to book tickets for Phantom of the Opera at Auckland’s Civic Theatre, the disabled seating “policy” employed by The Edge pushed me to my limit, and I decided to pen this letter to try and get them to change what is an offensive, discriminatory, and utterly […]

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Apologies for the late notice folks, but for those of you interested in the ongoing ACC vs. MOH saga featuring Melanie Trevethick, this issue will be played out in a full debate tonight on TV One’s CloseUp programme. It’ll definitely be worth a watch so make sure you tune in from 7pm!

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I shake my head in bewilderment…
Melissa Barton said she is considering legal action after her son’s kindergarten teacher led his classmates to vote him out of class.
After each classmate was allowed to say what they didn’t like about Barton’s 5-year-old son, Alex, his Morningside Elementary teacher said they were going to take a vote, Barton […]

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I see these cleaning folk parking in mobility spots regularly, so the other day I decided to take a picture, and “name and shame” them. So here I go (Click on the image for a bigger and more emphatic illustration of what they’re doing).
Got any similar pictures yourself? Send them to me!

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Now these are exciting times. The fact that it is now being acknowledged that there is a real need for disability focus and representation around legal issues, and not just letting us ‘fall through the cracks’ is great to see. Leading that charge is the newly-launched Auckland Disability Law community law service, which aims to […]

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Okay, so for all those who’ve been badgering me about the interview I did with Ruth Dyson, Minister of Disability Issues, last month, the wait is over! I’ve broken the interview down into several segments, as detailed below. Click on the link to hear the clip streamed online (good for Broadband users), otherwise right-click the […]

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Okay, so James is a 4-year-old boy who has Down’s Syndrome, and is currently funded 10 hours of one-on-one care per week, equivalent to two hours a day at his local Kindergarten. While other kids attend for 17 hours a week, James can only go for 10, because that’s all his support allocation allows. His […]

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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 […]

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I’ve written about Ryan Leitch before, but for those of you who don’t recognise the name, he’s the 18 year-old Auckland boy who topped the world in the Cambridge Geography exam last year. He’s also got muscular atrophy, and I reckon he’s a real inspiration for young disabled people in this country. Yet despite this, […]

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