Not only is he a magnificent orator, and the new President of the United States (a fact I’m sure many of us Kiwis are pleased about!), he also seems to have the right line of thinking when it comes to disability. In the YouTube video below, he supports ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as a number of other initiatives relating to education, healthcare, and independent living. Let’s hope he follows through!

If you missed my interview with NZ’s Minister for Disability Issues, the Rt Hon. Ruth Dyson, or perhaps you’re still undecided as to what Labour intends to do for disabled New Zealanders if re-elected for another term, check out Attitude TV‘s Grant Sharman as he grills our first ever Minister for Disability Issues.

Well, just like with Westlife, the concert promoters for Eric Clapton’s Auckland show have come to the party over the pricing of wheelchair seating at Auckland’s Vector Arena. Previously set at $299, wheelchair seating is now available in three pricing tiers: Gold, Silver, and Bronze ($299, $199, and $99 respectively). You’ll need to call (09) 970 9700 to book tickets, and I hope it makes the concert a little more ‘accessible’ for those of you initially put off by the

Fresh from blasting the Westlife promoters for only offering wheelchair-using patrons the highest priced ticket bracket, a user of this site has emailed me about a similar situation with the upcoming Eric Clapton gig in Auckland. Vector Arena has several tiers of seating, differentiated by price depending on the quality of the seating area. Apparently, the wheelchair seating bay at Vector is deemed to be in the ‘Gold Reserve’ category, with the hefty price tag of $299/each. This presents two

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 reading about Wellington 16-year-old Edward Watkins, who is only attends 14 out of his 25 weekly classes in a mainstream environment – the other time

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 incomprehensible disabled seating arrangement. I’ve spoken about this before, but this time I’m going to do something about it. Read on, and leave your thoughts

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!

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 said. By a 14 to 2 margin, the class voted him out of the class. Barton said her son is in the process

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!

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 help disabled people access legal services and support lawyers to understand the needs of disabled clients. From stuff.co.nz: Auckland Disability Law is the result of