The first ever Attitude Awards are being held in Auckland tonight, and I’m honoured to be amongst the incredible list of finalists that are up for awards in numerous categories. If this is the first you’ve heard of the Attitude Awards, they’re a bit like the Halberg Awards, but for disabled New Zealanders, and were initiated by the awesome team over at Attitude TV. They have been established to recognise and applaud the amazing talent, spirit and achievements of disabled

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.

This morning Steve Jobs announced a brand new lineup of those hot little iPod Nano music players, and guess what? You can win one right here on walkingisoverrated! Throughout the month of September, everyone who sends me an “accessible review” will go into the draw to win a brand new, 4th-generation 8GB iPod Nano, in your choice of 9 vibrant colours! You know the drill – send me a review of somewhere awesomely accessible – or perhaps not! – by

I’m sure many of you are familiar with TVNZ’s Attitude programme, which focuses on NZ’s disabled community and their lives, struggles, and achievements. Well now, Attitude are launching the ‘Attitude Awards’! Says the Attitude website: The Attitude Awards seek to honour the outstanding achievements of ordinary New Zealanders who have disabilities – men and women who have excelled in business, sport and life. Nominations are now open, in the following categories: Attitude Enterprise Award – This award aims to recognise

Fresh from Jenny winning our latest iPod Nano competition, I’m extremely pleased to announce our next competition, where thanks to the awesome folk up in the SkyTower, the winner will get to experience the dizzying heights of Auckland’s SkyWalk! Competition is open NOW, and entries close August 10. I’ll announce the winner the following week! Awesome! What do I have to do to win? All you have to do is send me an email telling me about the most exciting

Well mark this down in the ‘never-thought-it’d-happen’ file, but a bloke over in the UK has built the world’s first motorbike designed specifically for wheelchair users, and boy is it impressive. The bike is actually being shipped over here and donated to the CatWalk Trust, to be auctioned off to raise funds for spinal cord injury research. Campbell Live had a piece on the bike tonight, and you can catch the video here. Drooling compulsory. PS. I wonder if these

Coming to a TV near you is CCS Disability Action’s new disability awareness campaign, featuring me! Check it out below, and let me know what you think!

Well it’s about time. Hawkes Bay resident Felicity Patterson has teamed up with United Travel to provide a travel advisory service exclusively to help disabled travellers! Felicity decided to take the initiative after travelling extensively throughout NZ and the world, and learning plenty about the potential pitfalls of travelling with a disability along the way! She says: So here I am now working as a travel consultant on a work trial with an Auckland travel agency, learning on the job.

Competition is now open! Want to win a brand new 4GB iPod Nano? Enter walkingisoverrated.com’s first ever competition and it could be yours! All you have to do is email me an accessible review of somewhere in your local area. It could be a cafe, your local movie theatre, a museum, anything at all! I’ll publish them all on the site, and at the end of the month, everyone who sent me a review will go into the draw to

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