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

And you thought it was just those crazy poms who want to stop those with disabilities having babies – oh no, it’s happening right here on our front doorstep, too. An intellectually disabled woman, pregnant for the third time in as many years, is “incapable of looking after herself, let alone a baby”, according to the woman’s ‘Aunty’ (not blood-related), and should be sterilised. The BOP Times are reporting that she is currently living on the streets of Auckland, which

Dig your teeth into this one folks, coz it’s juicy. The BBC is reporting that mother of 15-year old Katie Thorpe, who lives in Essex, England, wants her daughter to have a hysterectomy in order to “improve her quality of life”. Katie has quite severe cerebral palsy, and is unable to communicate verbally, which, her mother believes, could make life very embarrassing once she began menstruating. If it goes ahead, it would be the first time a voluntary hysterectomy has

It’s good to see the NZ Herald getting behind disabled athletes and publishing stories like this one about 14-year old swimmer Sophie Pascoe, who recently won five gold medals at the world wheelchair and amputee championships in Taiwan. Sophie, who is an amputee, also won gold in the 100m backstroke at the recent Paralympics World Cup in Manchester, England, and in fact was NZ’s sole representative at the event. Her main goal is to score a few medals in Beijing

Here’s one way to raise disability awareness: clobber your prospective girlfriend around the head with your armrest. To be fair to the guy, it’s a new one, the bend-down-so-you-can-hear-me-then-I’ll-whack-you manoeuvre, so I’ll give him points for originality, but gosh, I’m sure she’s well and truly ‘aware’ of his disability now. The guy has been sentenced to 21 months imprisonment for a history of using his wheelchair as a weapon, and I’m pleased to hear it. I actually think it’s good,

You know, when I first read this article, I thought to myself, “I bet she made it up”. Say what you will about my cynicism here, but the whole idea that two blokes would tip a woman out of her wheelchair just to steal 20 bucks seemed a touch ludicrous. Anyway, a few days later, look what showed up on those same very pages: Wheelchair woman charged with making false complaint Some people really need grow up. I mean c’mon,