I was booking tickets to a show in Melbourne next month (holiday, yay!) and I was asked if I had a “Companion Card”, which allowed a companion to come to the show for free. Intrigued, I jumped online and had a look. Wow. This is one sweet card. If you’d rather not hear me ramble about how I want to lobby our Government to get one of these up and running, cut to the chase and visit the Victoria Companion

The ‘Show Your Ability’ equipment expo is back for another year! This is NZ’s premier disability and care equipment expo, and it’s visiting 5 cities during March. This is a unique opportunity to see and experience a massive range of specialised equipment from over 40 suppliers. Best of all, entry is free! Download the flyer here (PDF).

Do you or a family member have a disability? Do you want to help shape the disability support services that the Ministry of Health funds? The Disability Support Services Group of the Ministry of Health are visiting towns and cities around the country to get feedback from disabled people and their families to help us plan and fund the disability support services that you need. We want to hear about how services work for you and what things are most

I’ve already posted a wee bit on my thoughts around the Big Day Out festival’s “disabled platform“, but check out my latest video blog below to hear what I really think

Attitude TV takes a look at the minor political parties and their disability policies as we approach polling day. Check out the YouTube video below, and if you missed it, watch Ruth Dyson’s interview here.

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.

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

More research coming your way (this is a good thing, IMO!), this time focussing on the experiences of disabled fathers. So if you’re a Dad and you have some sort of impairment and wouldn’t mind sharing your stories and experiences, have a read of the following! The experiences of disabled fathers in New Zealand remain invisible, yet they are essential to influence policy changes which will improve the wellbeing of disabled men and their families. To explore this area, researchers

Over at InterDependence, a group of 3rd-year Otago University design students have come up with an illustration for Otago’s Disability Support Services, featuring an image of a man in a ‘wire-frame’ wheelchair, with the caption “see me for me, not my wheels”. They say: We tend to see someone in a wheelchair, for example, and allow their disability to colour our perception of them as a person. It is presented in a way that creates empathy instead of avoidance of

Want to get on the internet? Email? Well, you’re already here, but maybe you know someone with a disability who wants to learn more about these new technologies but is a bit nervous, or can’t afford the set up costs? Then have a listen to this! The Get Connected programme is a fantastic initiative set up by the Cerebral Palsy Society in Auckland, and it aims to empower people with cerebral palsy to use the internet to communicate, discover, and