Hi everyone,

My Mum is selling the family home, which means I need to find somewhere else to live! The only problem is that wheelchair-friendly rentals are few and far between. I’ve been looking for 3 months and found virtually nothing, and I’m getting desperate!

So if you know of anyone that deals with rental properties who might be worth chatting to, please send me an email with their details – I’d be super grateful!

Thanks heaps in advance,
Red

It came to my attention this morning that NZ Bus have put in an order for 120 new buses from the UK. “Great!”, I thought, having recently traveled and experienced the wonders of automatic ramps (see video below). Given my well-documented loathing for Auckland bus drivers and their complete disregard for disabled passengers, the idea of automatic ramps (saving drivers the evidently gut-wrenching task of unfolding the ramp themselves) seems like a great idea.

But no. Once again, NZ Bus show blatant disregard for the diverse needs of their traveling public, and order 120 buses with the same old manual ramps. If you think I’m being too harsh, or find my tone unnecessarily disparaging, take a ride on a bus with a wheelchair user.

Or at least, try to. You’ll be lucky if the driver lets you on.

• An example of an awesome, wheelchair-accessible bus with an automatic ramp from my travels in Vancouver:

After blogging about Countdown’s new inaccessible self-service kiosks, I was pleasantly surprised to find the following sign hung up adjacent to one of Countdown’s checkout aisles:

“Great!”, I thought. Low counter, reachable EFTPOS, pretty brunette on deck – here I come! So I made a bee-line for the identified checkout lane, only to discover…

Click ‘read more’ to find out!

It certainly doesn’t appear so.

Let me detail the gross under-representation of disability issues on the campaign trail so far:

• Public meetings held at inaccessible venues (read: heaps of stairs)
• No mention of disability in any of the main candidates manifestos/policies
• No reassurance that current disability advocate roles within council will exist under the new Auckland Council

Quite simply, disability isn’t on the agenda. And given that the Rugby World Cup is just around the corner, not only is it an embarrassing omission by the mayoral candidates, it’s also downright stupid. You can expect many of the visitors to our shores next year will use a mobility aid of some kind, whether it be a wheelchair, cane, or even glasses. And don’t forget they’ll be bringing family and friends with them, so by ignoring accessibility issues (let alone making them a priority!) a huge economic opportunity is being wasted.

I’ve blogged once or twice before about the foibles of the so-called ‘accessible’ Auckland public transport system, which in reality is anything but.

So imagine my delight when I visited Vancouver as part of my Wheely Big OE, and found automated, truly wheelchair friendly buses and bus drivers! It might have helped that their former mayor was a wheelchair user himself, but nonetheless Vancouver currently stands as the most accessible city I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting.

Click the ‘read more’ link to check out the video!