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Disability is Diversity
By Paul Gibson, Disability Rights Commissioner | Kaihautū Tika Hauātanga Kotahi te kōhao o te ngira e kuhuna ai te miro mā, te miro pango, te miro whero. There is but a single eye of the needle through...
View ArticleDiversity Forum – Panel discussion on Te Reo and New Zealand Sign Language
A panel at the Diversity Forum on 20th August discussed issues of language promotion and protection as they apply to our official languages Te Reo and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). Panellist...
View ArticleDisability support coordinator needed for Christchurch
Christchurch really needs a disability support coordinator to work with people in culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, say two well-known community advocates. Girdhari Kadariya and...
View ArticleIvan Yeo – advocate for Asian mental health consumers
The focus of Ivan Yeo’s work is reducing the barriers of stigma and discrimination for Asian mental health consumers and their families. He has a particular interest in the issues facing migrants. Ivan...
View ArticleThe Wellbeing Game – Serious Play
“Games give you new models for looking at the world, they are the ‘ultimate happiness engine’, because they work better than reality — there are better instructions, better feedback and better...
View ArticleMental illness, rights, and saying sorry
I am writing this column during Taranaki’s celebration of Mental Illness Awareness week from Parihaka, under the mountain Taranaki. Taranaki is said to have gone on a long tearful journey of sadness...
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Difference enriches our world
Talofa lava, Kia ora, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Aloha, Ni sa bula, Malo e lelei, Kia orana, Taloha ni, Halo olaketa, Warm Pacific Greetings. My name is Leilani and I work as a Disability Advisor here at the...
View ArticleThe Mental Health Commissioner within the Health and Disability Commission
The Mental Health Commission (MHC) was established in 1996 to provide independent advice to the Government following a national inquiry into mental health services in New Zealand regarding the...
View ArticleThe Value of Peer Support Groups
Lessons from the Christchurch earthquakes can be applied in many situations. The proverb “He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata! He tangata! He tangata!” (“What is the most important thing in the...
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Everyone in, not out
When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free. Charles Evan Hughes Open your newspaper any day of the week and you’re likely to see people with mental illness portrayed as...
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The journey continues: three reports on the rights of disabled people
A fully inclusive society recognises and values disabled people as equal participants. Their needs are understood as integral to the social and economic order and not identified as ‘special’. To...
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Working together to create a disability strategy
The recently-adopted Disability Strategy for the Thames-Coromandel District is guided by the vision that ‘the Coromandel Peninsula is an accessible, inclusive place that values the rights and diversity...
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Council wins award for DIScover resource kit
The Upper Hutt City Council (the Council) has recently won two awards for ‘DIScover: serving customers with disabilities’. In August the Council won the 2012 Diversity Award from the Equal Employment...
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Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability Annual Monitoring Report
The first annual report of the Independent Monitoring Mechanism of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was launched on Monday, 3 December, the International Day of Persons with...
View ArticleThe right to sign: New Zealand Sign Language and human rights
The Commission is carrying out an inquiry into the use and promotion of New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) as an official language of NZ. To view the NZSL video click here NZSL has been an official...
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Accessible Christchurch
Christchurch is on the way to becoming one of the most accessible cities in the world in the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes. A group of disabled people, disabled people’s organisations and...
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‘We focus on results!’
Making public transport more accessible in the Waikato Disabled people were able to try out bus travel in Hamilton recently. The ‘Have a Go Day’ gave them the chance to get on and off buses, take their...
View ArticleCelebrating and reflecting on disability and diversity
Kotahi te kōhao o te ngira e kuhuna ai te miro mā, te miro pango, te miro whero. There is but a single eye of the needle through which white, black and red threads must pass. Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, the...
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Success through making a complaint
It is 20 years since disability and sexual orientation were incorporated as grounds of unlawful discrimination into the Human Rights Act 1993 (HRA). Many people worked together to make this happen....
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Demystifying mediation: Profile of Commission Mediator Cecelia O’Dell
Mediation can be a daunting and misunderstood term. Demystifying the term and clearly explaining the mediation process is one of the first things Commission Mediator Cecelia O’Dell will do when she...
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