ATTITUDE SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR 2008

Cameron Leslie had no idea winning the Attitude Sportsman of the Year Award late last year would lead him completely out of his comfort zone. The 2008 gold medal winning paralympian swimmer is used to testing himself and doing hours of pool training. But when the crew from Attitude TV suggested joining them in learning bush survival in a remote South Island forest, he had to think twice.
Going into the bush, let alone spending a night alone, is something the athlete with a quadruple limb deficiency had never contemplated. But he joined Attitude TV (TV One 10am Sundays) presenters Curtis Palmer and Kristy Munro and fellow paralympian Kate Horan and survived the challenge.

He has even done a second - going into Australia's Outback on a jackaroo adventure- and has been inspired to study journalism at university.

Attitude TV in conjunction with Parafed Auckland is now looking for more Cameron Leslies. Entries have opened for the second annual Attitude Awards and are open until September 4 with finalists selected soon after.

There are nine categories in the awards, including sport, courage in sport, community, artistic achievement, youth, spirit of attitude, employer, person of the year and Attitude Hall of Fame. Entrants will range from supreme NZ athletes to Kiwis who family, friends and neighbours think should be recognised for their courage, perseverance or support for people who live with disabilities.

Entry forms can be downloaded from the www.disabilitytv.com website.

Attitude producer and presenter Curtis Palmer says the team was impressed with the number of entrants last year and hope to see even more entrants this time around.
Dr Jan White, ACC Chief Executive says ACC is proud to return as a principal sponsor of the Attitude Awards.

"Last year's entrants were hugely inspiring and showed outstanding resolve and determination and I'm sure this year's entrants will be just as strong," Dr White says. "We were particularly impressed with the employers last year, who demonstrated exceptional commitment to people with disabilities and proved that a disability, whether through injury or otherwise, should not be a barrier to success in the workplace."

The Lion Foundation has returned to support the awards too. A spokesman says the Foundation is proud to support the awards because its goal is to support and help people achieve great things in their communities and the Attitude Awards play a special role in recognising many people with disabilities who have achieved.

Southern Cross Healthcare, Air New Zealand, Invacare, Westpac, Wayne Francis Charitable Trust, Perry Foundation and Drake Medox have also committed to supporting the awards.

The winners in each category will be announced at a black tie event at Eden Park's ASB Lounge in Auckland on December 3, coinciding with World Disability Day.
The Federation would like to bring this great initiative to the attention of all members. The Attitude Awards honor the outstanding achievements of New Zealanders living with a disability and are now open for entries for the second year running. This is a wonderful opportunity for member Centres to encourage people with disabilities to enter.

Any questions or queries about the Awards should be directed to Jane Pickering at the address shown below.

JANE PICKERING
trio communications limited po box 91482 auckland new zealand t +64 9 307 2213 m +64 27 375 8442 f +64 9 307 2213. www.triocommunications.co.nz

From: NZ Federation of Disability Information Centres July 2009 newsletter

May Day 209

Another successful expo over for the year. Thanks from DRC to all exhibitors, SIT nurses/Tutors, sponsors, volunteers and everyone who attended. We hope you all got something worthwhile out of the day.

May Day 2009

Bigger and better than ever. May Day Disability Expo, 2nd May 2009 at Invercargill Workingmens Club, 10am - 3pm. FREE ENTRY. Over 65 exhibitors, Free health checks, Free B4 School checks, Prizes, giveaways, competitions, Bazaar. Hundreds of dollars of giveaways. Morning tea ($4) and the famous Workies cooked lunch ($8) available Corinthian Restaurant.
Check out what organisations are attending in the Community Section or Capabilities April 2009.
See you there!

Consumer Consultation

DISABILITY SERVICES CONSUMER FORUM, HUI AND FONO 2009

“Towards a more flexible disability support system”

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 they need.

These meetings provide an opportunity for you to talk to us about the disability support services we fund and to share any ideas you have for the future provision of services.

Please note that these meetings are for disabled people and their families only. We are asking people to register their intention to attend to ensure we have adequate resources available to them.

For a full list of the forums please go to http://www.moh.govt.nz/dsdforum . To register call free on 0800 373 664 or email dsdforum@moh.govt.nz .

INVERCARGILL FORUM DETAILS:

Tuesday 31st April - 11am to 1pm
Invercargill Workingmens Club
154 Esk Street

Catwalk's Conquest Tour

Time to get your wallets out and support a very worthy cause! Anita McKenzie is a DRC Southland Trustee and she has requested the following be circulated:

Hullo everybody!

I'm emailing you all because there's a brand new website I would love for EVERYBODY to check out! You'll find it at www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/Anita

Ah yes, I hear you all say, there's a catch - it's a fundraising website and Anita wants some of our money. However, while I would love for as people as possible to make a donation, I actually just want to show off - I'm going to be riding a motorbike (yes, me, in my wheelchair!) from Invercargill to Dunedin in November as part of a nationwide fundraising tour. I can't wait! :-) Me! Back on a motorbike! Very cool!

Check out the website for all the nitty gritty details (like HOW is Anita going to ride a bike? And who is she fundraising for anyway?)

Please feel free to tell EVERYBODY you know who owns a computer about the website, and cheers to everyone who checks it out! (Donations not necessary!)
Anita

Southland man wins access case

In January this year, we ‘blogged’ the story of the Southland District Council’s failure to comply with regulations, in regard to access to the Riverton Focal Point Viewing platform. http://drcsouth.blogspot.com/2008/01/riverton-viewing-platform-fiasco.html.

Peter Dolamore, a qualified Barrier Free Advisor, assessed the platform for accessibility and found it non compliant with the Building Code and yet the Southland District Council had approved Building Consent for the structure. Peter forwarded a full report of his findings to the SDC who argued that they did not have to include access to the top level platform for wheelchair users because the view wasn’t any different up there! Southland DPA members and other disabled people checked out the platform themselves and found that there clearly was a difference.

The Council’s tokenistic response was to issue a notice to fix some of the ‘minor’ problems but flatly refused to admit that they had breached the Building Code by denying wheelchair users access to the top deck.

Peter, with the support of DPA members and other concerned groups and organisations, decided that the only way to resolve the issue was to apply to the Department of Building and Housing for a Determination. Changes to the Building Act in 2004 gave disabled persons the right to apply for a Determination where they believed their access rights had not been respected. Peter is the first disabled person in New Zealand to take a case to Determination according to Alexia Pickering of Accessible Options who says “From the beginning it was important that this one had a positive result.”

We are thrilled to be able to report that the Determination supported Peter’s case and found against the SDC.

The Department found that “the viewing platform as presently constructed does not comply with Clause D1.3.2 of the Building Code” and “the authority’s (SDC) decision to issue a notice to fix that excluded a requirement to provide wheelchair access to the top level of the viewing platform is reversed.”

We can certainly celebrate this victory and congratulations must go to Pete for his dedication in seeing this through. So, we can expect to see ramp access to ALL levels of the Riverton Viewing platform in time for summer? Well perhaps. Apparently the SDC, whilst acknowledging the decision that they were in error for granting the original building consent, are still bleating on about the Determination and, according to the SDC Manager of Building Control, Kevin O’Connor, the Dept of Building and Housing has not adequately grasped that any proposed changes will require a separate building consent!

Could it be that the SDC are worried that ratepayers may ask why this huge stuff up happened in the first place? Who is responsible for this and what action is being taken to ensure this does not happen again? What would happen if Joe Public tried to get a Building Consent for a non compliant building? One would have to wonder if any of the SDC staff involved have even completed a Barrier Free Trust Course?

Questions, answers and comments welcomed...

Mike's Big Day Out

Tuesday 26th August was my big day. I had previously won a prize at DRC’s May Day earlier this year. A ski package at Cardrona Ski Field; a day lift pass, a day adaptive ski hire and a two-hour lesson with a Cardrona ski instructor as well as a volunteer from Snow Sport NZ.

I had to email Lesley Johnson at Cardrona and book in for a days skiing. Our first attempt was the 19th, but due to poor road conditions, we put it off to the next Tuesday at 1pm.
It was a 5.30 start and Debbie was there for my morning cares, breakfast and then out to my sister Clare’s, as she and Roger were taking me up to Cardrona in their four-wheel-drive. 10.30 we were on the Crown Rang and we called Lesley on my mobile, to check out were to park when we got there. 11.00 we were parked at the front doors to the ski hire.

On our way up to Cardrona we met quite a few cars coming down from the ski field which meant that either the snow was bad, or the weather was poor! As we drove closer up the road I started to smile as I knew that there was a white-out, which meant that all the skiers were heading home for the day and I wouldn’t have to wait long to get onto the chairlift, and yes, I was right!!!

We were introduced to Lisa, my ski instructor and Anton, my volunteer for the day. Lisa was from Canada and Anton was French and were both trained on disabled skiing
[Snow Sports NZ], and just how to use a Bi-Ski, my means of transport for the next two hours, Ya Hooooo….!

It took 20 minutes to be all fitted out and strapped-into the Bi-Ski and off we went, man was I on a high, a smile a mile wide that lasted for the rest of the day! A Bi-Ski is a frame similar to a go-cart that has two skis attached underneath and you sit in a bucket seat and have a roll bar at your back. You use two out-riggers, which are little skis on the ends of short elbow crutches. These are used to steer you left by pushing out and down on the left out-rigger and with a bit of speed it turns the Bi-Ski to the left. After a quick lesson on the learners slopes, it was up to the top on MacDougall’s Chairlift, or I think that’s what it said, peering through the haze at the sign? This ride was slow and very cold!

Like all sport, you have a few falls, and I sure had my fair share. I still have two sore ribs. Nevertheless, as Lisa showed me the technique is very similar to skiing using your legs. The trick was the faster you moved the easier it was to turn left, and then right, making big S’s in the snow. I had ten runs from the top to the bottom of the chairlift. On my ninth and tenth runs I had no falls, Yes! Then it was back to my wheelchair parked down in the shed. I had a wonderful day, a dream came true. But boy, were my arms tired and sorrrrrre!!!



With hugs all round, it was time to head home, but I will be back someday for another try.

Many thanks to my carer Debbie, DRC, Libby at SPARC, Lesley, Lisa & Anton at Cardrona,
my sister Clare & Rog, I had a Day of Fun I will Never Forget….

Mike Hamill