Every New Zealander should be able to fully participate in society, have the opportunity to learn, to get a job, and to take part in community and social life.

On Tuesday 22 February from 9am-12pm, Access Alliance will be hosting an international webinar to hear lessons from a wealth of global disability advocates, in anticipation of the introduction of New Zealand’s Accessibility Legislation to Parliament in July.

Accessibility legislation acknowledges that all New Zealanders will at some stage during their lifetime have invisible or visible disabilities, either permanent or temporary. People with invisible and visible disabilities continue to experience barriers in everyday life. Identifying barriers and removing them is at the heart of this new law.

While the Government’s proposed policy only partly delivers on the Access Alliance 13 Principles, this is a great start and we have the support of people around the globe who have walked and wheeled this path before us. There is much we can learn from their experiences and so we invite our supporters and the New Zealand media to join us to hear how international accessibility advocates have stepped up over and over again with ingenuity, determination and heart to achieve accessibility for their communities.

Here in Aotearoa, we like to think we live in a classless and fair society. We take pride in having a can-do attitude where working hard translates into getting ahead. We know, of course, that the reality is somewhat different for many of us. Our society was designed and built for just a portion of our population.

Chief Executive of Blind Low Vision NZ and Access Alliance member, John Mulka says “We are thrilled that so many of our esteemed international peers are taking the time, to share their insights about the importance of accessibility legislation with us here in Aotearoa. Access matters.”

Register for the webinar on the Access Alliance website

This webinar will be interpreted into NZSL and have closed captions. Screen reader-friendly resources will be available after the webinar.

International panellists include:

Judy Heumann, American disability rights activist and star of “Crip Camp”, a documentary about the establishment of a summer camp for young people with disabilities in America.

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