Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, Some sad news to start I’m afraid. Last Sunday Vaughan Dodd, immediate past president of Deafblind Association NZ, passed away in the loving company of family and his adored cat, Ariana. Last week we sent a tactile card to Vaughan at the Hospice of a cat with […]

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, Drum roll please for our incoming Board Secretary / Administrator Cheryl Bate. She is Wellington-based and met some of our community last Saturday at the gathering. Cheryl, we are looking forward to getting to know what makes you sparkle and letting you know what makes us sparkle

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, It’s now time to say thank you with gratitude to Sarah Walters, who is leaving our team. Sarah has kept all the plates spinning in our financial reporting, our logistics, our Conference support, travel for you and the Board and for me, offered her family as volunteers

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, Well, an interesting start to the day for me! I burned the toast and set off the smoke alarm. I checked for heat and then turned the toaster off at the wall. I went through to the bedroom and, hurray, my Hearing Assist Technology was busy vibrating

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, All of my work with all of you is satisfying to me because it is about building relationships and being creative. This  week’s fun for me included the Wakatu / Nelson Deafblind gathering at my house. There were seven of us identifying with dual sensory impairment and

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, I’m really pleased this week to have received some feedback. Your comments are always welcome on how we do this or information you may want to share with others. If you send a reply it comes in to my Inbox and is not shared to anyone else.

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, Today I am talking about a few gadgets that are simple and may make a big difference in our lives. Miniature water heating elements Every now and then discussions arise about safe transfer of hot liquids, for example when pouring a cup of tea / coffee. Twenty

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, A few weeks ago I let you know that Sarah, our Board Secretary and Administrator is moving on to new and exciting work explorations. Here you will find the call for expressions of interest for the role. The closing date is November 1 at 5pm. Please send

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, “Access, accessibility, reasonable accommodation.” There is often some confusion about what these terms mean so I am hoping to offer a little clarification here. Access: all people have a right to access services and facilities. Accessibility: we see every day things that are not accessible to us,

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, Firstly, arohanui to those of you in Otago and Southland today and please know you are in our thoughts as the rain continues. For the past two weeks I have promised you information I learned about Reasonable Accommodation while in Fiji. This is by way of empathising

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, Discussions here in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland are exciting this week, including the exploration of devices that will support Hearing Aid users while in Peer to Peer Support situations as well as at Conference. It is just lovely to be working with a representative from Jands NZ

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, Yesterday I returned from Fiji after ten days on a Bridge Training Programme for the links between the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) matching to the global Sustainable Development Goals. What does this mean for you and me? It is about realising our

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, This week I am in Nadi, Fiji learning about the United Nations Convention on the rights of Persons with Disabilities and how this sits alongside the global Sustainable Development goals. This has been sponsored by the International Disability Alliance, the International Disability Development Consortium, and the Pacific

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, OK, so I confess to being a bit of a nut when it comes to days getting lighter and plants getting brighter but I just can’t help sharing with you my sense of wellbeing as I recover from a bout of lurgy. The sun is streaming onto

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, Firstly, and lucky for me, I didn’t get washed away in all the torrential rain here in Whakatū / Nelson recently. The thunder and lightning were quite electrifying! Wherever you are in the motu I hope you and yours are warm, and dry, and well. —– 2024

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, With a more than usually busy week I offer my apologies to you as our community for not meeting deadlines for this week for this update and to Aimee who has been awaiting my input. I ask for your understanding. —– Social Wellbeing for Deafblind This week

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, I start today thanking people. Every month that goes by another person steps forward willing to convene meetings or volunteer in other ways. Let me acknowledge here Joeline, Judy, Brian, and Elizabeth for willingness to convene in your areas. I also want to acknowledge that Laura Morse,

Kia ora Tatou, Hello to all of us, — Friend, also known to us as board Secretary Top of the list this week is a heart-felt thank you to Sarah, Board Secretary and Administrator, for all that she has done for us. Sarah is resigning due to increasing work commitments in other areas and we

Kia ora Tatou, Hello to all of us, OK, so it’s only zero degrees in Nelson this morning! I checked Alexa who told me the coldest place on the globe today is minus 48C in Antarctica and plus 54C (somewhere in California I think). My gratitude for the day is that we hit the middle

Kia ora tatou, Hello to all of us, There’s a lot to reflect on this week. All of the details are below. The social narrative is changing for blind and disabled. Shining a light on past events allows them not to continue in the same way. Power imbalances can be harsh and obvious and sometimes