Access Denied Diaries

I have been in a wheelchair ♿ since 2015. I had a fall and after 12 days in hospital 🏥 I was rushed to Dunedin by emergency helicopter for immediate surgery.

My partner and I regularly need to travel for work events and personal family events. There often is no transport available so we are denied access to public spaces and events, businesses and areas chosen by councils to be walking-only roads, government services and participation in government functions like voting and elections, tax and business support from IRD, council submissions, work conferences and meetings, houses, restaurants, and so on.

I was giving feedback to a Rotorua Lakes officer on the construction of new facilities at Lake Tarawera Landing. Another electric wheelchair user and myself commented on a jetty that is to be built straight out into the water, only 1.4m wide and with no larger platform at the end.

I had a fall off an inaccessible, narrow footpath that was raised above the neighbouring grass, with no lip or barrier. I injured my knee. I could barely hobble. I was using my white cane like a walking stick. With some help, I managed to drag myself into Accident and Emergency at Wellington Hospital.

I received an email from a business advertising a product with the subject line "The New Device is Here! Sensibo AirQ Launch".  That was the only accessible part of the email.

Did you know that some Kiwis are denied the right to equal participation in our democracy, and the right to cast a free and fair vote? Did you know that this is despite it being our right according to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities?

Yep. This is a thing that is happening in Aotearoa New Zealand.

I need monthly therapy treatments to prevent further disability.

Every month I have to arrange transport to a Medlab facility, and also arrange for my advocate to accompany me to my hospital appointments.

Every month there are new Medlab staff, who are unfamiliar with my needs, and who have to access my veins so that treatment can commence.

I have experienced access barriers at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth. The signage in the park is very, very poor.

I encounter access barriers whenever I am out and about with my white cane, especially when I am alone. I am grabbed, pulled, shouted at, patted, questioned, 'helped' without asking, and harassed by the public. Every time the environment I'm in makes me visibly struggle - in the eyes of others - it reinforces the idea that disabled people always require help and 'saving'.

I have encountered many access barriers when trying to find a new job. It's difficult to find an employer who understands the way my brain ticks and tocks, and who can make necessary accommodations - such as breaking down instructions better, or simply not giving me so many instructions at the same time. My Dyspraxia also means it's taking me a long time to learn to drive, which limits my options a lot due to the location of many jobs.