Access Denied Diaries

I am a support worker and work with people with disabilities. Recently I went into town with a woman who was looking for some cheap dress-up accessories, so we went into one of those low-cost variety stores.

Welly Wellington ... capital of New Zealand, but not for the disabled!

I recently visited Wellington, from the South Island, for a two-night stay.  I attended a one-day workshop about volunteering and Not For Profit governance.

I was appalled, to say the least, at the lack of disability services available. Namely, Powerchair transport. Having gained great confidence using my one-year-old Powerchair, which has allowed me to become very independent, I was dismayed when I began to research my transport options in Wellington.

Grocery shopping since COVID-19 lockdowns, isolation and social distancing, has become quite traumatic for me, both online and in person at the supermarket.

It is a necessity that I now dread doing each week. So much so that anxiety creeps in whenever it's grocery shopping time.

My daughter had an Eye Clinic appointment at Greenlane Hospital. She uses a wheelchair and requires a hoist and changing table to use the toilet. I searched the Auckland District Health Board website and there was no information about accessible bathrooms. We couldn’t attend the appointment without knowing that my daughter could use a bathroom. This is a problem for every hospital visit.

I tried to apply for a custom wheelchair for my eleven-year-old son through Starship Hospital, via referral to Mobility Solutions.

My son currently uses a standard wheelchair from Starship but needs a custom chair with a motor, so he can drive himself when his condition worsens and his wrists and hands become too weak to wheel himself. He is unable to move around safely at school and out in public when this happens, and he misses out on family outings.

I experienced an access barrier when I tried to cross the road in Central Wellington. I couldn't cross the road safely without getting my feet soaked.

I encountered a barrier to access when I was trying to find the correct bus to get me to my destination.

I was at the central bus interchange in Dunedin and couldn't confirm the correct bus due to being Deaf and unable to quickly communicate with the bus driver. Another person was about to hop on the bus and he seemed to point elsewhere. I guessed that this was the wrong bus because it seemed the driver was trying to indicate his bus route was going uphill, whereas I wanted to go to the flat land of St Clair Beach.

I encounter an access barrier dressing my young child on a daily basis. I have Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), which means I can not walk or stand for any length of time. I get out of breath really easily, and mornings are the time I am most symptomatic. I am not eligible for any support to dress and get my four-year-old ready for preschool, even though, if I needed assistance dressing or feeding myself, I would be eligible for it under personal care.

I am a student at Wintec in Hamilton. One of the teaching staff was very abusive. He didn't want a mobility-challenged student in his class.

I often encounter access barriers when trying to use disabled toilets. This impacts me every time I go out.

Only a few of the latest mall toilets are actually accessible. In other public buildings and in private buildings the rules for access to accessible toilets are mainly ignored or quietly disregarded to fit the owner's plan or the architect's dream.

I want new access laws to ensure that all toilets - both public and private - not be signed off until a rigorous code compliance certificate is issued.