Founding Members

We are a group of passionate Disabled People’s Organisations, Service Providers, and Advocacy Organisations. We want all New Zealanders to work together to create a fully accessible Aotearoa New Zealand, where people with access needs can participate to their full potential as citizens and consumers.

Existing laws on “discrimination”, “equality before law” and “reasonable accommodation” do not provide sufficient guidance to public and private sector organisations on how to design a website, provide employment, or deliver goods and services. Nor do these laws make it easy to identify and remedy matters when things are wrong which is yet another barrier.

We are a united group, aiming to unite all New Zealanders for a better Aotearoa New Zealand.

Blind Citizens NZ is New Zealand’s oldest advocacy organisation in the disability sector, (founded in 1945). It is New Zealand’s largest, generic, blindness consumer organisation.

CCS Disability Action’s vision is to see every disabled person included in the life of their family and community. As well as providing direct support and advocacy, we have a wider role in shaping society’s attitudes towards people with a disability.

To enhance the lives of people with Cerebral Palsy in New Zealand, by empowering them to make their own choices

Deaf Aotearoa is a national organisation representing the voice of Deaf people, and the national service provider for Deaf people in New Zealand.

Our core function is to help engage the New Zealand disability community to listen to the views of disabled people and articulate these as we work with decision makers.

Support and Advice for kāpō (blind, vision impaired, deafblind) Māori and their whānau.

The National Foundation for Deaf & Hard of Hearing promotes the interests of over 880,350 New Zealanders who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Blind Low Vision NZ is New Zealand’s main provider of practical and emotional support for the 12,100 Kiwis who are blind or have low vision, enabling them to face their future with confidence.

The heart and vitality of any parents support network revolves around the exchange of experiences, challenges, successes and failures with our disabled children.

People First New Zealand is a self advocacy organisation that is led and directed by people with learning (intellectual) disability. People First is part of an international movement fighting for the rights and inclusion of all people with learning disability.