Amy Hogan on Access

Hi, my name is Amy Hogan. I'm a researcher and professional geek, and I am a manual wheelchair user.

One action we need is for people at all levels across society to take collective responsibility for the thing we call access. We often talk about who needs to be in the room for access, but we need a collective responsibility for bringing it to every room at every level of society.

The biggest difference in people's everyday lives would be if people were able to live in a society that has a more three-dimensional understanding of what accessibility means. Meaning that accessibility doesn't just begin and end with having a ramp at the front door. It begins and ends with an entire space being fully accessible to everyone that needs it, in the way that they need it, so that they can be full members of Aotearoa New Zealand without having to try.

What needs to change right now is we have to have a firm cross-party commitment for accessibility legislation. And frankly, it's embarrassing that we don't in 2026, here in New Zealand, with all our impressive history of being a pioneering country.

We need to play catch-up, and we need to play catch-up now.