Strong Voices

An accident 20 years ago on a gravel road put an end to Duane Harrington’s forestry work.

Duane was coming home from working on a forestry block just outside Palmerston, north of Dunedin, when the vehicle he was in went out of control. Surgeons had to insert a metal rod into his badly broken leg.

‍

The Ministry of Education has launched new rules and guidelines to help schools understand more about student distress and minimise the use of physical restraint. The guidelines also aim to eliminate the use of unjustified restraint.

‍

The hard work is much more satisfying since a group of Christchurch IDEA Services volunteers joined the Student Volunteer Army.

‍

Napier’s much-photographed Pania of the Reef was attracting attention from a group of people with cameras. But this time they weren’t tourists.

‍

IHC is expanding its Family-Whānau Liaison team in Northland and Auckland to make sure more families caring for people with intellectual disabilities can get the help they are missing out on.

‍

Medal-winning powerlifter Lynett Williams will now get her chance to compete in the 2023 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Berlin this year.

‍

If you have visited the IHC website recently, you will have noticed some changes.

While you were enjoying a summer holiday, we were quietly launching a new website designed to make it easier for families, whānau and everyone else to find what they are looking for.

‍

Every five years Stats NZ runs the census – counting how many people and dwellings there are in New Zealand. The next census day will be Tuesday, 7 March 2023.

‍

For years IHC has been telling the Government that disabled students are not getting the education they are entitled to.

Now, just when IHC’s 14-year-old education complaint is getting close to a hearing in the Human Rights Review Tribunal, there has been a change of heart.

‍

IHC Chair Tony Shaw says this year the organisation will focus on providing a clearer role for IHC Associations and the Member Council and improving communication with all members.

In December, Tony told members that an independent review of the IHC Member Council and IHC Associations had suggested some changes in approach.

‍