Strong Voices

When some old tree ferns were removed from a Mosgiel backyard in November last year, they left behind a bare fence line and empty spaces. That provided a blank canvas for the creative types among the staff and residents at an IDEA Services home.

On a summer day in January, Caitlin Fleming built a large sandcastle on the beach in the remote Te Kainga Bay in Queen Charlotte Sound. She sat in it, looked out across the sea and told a story – “it’s about a beautiful Queen Elizabeth”.

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Lynda Young-Kennedy knows the gravel roads, the steep tracks and the dead-ends of Southland’s back country better than most people.

Dame Denise L’Estrange-Corbet is the new Patron of IHC, an organisation she committed to long ago when she was asked to judge the IHC Art Awards in 2009.

Project SEARCH in Canterbury is finding great jobs for disabled school leavers. The challenge now is to share that success with many more young people.

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Ninety-nine percent of educational professionals surveyed by IHC want a complete overhaul of the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS), which funds support in the classroom for high-needs students.

Finding a love match when you have an intellectual disability is not an easy business. But six people with Down syndrome have tried to do just that with a film crew watching their every move.

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Travel and tourism student Gavin Allpress plans to see more of the world one day and to help other disabled people travel more easily. With strong ambition and support from IHC, he is working on his life plans.

Dairy farmers are keeping a dream alive for Karen Chapman, who grew up on a dairy farm in the small Waikato settlement of Otaua and has only ever wanted to milk cows.

The Sterne family has spent much of the past 21 years wondering whatever happened to Luke. Now, thanks to genetic researchers, they have the answer.