Strong Voices

This summer Trudy and Paul Masters are expecting their first banana harvest from their rural block near Whangārei. But there is more at stake for the couple than wanting to join Northland’s recent enthusiasm for growing the fruit.

Danni-Lee Kokiri, 18, from Lower Hutt, won first place in the IHC Art Awards for 2021 and a $5000 prize for her mystical painting The Chakra Forest. Interviewed after her win, the Taita College student said the trees made her want to fly over them.

David Simpson had the ground cut from beneath him when his Kaiapoi home was destroyed in the first Christchurch quake. Then the ground shifted again.

Families shut inside in Auckland and Northland have had some online relief during their extended COVID-19 lockdown, with Auckland-based music therapist Ahjay Stelino taking his sounds and skills directly to families with disabled children.

The Law Commission is reviewing the legal powers people are given to make decisions for others, something disability advocates say is well overdue.

It’s hard to innovate in the middle of a pandemic. But it might also be exactly the right time to rethink how the lives of people we support can be more creative, be more fulfilling and have more freedom.

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It has been another tough year of lockdowns. And that came as a real blow to those of us who had hoped the worst was behind us in 2020.

A new Māori strategy is giving IDEA Services staff the confidence to explore cultural opportunities with the people we support.

Ask Carlos Biggemann what needs to change in the world, and he starts with global issues – war, poverty and the destruction of the rainforests – before coming to his disability.

Across the IHC Group, it’s extremely important for us to protect our colleagues and the people we support from COVID-19.