Strong Voices

You can’t get a greener, more sustainable scheme than the Bike Project, run by the bike repair guys at Mersey Street, Invercargill.

The team at the IDEA Services day base collect old bikes, fix them up and pass them on to people who need them. They recycle and reuse bikes that would otherwise go to the landfill, encouraging people to use pedal power rather than motor vehicles. They also hope to gain skills that might lead to future employment.

New Zealand just inched a step closer to fully inclusive education for disabled children.

In December the Human Rights Review Tribunal issued a decision – five and a half years late – that it would hear a complaint from IHC that our education system discriminates against disabled students.

The complaint has languished in a queue waiting for a ruling from the overloaded Human Rights Review Tribunal.

Free bus travel for carers of people with accessibility concession cards is now available in the Waikato region. Around 2400 people hold concession cards for free bus travel in the area. The card was introduced in 2019 and is for people with permanent or short-term disabilities of longer than six months. Cardholders who need assistance to travel can now register their ‘plus ones’ with Waikato Regional Council.

IDEA Services and Choices NZ are trialling an extension of the IHC MySupport database to allow the people we support and their families to view their information. It’s important for the people we support to have a good team around them. A big part of this is involving family members at the right time. At present, information such as support plans and goals can only be viewed by staff.