Strong Voices

No matter where you live in the country, you have some friends in high places in Wellington.

Former IHC Vice President Shelley Payne was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year’s Honours, for services to people with intellectual disabilities.

It was a quirky idea – donate a calf to IHC and get a pair of gumboots. But for some reason dairy farmers said, “Count on us”.

TVNZ’s new dating show Down for Love is set to screen soon on TV2.

Autism New Zealand has launched an online tool that supports autistic people looking to get COVID-19 vaccinations.

People with intellectual disabilities make up a small percentage of people in New Zealand with disabilities. How small? No one really knows because no one is counting them properly.

New rules about using physical restraint at school are a huge step in the right direction.

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Young Porirua people charged with offences no longer have to stand in the dock while lawyers and judges use language they can’t understand and make rules they are unable to follow.

Autistic people are participating in a University of Canterbury project to highlight their priorities for future autism research.

The Wallaces’ five-week-old baby girl, Edin, was in Starship children’s hospital in Auckland with unexplained seizures. Her mother Karen was by her side. Edin’s father Rob was nearby in Ronald McDonald House with her two brothers, Ben, 6, and Ryan, 4. Whatever was going to happen to Edin, the Whangārei family was going to face it together.‍