Let's embrace doing things the wrong way

Plus: Say goodbye to the Lottery Individuals with Disabilities grant 🥲

Kia ora e hoa mā,

In this week’s delicious edition:

• Celebrating our Deaf excellence 🤘

• Lottery Grants may become harder for us to access 🫠

• How to read wrong 📚

Last Friday, The D*List hosted the Wrong Readers Club as part of Auckland Writers Festival. We invited disabled and non-disabled people alike to try ‘reading’ in different formats. We also had stories read aloud by Allyson Hamblett and Kitty Wasasala (on behalf of Em Berry, who was unwell), two very talented and brilliant disabled creatives. It was a night of disabled joy, and creating space for disabled literature on a prestigious local stage.

Allyson Hamblett, Kitty Wasasala and D*List kaimahi at the Wrong Readers Club event.

Congratulations to all the winners at the New Zealand Sign Language Awards last weekend 🏆 A special congrats to D*List friend Monica Leach who won Teacher of the Year Award. Earlier this year, Monica ran NZSL classes for disabled communities at our Community Hub. With regards to her award, she told The D*List Delivered:

I feel very honoured and humbled to receive this award. It means a lot to me as I’m passionate about teaching NZSL and supporting the growth of the Deaf and NZSL community.

This award is also for my students, families, fellow tutors, and the wider NZSL community who continue to support and value NZSL. I hope this helps raise more awareness about the importance of accessibility, Deaf leadership, and opportunities for more people to learn NZSL across Aotearoa.

Our friend Jon Tai‑Rakena also won the NZSL Champion Award. He shared this message with us below:

🚌 Jon has also been busy with Kara Technologies recording thousands of signs in a motion capture suit so that animators can transform them into AI avatars. Soon Auckland Transport is to implement this new technology which means that these avatars can deliver real-time updates about public transport, instead of relying on prerecorded messages.

🏚️ Kāinga Ora has scrapped their target of having 15% of new homes built to meet universal design standards. Minister Chris Bishop said that Kāinga Ora had shifted to prioritising financial sustainability and value for money. The Post (paywalled) reports that this financial year, Kāinga Ora has planned for 97 homes to meet the standard, compared with 562 the previous year.

Green MP Tamatha Paul told The Post she was having no luck — in both public and private housing — with finding a suitable home for someone in her electorate.

“It is degrading and humiliating for people to have to live in these conditions. Disabled people deserve freedom and independence to move around their own homes.”

🚌 Last year, the Ministry of Education contracted new service providers under the Specialised School Transport Assistance (SETSA) scheme to begin this year. RNZ reports an Auckland mother has withdrawn her son, who uses a power chair, from the scheme due to health and safety concerns.

”I got him on, and the interaction with the driver and the wheelchair was enough to scare me that this was very unsafe,” she said. “We didn’t even get to tethering the chair into the van… I just said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m not confident with this. It bothers me a lot. I don’t think it’s a safe situation’.’‘

🥚 Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) has a new name: Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS). Australian endocrinologist Helena Teede said that for too long, the misleading nature of the term “polycystic” contributed to delayed diagnosis and inadequate medical care. The new name will be fully implemented in the 2028 update of international guidelines for managing the condition.

🪹 In June, Australia will have developed their first neuro-inclusive design standards for buildings, making them second in the world after the UK. Learn about this project and the variety of architectural and spatial design considerations for neurodivergent minds in ABC’s podcast By Design, hosted by Anthony Burke.

An image with Lotto balls, assistance dogs, coins and wheels with some objects crossed out. Design: Elise Cautley

💰 Applying for a Lottery Grant has been a rite of passage for many disabled people. But major changes are coming to the Lottery Grants Board. The Individuals with Disabilities fund is being cut for good, with funding being prioritised to organisations providing services to the broader disability sector instead. The importance of this funding avenue has been underscored for decades, with even a dedicated page on the Disability Support Services website instructing us to apply for a Lottery Grant to fund expensive things like modified vehicles. So we approached DIA to get clarification on what is happening and how it could impact disabled communities.

📚 Do you ever feel like a ‘wrong reader’ because you read stories in an unconventional format? Last week we collaborated with The Auckland Writer’s Festival and held the Wrong Readers Club, an event which challenged ideas about the ‘right’ way to read. Soph Jackson wrote up some of the reflections from the night.

📖 Check out The D*List’s Kōrero Corner at Auckland Writers Festival this weekend! Our Curated Bookshelf of disabled authors at Aotea Centre on level 5 is open from 15-17 May. Find out more info here.

💡 Emerging Pacific disabled leaders in Auckland are invited to apply now for the Faiva o Ta’ita’i – Pacific Disability Leadership Programme. Delivered by Le Va in partnership with Whaikaha, the programme is delivered over two full-day workshops on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 July. Apply here with written or video submission before Friday 29 May 5pm.

❤️‍🔥 Arts Access Aotearoa is hosting a free arts accessibility hui in Dunedin on Thursday 28 May 10am-12.30pm at Te Whare o te Rukutia. NZSL interpreters have been booked, the space is wheelchair accessible and the presentation will be audio described. Register online or by contacting Katie at afa@artsaccess.org.nz or 04 802 4349. Registrations close 20 May.

Mā te wā 🧡
- Olivia and The D*List team