Two years of The D*List 🥳 🍰
Plus: Learning to drive on national television 🫣
Kia ora anō! Ngā mihi o te wā o Hine Takurua, the Winter Maiden 🌬️
In this week’s delicious edition:
What we’ve learnt from two years at The D*List 👼
Licence to Drive star, Lucy Croft, on how she got her full licence ✅
A review of accessible cabaret 👯🥵
Hari huritau ki a tātou! We’re officially 2 years old! Editor Olivia Shivas reflects on two years of unlearning the hardwired output-driven newsroom ethic from the moment The D*List went live:
It took me at least six months to properly slow down and unlearn a lot of the habits I’d picked up at other corporate and capitalist-minded organisations. And while I’m still learning (and unlearning), I’m really proud of the growth our entire D*List team has made to create this place on the internet - and now in person! - that we dreamed of two years ago.
Olivia says three things she’s learnt as an editor is to; 1) always put forward what you can offer first, 2) put whanaungatanga above all else, and 3) be ok with not knowing everything and enjoy learning from others.
The editorial vision that was established in June 2023, said that our audience is disabled people, that our voices are intersectional, we are unapologetic, we look beautiful editorially, and we leave your glass feeling half-full. And while it’s always an ongoing mission, we do feel really proud of what we’ve achieved and are excited about the years to come.
While I’ve been curled up at home this week with a lurgy, it’s been a busy week for the rest of the team with the a two-day hui hosted by the Disabled Person’s Assembly for disabled women and non-binary people and the launch of Licence To Drive, a six-episode TV series by our office flatmates, Sweet Productions.
It’s also a special week because we welcome new talent to the team. This week we welcome our newest kaimahi Mili Ghosh (@milicious.intent), our new design and social media co-ordinator:
Kia ora team, He Īniana au. Ko Kirikiriroa taku turangawaewae. Hoi ano, i tipu ake au ki Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Nō reira, ko Mili Ghosh tōku ingoa! I am a designer.
I do a bunch of different kind of creative immersive digital experiences from graphic design to 3D environments, music videos, game experiences and modelling. I'm really passionate about creating meaningful digital experiences whether that be through virtual environments or graphic and illustration.
I have many many hobbies (hyperfixations). I play bass in two bands here in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, and I also am a silversmith that makes handmade rings! I have always found myself exploring different facets of myself whether it be my disability, my way of living, my culture and my identity - which I think is why I’m so connected the digital space.
I am able to learn all these cool new tools and put it into practise in my own way and on my own timeline. I'm so excited to be starting here at The D*List and can’t wait to be able to do my part with this beautiful kaupapa!!
🗻 Cool tech alert! Stadium Taranaki has implemented a world-first assistive listening system called Auri, which provides high-quality wireless audio transmission to devices such as hearing aids, earbuds, and dedicated receivers without needing under-floor cabling or amplifier rays.
🏘️ Tiaho Trust and Whangārei Accessible Housing Trust trial a new respite service in Whangārei. An online survey of disabled people in Te Tai Tokerau indicated a severe shortage of respite options in the region.
💬 Experts in this piece on The Conversation are in support of expanding diagnosing and prescribing authority of ADHD and its medicine to primary care, but emphasise that while medication can be effective, it can’t be the only form of treatment offered and more needs to be done to address gaps in data and understanding.
Trends show that some groups, including Māori and women, are disproportionately affected by a lack of knowledge and services. As the Government revises how ADHD is diagnosed and treated, it must address these discrepancies.
🍽️ Ahead of the release of a report on the welfare of intellectually disabled people, RNZ reports intellectually disabled people are twice as likely to live in hardship. IHC advocate Shara Turner says in the last 20 years they haven’t seen the Government make any targeted efforts towards intellectually disabled people.
“We don’t talk about them in poverty statistics — we don’t really talk about them at all — but we’ve contacted the Government, we’d love to see Super be earlier for people with ID, we’d love to see the child disability allowance tripled to something in line with international levels of welfare and we haven’t had a great response to that.”
🐬 An aquatic sensory experience is coming to Ōtautahi from October this year. It includes a beach entry pool, interactive water features, bubble columns, and a tactile Canterbury-themed wall feating fish, birds, rivers and mountains.
😜🪪🚙 Lucy Croft is thirty, flirty and finally driving. After three crashes, Lucy joined in the Licence to Drive TV series which is now available to stream on Sky Go and Neon. Check it out!
The irony of driving to gain your independence is the interdependence that is needed to do so. It’s not a straightforward road to it, either. Some things take more time, like learning the dimensions of the car, or judging when to brake or apply the accelerator. My cerebral palsy shows itself in new, unexpected ways – the geometry of parking baffles me, and I veer closer to the left until I learn to judge spatial distances with the help of the wing and rear mirrors.
🪩 Paul Brown reviews Codeword Cabaret: Paper Moon, an audio-described and NZSL interpreted show. Read more to find out what sentences audio-describer Antonio Te Maioha never thought he’d say aloud 😉
As a lifelong blind person, cabaret wouldn’t normally be my go-to for live entertainment. It is often very visual with mime, dance, and burlesque elements featuring heavily. Including breasts (bare, covered with stickers or glitter), colourful thongs and G-strings, wigs, and elaborate costumes, Codeword Cabaret was a heavily visual performance.
🛴 We asked you on our Instagram what qualms you have about accessibility in Auckland and here's what you told us. Think you’re up for shaking things up? Stand as a candidate in the local body elections!
👭 SIBLINGS, directed by Pelenakeke Brown and Barnie Duncan is on show at Te Pou Theatre from 24-28 July. The genre-defying work brings together four extraordinary Māori and Pasifika disabled artists. NZSL and audio description is available for this show.
✂️ Auckland Zinefest is on this weekend in Tāmaki Makaurau in the Auckland Art Gallery at 11-4pm on both days, showcasing over 140 zinemakers with stalls, activities and zine readings. You can also attend between 10-11am for a more relaxed environment with fewer people.
🧑💻 Fill in this quick, 3-minute survey from Access Matters Aotearoa on disability rights law.
Kia noho haumaru! 🍋🧣
Eda
Correction note: In last week's newsletter, we attributed a quote to Spectrum Care's CEO Sean Stowers, when the quote was from an independent investigation report. We sincerely apologise for this error.
So excited to have discovered you all! Congrats on 2 years of shifting the narrative!
intersectional, unapologetic, beautiful, replenishing - YES! cheers to two years of living into this vision!