CP Society at Accessibility Summit and Parliamentary Reception

On Wednesday, March 25, the Cerebral Palsy Society’s Chairman Daniel Clay and three members of the Advocacy Committee, Clare Williams, Amy Hogan and Melanie Louden were in Wellington for Access Matters Aotearoa’s Accessible Futures Summit. 

Amy is co-chair of Access Matters and represented the Society well by sharing about our members’ experiences when it comes to accessibility. 

From left, Access Matters co-chairs Amy Hogan and Dr Rebekah Graham. Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People chief executive Paula Tesoriero. Cerebral Palsy Society’s Amy Hogan, Melanie Louden, Clare Williams and Daniel Clay.

After the Summit there was a Parliamentary Event with a number of MPs present. The event served to summarise the work carried out during the Summit and Daniel was on a panel that spoke on the topic “What will it take to change the system?”.

The Parliamentary Event included the launch of “Kōrero for Change – Insights and Actions”. The document is a collation of the thoughts and outcomes from the Kōrero for Change webinars held by Access Matters.

Throughout the day there were some clear themes:  

• Accessibility can’t wait 

• When we design well – everybody benefits 

• We can’t forget about the emotional and administrative burden families face when it comes to accessibility 

• Building accessibility into society from the start is cheaper than retro-fitting 

• The disability community has been advocating for accessibility for a long time. The issues are the same, but we now have the data and reports that show the impact. 

• Housing is a fundamental human right. 

From left, Cerebral Palsy Society’s Daniel Clay, Clare Williams, Amy Hogan and Melanie Louden. Panel moderator Tim Wilson, Maxim Institute executive director, Kali Mercier, deputy director of Helen Clark Foundation, Daniel Clay, Cerebral Palsy Society chairman, Mojo Mathers, Disabled Persons Assembly chief executive. Access Matters co-chairs Dr Rebekah Graham and Amy Hogan.

You can watch the livestream of the Parliamentary Event here: https://www.accessmatters.org.nz/accessible_futures