Sesame Street’s “See Amazing” Autism Initiative Gets Everything Right

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Sesame Street’s new autism initiative hits it out of the park, but not everyone agrees. Continue reading →

Funding Teacher Aides

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Who is responsible for funding teacher aides? The Ministry of Education here in New Zealand, claims they provide adequate funding and support for children with special needs, and so parents shouldn’t be paying for teacher aide hours. The schools say they … Continue reading →

Disability Representation on School Boards – Update, Progress, and Frustrations.

On the 25th of February 2014 I sent an email to the President of the New Zealand School Trustees Association (NZSTA). This is the organisation here in New Zealand that advises and trains trustees, who in turn govern each of … Continue reading →

Should Special Schools Be Shut Down? (Includes Poll)

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Should all special schools – schools that specifically and exclusively cater to children with special needs – be shut down? My personal experiences, and a look at the reality of what the two types of schooling have to offer, once made me … Continue reading →

Isolation

One of the most enduring experiences for me as the mother of an autistic child, is a deep and growing sense of isolation. No, not just a sense, a reality of isolation. There was a time when the reality was … Continue reading →

What Rachel Smalley, and the public, doesn’t understand about mainstreaming special needs children.

Today a reader of my blog asked if I’d read a recent article written by Rachel Smalley, up on the Newstalk ZB website. The reader was not happy about what she read there, and having read it myself I also … Continue reading →

What’s (so very very) wrong with “Funded Family Care?”

Our Government appears to be laughing in the faces of the severely disabled and their carers with its new support system. As I read through the requirements, steps, and parties involved in the new system, my jaw just kept dropping … Continue reading →

Society is your “special treatment.”

Every week lately I encounter a story that attacks the “special treatment” that the disabled receive. Whether it’s attacking the way that those with disabilities are “allowed” to skip queues, make more disruptive noises or movements than others, or in … Continue reading →

Restructuring the disabled out of a job; why I am boycotting KFC New Zealand (updated).

Update: KFC has backtracked under public and political pressure, and is finding ways to re-employ their disabled employees! Thank you to everyone who shared the news story, shared my post, and boycotted KFC with us over the past month. We … Continue reading →

“Will he ever be normal?”

A month or so back, I was having a friendly chat with a neighbour. He was a nice man, who has only ever been accepting towards our family. He’s seen my son move from a rather severely impacted autistic child, … Continue reading →