Life Unlimited - Infolink, Winter 2016

INFOLINK

CONNECTING YOU WITH DISABILITY INFORMATION

WINTER

WELCOME

Welcome to our new-look Infolink newsletter from Life Unlimited. We have focused on giving you a mix of articles about people living with a disability, as well as useful information and news. We would love to hear your feedback and any ideas for stories on: Phone: (07) 903 7053 or Email: info@lifeunlimited.net.nz.

Did you know, if you have a question about disability, Life Unlimited can help you as part of our free information service? This includes advice on assistive equipment, support organisations and information on funding. Just get in touch, our details are below. If you need advice or information on autism, we also have help available via the free national advisory service Altogether Autism.

Freephone: 0800 273 463 or www.altogetherautism.org.nz

IN THIS ISSUE IT'S WHITE OUT TIME

LIFE SKILLS SELF ADVOCACY

2016

IT’S WHITE OUT TIME! o you want to hit the slopes this season but don’t know where to start? We talked to

D Snow Sports New Zealand’s Adaptive Manager, Jane Stevens, to find out about skiing

or snowboarding with an impairment.

Adaptive Snow Sports encourages people of all abilities to get involved in snow sports and works to remove barriers by running special adaptive programmes, training adaptive instructors and volunteers and ensuring gear and assistance is available around New Zealand.

“Snow is a great equaliser,” says Jane. “Every day I’m amazed by the abilities of people using our adaptive gear. If you love the mountains and want to get out with your family and friends and have a great time, then we can help you do that.”

Adaptive skiing has been around since the 1970s but an increasing number of people with disabilities are now getting involved, as more programmes are developed and volunteers trained to offer support.

“We are working with the Halberg Disability Sport Foundation at the moment to further develop our volunteer networks in the North Island to provide even more support to adaptive snow sports,” says Jane.

The volunteers get a lot out of taking part as well. “They are able to access a huge amount of training and we can help them on a pathway towards becoming an adaptive instructor – not to mention all the fun they get out of being on the slopes and supporting another person,” she says.

What gear is available?

All commercial ski fields have adaptive equipment which you can hire, including sit skis, equipment for amputees and visual impairments.

DISABILITY NEWS WHAT'S ON PUBLISHED BY

• Life Unlimited

CONTACT DETAILS

Freephone 0800 008 011 Email info@lifeunlimited.net.nz Facebook life unlimited www.lifeunlimited.net.nz Would you like to receive Infolink by email? Just email us at info@lifeunlimited.net.nz and we'll add you to our database.

Above: New Zealand Paralympic ski racer Corey Peters hits the slopes at Turoa Ski Field on a sit ski

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IT’S WHITE OUT TIME! (ctd from p1)

What about instruction?

Dedicated adaptive skiing programmes are offered at most New Zealand ski fields. In the North Island you can participate at Whakapapa, Turoa and Snow Planet.

In the South Island, check out Mt Hutt, Cardrona and The Remarkables.

TIPS FROM A SNOWBOARDING PRO Starting out in the snow? Here’s some tips from one of New Zealand’s top para-snowboarders and Paralympian, Carl Murphy. Carl is a below-theknee amputee and already working towards achieving Gold at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in Snowboarding.

Outside the dedicated programmes, people can still book in with an adaptive ski instructor any time and volunteers are often available to accompany skiers outside of lessons.

How do I make the first step to getting on the slopes?

Above: Para-snowboarder Carl Murphy

•

Sign up for an adaptive ski or snowboard lesson at your local resort

•

Get involved with your local disability or snow sports group

“Snowboarding for the first time? Awesome. It’s a long time since I began snowboarding but I do remember the feeling. Remember that everyone starts somewhere. You will fall over a lot – and I mean a lot!! But keep getting up and trying again.

•

Come along to a national snow sports event – like a Have a Go Day or the Adaptive Snow Sports Festival

“I try not to think about my disability as a disability in any situation, sporting or otherwise. Rather, it’s the fact that I can do everything everyone else can - but maybe in a slightly different way.

•

Organise a trip with your school, group or organisation

•

Become a member of Snow Sports NZ to take advantage of discounted lift tickets and other benefits

“I see a lot of disabled people in snowboarding with various physical impairments that make the most of what they have and what they can do.

Focus on the controllable not the uncontrollable!

If you want to speak to someone about your options, contact Snow Sports NZ on 03 443 4085.

“Not all sports are for everyone. Just remember the main thing is getting out and giving it a go and you will no doubt have a great time in the process.

You may just surprise yourself and become one of the next top NZ Winter Paralympians!”

USING SELF-ADVOCACY TO GET WHAT YOU NEED

Self-advocacy involves people with disabilities speaking up for themselves, expressing their own needs and representing their own interests.

If you’re interested in developing your selfadvocacy skills, then Life Unlimited Community Liaison Officer John McIntosh has some tips for getting started.

wants to be able to live their E verybody life the way that they choose. People with

About: Community Liaison Officer John McIntosh

disabilities might need different kinds of help in order to do the things we want. This help is often referred to as supports. Self-advocacy allows people with disabilities to get the type of supports needed to live life to the fullest.

How do I start? Gather information Finding individuals or organisations to provide the information you need to self-advocate for the life you want may seem difficult or even scary. There is help available in most communities. Connecting with resources and building relationships in your community is a good start. You can contact Citizens Advice Bureau, your local district health board or the Health and Disability Commissioner for information and advice.

Communicating your needs When you self-advocate, it’s important that you communicate the things you need to live your life the way you want. You will have to think about how to: •

Identify who you need to speak with

•

Develop the confidence to speak up for yourself

•

Clearly outline your issues or concerns, and identify the solution or what you think you need

No one knows you better than you For many people with a disability, a lack of self-advocacy skills may limit confidence. But, it’s easier than you think. Start small and build your confidence gradually. That way you’ll develop new skills and practise communication strategies to negotiate for the things you need. The key is to make yourself heard the best way you can, because no one knows you better than you.

Self-advocacy allows you to achieve the things you want from life. Being a self-advocate means you will improve your selfconfidence and self-esteem; gain dignity and self-respect; have the strength to guard against exploitation and abuse; and have power as an individual with rights.

As a person with a disability, this is a life-long journey that will enable you to have influence over the decisions that affect you and greater control over your life.

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THE EARLIER THE BETTER WHEN IT COMES TO LIFE SKILLS

“Brushing your teeth is not one task,” she explains. “First you need to find your toothbrush, then find the toothpaste, unscrew the cap, squeeze out the toothpaste and so on. There are actually about 20 steps to brushing your teeth – finishing with putting everything back in the right place. If you’re just working on the first step or two as a start, that’s still good progress.”

Building up skills slowly is the way to go, she says, and people shouldn’t be discouraged if it takes a long time to learn a task.

“Some tasks are bound to be hard and you’ll stumble. But don’t give up. Think about kids learning to ride a bike, how long the training wheels are on and how many times they fall off before getting it right.”

Also be realistic about what can be achieved. “If you’re cooking a meal for the first time, don’t start with something complicated - try baked beans or two minute noodles. And if that’s all you can cook for a year, that’s still great!”

Learning life skills is not just about encouraging people with disabilities to complete more tasks, she adds.

Above: Local Area Coordinator, Cyndi Miller, supporting a young person to join the local library – just one example of an independent life skill that opens opportunities for learning and recreation

skills – such as cooking a simple meal, getting dressed L ifeor managing money – are all very important in the process of gaining independence, whether that process takes days, months or years.

That’s the view of Cyndi Miller, a Life Unlimited Local Area Coordinator, who works with people with disabilities and their whānau and families to help foster independence within communities.

“It’s never too early to start learning the basic life skills, which will help you further down the road to live a more independent day-to-day life,” she says. “And if you care for someone with a disability, the message is the same – anything that it’s possible for the person to learn themselves, they should be learning.

And if you start when your child is young, they will be able to achieve even more over time.”

Local Area Coordinators often help young adults find their place in their local community once they have finished education and Cyndi says the skills that people need for living with others, such as keeping a house clean and managing money, are much easier to manage if they have been taught from a young age.

“Like any young person – if mum and dad have done almost everything for them, it’s much harder adapting to independent life.”

Cyndi says the trick to making life skills easy to learn is breaking tasks down into small parts.

“When you are able to have more control over your day-today life, you instantly feel more fulfilled and your quality of life can improve. Even something as simple as choosing your own clothes to wear can have a big impact on your life, especially if that’s something you haven’t been able to do, or allowed to do, in the past.”

WHERE TO LEARN LIFE SKILLS •

Your support person or carer – get them to help you learn, rather than always doing things for you.

Supergrans Aoteoroa also volunteer to pass on their considerable life skills.

•

Adult Education at local high schools – learn to sew, cook, carry out repairs.

•

Neighbours/friends/family are often happy to help if you ask, and you could teach them one of your skills in return.

•

Online – check out www.pinterest.com and search ‘learning life skills’ or use an app like www.choremonster.com to set rewards for tasks.

Local Area Coordination is all about anyone with a disability having a good life in the community.

Life Unlimited’s team are based in the Hutt Valley (0800 008 011).

Other Local Area Coordinators are: Bay of Plenty/ Lakes – provided by Imagine Better on 0800 787 587 and Otago/Southland – provided by AccessAbility on 0800 758 700.

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DISABILITY NEWS BUILDING A NEW DISABILITY STRATEGY The first phase of updating the New Zealand Disability Strategy has drawn to a close.

The initial part of the process lasted for five weeks, and _ asked disabled New Zealanders, their friends, whanau and supporters to join the conversation and share their ideas about how they could live a good life, feel valued and participate in their communities.

WHAT'S ON 5 August – Silent Leadership Challenge Encourage your workplace and community leaders to sign up for the Silent Leadership Challenge and tackle four communication challenges while wearing hearing protectors to simulate deafness. Participants will experience the challenges faced every day by those who have a hearing loss.

They’ll also raise funds for the National Foundation for the Deaf and challenge workplace and community attitudes to hearing loss. www.silentleadershipchallenge.com

Thousands of people visited the official website, and hundreds attended events around the country. The next step in the process is the drafting of a new disability strategy.

In late July, another conversation will take place with the public - this time on the draft strategy. So keep an eye on the www.jointheconversation.nz website to make sure you don't miss out on having your say on the new disability strategy.

Above: Life Unlimited leaders will be taking part in the Silent Leadership Challenge again in 2016. Pictured are William Hughes, Mark Brown and Andrew Ellis during last year’s challenge.

8 - 14 August – Parent to Parent Awareness Week 15 August – Registrations close for the New Zealand Deaf Games

NEW SERVICES FOR CARERS Carer Matching and Care Matters are two national disability support services, recently developed out of the NZ Carers’ Strategy Action Plan.

Carer matching, provided by MyCare, can help people with disabilities and their families to find support. If you receive Disability Support Services funding, including Individualised Funding and Carer Support Subsidy, you can gain free access to MyCare’s database of support workers in your area.

MyCare allows you to search worker profiles, post jobs, and contact workers. More than 1000 workers across New Zealand are profiled at MyCare. Joining the service is easy. All you need is the NHI number of the person who receives DSS funding and the name of their NASC (needs assessment) service. Then you can fill in a Carer Matching Referral form online at www.mycare.co.nz or phone 0800 677 700.

Care Matters is a carer learning and wellbeing resource.

Carers can access free resources such as advice on managing conflict and stress; information on how they can connect with other carers; and find available courses. Care Matters is at www.carematters.org.nz or call 0508 236 236.

This year the New Zealand Deaf Games will be held in Hamilton over Labour Weekend. Sports include football, touch, lawn bowls, indoor netball, darts, basketball and 8-ball pool. Contact Rachel Turner at deafgames@deafsports.co.nz

26 - 28 August – Parent to Parent Support Parent Training in Gisborne/Napier For parents and full-time caregivers who have children with a disability or health impairment who would like to support others through the Parent to Parent network. Call 0508 236 236 or email rutht@parent2parent.org.nz .

1 September – Altogether Autism Network Meeting in Taupo Learn about autism from both a professional and lived experience viewpoint. Have your questions answered by others living and working with autism. Contact Breanna Turner on 0508 236 236.

18 September – Renew Workshop in Tauranga Renew workshops provide an opportunity to meet other families raising a child with a disability. Topics include support, stress, grief and family resilience. Contact Caroline on 0508 236 236 or Coastalbop@parent2parent.org.nz.

23 September – Loud Shirt Day Loud Shirt Day is back for 2016 and this year people across New Zealand are getting in the Mexican Fiesta spirit for deaf kiwi kids. Learn more at www.loudshirtday.org.nz