. LIVELY PIANO MUSIC Captions by Imogen Staines www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015 FUNKY INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC We've travelled the country, filming 24 sensational NZers. They're finalists in the 2015 Attitude Awards, an event celebrating the achievements of NZers living with disability. Vote for your favourite in each of the eight categories at attitudelive.com. I. I. M. Space. Very. (GRUNTS) S-T. Stubborn. Nick Chisholm's life and his physical body are testament to his phenomenal strength of character. 15 years ago, Nick sustained a serious head injury playing rugby that left him with locked-in syndrome. He can't communicate verbally due to the complex paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in his body except for his eyes. Determined to rehabilitate, he took up bodybuilding. Initially, it took five therapists just to help him stand. He trained three hours every day. The outcome? A ripped physique. CHEERING In 2014, he won the NZ Wheelchair Bodybuilding Champs. Nick also helps organise an annual 10-a-side rugby tournament. This year more than $11,000 was raised for the NZ Rugby Foundation's seriously-injured-player fund. UPBEAT MUSIC Sean Prendeville may look like any 15-year-old boy, but this gutsy teenager has waited five long years to be well enough to get back to the sports he loves. I-I've got so many things that I wanna do and try. I'm a lot more confident, and I've really come to terms with` with my whole leg and everything. My motto is, 'No limits,' and I want to stick by that. Diagnosed at the age of 10 with an aggressive osteosarcoma in his right leg, he spent two years in hospital. Much of that time, he was in isolation as doctors treated a rare. life-threatening blood disorder ` a reaction to the chemotherapy. What sort of helped me through all this was family and, um, just seeing my sisters. Sean was then confronted with complex surgery. The middle section of his leg was amputated, and in a process known as rotationplasty, surgeons reattached his foot backwards. His ankle became his new knee. Before, I was always told that I wasn't gonna make it or I was going to lose my leg and I wasn't gonna be able to walk again, but I-I've sort of just pushed the limits, and I've got this end result that is just superb. (SINGS OPERATICALLY) Singing is everything. I love it. It's what I do when I'm sad, it's what I do when I'm happy, it's what I do when I'm having a bad day, and it's what I do when I'm having a great day. Smart and sassy, Ailsa Lipscombe excelled in the education system. So, one thing I learnt going through the school system was that it's not always equipped to deal with people who have disabilities or learning difficulties. It was less of my fault and more of an environmental problem. A Fulbright scholar, she now helps other students with disabilities to succeed. I volunteer by helping out here at Victoria University doing proofreading for students with dyslexia and dyspraxia. Ailsa lives with a nerve condition, complex regional pain syndrome, that has resulted in vision loss. The primary challenges come from the physical limitations of a pain condition that also causes, like, muscle deterioration and mobility problems. So music has always been what I've enjoyed. It's played a massive role in my life. FUNKY DRUM MUSIC BRIGHT MUSIC It's kind of like you see an aspect of yourself that maybe you haven't seen before. Art has always been at the core of who Juliet Jackson is. She expresses her creativity through sculpture and writing. I guess it is a way of talking about whatever I'm, sort of, going through at the time. Several years after graduating from the Elam School of Fine Arts, an accident resulted in her total loss of sight. After a period of trauma and depression, it took enormous determination to regain her artistic vocation. I have quite a clear idea in my head, but then, as I'm working, usually that changes. Yeah, it just evolves. (LAUGHS) WHIMSICAL MUSIC When I'm dancing, it just feels amazing ` like, just the feel in the body. It's just such an amazing way of movement. As a young boy, Salem Foxx struggled to find focus. Dance has transformed him into a young man who achieves distinction in his exams. I dance almost every single day. Although only 15, he's already performed four times with the Royal NZ Ballet. I think dance has helped me a lot with my Asperger's. Before I was 4, I-I didn't talk. I would communicate by, um, hitting and screaming, and I found that with dance, it helped a lot with its discipline. It helped in keeping me focused. Over to the barre. Spread out. Salem teaches and is a popular role model for young dancers. His blog, Ballet Boy NZ, is used as a resource at the London Boys Ballet School. Point those feet. I absolutely love teaching, and I just hope with all of my passion rub off on to them. Dancing is my life, really. It` I live, breathe and eat dancing. UPBEAT MUSIC Yaniv Janson has already exhibited his paintings in five countries. Diagnosed on the autism spectrum as a child, Yaniv's painting has helped him with communication. I imagine in my head how the painting's gonna look like, with the colours and shapes and everything on there ` the meaning, even. Yaniv's book, Changing the World ` One Painting at a Time, was adopted by UNESCO as a resource for teachers. The aim? To raise awareness of the contributions of people living with disabilities. Yaniv's paintings have an environmental or social message. The painting is about, um, everybody's livings ` rich and middle class and poor. So life is much easier for some people, but life is much harder for some people. My dream is to be a famous painter. FUNKY DRUM MUSIC BRIGHT MUSIC Getting on the court, it's pretty exciting going out there with the whole team. And we get goosebumps and that, especially, I guess, playing against other countries as well. So, I never thought that that was gonna happen any time soon. Four years ago, this was Cody Everson. 15 years old and newly-disabled after a school rugby injury. Roll on to 2015. Today Cody is a talented member of the NZ Wheel Blacks. He's represented NZ internationally and uses the confidence he's gained to motivate others. Being involved in sport has definitely helped me be more independent ` just for driving and getting out and about, being more social and that is` Rugby's definitely helped me. He's keen to ensure his home town of Christchurch becomes one of the most accessible in the world. I don't think life's over when you have an accident. It's a bit more of a beginning. It's what you do after it which really defines what sort of person you are, and that's what I've found. I haven't let it stop me. LIGHT MUSIC I love sailing because of the freedom and how different it is from sitting in a wheelchair. Otis Horne has a strong sense of adventure. He started sailing at the age of 13 and within months was sailing solo. My fear is being in water. So sailing is part of trying to conquer that fear. Born with spina bifida, Otis has endured nine major surgeries, and one major fall while sailing. I went sailing to Wellington to Nelson, and on the eighth day, I broke my leg. On the 10th day, I skippered the boat into Nelson, then went straight to hospital, found out my leg was broken in three. In 2015 he sailed solo across the Cook Strait ` an 11-hour journey confronting 4m swells in his 3.5m boat. Sailing gives me the freedom, makes me feel like I can do anything I want. LIVELY MUSIC Selwyn Jensen is a classic Kiwi bloke and was a champion shearer before a car accident left him tetraplegic. I shore sheep for 20 years, and that was blimmin' hard work. The Feilding man knew determination and physical strength would be key to his life post-accident. Pain's your friend, and just power through it, I s'pose. Selwyn's high level of injury means he needs four carers to look after him. Sport represents independence. I actually enjoy the speed, and I'm in charge of myself, and the challenge. I like to be able to keep up with other cyclists. Initially, Selwyn took up wheelchair rugby. These days handcycling is his passion. He's entered cycling events all over the North Island. My life philosophy is to shove as much in while you're here. Don't take life for granted. Just enjoy it. FUNKY DRUM MUSIC UPBEAT MUSIC Catherine McBride makes Wellington an even more interesting place through her acting, dancing and performing. ...two,... CATHERINE AND BOY: ...three,... ...three... She's currently a member of JDK, a hip-hop dance group that aims to challenge people's perception of disability through dance. Catherine, what are you good at? I think you're really good at helping people. Yeah, helping. It's her contribution off the stage that's getting her noticed. She's a member of Active Activists, a youth group for people with intellectual disabilities who identify issues they want to change in their community. Is it hard for you to cross? Mm. Catherine also volunteers four hours a week at Kaibosh. She helps to sort and distribute food to different charities in need. This outgoing girl has a message for those with a negative perception of disability. Yeah! Good! From an early age, Rachel Berry has fought for the rights of Deaf youth. At 14 she set up her first Deaf youth group in Christchurch. At 18 she moved to Auckland to work for Deaf Aotearoa. Now she's studying for a bachelor's degree in Health and Social Development. INTERPRETER: When I was young, I was the same as others; I just didn't have a way of knowing where I belonged in the world. I felt really unsure of my path, and now that I've grown and I have that Deaf awareness, I know where I fit, and so the fact that I can help them to contribute and know where they belong in the world is really cool. This year the 20-year-old represented NZ at the World Federation of the Deaf Youth Camp in Turkey. INTERPRETER: What I love about my work with the youth is seeing them grow and seeing them becoming happy, content people who are feeling like they belong. Rachel is now planning her own organisation for deaf and hard-of-hearing youth. We need to be able to understand each other as humans and be able to look, um, through a situation from each other's perspective. It'll come as no surprise that confident 15-year-old student Muskan Devta is the youngest NZer to deliver a TEDx speech. Muskan has a high profile among high-school students through her talks, books and radio programme. If I help someone and they have a smile on their face, it just makes me feel so good about myself. Muskan was 4 years old when her family moved from India to NZ. As an immigrant child living with hemiplegia and vision impairment and learning a new language, Muskan needed to be resilient. In order to be happy, you need to accept yourself as you are. Like, I wasn't happy when I was young. Through my experience, I realised that to interact with other people, I've gotta be myself first and be happy with myself. She began writing about her experiences. Teachers use her stories to help students struggling with identity issues. She's now an in-demand motivational speaker. READS: All we should want from life is happiness, which I believe comes through opportunities. 'They're not always made ready for us; sometimes they have to be created.' Muskan wrote her autobiography at 13, telling kids, 'It's OK to be you.' She donated the $2500 raised from the book to the Starship Children's Hospital. As a way to mark her 15th birthday, Muskan targeted kids who go to school hungry. Her efforts funded 150 primary-school students to have breakfast for an entire term. FUNKY DRUM MUSIC Every Saturday we come to Special Olympics to train with athletes and also to train them. When you're raising a young family, you often have to put your own interests on hold. Brett Roscoe decided his whole family should become involved in his passion. Coming to training on a Saturday is really good fun. They love it heaps. And every Saturday when we turn up, smiling faces, happy people. It's awesome. Brett's given 30 years to supporting Special Olympics. He started when he was 13. He's still there every weekend, running coaching sessions. And his kids now volunteer too. CHEERING Go, blue and yellow! What I get out from Special Olympics is great friends, relationship with the athletes and my family and other coaches. We get awesome time through Special Olympics. Across those 30 years, he's been a tireless fundraiser for Special Olympics, and he's inspired people to try activities they never thought they could do. (LAUGHS) If there's one word that drives Rachel Callander's photography, it's pride. When I'm photographing children, my main focus is to capture their personality. The hope is to encourage people to see that beauty, to change the language around disability, to give hope to families who are experiencing this new way of parenthood. Rachel's taken hundreds of photos of children with disabilities. Her book sold all over the world and led to a role as an international advocate for parents. Rachel promotes the value of raising children born with rare conditions, using her images to captivate her audiences. She's delivered a TEDx talk and speaks to medical and educational groups. Rarr! CHUCKLING And they're changing their own thinking and how they describe and talk about prognosis. And they feel like they are experiencing these children in a way that they haven't before. Rachel's own daughter was born with a rare genetic condition. Evie was just 2 years old when she passed away. I loved photographing Evie and showing other people ` you know, 'This is` This is my daughter. 'I'm so proud of her.' ` and putting her on my wall and celebrating her. UPBEAT MUSIC 'Kids who play together stay together.' That's the simple philosophy of Janet McVeagh Recreation. I think the most important thing that we get in life is friendships. We've got kids that have been coming for 15 years and still friends. Kerrie O'Hara took over the business ` the dying wish of the organisation's founder. She's maintained the wide range of camps and after-school programmes, sticking to a policy that all children are welcome, regardless of disability. What I wanna see come out of what we do is kids in the community being social, um, smiles, making friendships and just, um, having some passion for life. Kerrie has expanded the operation and now helps young people to go flatting. She uses her own home as a halfway house for young people with disabilities. I welcome lots of families in and make it a flatting situation at my home just to get them to that stepping stone where they're ready to go flatting and there's no failure. The Facebook page of Janet McVeagh Recreation highlights the impact Kerrie has had. I think everybody has a right to have goals, passion, a job, a flat, friends, you know, and to be with other who absolutely love them. FUNKY DRUM MUSIC # Hey, hey! # At just 13, Nicholas Brockelbank is an experienced, tireless fundraiser. Across six years, he's published two cookbooks and raised $10,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Since I've got muscular dystrophy, I know what if feels like, and I know other people out there who are worse than me, and I'd like to help them. Nick lives with a severe, progressive form of muscular dystrophy. My muscle strength isn't so good, and also bones are weaker. And when you do something like sports, your muscles get weaker and not as strong, so they get sore when you do lots of sports. His latest fundraising campaign saw Nick jumping on a bike. When he started his quest, he couldn't ride more than 1km, because of pain and fatigue. After months of gruelling training and a broken ankle, Nick completed the 18km Red Race Day and raised another $1600 for his favourite charity. It tastes good. BRIGHT MUSIC In his six years, Dukie King has faced many challenges. It takes courage for him simply to go out in his community. Burned on 75% of his body after a car fire, he's undergone dozens of surgeries. Starting school this year at Mohaka Primary meant entering a whole new world. He's just a normal boy. He's confident, active and just does normal boy things. So he's just out there. Going beyond his familiar world of home, marae and school is Dukie's biggest challenge and his family is behind him all the way. Whatever's happening around us, he'll get stuck into it. He's just determined to live life normally. Like, he does whatever needs to be done. You` He's in there doing it. I'm going to Auckland. I might get an award. LIGHT ACOUSTIC MUSIC I just think I'm a normal 10-year-old girl in a wheelchair But this 10-year-old is determined to be a role model for other children with disabilities. If I've had a bad day, I tell my parents what happened, and then I just forget about it. And then I hope the next day I have a good day. Maija Fredrichberg was born with the debilitating condition spinal muscular atrophy. I put my imagination to use by writing stories. There you go. Thank you. You're welcome. If you have a good imagination, I guess you could do anything with your stories. At school, Maija has received merit awards for her leadership and positivity. My goal is to be a pop star, and if I don't reach that goal, my backup job could be, like, designing computer things. FUNKY DRUM MUSIC ORCHESTRAL MUSIC When hotel manager Olivier Lacoua took over Wellington's CQ Hotel, he decided to shake things up. In his homeland of France, one in 20 staff must be a person with a disability. He set that as his goal. How many rooms booked tonight? Tonight we have 100 rooms booked. We wanted to be more inclusive, and it works well. His personal assistant is a wheelchair user. There are two Deaf waiting staff and one Deaf housekeeper. Now he's looking to expand his staff to 15 people with disabilities. What it is is about, actually, uh, the best person for the job, so, actually, it's not about a person with a disability; it's about people having the skills and then Olivier and his team making sure those people can be included and be in an accessible environment. All the hotel staff have been trained in NZ Sign Language. This year he trialled a menu in sign language. We were discovered that we were the first ever restaurant in NZ to provide a menu with sign language. We were overwhelmed by the number of people who were coming to our restaurant that we decided to keep it more monthly. And we need to encourage other organisations to do the same. BRIGHT MUSIC Diversity has long been on the ANZ agenda, but in the past year, the bank has introduced practical strategies to make the organisation more attractive to jobseekers with disabilities. 20% of the population has an impairment of some form. And as a large bank and a large employer, we are servicing that community, so it's only appropriate that your staff reflect what your community looks like. ANZ has 8500 staff. 600 are now men and women with impairments. Getting rid of some of the myths, that was a big one for us. Getting rid of the paranoia that people had about, 'Oh, I don't know how to speak to someone. 'I don't know what to do. I don't know how not to get in their way. I'm scared I'm gonna offend them.' It's rubbish. Let's just get on and have really good conversations about how we can all help people and how we can work better together. ANZ is actively working to increase further the percentage of staff with a disability. It's fantastic to have the job. It's a wonderful experience. Love the opportunities it's providing me, love the experience it's given me. My dream is` And I know Auckland University produces the best abilities grads. I want them to phone us first before they go anywhere else. That's where I wanna be. LIVELY MUSIC Got a good bunch of guys that work together ` got a good team. Gav's a good boss. This is a company that pulls together. Genera is a biosecurity and pest-management company. Hey, Cornell. Can you just...? General manager Gavin Smales puts disability to the side when he seeks new workers in the Hawke's Bay. It's about whether they can` can do the job or not. That's all that we ask. People are just not willing to give me a chance. All they can see is that I've lost part of my arm. And that's what Gav has given me ` the opportunity to prove myself, that I can do the job. Dyslexia had made it hard for Callan Jennings to find work. Then he was introduced to Gavin. I wouldn't have this job without Gav. His compassion, his understanding, treating me as a normal human and allowing me not to be embarrassed of having dyslexia. Gavin's belief in them has given these men a greater sense of self-worth. Well, they're not a very emotional bunch. When I did tell them that they had the job, they` a smile on their face. They didn't need to say much. ALL LAUGH FUNKY DRUM MUSIC COMMENTATOR: Here comes Mary Fisher. It's a new championship record for Mary Fisher. At the IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow this year, Mary Fisher claimed five medals ` three gold and two silver. Swimming's definitely made me a lot more confident as a person. I think from, kind of, a young teenager, when I couldn't do the same kind of things as some of my friends in the same ways, then swimming has taught me a lot about problem-solving and just getting through tough times, be it in training or if other things are happening in your life. She won a gold medal in world-record time at the London Paralympics in 2012 and is on track to secure more medals next year in Rio. I was just this shy Upper Hutt kid who` A decade-long of training and planning and goal-setting and meeting the right people got me to` to London and then to winning a gold medal. Mary is studying for a bachelor of arts degree and plans to do post-graduate work in language therapy. She mentors young blind students and is a regular performer at the Wellington Community Choir. Keeping balance to my life, I think that's been quite important for being able to keep swimming for... for 14 years. (LAUGHS) I feel old. (LAUGHS) BRIGHT MUSIC Paralympic shooter Mike Johnson's a legend. He's been world number one since 2004. This year the marksman reinforced his dominance with consistent performances at all international competitions against large fields. Before I started target shooting, I'd never have dreamt that I would've travelled as much as I've done. You know, I went to Australia, and I thought that was` that was huge, but now I've been all over the place. In 2015 he delivered a clean sweep ` six gold medals. He holds the world title in not one but two target-shooting categories. Mike won his first Paralympic gold in Athens 2004. His control and precision are remarkable given his high level of paralysis. I still feel as though there's more potential for me as well ` as an athlete and growing as a person. But, um, with this sport, it's really opened my eyes and allowed me to` to go and do things that I could never have dreamed of. Just try and relax and just get some good breaths going. Oh, I think... At 41, he's sharing his knowledge with new athletes ` potential successors. Looks like you're starting to get the hang of it. (CHUCKLES) Yeah. But Mike aims to add two more Paralympic medals to his hall first, from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. You could be at home doing nothing, could be down, but here's something` here's an opportunity that you could give it a go that might completely change your whole perception about the world. For eight years, Sophie Pascoe has been the one to beat, the swimmer holding five long-course world records. Biggest thing for me is overcoming, uh, my challenges that I set for myself. Uh, I always set myself very high standards, and, uh, once I achieve those, then, yeah, success comes with it. COMMENTATOR: Sophie Pascoe. Who can challenge the world-record holder? At the 2015 IPC World Swimming Champs in Glasgow, she won three gold, one silver and two bronze medals. ...and a gold medal for Sophie Pascoe! Sophie was just 15 when she competed at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. What changed my whole career was winning at 15 years old. You can easily win once, uh, but to retain a title is much harder. Sophie still trains 14 sessions a week on top of studying at the Hagley School of Fashion, and she'll be defending her titles in Rio in 2016. Every day's a challenge, from getting up in the morning to going to bed at night, but the difficult challenge is of why you wanna do this, why you wanna be different to the rest of the world. You know, not many people can say they're a world champion. And that's why I do it. Captions by Imogen Staines www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015