Communication Access Award

THE OPPORTUNITY TO COMMUNICATE IS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT.

We aspire to a society in Aotearoa New Zealand, where everyone understands what communication accessibility is.  Talking about it, celebrating it, and letting people know when they are getting it right will bring our vision to life!

Communication is the most fundamental of human capacities and a basic human right.  People need to be able to communicate to fulfil their social, educational, emotional, and vocational potential.  

Communication access is about creating communication ramps to ensure people can participate fully in their whānau, communities, workplaces, and schools and be fully involved in decisions affecting all aspects of their lives.

Congratulations to the 2022 award recipients:

Judge John Walker - for: 

• Advocating strongly for all to be able to participate effectively in justice processes. 
• Raising awareness of neurodisability and neurodiversity in his role as Principal Youth Court Judge and has introduced innovations such as the Young Adult List Court which is bringing about much-needed changes that will impact the lives of many.

Kristina Pinto - for: 

• Working to ensure all tamariki in the Tairāwhiti region have access to communication in a range of settings.
• Surveying whānau with children with disabilities and communication needs across the whole rohe to enquire about usefulness of core boards in the community.
• Spending hours making the core board, getting it translated into te reo that's appropriate for the Tairāwhiti dialect and installing a QR code so that the online core board can be portable and accessible for whānau. 
• Working tirelessly through a 2 year process due to your dedication to equitable communication. Currently there are three parks where these bilingual core boards are installed with approval and funding for 14 more across the rohe.

Papanui Primary School - for: 

• Demonstrating an exemplary attitude towards inclusion of children with additional complex communication needs through a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach.
• Participating in school-wide training on AAC and use this widely in their school - utilising wearable core boards, having core boards available in every area of the school (including the reception and outdoor areas), continuing to seek further professional development in this area, and providing support for other schools by welcoming visitors to their space.

Saoirse O'Connor - for: 

• Establishing what form of communication each client could use and have enabled many of these clients to access augmentative communication technology, eye gaze technology etc. 
• Implementing use of yes/no lanyards across the service. This work has enabled some of our residential clients to have a voice for the first time. An example of this was; one of our profoundly disabled clients (LV) was able to communicate with our facility reverend using eye gaze to communicate.
• Giving all of our clients a voice, through all levels of communication technology and meaningful activities which are enabling our clients to engage in social interactions, social enrichment and social communication with others. 

Sarah Dann-Hoare - Project Employ/Flourish Cafe - for: 

• Working with people with disabilities to support them to find employment. Supporting students with opportunities to use high tech augmentative and alternative communication systems to order food from their cafe: Flourish Cafe.
• Using patient and responsive communication partner style when supporting individuals with disabilities to build their cafe skills. 
• Advocating for people with disabilities and are patient and willing to embrace and encourage AAC in the community.