Disabilities touch lives of hopefuls

From knee injuries to tetraplegic relatives and anaphylaxis – council hopefuls revealed how disability has touched their lives at Hamilton’s first meet the candidates evening.

Mayoral hopeful Rob Pascoe is recovering from a knee injury and got a chuckle as he stood to speak, leaning on a crutch.

‘‘I thought that was a prop,’’ called one attendee.

The evening was organised by the local Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA), which put the focus firmly on disability and accessibility.

Twenty-six Hamilton City Council candidates – plus one each for the Waikato Regional Council and the district health board – showed at the Methodist City Action venue on Monday, for a crowd of more than 40.

Chris Simpson, who is running for mayor, shared his hidden disability – anaphylaxis.

He has to carry an EpiPen and has previously collapsed by the road during a shock.

‘‘I have ideopathic anaphylaxis, which means they don’t know what causes it.’’

Also vying for mayor is James Casson, who once pushed it too hard in the gym and ended up with a brain bleed.

After two weeks on his back, he had to learn to walk again.

Paula Southgate has a stepson with high-functioning autism and also recalled caring for her mum after she smashed a bone in her arm in a bus stop fall.

Andrew King became close friends with a tetraplegic accountant at his first job.

‘‘When he came to work … he would toot the horn and I would go out and get him out of his car.’’

And Jack Gielen said he was ‘‘really acquainted with … what people go through in society’’ through suicide prevention and counselling work.

Waikato Regional councillor Lois Livingston stopped in wearing a leg brace.

‘‘This is the first time I’ve disabled myself and it’s a pain in the arse,’’ she said.

Hamilton has a full fleet of wheelchair access buses and work on the kerbs in process, she said, partly due to the work of advocates from organisations such as DPA.

Other connections included West Ward candidate and former councillor Pat Kaio, whose husband became paraplegic after a fall from a tree.

The East Ward’s Jason Howarth grew up with his father undergoing rehabilitation after a motor vehicle accident.

Western candidate Chris Jordan cares for two nieces with Down syndrome and founded the charity Child Flight.

Two of the Community Voice West Ward candidates had close experiences.

Hiki Toroa’s dad had a stroke and ‘‘went from from being the coach and the manager of the first XV at Melville High to almost dying’’, and Toroa’s wife was born with cerebral palsy.

Peter Humphreys was part of a group which took the Ministry of Health to court over payment of family members caring for disabled relatives.

His 27-year-old daughter has Angelman syndrome, doesn’t talk, has uncontrolled seizures and uses nappies.

The candidates’ open sharing of their connections to people with disabilities was a highlight of the evening for DPA Waikato branch president Gerri Pomeroy.

‘‘That was really valued for its human-ness,’’ she said.

The Disabled Persons Assembly is an organisation which is a voice for all disability groups.

Census data shows 24 per cent of Kiwis live with a disability, Pomeroy said, so she wasn’t surprised so many candidates had a connection.