"A Voice of our Own" Celebration in New Zealand

Disabled people in Wellington New Zealand celebrated the United Nations International Day of Disabled People for the third year with a celebration in performance at Te Papa Tongarewa, the national museum.

The celebration included not one but many voices of a diverse and vibrant disability community in what is becoming an important event in the disability calendar, enjoyed by around 2000 people over the last three years. The venue is open to the general public and free of charge.

Organised by the Wellington branch of the national disability advocacy organisation, DPA the event has been an outstanding success in 2001 and 2002.

A Voice of Our Own features performances by musicians and writers; that explored and celebrated the multiple talents life experience and worldviews of people with disabilities.

The programme began with some robust fare from Mad Dog Arana and Blind Paul Gibson. Their music was described in the programme as 'blindman spitbowl blues' and 'looney tunes, traditional Kiwi Tails,' and 'worser originals' interspersed with political commentary with themes of pride, and aroha, (love). They certainly succeeded in taking the piece out of PC. The lunatics have indeed taken over the asylum and the blind are leading the blind. Great stuff

Glynne Maclean is a novelist with her first novel recently published by Penguin and more on the way. Excerpts from 'Roivan - Book One of the A'nzarian Chronicle' a science fiction novel for teenagers, were read by her husband David. It has its own website at http://www.roivan.co.nz and I for one, bought the book as a result.

The Carol Henry is a young Wellington singer/songwriter and accomplished live performer. Her band includes New Zealand and overseas musicians

They perform Carol's work with song of love and loss, heartbreak and family, and while this more mainstream band was not entirely my cup of tea, the audience lapped it up.

Words Off the Page featured disabled women writers whose performance works ranged from the playful to the profound. Their work was the product of the Tangling with Tigers and Tulips series of writers' workshops run over the last few years by two professional woman writers with disabilities. I hope their first performance will not be their last.

Last but not least in my estimation came Chocolate Ice. I must admit I am almost a Chocolat Ice groupie!

Band members Stephen Bennett, Kylee Maloney, Maurice Priestley and Peter Gregory individually bring a wide cross-section of musical influences to Chocolate Ice performances. Their collective mix of Celtic folk music, original and other people's acoustic-electric country, blues and jazz has been heard at concerts, festivals, folk clubs, and Parliamentary receptions. They are now incorporating original work by Kylee along with other composers, into their repertoire.

Living 'Ordinary Lives'
Telling their own stories through the lens of a camera and chronicling their desires for 'Ordinary Lives' showed New Zealanders with intellectual disabilities have a strong sense of who they are and where and how they want to be in the community. The photographs show people at work and at play and living 'ordinary lives.'

They were given cameras to tell their stories as part of a Ministry of Health Project. The project set out to improve the disability support services people with intellectual disabilities can use.

Some of the photographs were published in the project report and they have been exhibited at the launch on independent People First, and in the Ministry of Health. They should be seen by a wider audience so they can be visible on their own terms.

Don't give up your day job: Artists with disabilities
A recent MacQuarrie University study of the economic circumstances of 1063 practising professional Australian artists found that around 10 per cent of the artists surveyed reported living with some form of disability. Of these, about two-thirds report a physical disability and one-third have a mental illness or intellectual impairment.

Of the artists with a disability, about 20 per cent say that their disability impacts on their artistic practice most of the time or all of the time, while another 17 per cent say it has no effect at all.

The survey covers the following categories of practising professional artists: writers, visual artists, craft practitioners, actors, directors, dancers, choreographers, musicians, singers, composers, and community cultural development workers.

The term 'practising professional artists' included artists who are currently active or who have been active in the past five years. The 'professional' aspect limits the survey to those artists who operate at a level and standard of work, and with a degree of commitment appropriate to the norms of professional practice within their art form. It excluded hobbyists and amateurs.

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