The Commission's new interactive newsletter portal enables us to discuss and debate the news presented through this bulletin. What's more, it is easy to involve yourself in this cyber disability rights network. If you want to share something in relation to an article, simply type it into the "leave a reply" space at the end of each story and press the "submit" button.

To view and keep track of submitted comments, go back to your original electronic version of the newsletter and click on the story. This will take you to the most updated version of the publication (including all comments posted) on the Commission's website.

And guess what? For any technophobes (like me), this is blogging! So now I can honestly tell my son I am part of the blogosphere.

The Commission wants to hear from as many disabled workers (and those seeking work) as possible, so their voices are included in its National Conversation about Work project.

The aim of the National Conversation is to gather information to advise government and the community on equal employment issues and what would make a difference for people to achieve fairness at work.

The website, Have your say about work, gives people several ways to engage in the conversation - by blogging, writing a submission, filling in a survey or meeting face-to-face.

One of the disabled workers featured in the website video, talks about his experience in the workforce. "If we were to look at people as an investment, rather than look at them as pathology or as a disability ... I think we would be in different spot. I've had to work harder and prove I was as good as by actually being better in a lot of cases."

The National Conversation team, led by Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Judy McGregor and supported by HRC advisors Sue O'Shea and Moana Eruera, is halfway through its two-year consultation.

"Disabled people's voices are often marginalised around the wider employment debate," says Moana Eruera. "So it's particularly important we hear from them."

He says several themes are emerging:

• fragmented services making it hard to access workplace support
• inadequate level of support to enter employment and remain in it
• lack of accessible transport
• lack of understanding around disability.

To contact the team, email Moana Eruera moanae@hrc.co.nz or Sue O'Shea sueo@hrc.co.nz. Or you can phone the Human Rights Commission and ask to be transferred to the EEO team.

They're visiting Nelson/Tasman Bays/Marlborough in early June, Manawatu and Wanganui in mid June, Northland in July, and Rotorua and Tauranga in August.

Reports from earlier visits are now available. Regional reports will feed into a national report making recommendations to government next year.

"The only way we're going to get disabled people using public transport is when they know they can do it as independently as possible," says Thomas Bryan, a member of the accessible transport group.

He's also involved at a local government level, representing the views of disabled people on the Greater Wellington Regional Council and Wellington City Council.

"The disability community in Wellington have been consulted about their new trains and that's a big positive, says Bryan."

Simon Atkinson, from People First, an organisation led and directed by people with a learning disability, says improvements to Christchurch buses are great pluses for disabled people. "They could be a model for other regional councils," he says.

As a blind person, Aucklander Lynette Simon says, "There are slight increases in help, such as the ability to have a pole talk to us and tell us what bus is coming along. And some drivers are excellent - they'll tell us where there's a seat or wait for us to sit down before taking off."

The Commission's Bruce Coleman managed the groundbreaking 2005 Accessible Journey report and is coordinating its review. He'll be talking to councils, the New Zealand Transport Agency, the Ministry of Transport and other people involved in the journey to accessible public transport.

"Our commitment to achieving a fully accessible public transport service is in line with the government undertaking an implementation plan by July 2009 to respond to the Accessible Journey recommendations."

"It was absolutely fantastic," says Kathryn Heard, Deaf Aotearoa's Coordinator of New Zealand Sign Language Week. "We had workplaces hosting classes - for example ACC and Middlemore Hospital - and great interest from schools in our sign language tool kit. It's fun to learn!"

[caption id="attachment_1089" align="alignright" width="160" caption="Marissa signing at Takapuna Library."][/caption]

"We chose the butterfly as the logo for the week because butterflies are deaf, free and independent, Sign language allows Deaf people to be free and independent too. It's about equality."

Heard says sign language has come a long way since 1880, when it was prohibited and people were forced to communicate by lip reading.

"Sign language is becoming more and more accepted. It's one of New Zealand's three official languages and for the first time it's been acknowledged as the primary language of Deaf people in an international convention (the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities)."

="attachment_1107" align="alignleft" width="160" caption="Robyn Hunt"][/caption]

This month has been exciting for the Deaf community. Sign Language Week is bigger and better each year and the inspired butterfly logo has captured the public imagination. The launch of the international report Deaf People and Human Rights is a milestone on their human rights journey. Good quality information like this will be critical for monitoring the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

For those people who have been able to attend the Human Rights Firm Festival, there has been a lot on offer. A review of NoBody's Perfect can be found in the newsletter.

As always, we welcome your feedback on human rights issues.

The report brings together the largest knowledge database on the situation of Deaf people to date.

It was conducted by the Swedish National Association of the Deaf and the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), and showed great variation in Deaf people's access to education and services.

New Zealand was the only country out of 93 surveyed to have a sign language-specific law (the New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006) and one of only two countries to offer full interpreting services in universities.

Researcher Hilde Haualand said recognising sign language as a first and primary language and enabling people to access it is the core to upholding the rights of Deaf people.

"The World Federation can take this report to the UN to lobby. It needs to be followed up every two to four years and will help to target funding and projects in the future," says Haualand.

Commissioner Robyn Hunt said the report is an important step. "It was evident during Convention negotiations that the rights of disabled people are often hampered by good quality baseline data. However, there is a lack of data from small Pacific Island nations in the report, indicating where more work needs to be done."

She also believes the establishment of a New Zealand Sign Language Commission would be a timely move. With similar aims and objectives as the Maori Language Commission, it would address issues still being faced by Deaf and hearing impaired people in this country.

"The passing of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the reality of the recession give RI opportunities and challenges," she says.

"One of our big challenges is helping countries interpret rehabilitation in a human rights based context. In some countries it's about access to basic equipment, such as wheelchairs. Each country and region has different philosophies and issues."

Anne Hawker's extensive background in disability work in New Zealand and overseas makes her passionate about disabled people's rights.

"There are more voices speaking out about disabled people's human rights than there used to be and that makes a difference. The legal capacity of disabled people to make decisions about their lives is now enshrined in the Convention (Article 12) and that's a fundamental shift in the power base.

She says international organisations need to be proactive in the current economic climate. "For example, the World Bank is still conducting projects. We need to ask how we can tap into those."

In her "other job" as Principal Disability Advisor for Work and Income NZ, it's also important to be pro-active. "There needs to be a change in attitude. A change in attitude doesn't cost money. I'm currently meeting with several major employers looking at how we can create a disability confident employment sector.

"For too long we've talked to ourselves. In RI we need to make the most of our extensive skill base, but we also need partners like lawyers, unions, employers, and UN agencies. We can be much more powerful if we work closely with the right allies.

"Disability organisations have been good at advocacy, but now we need financial and management skills. We need to be media savvy. And we need to provide alternatives to problems."

German Director Niko von Glasow is one of the 12. His story and those of the others form the basis of the film. He questions the subjects about their attitude to their body, their mother's experience of their birth, their childhood and their relationships.

"I wanted to take a series of honest, beautiful photographs. [Along with the others] I had to find the courage to expose myself, look at myself, and accept the truth that nobody's perfect," said von Glasow.

"Up till the point in my life where the film starts, I'd been happy to avoid confronting my disability and body image."

Integral to the story in the film is the drug company who, according to the film, has never issued an apology or fully compensated those affected by the damage thalidomide caused.

[caption id="attachment_1111" align="alignleft" width="111" caption="NoBody's Perfect"][/caption]

Barry de Geest, who was part of the panel discussion after the movie screened in Auckland, said, "Although my impairment was caused by my mother taking thalidomide, because it couldn't be proven ... and my parents couldn't afford the lengthy costs involved in going to court, I only received a one-off token payment."

The drug was made by German company Chemie Grünenthal and was sold in almost every country of the world. The film claims at least 10,000 babies were affected worldwide, with 3000 dying. Germany and the UK were two of the highest-affected countries.

Speaking on the panel after the Wellington screening, Mike Gourley said, "The film was a wonderful lifting of the shroud of embarrassment, shame and secrecy of our bodies and who we are.

"Politically, we've always said 'Who I am is okay - what happens to me isn't'. I'd like to change the name from 'NoBody's Perfect' to 'We're Bloody Perfect!'."