Banning paywave charges is the most helpful thing the Government has done for disabled people, however unintentionally. Seriously, many of my friends and I struggle with dexterity, so paywave is necessary for accessibility. Surcharges are a crip tax.

Back to share a story about unhinged shit non-disabled people say’. Tonight I was at a conference function heading out to get my taxi. Lady stops me ‘are you Erin?’ ‘Yes’ ‘your ambulance is here’ (earnestly) ‘ambulance?! taxi?’ ‘St John? I’m sure they’re not here to take you to hospital’ EXCUSE ME.

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa... These stories make my heart drop. It is way too common for wheelchair users to be hit by cars. I was hit a year ago & wouldn’t be shocked if I was hit again sometime. Why do people not give a fuck they are in charge of a 1.5 tonne machine and exercise care accordingly?

My hairdresser converted her garage into a salon and made it accessible so I could still come. 🥲 It’s a lot further away so a friend between jobs agreed to drive me. My hairdresser moved my next appt to a Sat so my friend could keep doing that. My community’s commitment to my hair is unmatched. 🥲🥲

I’m organising the NZ side of an Aus-NZ bilateral meeting and I’m getting very bored making polite email conversation about the weather. Is it too neurodivergent to encourage native animal observations? “Hope you had a great weekend! Saw a tūi on Saturday. How’s the possum population holding up?”

This is such an indictment on our country. A report examining the barriers ID people face came out 20 years ago and successive governments have done nothing to improve things for them. This is such stark data and yet I expect nothing will change, still. www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...

Freaking out the normies having their Friday drinks by leading my blind friend into the bathroom at the pub. A wheelchair user and a blind man walk into a bar(throom). 😏 They are also gender neutral, to the horror of TERFS.

My dad saw someone who looked like his cousin at a bus stop while on a bus in Melbourne. It was! They are both originally from South Africa and had no idea the other lived in Melbourne. Hadn’t seen each other in about 30 years.

The level of covid amnesia is so high that a friend of mine who went to both her GP and later hospital with mouth sores and a white tongue was tested for thrush but not Covid by either. A quick google will tell you that those can be Covid symptoms. These are healthcare professionals. wtf. 😫

I complained about AirNZ the other day, but conversely I was put in touch with Hayley after I told a check in agent I had tried to change incorrect wheelchair details to no avail for a long time and she proactively emailed to check which chair after a flight was booked for me today. Amazing service!

As I’ve progressed in my career, I’ve learned the hard way is no reward for being good at one’s job, just more and more work including doing other people’s jobs for them. Let this be a lesson: Be as mediocre as possible for your own good.

Diary of a Junior Doctor on TVNZ is a really compelling show. And I have been surprised by the number of them wearing masks - some even N95s. Low bar. But I am watching The Pitt and there’s not a single mask in sight even though it’s set after Covid hit. So it’s encouraging that there are some irl.

Been listening to Jacinda Ardern’s audiobook nightly and chuckling about all these NZ commentators twisting themselves critiquing it and her. Meanwhile she’s chatting away to Oprah who is fangirling over her, having made over a million bucks. Make bank and don’t look back, mate. Her gain, NZ’s loss.

Vast majority of Air NZ staff have great attitudes but today I had a sour one who I overheard say ‘why isn’t she traveling with an assistant?’, got irritated when I asked if she knew how to work my chair & asked ‘how are you getting home?’ none of your business mate? wipe off your ableism thanks.

I’m going to visit my sister in Adelaide in August and I asked her what the accessibility of her shower was like. Wasn’t expecting a family portrait but appreciate the dedication to answering the question, chair and all. 😅

Incredible the rationalisations people make instead of just testing for Covid. One of my colleagues has woken up with ‘really bad hayfever today’. It is JUNE. Last week another picked up something ‘really contagious’ at a party. Yet neither of them have had covid, apparently.

Nicola Willis upon hearing Ruth Richardson got a Kings Birthday honour

Just me looking stoked at Christchurch’s cycle infrastructure. I took this as a joke because a (wheelchair using) friend is always trying to convince me to use cycle lanes, but I don’t find ones I feel safe enough to use in Wellington. I can understand why she uses them here though!

How many 😷 people will be on this plane? I live in naive hope.

How much are yall paying for nurses/doctors visits these days? Just had a nurses appt and it was $43, doctor over 80. 🫩

I got my Covid booster today and it’s the third pharmacy that’s claimed to be accessible but which I’ve been unable to fit my chair in the consultation room so I’ve had it in the middle of the pharmacy. I don’t care - if I’m lucky it’ll trigger an antivaxxer - but it’s not accessible if I can’t fit!

I cannot tell you how tempted I am to @ my colleague who gave it to me when I message the teams chat that I’m going to be out of the office getting a vax — ‘that means you and the other team member you also gave it to are due for a booster too!’

Very grateful to have had a board meeting in Auckland today so instead of being in the Wellington public servant budget bubble I was in a disabled people being aspirational about our place in the world bubble. 🙏

Hotels make their accessible rooms actually accessible by not putting cups and glasses in cabinets designed for standing people challenge. 🫩

This is wild! First time I’ve been able to book wheelchair seats to an event online. Usually I have to call and am limited to only booking one ‘companion’ seat (one friend only soz). I don’t even care about football that much but this makes me want to go. I hope other ticket retailers follow suit.

The moon has been amazing lately. I’ve been gawking at the sky every night. It’s still showing off even this morning.

Today I felt old af. I gave a lecture to a group of first years on Zoom and I had no idea what any looked like or thought because none of them turned on their video or unmuted. Back in my day you at least had to look someone in the eye if you sat in silence when they asked for ideas or questions.

The true test of a comedian is whether they’re brave enough to engage with me as part of audience participation. I’m in the front row, good at bantering, hell, they can even make a joke about standing up. Two comedy festival shows down and no bit(e)s yet. Ableism. 🥲

Not a WHEELCHAIR. The horror of someone of advanced age being able to get around without using all their energy and avoid risking serious injury from falling. Thank heavens didn’t happen. 🫠 www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/5...

A baby colleague (22) told me he thought I was ‘like 26 or something’ today. SLAYYYY. That’s what the kids say, right?

“I’m left trying to eat on $50 a week, and that’s for both me and my son,” says one wahine Māori community health support worker who works full time. Her sector’s pay equity claim has been extinguished by the coalition government. e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-...

My parents came to visit and their dog is something else.

Truly pisses me off that Wellington has bus replacements for trains every bloody weekend especially this one when it’s BOOKTOWN in Featherston. A friend on the Booktown board even asked if they could put trains on to make it easier and more accessible for people to come from Wellington but NO.

It would be nice if Labour and the media focused on actual harmful shit Erica Stanford has done rather than petty email politics, like extending the health requirements to all Visas, barring most disabled migrants from studying and working in NZ as well as obtaining residency. But, y’know. Emails.

I love getting out of a pain flare and having a renewed appreciation for parts of my body working. My neck has been so sore the past several days. But I now have my regular range of motion back with my regular mild ache. What a glorious set of muscles, holding my head up. Bless u, neck!

Kia ora. I’m on leave being whimsical in Wānaka. If your email is urgent, too bad.

My lasting memory of Bob Jones will be how he bought a Wellington CBD building on Lambton Quay and installed key card readers on the lifts so I could no longer use it to get to the Terrace. Hope he died before needing a wheelchair cuz reducing accessibility is petty af.

The sloth in pajamas blanket is out; winter has officially begun. Just had a thought that if the power goes out I’m stuck in this electric recliner til it comes back on. But not a bad spot tbh.

I started the year with a breakup. The aftermath has felt so lonely at times and the reverberations of connections no longer shared remain. Yet in my experience after shitty life events, eventually a shift happens in which I feel I’m coming back to myself. Coming home. I think I am getting there. ❤️‍🩹

My disabled friends take hospitality to the next level. My friend is away tonight but she knew I would be hungry when I arrived so she got her support worker to cut up cheese for a toastie, have a teabag ready in a mug and coffee freshly ground in a lil container for tomorrow morning. 🥲🥲🥲

She bright tonight.

Does Andrew Little even live in Wellington? Certainly never seen him at any community events. Sick of high-profile, status quo upholding men being rolled out to supposedly ‘save’ places and things. Boring.

When you’re tryna show off your freshly styled hair but you live in Wellington.

I asked a friend - incidentally we met on Twitter - to double check the accessibility of a restaurant we are meeting at tonight and this is what she sent me. 🥹 Top tier. 👏 Please do this for your disabled friends more.

Building in and encouraging people to use afterpay on a food delivery app? Dystopian shit.

What’s the equivalent of a BYO where you bring alcohol back with you? Solid effort @br3nda.bsky.social! 🍻

I often get mistaken for other mobility aid users and just got mistaken for someone I’d never been mistaken for before while waiting to board my flight. I want to be indignant and say we don’t all know each other. But the annoying thing is I always do know them. 😂

Instead of interviewing politicians, media should interview disabled and chronically ill people. My ‘mixed feelings’ relate to the whiplash of the buy-in for caring for one another til things got too inconvenient, and then being left to fend for ourselves for the last 3 years with no end in sight.

Good to see Air NZ wanting feedback about how disabled people use their services: www.research.net/r/accessible... I fly with them at least once a month, often more, and have to say I (touch wood) generally get great service. I haven’t filled it out yet, just wanted to spread the word.

This is the annual general adjustment. It happens with NZ superannuation and benefits ANNUALLY. A standard process. The fact he’s acting like it is something the govt has introduced is so fuckin cringe. 🙄🙄🙄