The title of this recording is "Huhana Hickey". It is described as: uhana Hickey talks to Kathryn Ryan about indigenous disabled human rights and social justice advocacy. It was recorded in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand on the 24th June 2013. Huhana Hickey is being interviewed by Kathryn Ryan.  Their names are spelt correctly but may appear incorrectly spelt later in the document. A list of correctly spelt content keywords and tags can be found at the end of this document. A brief description of the recording is: Huhana Hickey talks to Kathryn Ryan about indigenous disabled human rights and social justice advocacy. The content in the recording covers the decades 1960s through to the 2010s. A brief summary of the recording is: The abstract provides an overview of an interview between Huhana Hickey and Kathryn Ryan recorded in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. Hickey, holding a PhD in law and a BA, master's in law with distinction, and a PD, describes a challenging journey filled with personal and professional hurdles and how these experiences have been foundational in shaping their advocacy in indigenous disabled human rights and social justice. With a progressive neuromuscular condition that resulted in a 16-year reliance on a wheelchair, Hickey also faced other difficulties, including discovering their Māori heritage only as an adult after being adopted by a family that was unaware of their ethnicity. This revelation happened when meeting their birth parents at the age of 24, a pivotal event that led to recognition of institutional falsification of adoption records, a common practice in the early 1960s in New Zealand intended to simplify the adoption process for white babies by denying their Māori identity. Hickey mentions the ongoing class action through the Waitangi Tribunal, seeking to redress the denial of rights under the treaty due to these falsified adoptions. They highlight the connection to their heritage and the disheartening comments on their original adoption papers, which unfairly labeled them and set low expectations for their future. Despite such challenges, Hickey persevered and achieved notable academic success and became a prominent lawyer and human rights advocate. The interview also delves into the social prejudices and healthcare inequities faced by Māori people with disabilities based on Hickey's PhD research, which involved conversations with 44 Māori individuals living with disabilities. These discussions revealed profound social and healthcare disparities for Māori people with disabilities, including late medical diagnosis, unmet health needs, and a general lack of advocacy for their rights leading to disenfranchisement and heightened poverty. Hickey’s commitment to social justice extends to their active involvement in various advocacy roles including housing issues and welfare reform's impact on disabled individuals. They shed light on the flawed assistance systems for disabled people, the lack of representation in policy-making, and the inadequate implementations of ratified conventions meant to safeguard disabled rights. They express a desire to continue raising awareness and advocating for the disabled community at both local and national levels. This summary reflects the principal themes discussed by Hickey in the interview such as adoption and identity, disability advocacy, and social justice - all aligning with their consultancy on indigenous disabled human rights. Their work demonstrates unwavering dedication to highlight the voices of the marginalized and establish fairer, more inclusive policies. The full transcription of the recording begins:  Our next guest has a PhD in law from Waikato University. This was something that was never on her radar when she left her high school in Taranaki with no qualifications and what seemed to be then limited prospects, Doctor Huana Hicky has ended up with a BA, a masters in law with distinction and a PD. It's not been easy along the way. Doctor Hickie has lived with a progressive neuromuscular condition, which has resulted in her using a wheelchair for 16 years. She's also raised uh, two sons, had several surgeries and has found out about her Maori heritage only only after meeting her birth mother as an adult. Dr Hua Hi is now a lawyer in Auckland with a particular interest in representing people with disabilities. She's on the Human Rights Review Tribunal and has her own consultancy, which does research on indigenous disabled human rights and social justice. Advocacy. I spoke to recently and I began by asking her about her early life. She was adopted into a family in Taranaki but not told of her Maori heritage. It was an interesting one because I was told that I was adopted from a very early age I knew, and I even knew when my sister was born 3. 5 years later that I was adopted. So I always knew I was adopted. But I never knew my ethnicity. And at what point did you become aware of it? When I met my birth mother at the age of 24 I just, uh you know, I saw her and my father, actually, my birth father and mom. They married, and I saw them at the hotel. They came from Australia, and she was as black as they were. And I just had a big grin on my face. I knew Had you ever suspected in your younger life my entire life, I felt so different. I felt a link to Maori. I really did. But I didn't know what that meant. And so I didn't, uh, go and seek help or go and join them, because I always felt I couldn't because I wasn't officially Maori. But I always wanted to, and, uh, back then, you know, we had an entirely different way. How we did things. So, you know, I sort of stuck on the outside. Really? There was no evidence of it on on your birth certificate or anything that was all falsified. Um, back then, if you were a white baby, they often falsified the documents. So you didn't go through the Ministry of Maori Affairs. And in in doing that, it meant that there was less paperwork, less hassle. So they lied and said that my mother was a European and that my father was a European, um, as well. And, uh, basically did that. And that way, then they could say that I was a baby and and the, um, decision was made By whom? The decision to do that. The doctors, uh, the whoever it was that signed those papers. And I would say it was the doctors and the adoption agencies back then because we're talking in the early 19 sixties, I'd hate to give my age away, but we're talking in the early 19 sixties when it was common practise. It's It's remarkable, though, because I've not I've not been familiar of it. Forgive me. It's a matter of ignorance. It's something we associate with other other countries. Well, you know, we are a stolen generation, but we've never talked about it, and, uh, you know, There are some researchers that have happened around Maori and adoption, but no one's ever really talked about the mucking around basically of our documentation. And I mean, I can prove it. I've got the original birth certificate and I've got the adoption birth certificates and they all say, a Caucasian baby to Caucasian parents. Has this become a matter of significance to you? Obviously. And we'll come back to meeting meeting your birth parents. That is a huge event in anyone's life. But subsequent to that have these circumstances become a matter for you? Uh, well, they affected how I was as a teenager, but also we've got a group taking a class action through the Waitangi Tribunal, and we're hoping that we can raise it more and more. We've got a lot of foster and adoption stories that show that there was some stuff that was going down. That was a breach of the treaty and denied many of us our access and our rights as Maori to have treaty rights. Basically, is it as simple as documentation being altered or stories being told that did not allow you to know your cultural heritage? It is I mean, they wiped out our past. They tried to, uh, for some. They did. Some people will never know who their real parents were. And some of us are lucky enough by some fortune, it was It was actually quite a mystery how I found my mom, But, um, that was by some strange fate that I managed to find her. But many of the adoptees of my age group, they they don't know who they are, and they never will. What were the circumstances Where you came to meet your birth mother? Well, I actually put an ad in the in the New Zealand Herald at the time, and she was living in Australia with Dad and my siblings. But I, I actually knew, um, her first name through the original adoption, Um, the original birth certificate. And so I put the ad in and said that this is what I knew. And my grandmother saw it. And she contacted my mother and they contacted me. And then I got the chance to meet her when my son was three months old. How did you know of the original birth certificate? Was this you doing your own investigation? And this is how you found out it had been falsified. I found my original adoption, uh, information. When Dad worked at social welfare, pre computers and I he got me a job there to help, Um, the filing system set it all up. And I actually found my original papers. No photo copy machines back then. So I didn't even steal them. But I looked at them, and, uh, they weren't very nice papers. They they actually weren't very good. And I bet they've They've gotten rid of them since, um, but I found my original, um, birth certificate there. And that's how I got that info. Did those papers say things that you found offensive? Very offensive. Um, basically, they listed me as an imbecile and an idiot and said that I would never achieve very much at all. So now I understand why mom and Dad treated me. They They were good parents, but they never expected me to achieve anything. And now I know why you're not an embassy. Clearly. Well, sadly, they both died before I could prove to them that, but, uh, no, I part of my journey and part of my, um I'm quite a strong willed person. So I was determined that I was going to get an education and I managed to get it. And, uh so I did. And I proved that I'm far from any of that. But then I don't believe any human being is an imbecile and an idiot. Anyway, I was speaking. I I'm sure you appreciate with an irony, but did you have some, uh, disabilities? Perhaps that caused the experts of the day to reach that conclusion. I was born a month premature, which, back in, uh, the early sixties was a, uh, difficult, uh, diagnosis, because back then, they didn't have the drugs that they have to pump the babies up and keep them in the womb as long as they can. And often they have the drugs now to pump the lungs and keep them. Well, Well, I was born a month early, and I had lung problems and, uh, you know, I, I coughed up a lot of blood as a child, so I had bronchial lung problems which have gone further in my adulthood. But, uh, certainly nothing of any other significance that we know of through those teens. We must come back and meet your birth mother with you soon if you would. But through those teens, you said you believed the situation you're in even unwittingly and not knowing it at the time affected you what was happening in your teens. Well, I was also undiagnosed AD, D and, uh, you know, I. I didn't do well at school. I was average, but I couldn't do maths. I was dyscalculia, you know, I. I couldn't, um I was a great speller, but then I had trouble with words and stuff, which is different now, Uh, I grew out of that, but, um, I just couldn't fit in anywhere. And my behaviour was such that I was always getting into trouble, you know? And I just, uh, just couldn't understand what was going on with me because I didn't know what was happening. And, you know, people couldn't understand what was going on. So we we just had behavioural issues between my my adoptive family and myself. You leave school without, um, much by the way of qualifications And what do you What do you do? I went off. I left at 15. I went and took up jobs. Uh, I had been holding down a paper job till I was 18 and I started working part time from the age of 11. And back then, of course, they didn't tax you as kids, but, uh, I I just got jobs. I worked in a shoe shop. I worked on a farm. I just took whatever jobs were available. You had jobs back then. That was the difference. You were a junior. You got a job as a junior in the shop or wherever, and you got paid the Apprentice or junior rate and, uh, you know, and and at least I built up skills. But I, I didn't have a problem quitting one job and going straight into another job. Whereas today, most youth can't do that all the time. You are wanting to know more about your birth parents. And as you say, by 24 you take out this ad and again circumstances come together and the contact comes from your grandmother. First of all, that must be just an indescribable moment to know what was gonna happen. Well, it was because they were told that I was dying and that I would be dead. And so Mom believed that I that I had passed away. She had just lost her brother. Um, he died. He was drowned three days after I was born. And, um, so she was the oldest in the family. And Nana then suffered, you know, a breakdown. And so they they believed that they were leaving me at the hospital to be cared for until I passed away, you know? And so the the the lies that went down was both sides, the lies to my adopted family and the lies to my birth family. And so nobody was looking for me. And when Nana was reading the paper, she saw it. And, uh, of course, she contacted my mom straight away, Who contacted me, and, uh, they were in shock as much as I was in shock, but it was very easy that they found me. Can you possibly explain what the moment was like when you met for each of you? Well, I guess, um, for me, the memory of it was I can just remember a big grin on my face that finally I realised that I was some colour. I didn't know what it was, um, but I knew that I wasn't I didn't feel pakeha. And, um, you know, I didn't feel any of that. I felt, um I just felt disconnected. And then there was a connection coming in II. I wrote a poem years later about, um, you know, the jigsaw puzzle coming together that little pieces were slowly filling up, and one of those was that I met my birth mother, but at the same time, I met my birth father and I met a baby brother of mine, and I was just overwhelming it. It was a bit much, you know, I live with depression have done since I was 11 years of age, and it was a bit much, and I think it happened very fast and probably too fast. And I was on my own, and I probably should have had support or there should have been some form of preparation for this. But there's nobody out there that prepares you for this type of thing. There is now. But there wasn't. Then you had your own boy your own child by then as well. I did. And he was born 7. 5 weeks early. So he was a very sick baby, and I was busy dealing with him and, uh, healing from I I went to. So I had a caesarean and I was just healing from all of that when I met them. So you can imagine it was everything happening at once? Were you able over time to forge a relationship with them? It was difficult. It took another 12 years. We we tried. It just wasn't working. Uh, I guess in some ways I didn't I didn't know them. And they tried to fit me into the family as though I was one of their Children that had been brought up by them. But I wasn't. And so I, I guess I disappointed them. They disappointed me, and it spent 12 years. They they disappeared. They were travellers. They used to take up catering jobs in the outback of, um, Western Australia. And they made a lot of money that way. But, you know, they travelled a lot, and I lost contact with them. Uh, it wasn't until 2006 that, uh, no 2000 and and three. I think that she contacted my adoptive mom, who was still alive then and mum rang me and said Look, I, I don't know if you want this, but she gave me the phone number and we touched base again. By that time, I'm a lot older, And I guess, you know, I I'd done a lot of healing in myself and a lot of work on myself, so I was able to hand it. But by that time I also learned that she had cancer and she was dying. And, um, I managed to get over and see her in Adelaide in 2006. I think it was when, um, I just I had to go to Korea, and, uh, it was on my way back from Korea I. I took a tiki tour and spent 10 days with her and my father and my baby brother. So she got her last chance again, to which she clearly wanted to do. And in a way, it helped her because she kept apologising. And I just told her that there was nothing to apologise for. It was a thing that happened at a time that they often removed babies from young women. And, uh, I just told her it was OK and we healed And, you know, I managed to talk to her on the phone right up until about the time she died. No, Sorry. No, it was it was hard. But you know it. It was it was also, um, meant to be. I'm glad that it happened. It happened as it was meant to. There needed to be a lot of healing in your life. There's there's been a fair few challenges on many fronts. Um, but what you certainly did determine was that you would pursue this university education. It had to wait a good time. When when did it happen? I was 31 and I moved to Hamilton. I was accepted. I. I got out of the nursing programme. They wouldn't let me finish because, um, I was on a walking stick. I was on a stick by the end, and I was having problems with my neurological system. But we didn't know what was going on of the way before, and they they wouldn't let. I was grew up in Taranaki, and Mom worked at Ivan Watkins down, and it could have been the effect of the dioxin. We don't know, um, because we grew up by um um by Tutu. And, uh, so, you know, it could have been, um but they wouldn't let me finish my last year of nursing, and I wanted a qualification. So I applied at a university, and I got in at and, uh, I discovered there that I did have a brain and I was coming up with a and Bs, and I was very proud. I think I got three a in my first year and two bs and I had had eight operations, one a major, one a hysterectomy. And yet I still managed to achieve those goals. LLM bachelor Master of laws with distinction PhD in law and I. I did an LLMBX and then, uh, sorry BB I and then a LLM with distinction and PhD in there. Um, have there been, um, some personal aspect to your research, For example, your PD Oh, definitely. Once. Once I was able to actually do my own self study, which you can do from about level four of law. I started writing about human rights and social justice, and I had Margaret Wilson and Margaret bed there, and they were brilliant mentors, wonderful women who taught me a lot about social justice, and I was quite keen. And my disabilities by that stage in 96 I ended up in a wheelchair, uh, through a beating from an ex partner. And, um, also, the neurological stuff was getting worse. And I was still, um, passionate because one thing I was finding as I got involved with the disability community around 93 around that time, um, as it was growing, I was noticing that mainstream disabled were getting the voice and were getting the changes happening. But Maori disabled weren't. So I wanted to understand why, and I was highly political. But Maori disabled didn't even use the word disability. And so I had to learn why. And I did. I found out why, and that was what my PhD was about. I had to learn about this group and what it was that they needed to happen to close the gap, I found out 44 Maori with disabilities. You did talk to as part of this research and and in some ways, did they open up to you because you were You were in a wheelchair coming to see them. Uh, did that make them, uh share more than they would have, perhaps with someone else. They A lot of them begged me not to give up on the journey that I'm doing because they said that they needed help. They needed their voice to be heard and that they felt that society had forgotten them, that they don't know them. Um, there's a colleague and I are trying to find the funding to do a research on the poverty levels of disabled Maori in Northland because it's a It's an area that, um, my partner comes from, and one that I've seen a lot of deep poverty, but I've also seen the resilience that they hold. Maori don't tend to ask for help, don't tend to get access to the equipment, but they're one of the most resilient peoples I've ever met, and yet they struggle and they struggle. But as a group, if they are connected with their, they are actually an amazing group of working together, like, you know, a collective working together to help that disabled member, and they work together for that. When you say you found out why, there seemed to be, uh, a greater response, uh, for mainstream to use to use the word, um, people with disabilities. But then, um, when you looked at Maori people with disabilities as a group, they were things were different. Have you have you? Have you just given me the reasons, Or was there another reason? Well, for myself, I, I mean I, I was able to access the political world. I mean, I had a lot of networks of politicians, et cetera, and so it wasn't a problem for me personally, But the thing that I was finding is I had friends that were dying, um, where they would not be told that they had, uh, they were in a wheelchair. They wouldn't be told that they had lung cancer until six months later, and then it was too late for treatment. And one friend in particular, um, I nursed her until the last day of her of her life, and, um, she was an amazing woman. She had so much potential. And yet Waikato Hospital just did not, uh, do the diagnosis in time. But I found that a lot of Maori were not getting the diagnosis or the treatments happening, and they're being treated second class, basically in our health system. But a lot of it is that they have a fear of the hospitals, because at the hospitals you die. Do they not push for information the way other people might push? No, they don't. One thing I found I had a partner with, um a child with autism and the school, Um, he was he would be a biter. And when he was little and he struggled, if kids, uh, would tease him and hurt him, then he he'd hit back. But the the kids knew to be devious, but he didn't know that. So if the headmaster said, Did you hit somebody, he'd just say yes. And of course, And then he'd get into trouble. And when his mom tried to sort it out, uh, the the headmaster abused her. And so she went really, really shy. Got very embarrassed. And she therefore didn't chase it up. She actually did what she had to do to get her son's education, but she didn't go further. And no, they don't. They don't. You know, there's many that don't and and often if they do, they get angry with aggression, or they get or they take it out on themselves or they take it out on others. And, you know, Sam, uh isn't a good example. I mean, that man was driven into extreme poverty because of the system, not listening to him and not recognising the need. And he got driven to the point where he he, you know, in his wheelchair goes up and he hits the windows of work and income to show his frustration. But as a result, they found out that he wasn't being paid $100 a week. He was short, short changed. And so it all got fixed up. But it took that to do it. I'm speaking to Doctor Hanna Hick. She is a lawyer in Auckland with particular interest in representing people with disabilities. She's also on the Human Rights Review Tribunal and has her own consultancy, which does research on indigenous disabled human rights and social justice. Advocacy. You're listening to Radio New Zealand National, and that brings us very much to the work that you do do and it appears needed. The if there are people who do not push the system and advocate for themselves as much as others might. Obviously there's a lot of work for you. Well, I started out. Really, Um I was at, uh, Wake Prison, and I built up a reputation of working with the disabled prisoners there and helping them with their parole hearings, because what I was finding is that the medical team were lying, and I actually caught them out at one point and managed to take the evidence to the parole board and managed to get this poor man out who was just in extreme pain and suffering, and he was never going to be a danger to society. But, uh, they kept him in there simply because they didn't do their job. And, you know, and I also managed to get, you know, I managed to help quite a few there that were developing quite bad pressure sores and other areas of being abused and not being treated properly. You know? OK, if you do the crime, you do the time. But you've got to have a humane, uh, situation where they are. And that that just wasn't happening. So I managed to work with a few of them. Then I came to Auckland, worked at Auckland Disability Law. We were overwhelmed within a very short time. And it was just ongoing cases of abuse, ongoing cases of neglect, cases where people couldn't speak for themselves, but they felt safe by having someone like myself speak on their behalf. And, uh so a lot of it was advocacy. Um, very seldom took it to court, But, um, I did have some sad cases of autistic adults going before the court system and not understanding it and the court system not treating them very well. But we do have a system that doesn't really meet the needs of disabled. Is there more work to do than than you and others working in, uh, as specialists? If I can put it that way in this area, uh, than you can do? There's a mountain of work to do there. There's heaps. We we have no shortcoming of a need and with the way with the changes with the legal aid system, the changes of the insecurities of funding for community law centres, I sit on the Community Law Centre Association board. Um, you know, they've had been secured for two years, but no increase in funding. And yet, uh, you know, we're trying or AD is trying to go nationwide to be able to be a voice for disabled throughout the country. And yet they can't get the funding. You know, increased to do that. You know, there there's a whole bunch of issues out there around disability and and their needs. I do communication in the Moco courts of learning disabled youth that come up on criminal charges. We need people to give them a voice. I act almost like a A language interpreter. I. I interpret the big language of the lawyers and the judge, Judge and I. I break it down for them so that they understand what they're going through. And a lot of people end up getting done under the Intellectual Disability Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation Act. The I DC CNR because they don't have lawyers that understand that they do have capacity if they're learning disabled. But what is happening is they need to have time to understand and a way of understanding what's happening around them. And that's not done housing another great passion. And I know also that you went out with one of the local authorities, the Auckland mayor, I think to, uh, find out how much, Uh, there was a gap between accessible buildings and reality. What happened there? Well, we challenged the council, the CEO, the CC OS and the mayor that new buildings were being built that were still not meeting our needs. And yet they talked about Auckland being the most livable city in the country and or in the world. Really? And so we challenged him, and, uh, we took him to places. And as it happens, uh, they got stuck in a lift And the only lift that, um, that disabled could use to get into the telecom building, which you have to go up a steep hill to. And if you're in a manual wheelchair, that's really not easy. He had to get into this tiny little lift which wouldn't fit me and my service dog. I'd have to put him on my lap. And, uh, that was the only way you could get in and, you know, and it just showed them how ludicrous some of the plans were. And, uh, so they've made a commitment. We're going to be doing another walk about this year, and, uh, we've been educating the CC OS, the CEO S, the planners and we've been working really closely with the council around, um, trying to get a better, uh, accessibility for everybody. Uh, wherever we go in Auckland, welfare and benefits you also advocate for do do you Do you get angry? Yes, I get very, very angry I get, um but it's no good getting angry and yelling at the system. One has to get angry, but use it in a in a way, with words. You have to show what they're doing is wrong. You have to show them that what they are, um, trying to do to us is wrong. If they're not listening to us. I mean, on that welfare reform committee that, uh, Paula Bennett set up, no disabled person sat. It was all non disabled, and they're deciding on our future. And I said to them first, you need to look at the cost of disabilities to get realistic. Here you are actually putting people into extreme poverty for an entire lifetime because jobs are not available, and then you're also forcing them to try and find jobs. But are their jobs appropriate to their needs to their disabilities? It occurs to me also going right back to the start of your story, which was what? And I'm interested in your view on this. Perhaps we're well intentioned. Well, meaning, but we meant rather, uh, but now we know damaging policies, uh, around the way adoption was done in the 19 in the 19 sixties, in many cases, right through to what you're talking about right now. Are people intentionally getting things wrong or is it simply that they do not know And they do not know Because voices that need to be heard are not heard. Well, when you think about it, we've got our first openly disabled person in parliament. It took how long till you know, 2011. I think it was. And, um, you know, we we don't have a voice at that level. We don't. They're not employing us to be the policy makers at that level. They're not employing us. We don't have any judges. No one sits on the judiciary that has disabilities. We have nobody that sits, you know, that sits at those high levels of employment, those high levels of CEO, Um, all of those high level, um um, positions. And yet we have qualified skilled people like myself sitting there saying, Well, why are you not employing us? You know we're here. We got the skills. You told me I had to get the skills. And now you're saying thank you very much. But you're no good to us anymore because we can't meet your needs. They look at the value of importing people from overseas. Um, like, for Paula Bennett, for the welfare reform. She brought in Professor Alwood from the UK. And he's the one who's been causing all the havoc with the UK benefits over there, bringing him here for his voice. But they haven't looked at us. What? What was what was the what was his specialty? I'm sorry. I'm not familiar with the situation. So what was his specialty? His speciality was basically getting disabled back into work. And basically, it's been, um, a lot of disabled have died as a result of the reform changes over in the UK. In what circumstances? Um, they cut. They're just stopping the benefits. They they turned around I. I have one story, and I know that this is a true one that came from some of the news media. Is that, uh, this woman was told, You've got to work, She's terminal cancer And she said, Look, I can't work. I'm too sick And they said, Well, you have to work or we're going to cut your benefit They cut her benefit on the day she died, you know, because she didn't go to work as they had asked her to do. This is a documented story from the UK. Yes, it is a documented story. There are many of them. You mentioned that you've lived with depression you have done since childhood. And, uh, apart from that challenge there are many others that we've heard of in your life. Yet there is this positive attitude. There is determined attitude. There's there's all these achievements in your life. Is there a way of of explaining why things I do? I, I guess, worked out this way and not as they might have. Why, why you didn't give up somewhere along the way? I have no idea, I, I guess I. I believe that there's something I'm here to do. I am a Buddhist. Um, I became a Buddhist about two years ago, and, um, I like the teachings. They give you a lot of wisdom. I'm not I I'm a person that can get angry quite easily. So, you know, learning a mantra or two when I'm in the middle of getting angry is quite handy to calm myself down. Um, but I, I find I I'm a people person. I don't like seeing people suffering. I don't like seeing people hurt. I don't know if that's my Aquarian nature in me. I don't know, but, um, my adoptive father raised me with the sense of social justice. He was a great man. He was a social worker. He was an ex prison prison officer. And, um, he taught me a lot about social justice. He taught me about, you know, looking into the soul of another human being and remembering that they all have potential somehow. And, uh, I try and look for the good in everybody. Sometimes I don't see it, but I try and look for the good. Um, you know, we have a homeless youth here at the moment who's in Queen Street, and he's on a skateboard because he hasn't got a wheelchair and he gets around on a skateboard. That's Third World stuff. He's homeless with his older brother who's 17. This is Third World stuff. He wants a home and he wants a job housing. New Zealand can't help him because he's single and he's you know, he doesn't meet their criteria or they haven't got a house for him and his older brother, and I doubt that the two of them are very literate people, but they want to work. And, uh, yet in this country right now, we have people like him who are hurting, who are suffering. Will you continue to do what you're doing is, um, through through your consultants, as we're saying as an advocate for these people or or do you have other ambitions or or plans for perhaps, for how you might continue, uh, to raise these and pursue these uh, concerns? I think whatever role I take on, I will pursue these concerns. I don't think I'll ever stop till the day I die because there's always something where someone needs to be heard, and at the moment, a lot of it is the fact that we have a convention for disabled persons, and New Zealand hasn't really done anything since it's been signed and ratified. You were on the steering committee for it. I was on the caucus. Yes. Steering committee? Yeah. And are you saying that even though it's been ratified by New Zealand, it's not being acted on? Yes, it's It hasn't been acted on, uh, for a couple of years now. And, you know, one of the examples was with the Christchurch earthquake. Um, there was no proper emergency plan for disabled that should have been put in place. It actually sits within the convention. But more than that, a group of us got together and actually found places for those that were homeless so that we could get them to Auckland. In the meantime, other things that we found talking to people who were struggling to cope Um, there were people there who were left without carers supports for a couple of days. You know, we we need, um, this type of thing where we need to be getting on top of it, and they need to be listening to us and saying, Well, OK, the disability community knows who's out there. Why are we not utilising them to get to them? Will you advocate on a national level? Will you go to Parliament? Indeed, as your university mentor did, uh, Margaret Wilson did. Do you see that in your future? Well, if a political party will have me, I would love to. I know the greens are quite interested. Uh, I don't know. I'm looking at local body at the moment. Um, you know, maybe get my teeth cut a little bit further on on local, if I can, Um, possibly looking at a board appointment if I can, Um, we'll see what the elections hold and and how I come out. Meanwhile, you're raising two sons, too. Well, they've raised them. They're grown now. Um, you know, they they can raise themselves now, which is really great. My baby's finally working and studying and doing his own thing, and and I'm happy for him, you know? He's he's found his place. Despite having his disabilities. He's actually managed to finally find a job, and he's 26. Couldn't find it in his youth, but he's finally found his little niche in life. And I'm happy for him. And my oldest son lives in Sydney. I gave him up for adoption, but him and his wife have opened the door, and I'm hoping in July to meet them and my first grandson, I was speaking to her recently about her career, her work and her remarkable life. The full transcription of the recording ends. A list of keywords/tags describing the recording follow. These tags contain the correct spellings of names and places which may have been incorrectly spelt earlier in the document. The tags are seperated by a semi-colon: 1960s ; 2010s ; Adelaide ; Aotearoa New Zealand ; Auckland ; Australia ; Coming Up ; Community Law ; Hamilton ; Housing New Zealand ; Huhana Hickey ; Human Rights Review Tribunal ; Job ; Kathryn Ryan ; Kira ; Korea ; Margaret Wilson ; Māori ; New Zealand Herald ; Northland ; Paula Bennett ; People ; Radio New Zealand ; Radio New Zealand National ; Stuff ; Taranaki ; Turkey ; Youth ; abuse ; access ; accessibility ; activism ; adoption ; advocate ; aggression ; attitude ; autism ; beating ; benefits ; birth certificate ; blood ; board ; breakdown ; building ; cancer ; career ; children ; class ; collective ; communication ; community ; computers ; council ; courts ; crime ; data ; depression ; difference ; disability ; disability rights ; dog ; drugs ; education ; employment ; ethnicity ; external resource ; face ; family ; farm ; fate ; fear ; freedom ; friends ; frustration ; funding ; future ; hate ; headmaster ; healing ; heritage ; history ; hit ; hockey ; hospital ; hotel ; housing ; human rights ; interpreter ; journey ; justice ; language ; law ; lawyer ; legal aid ; listening ; love ; mainstream ; mantra ; maui ; mayor ; media ; mentor ; nature ; news ; other ; pain ; parents ; photocopy ; plan ; planes ; poverty ; prison ; prisoners ; race ; radio ; reading ; rehabilitation ; research ; resilience ; review ; sad ; school ; siblings ; social ; social justice ; social welfare ; soul ; straight ; struggle ; study ; suffering ; support ; tease ; teeth ; time ; top ; travel ; treaty ; tribunal ; understanding ; university ; voice ; walking ; website ; wikipedia. org ; wisdom ; work ; writing. The original recording can be heard at this website https://www.pridenz.com/rnz_huhana_hickey.html. Huhana Hickey also features audibly in the following recordings: "Session 4, Disability". Please note that this document may contain errors or omissions - you should always refer back to the original recording to confirm content.