People First New Zealand Inc. – Nga Tangata Tuatahi “Nothing about us without us” From across the Tasman

Kia Ora Hello From Aotearoa New Zealand -the land of the long white cloud 2 Kiaora Hello from New Zealand

3 My Hometown - Nelson

About People First NZ Our work with the United Nations Convention 4 What we are going to talk about

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People First is International People First started in Salem Oregon in America in People First is in many countries like England, Scotland, Canada and Germany and here in Australia. 6

People First in New Zealand People First was started in 1984 in New Zealand. It was started and supported by Ihc for the first 20 years. 7

In 2003 Ihc supported People First to become an independent organisation. On the 16th of October 2003 People First launched the independent organisation at Parliament and then we had a party! Going Independent 8

People First NZ is a Disabled Persons Organisation ( DPO). This means People First only has Disabled people in its governance structure. It is a national self advocacy organisation led by and for people with learning disability. People First is an Incorporated Society and there are hundreds of members from all over New Zealand. 9 People First – Nga Tangata Tuatahi

10 To be a member you need to have a learning/intellectual disability and be over the age of 18. People First – Nga Tangata Tuatahi

People First Groups and Regions People First has around 30 local groups that are split into 6 regions 11

Members learn about their rights and how to self advocate for what they want:  in their lives  In their community Local groups have guest speakers 12 People First Local Groups

Local groups work with other disability advocacy organisations such as DPA Members get involved in local events 13

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People First NZ has a national office in Wellington National office staff are: Cindy Johns National Manager Crystal Fang National Finance Manager-based in Auckland Janet Doughty Projector Coordinator Phyllis McPherson Members Database Coordinator-based in Dunedin 15 People First National Office Staff

If you can‘t be a member, you can still support People First by becoming a Friend. Friends get the People First newsletter. Friends can give their time or money or both to assist People First at local, regional or national levels. 16 Friends of People First NZ - Nga Tangata Tuatahi

People First also does a range of projects Two of these projects are: leadership development speaking up courses 17 People First Projects

People First has a national project doing leadership development in the regions and holding a national leadership forum at the end of the year. 18 People First Leadership

Speaking Up Courses Speaking Up courses assist people to speak up in their life People First has trained members and assistants to lead Speaking Up groups 19

People First also: provides disability information and advice has an Easy Read translation service Has an employment advocacy service – Works4Us 20 More about People First NZ - Nga Tangata Tuatahi

People First also: Has members at many national advisory groups and committees Speaks up at government level Is part of the UN Convention Coalition monitoring the rights of Disabled people 21 More about People First New Zealand

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People First’s Work with the UN Convention 23

24 Robert Martin at the UN

Speaking up Use the Easy Read convention to speak up 25

Learning and teaching others 26

The Convention Coalition 27 Disabled Persons Organisation ( DPO)

Convention Coalition work 28

Convention Coalition work Writing a report 29

Easy Read Translations Having information in ways we can understand 30

Winning an award 31

Keep speaking up Our work with the Convention will not stop here 32

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