A huge thank you to Dr Hemant Thakkar, Nan Jensen and Erika Butters for sharing their expertise and knowledge around Succession Planning so that we can start preparing for the day we're no longer able to care or advocate for our disabled children.

The first three sessions of this series covered:

• Introduction to Succession Planning
• Legal Aspects of Succession Planning and Supported Decision Making
• Choosing, Recruiting and Managing an Advocate

The series will conclude with an online workshop to assist families with questions regarding their plans on Tuesday 26^th November at 7pm. This session is available via Zoom only.

This is a free event for disabled people, their parents and whanau. Professionals $50.  

RSVP to book your place - admin@disabilityconnect.org.nz

Note: only registered participants will receive a copy of the notes from each session. We will have videos from the first 3 sessions available on our website by February next year.

Disability Connect Support Groups

• Zoom Parents Support Group - Every Monday 7-8pm
  Open to anyone seeking advice or support for parenting, upcoming Needs Assessments, starting or leaving school and anything in-between. Robyn would love to meet and chat about anything that is important to you.
• Parent Support Group - new dates for 2025 coming soon
• Chinese Support Group - new dates for 2025 coming soon

For more Disability Support Groups click here

Disability Connect Seminars and Workshops

• Planning for Adulthood - Thursday 21 November, 11am-2pm via Zoom. This seminar covers areas such as Welfare Guardianship, Power of Attorney, Property Management and how a Trust may be useful for managing property. Click here for more information.
  To register, email admin@disabilityconnect.org.nz
• Seminar details and dates for 2025 coming soon

Please note some seminars do have a fee. Please let us know if this is a barrier to being able to attend. Clicking on the link will take you to the information.

Disability Support Services (DSS)

The Disability Support Services (DSS) website is now up and running, and they want your feedback on how disability support services should best be provided in the future.

They are seeking feedback on three main topics:

• General questions on future disability support services;
• Flexible funding and eligibility and what funding can be used for; and
• Needs assessments and the allocation of support.

For more information, please click here.

You can share your thoughts by completing the survey here.  The survey closes on Friday, 22 November.

We suggest you subscribe to the DSS newsletter to receive up to date information.

State of Caring - Carers, have your say

More than a million New Zealanders care for family members / whānau who are unwell, frail, or have a health condition or disability. Yet family carers often feel invisible, taken for granted in their role. If this sounds like you, and you’d like to add your voice, Carers NZ would like to hear from you, through our State of Caring survey. Your input will help us understand how carers are doing, how you can be better supported, and guide advocacy efforts for better outcomes.

We would love to hear from as many of you as possible, to build a better picture of how caring affects different people. The anonymised results of this survey will be published later this year.

Participants who provide contact details can enter a draw to win vouchers. To find out more or take part, click on the link State of Caring survey

Please note that this survey takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.

Are funding changes affecting you and your family?

Our friends at Carers NZ would like to hear from people and family carers about whether funding changes have affected your health/disability supports. If you or someone you assist has recently had a new needs assessment or review, please complete our short survey - have your supports increased, decreased, or stayed the same? If supports have decreased, what was the reason, and are they meeting your needs? Having this picture is important right now. Thanks for giving input – we’ll be sharing what we learn by the end of the month. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GYYCHVZ

Your voice matters!

Make your voices heard by signing both of the petitions below:

Carers NZ Petition - Recognise and protect New Zealand’s family, whānau and āiga carers

To have your say, you can also write to your local MP or email us at admin@disabilityconnect.org.nz

Great information on our website!

• Newsletters from other disability organisations
• Useful links page
• Disability Support Guides - English, Chinese, Korean and Arabic
• View all news and updates on our information pages on our website.

I am looking forward to showing you the amazing Thermomix®! Find out what it is, what it can do and how easy it is to use. Most importantly, how it can help you in your daily life, whether you are caring for somebody with special needs or you are facing your own health or mobility challenges. Learn about the functions and modes that can save you time, money and energy in the kitchen. See how easy it is to plan meals and even order your groceries from one place.

Book here for Zoom Thursday 28 November at 8pm: 

https://tinyurl.com/mr2udjrm

We are available Monday-Friday 9am-4.30pm 

admin@disabilityconnect.org.nz

Phone 09 636 0351

We are here to help you with the best information, advice and support for living the best life possible.

Disability Connect can now receive online donations via credit card. We appreciate any donation from you!