Today’s episode features a conversation with Helen Vivienne Fletcher, talking about her life as a disabled writer and what inspires her.

Helen writes for children and young adults. She’s also a playwright, a spoken-word poet and a creative writing teacher living in Wellington, New Zealand.

This episode features a conversation with Robyn Hunt. Robyn is a fierce advocate for disability rights. Also a writer, she-co founded Crip the Lit as a way for Deaf and disabled writers to have their unique voices, perspectives and stories included and valued in mainstream writing in Aotearoa New Zealand.

In this episode, Judith Jones, a visitor host at Te Papa museum in Wellington, New Zealand and an experienced audio describer, offers advice for anyone interested in learning the art of audio description. We also get to listen to one of her audio descriptions.

In this first Arts Access Aotearoa podcast, we hear from Karen Seccombe, who set up WAI - the Women’s Art Initiative in 2013 as a response to her experience of intimate partner violence. WAI is a creative space in Palmerston North, New Zealand, facilitated by a group of women who have all experienced violence and abuse. Karen talks about creative resistance, their collective exhibition process, leadership structures, and creating an art space that is welcoming and nurturing.