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Tōfā Mamao Collective is officially 2 years old as of last month, June. On Friday 10th July 2020, our official website went live! Tōfā Mamao Collective has come a long way, first starting with a group of like-minded people that had a shared interest in advancing the voices of the Pacific Disability Community and their lived experiences, as voices to be respected and taken seriously by our communities, wider public and society.
Tōfā Mamao Collective has committed themselves to some bold key targets. Valuing its unique position not as a traditional service provider, we aim to achieve our key objectives by influencing change through meaningful partnerships and genuine collaborations with like-minded individuals and organisations.
Through its regular monthly meetings, activities and events, Tōfā Mamao Collective provides a platform for young Pacific disabled people to gain valuable experiences and confidence, in preparation for future leadership opportunities.

More than 80 Pacific peoples with disabilities, their families, carers and providers gathered to celebrate International Day of Persons with Disabilities at the Ministry for Pacific Peoples office in Manukau. The event was hosted by Tōfā Mamao Collective, the Auckland regional Pacific disabled peoples and their families and carers collective; supported by PIASS Trust and the Ministry.
This years theme is "The Future is Accessible": the need for everyone to look towards a future where the barriers that stand in peoples way no longer exist. Hon. Jenny Salesa, Associate Minister of Health, encouraged those present to have their say and participate in the review into the New Zealand health and disability sector that is currently underway. The review is focused on ensuring the health and disability system is strong, equitable and sustainable.
Keynote speaker, Barry de Geest, Chief Executive of the Renaissance Group, shared his inspirational life story. Born with no arms and short legs as a result of the drug thalidomide, he has not let his disability stop him from achieving his dreams. Barry attended 'regular school', represented Otago in rowing, married, had children and in 2001 founded the Renaissance Group, one of New Zealand largest support organisation for peoples with disabilities.
"You're only limited by what you think! Have a go. You can do and be anything you want," said Barry de Geest.
Tunumafono Fa'amoetauloa Avaula Fa'amoe, Vice-Chair of PIASS Trust, meanwhile, spoke of the seen and unseen barriers that hinder peoples with disabilities' participation in society.
"We are not limited by our abilities but by how others perceive us and define us! We need to keep challenging those narrow mindsets to ensure disabled and abled people alike thrive and prosper," said Tunumafono Fa'amoetauloa Avaula Fa'amoe.

Resources
Information for Pacific peoples.
Useful posters for your workplace or community.
Information in sign language and easy read formats.
Find out what support is available for individuals, whānau, foreign nationals, and businesses.
Translations of essential information are available in 16 different languages on the COVID-19 website.
Up-to-date Alert Level information is on the COVID-19 website.
The COVID-19 Public Health Response (Alert Levels 3 and 2) Order 2020 outlines current restrictions and requirements.

Vaka Tautua has a FREE confidential helpline for Pacific peoples' who are feeling stressed, worried, or anxious to call to talk to someone and receive mental health or social services support (if required). The language lines are Cook Is., Samoan, Tongan, English with access to Niuean and Tuvaluan.

Vaka Tautua is a community PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) distributor for disabled peoples in the Auckland region for the Ministry of Health. This is to help make it easier for disabled peoples to get the PPE they need. This is only available to Pacific disabled people, their families and carers.

You can access this PPE by:
 - Completing the order form, or
 - Contacting Vaka Tautua (0800 825 282 select 6), ILS (0800 625 100) or Taikura Trust (0800 824 5872)

Mālō  lava creatives,

Does your work straddle intersections? Is it unclassifiable? Then we want to hear from you!
Lumana'i supports the future of bright, intriguing new work. Touch Compass would like to hear from anyone who has exciting, new projects. We want to support the development and creation of new work. The ideas can be for live performance or a digital work. Lumana'i is our first programme in our commitment to supporting new work that is disability-led.
Expressions open Aug 28th and close Sep 14th, 2020. Please reach out if you have any questions to the team.
Ia manuia,
Pelenakeke Brown(she/her)
Interim Artistic Director
Touch Compass
Web: TouchCompass.org.nz | FB: /TouchCompass | Insta: @TouchCompass | Twits: @TouchCompass | Vimeo: /TouchCompass

Tōfā Mamao Collective is the first collective of Pacific with people's disabilities, their families and carers, in New Zealand. Two years ago the group was formed with the goal of advancing the voice of Pacific disabled peoples and building better connections with disability services.

**This story was originally posted by Tagata Pasifika and reshared here for the information of our community. We do not own the rights to this material**

Ryze Fitness Adaptive Studio invites the public to inquire and sign-up for its upcoming Adaptive Pasifika Boxfit Program, FREE FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER!
See details below for more information;
Ryze Fitness Adaptive Studio
M: +64 2108431757
E: ryzefitness1852@gmail.com

We sat down with AJ Pouoa for an interview via ZOOM and talked about her amazing journey of courage and her involvement with the Pacific Collective group Tōfā Mamao Collective.

Introducing AJ Pouoa, a personal trainer, and an executive member of the Pacific Collective group Tōfā Mamao Collective.

AJ is originally from Christchurch and has spent most of her life in Australia. She is a former rugby union as well as a rugby league player before her accident in 2016 at the age of 35. "before my accident I was going to leave my job and start again, I was going to be a personal trainer anyway, I love health and fitness," explains AJ. After her accident, she spoke about having a difficult time accepting her new reality. I had a sulk for a few days and decided to move forward. I thought "No I'm going to go and get qualified, I need this." AJ received her personal trainer qualification in 2018 and completed a certificate in Adaptive Trainers in 2020. AJ is currently a personal trainer and runs her own fitness studio called Ryze Fitness Adaptive Studio. She is also an executive member of Tōfā Mamao Collective, an organisation for Pacific Disabled people, their families, and carers group in Auckland.

Can you tell us about your involvement in Tōfā Mamao Collective and what it has been like for you?

"Tōfā Mamao Collective is about lived experience as an executive member and as a Pacific Islander, I put myself out there as a person who has been through the system after my accident," said AJ.

How important is social connectedness for the Pacific Collective group in discussing issues and service access for Pacific Disabled people in a safe space?

"Super important, most Pacific Island families do not know these services are available to them, sometimes you'll find they are either too proud or too humble to ask for help. In most cases, Pacific families do not want to trouble anyone. So, it is good that we have all these services especially for Pacific people in New Zealand where they can access the information and know what to do from there."

Rachel Alivale is a Samoan born originally from Hawkes Bay now living in Wellington City.

We sat down with Rachel to discuss the new Pacific Collective Social Hub that will be established in Wellington soon.

Rachel is 28 years old and the oldest of five siblings. She is visually impaired and is classified as legally blind on the low spectrum of Stargardt. This is an inherited eye condition that affects the mascular.

The macular is the area on the retina that provides central vision. Someone with Stargardt has a reduction in their central vision and difficulty reading or seeing in dim light. 

Rachel enjoys photography and creating mini content for social media. She also likes listening to podcast on true crime, watching documentaries and anime'.

Introducing Rachel Alivale:

 - How has your journey been like as a Pacific disabled person?

"Well, I'm a very direct person, to keep it simple it's been rough. In the Pacific community having a disability is a little tabooed, no one wants to truly discuss or acknowledge that I have a disability. Everyone in the family suddenly became a Doctor/eye specialist. I grew up hearing a lot of misinformation alongside the cultural limited understanding of what disability is. I navigated through my disability on my own with the support of the Blind Foundation later on in my early teens. The language barrier was a major issue, we had to have translators explain the situation to my parents. There were times when it wasn't translated properly so I became the translator for my parents."

 - How important is connectedness to you?

"It is very important. It can determine life or death for people, especially for someone with a disability, it is a necessity to connect with people that either have similar experiences or medical conditions to your own. Gaining the appropriate information and accepting your disability, can offer a means to how someone can live their life to the fullest. Altogether this can prevent or at least minimise negative perceptions and mental health issues that may arise. People should understand that having a disability can naturally cause mental illnesses as it can be a traumatizing experience."

We sat down with Shamila Gurr the Community Outreach Coordinator at the Porirua Library and talked about the positive environment of working in the library.

We wanted to know how libraries are socially inclusive and how accessible the spaces, books and the building is for the Disabled community.

Advancing the voices of tagata sa’ilimalo (Pacific disabled people, their families/nofo-a-kainga, and carers/supporters/tautua soifua) in all levels of our society was further strengthened on Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th July 2021, when Tōfā Mamao Collective Wellington and Christchurch social hubs were officially launched through the Valuing Lived Experience project, a collaboration between Tōfā Mamao Collective, Vaka Tautua and PIASS Trust, funded by the Ministry of Health.

The purpose of the social hubs is for tagata sa’ilimalo to advocate and promote local issues that impact their daily lives and to connect with each other as well as their natural supports within their wider community.

“Both events were very successful in bringing our Pacific disabled people and our wider Pacific community together. I was very proud to attend both events and was privileged to hear some of our Pacific disabled peoples lived experiences through their personal stories and I am convinced that our regional approach in bringing forth the local leaders that can articulate challenges and solutions for their local area is the right strategy.” said the Tōfā Mamao Collective National Executive Officer, Tunumafono Ava Fa’amoe.