Dan: Most people are bringing out the Christmas trees about now. At Attitude we are sending
the big guy off for a spruce up so he’s looking sharp for the Attitude awards.
Tanya: This will be the 3rd Attitude Awards celebrating the achievements of Kiwi’s living
with a disability.
Kristy: Next week we bring you an hour-long special from the event. Today we introduce
you to the 18 fabulous finalists.
Tanya: The Attitude Awards are held here at Eden Park.
Dan: We roll up with the outside broadcast vans and rig up seven cameras, planning starts
months in advance. Last years event was hosted by Simon Dallow.
Simon: 2nd Attitude Awards and isn’t great that they’re back. The team at Attitude
dreamed up the awards, the idea was simple use the awards to highlight the way people
are getting on enjoying life doing extraordinary things and celebrate those achievements.
V/O: Simon was joined on stage with a few of Attitude’s friends.
Amy Bonnalack: The Attitude Artistic Achievement Award.
Shakti Krishnan: The Attitude Sport Performer Award of the year.
Claudia Howett: The Attitude ACC Employer Award.
The winner for the 2009 Attitude ACC Supreme Award goes to Roberta Francis.
Dan: Simon Dallow did such a great job at last year’s awards we had to invite him
back.
Simon: With flattery like that how can I say no, it was an absolutely fabulous night, I’m
sure this year is going to be even better. The Courage and Sport Award is for a person
striving to lead an active life despite their disability. The finalists are Jess Hamill,
Shakti Krishnan and Jayne Parsons.
V/O: Shakti Krishnan is heading to the top of the mountain in more ways than one.
Shakti: Having a disability doesn’t slow me down at all.
V/O: From a young age the 12 year old has taken every sporting opportunity suggested
to him.
Shakti: When you are in a wheelchair all the time in sport you can go out there and do
things by yourself more independently. I guess it’s just the feeling of being almost free.
V/O: Initially sport was therapy. When Shakti was a baby they were told he might never venture
far from his bed. They refused to let his Spina bifida have a negative impact. Shanty’s
entered triathlons, his training in wheelchair racing and recently in the Para table tennis
nationals he took home gold. When he first began playing outdoor tennis he didn’t have
the strength to pick up a racket. Shakti enjoys all sport but thinks perhaps he’ll represent
New Zealand at the Para Olympics as a skier.
Shakti: Having a disability I think it actually makes me go out there doing more things than
other people. If there’s an opportunity out there I want to grasp it.
V/O: Jess Hamill’s skill in shoot put earned her a medal at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
Jess: It was just you know incredible, it was really satisfying.
V/O: But it was her courage that got her there in the first place. This is a young woman
who doctor’s predicted wouldn’t live beyond the age of two. Jess was born with cerebral
palsy; she’s faced discrimination, when she applied to study sports massage she was
told she couldn’t do it from her wheelchair. Jess finds her own way to do things; she is
now on her way to becoming a qualified massage therapist.
Jess: People with disabilities are no different, they’re just the same people, you know,
enjoying life and doing what they love.
V/O: Her athletic career had humble beginnings, practising shot put in the paddock next to
her Invercargil home. When she qualified for the Commonwealth Games she hurdled the shot
put to a New Zealand and Oceania record of 7.43 metres.
Jess: What keeps me driving along is just thinking of getting a medal on the podium.
I want a gold medal at the London Para-Olympics.
Jayne: When I’ve got my serious training going I’m very focused.
V/O: Jane Parsons moves along in life with a huge amount of drive and confidence, doing
things with purpose, yet without sight. Blind in both eyes as a result of domestic violence,
she’s channelled any negative energy into excelling at sport.
Jayne: I lost my sight in my right eye as a result of a beating and I was also pregnant
and I lost one of my babies as a result of that as well. I wasn’t going to give up,
I either could keep going or I die and I wasn’t going to do that. I got on with it and if
I can get out there and do that and it helps to encourage other people who have got disability
to get out there and do something, that’s a big thing for me.
V/O: Jane’s already achieved Bronze in the 2008 Para-Olympic Road Time Trial. This year
she won Silver in the UCI Para-Cycling World Champs. The medal came just months after major
hip surgery to remove cysts and repair damaged cartilage.
Jayne: On the track I get this big lump in my throat because it’s something that really
touches my heart. I think that with all the abuse I went through many years ago this is
given me the freedom and the enjoyment to be who I am.
Tanya: We want to treat the finalist’s family and friends to a really special evening that
includes a delicious meal. Through here we are planning the menu and today food tasting
time. We’re lucky enough to have chief Julian Gill cooking what the 500 guests will have
on the night; he’s a bit of a perfectionist, much like our Art Award Finalist. The Artistic
Achievement Award recognises an outstanding artist.
Chef Julian: And the finalists are Andrew Blyth, Suzanne Kahurangi King and Celeste
Strewe.
V/O: When Celeste Strewe is working on her body art she’s in a world of her own and
that suits her just fine. Born with severe hearing loss Celeste wears hearing aids and
lip-reads.
Celeste: I think I got to the point where I don’t think of my hearing as too much
of a hurdle.
V/O: Celeste was subjected to bullying in her early years of high school, her self-esteem
was crushed.
Celeste: I’d come home just about in tears and so I think a lot of it came from the fact
that like family was strong and they said just basically don’t put up with it, don’t
let them you know.
V/O: When she transferred to Kelston School for the Deaf she flourished and so did her
art. Celeste is determined to make a name for herself in the Special Affects Industry.
She’s also trained as a Make-Up Artist. She’s already been named Best Emerging Artist
at the New Zealand Body Art Awards.
Celeste: I tend to just do it you know if I want to get there and I do want to get there
so I’ll just do it and try and get there by any means possible.
V/O: The words of painter and poet Andrew Blyth have been shown in New York, Paris and
Chicago. The International recognition Andrew’s received from the art world has had a positive
impact on his Paranoid Schizophrenia. Andrew’s had period of being extremely unwell to the
point where he stopped communicating with others altogether. But he’s recognises the
need to purposely reengage with the world; even so art remains his focus. This year Andrew’s
health has increased dramatically to the point he was able to move into his own home and
begin living independently for the first time in 14 years. Andrew spends all day, most days,
perfecting his art.
Andrew: The creation of something you know, you’re expressing something, it’s like
you know, expressing something inside of me you know.
V/O: For years Andrew moved in and out of hospital, the world was terrifying. Today
it’s his art that gives his life purpose.
Andrew: I was never one to fall in love, you know, with people around the place, because
I’ve always been on the dole, yeah painting is, it’s like being in love, or is being
in love, it’s like being in love, its wonderful yeah.
V/O: Suzanne Kahurangi King hasn’t communicated verbally since 2004 when autism led her into
silence. But she’s recorded her view of the world through more than 4,000 art works.
Susan’s 80-year-old mother Dawn has kept most of those art works.
Dawn: Oh I think it means the whole world to her, I mean it’s just her yeah, it’s
just what goes on in her mind, what she observes and it’s her fun. She’d draw on anything,
you’d give her some lovely paper but then she’d open up a Weetbix box and draw on
the back of that.
V/O: Suzanne was raised in an era when few children with autism were diagnosed. When
she was in her 20’s tutors at the prestigious Elam School of Fine Art’s recognised her
talent, but no one ensured that talent was nurtured. Suzanne turned away from her art
for 30 years, now in her late 50’s she’s back drawing; her work is being applauded
by curators, in both New Zealand and Australia.
Dawn: It was just like, you know, an awareness coming out. You know you can see even a twinkle
in her eye, she had this smile on her face of other people appreciating her things, like
as if I am somebody of importance I can do these things.
Kristy: Jaden Movold has been part of the Attitude family for five years now and he
tends to steal the show wherever he goes. This year Jaden’s helping co-host the awards
so I thought he’d be the perfect person to help me introduce the finalists for the
Attitude Youth Award.
Jaden: And the finalists are
Kristy: Duncan Armstrong, Lynn Chen and Alex Sneddon.
V/O: At just 22 Alex Sneddon is already in demand as a public speaker, that fits perfectly
with his life goals.
Alex: To be a role model for disabled people.
V/O: This year Alex addressed the World Down Syndrome Conference in Ireland. Alex works
three jobs, he volunteers at the Auckland Food Bank and for a Youth Disability Camp
but mostly he wants to mentor young people with disabilities.
Alex: It’s the way that I live my life is to be happy, be positive and be independent.
V/O: She’s an accomplished musician, a sports force to be reckoned with and a promising
scientist. Lynn Chen somehow manages to do it all.
Lynn: I work quite hard at some things, you need to believe in yourself and you need to
find a way to motivate yourself.
V/O: Lynn was born profoundly deaf and while she has a coglier implant sounds are difficult
to distinguish. She’s learnt, English, Mandarin and New Zealand sign language to communicate
with her family and peers.
Lynn: With hearing impairment you tend to miss out on bits of conversations because
it’s really hard to listen all the time.
V/O: Lynn concentrates hard in the classroom to hear and understand and the effort is taking
her places, this year Lynn was invited to the prestigious Deaf Space Camp in the US,
a kind of astronaut training.
Lynn: It was the greatest experience you could ever go to.
V/O: Life’s really full yet Lynn makes time to volunteer teaching English as a second
language. It’s through the challenges she’s faced that Lynn’s learnt to push her limits.
Lynn: Having a disability does make life harder, as long as you have a positive outlook on
life and yes that’s made me more determined.
V/O: The first 21 years of Duncan Armstrong’s life have been spent laying the foundation
for his dream to be a performer and advocate.
Duncan: I’ve been in plays and shows and stuff. I’ve wanted to be a performer all
my life really. I love performing, it’s fun and people out there like it.
V/O: Duncan’s an actor, drummer, songwriter, he’s on the Wellington Youth City Council
and has presented to a wide range of conferences. He does volunteer work for a dance company,
a church group and an Art Programme.
Duncan: You need to get up and actually yeah if you don’t you’re life can be destroyed.