and it's gonna be
quite a big day I'm not really sure what to expect
I'm taking a complaint to the Human Rights Commission
about an event that was organized and I felt
I had no way enjoying the event or even having
access to basic things, and I want to get that dealt with the future
not entirely sure what my role in the mediation
will be
from my point of view the event had gone smoothly
I was so excited
and come all the way from Taranaki with my friend we'd put together a big
trip
and I had spent a lot of money and I was really you know hyped-up
everything looks really smooth you know people parked as usual
there were no parks available
there weren't any double parkings or anything
they were disabled parking spots but everyone had
disregarded the signs
smiles on people's faces you know
everyone was having a great time really excited
once I finally found a disabled bathroom
it was locked and I couldn't use it
Oh it was a great success
it was jsut shocking, it was a total shambles
when I heard that a complaint had been laid I was quite surprised
yeah, but we'll see how the mediation goes
I feel
completely insulted
as if i dont matter at all
my needs are invisible
I'm Hilary, I'm a mediator it the Commission and I recieve
and mediate complaints about discrimination when people arrive there
when people arrive they're often
anxious or nervous about what's going to happen in the mediation meeting
now role is to create an environment that's gonna make it easy for them to air their views
this process
allows you to have a very full and frank discussion
really want to get as much information as possible so that you make you really
informed decision at the end of it
needs to be discrimination under the Human Rights Act which means it needs to be
need to have been treated and unfavorably because of one of the
thirteen different grounds of discrimination which include gender or disability,
or race or marital status
and and it needs to have happened in an area of public life
I'm not here to make a decision for you it's the complainant is called the
complaint to the
Commission and and the person who
is often called the respondent on the other side of the other party
and any other people who
have got any bearing on the complaint so people might bring along
their HR person, their manager, the complainant might bring a support
person along - anyone can bring support person
it's great to have your apology
what I'm asking for is confirmation that there will be specific action
that this will be a priority not just something you're responding to and saying
oh
that happened nothing we can do about it now
a simple apology, an acknowledgement of what's happened
and to change an environment
or and some sort of training, or it could encompass financial compensation
so we have come to an agreement
I have agreed to actually help out the next event which is quite exciting
Amanda will be a real asset to us she's going to come in
and take an advisers role
it didn't cost me anything and it was really easy to set up
you can get hold of us by calling our 0800 number
or through our website
I would say that it went really well
better than expected actually
I'm really excited to see the improvement, I think next times going to be great
Thank you