Andy Woodhouse (Disability Sector Project Manager) - Altbays Table Talk #242
Do you think Aotearoa NZ is an accessible country? Andy Woodhouse, a Project Manager in the Disability Sector, has lived in NZ for 21 years and been a Youth and Community Worker for 30 years. He joins the Altbays Table Talk to chat with Leo and Azzie McLean about access and reach in the country.
Show 242 – Andy Woodhouse (Disability Sector Project Manager)
Welcome to the Altbays Table Talk (feat. Azzie McLean and Leo Magri)
Andy Woodhouse, a Project Manager in the Disability Sector, has lived in NZ for 21 years and been a Youth and Community Worker for 30 years.
His involvement with people living with disabilities goes back
23 years when he had to do a placement that was out of his comfort zone as part
of his Post-Grad in Youth and Community Work. He chose to work with a
disability group as he had no experience of that. It was then that the epiphany
happened, and he saw the people, not the disabilities. This was a profound
moment that shaped his community work from that point on.
The general theme of his community work career has been Access
and Reach, and so he has spent time getting vulnerable and low-socio-economic
young people to access schemes such as the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. This work
got him a job in NZ, and that is how he got to meet his current employers, the
Helen Anderson Trust in Christchurch. Previously, he had collaborated with HAT
for about 19 years in his previous jobs with the Duke of Edinburgh's Award and
the Spirit of New Zealand Tall Ship.
Locally, he is helping Azzie to set up a trust so that funding
can be obtained to improve and extend disability access in Whitianga and create
a holiday destination for people with disabilities.
He is passionate about integration and access for people with
disabilities, believing that he has as much right as anybody else to exist and
to engage with mainstream activities and people.
ALTBAYS Show invites awesome people from Aotearoa to have an honest, laid-back conversation. Our platform focuses on bringing communities together to grow and thrive.
