Self-contracted disability support worker Emma Kent’s fed up with some of the behaviour she’s seen directed towards young people she works with in Queenstown.
The work involves transitioning them from youth to adult services and preparing them to integrate into the community.
But Kent says, in public, she’s constantly dealing with funny looks, giggling, and adults even pulling children out of the way.
"The behaviour was cemented for me recently after I took one of my clients, Blake, to a Waitangi Day event in Queenstown Gardens — grown adults were laughing at our faces."
Kent notes Blake, 20, is completely aware of what’s going on around him.
Part of her job is to get Blake into the community and socialise with people who aren’t neurodiverse — she’s been helping him learn how to order food, use his eftpos card, and ride the bus, safely, for example.
While Blake’s got a huge heart — "his mind goes straight to helping others and trying to make them feel happy" — that’s not necessarily being reciprocated, Kent says.
She’s also "repeatedly been told to f ... off" when asking people without disability badges showing to move from accessible parking spots, and believes more awareness is needed.
"Because Queenstown is what it is, always tourism and happy stuff and everything’s perfect, you don’t hear anything about these guys.
"It’s like they don’t exist until they’re put in front of your face — and then people just don’t know what to do.
"People don’t seem to understand they’re just everyday people, trying to live their lives."
