Talking about Neurodiversity and Invisible Disabilities

Dr. Annick Janson, Secretary, Fast Track Inclusion Trust, was approached by a group of organisations supporting youth with invisible disabilities and asked if she would author this State of the Sector report on Youth with Invisible Disabilities to describe the stories and research around this topic. The report was launched at a spectacular New Zealand Parliament event!

Reference: Janson, A. (2017) The lived experience of invisible disability for children, youth and their families in New Zealand, In: State of the Sector Report: A Youth Perspective on Invisible Disabilities, p. 13-55. The Cube: Albany, New Zealand. Download the report from: ResearchGate To accompany the research findings are comments from youth with invisible disabilities and from the CUBE - the collective who has commissioned the report.

We had TWO ministers there: Hon. Nicky Wagner, Minister for Disability Issues (top photo with Trisha Benge and Helen Gempton, McKenzie Centre and Yaniv, Robin, Annick and Melissa Janson) and Hon. Maggie Barry, Minister Arts Culture and Heritage (bottom right photos), and a host of personalities and supporters.

We were thrilled that this report was so well received and looking forward to the next stage: filling in the gaps! Next we convened a research summit to find out what about the lived experiences of these families and youth that will help us provide support and leadership to increase outcomes and results for them. As the report gained traction, more service providers were interested in implementing its findings.