Disability Action Plan Reference Group: Helen Vann - the voice of Te Mahi Ako's workplaces

Published 15 November 2023
Te Mahi Ako (TMA) has a commitment to being inclusive of disabled people and creating equitable outcomes for people in achieving their goals. Meet Helen Vann, TMA’s newly appointed voice of TMA’s amazing workplaces under the Disability Action Plan Reference Group (DAPRG).

TMA is committed to supporting people with disabilities through its Disability Action Plan. The group reviews and enhances TMA’s Disability Action Plan, providing ongoing feedback and implementing initiatives such as external appointments, disability support courses, and collaborations with agencies like the Ministry of Social Development and Workbridge to assist disabled ākonga (learners) in gaining employment.  

Helen is the swim school manager and workplace mentor at YMCA Auckland. Helen’s impressive academic background in neurodiversity and inclusion informs her mahi significantly “I trained as a nurse, then went off and did some nannying, decided to go back and do some more study – at the same time fell into swim school management and decided to use my degree and background to make this space more inclusive and give more people more opportunities. If one way doesn’t work you’ve got to find another way. Now, for some people, the apprenticeship is a little tricky to pass”.   

Helen’s mahi is vital in the education sector “there needs to be different options for people to complete their qualification – completing it online is not always going to work. My point is, there needs to be a real focus on accessibility”.   

Helen recounts a story of a young man she took on board a few years back who had cerebral palsy “One of his barriers was actually getting to the YMCA - no other swim school would take him on board, but he was just super interested in swimming. He lacked a lot of confidence, and his main barrier was access and getting around – more places need to give people a chance. He really wanted a job but by the time he got here he would’ve already spent his wage – I really felt for him”.   

In terms of accessibility, Helen wants to focus on various different options that can be provided for different ākonga to complete their qualifications “online is not always going to be the way to go – we need more clarity and more options to make qualifications accessible – I mean, I can’t speak for all sectors, but I can definitely speak for aquatics”.   

“Sometimes people need more additional support, and we don’t know how to support them because of funding and resources – we need to create solutions for this”.