Chairperson: Bill Wrightson
MNZM, MBSc (Arch), BA, TC Dip. Principal of Wrightson Associates.
Bill has 38 years professional and consumer experience (as a quadriplegic wheelchair user) creating universally usable built environments. He has been published and lectured in New Zealand, the USA, Sweden and Canada on accessibility matters.
He directed the Barrier Free Programme for CCS Disability Action from 1980 to 1988, Chaired the NZS 4121:2001 Standards NZ Review Committee and with his consulting practice has completed over 1600 commissioned research, advisory and assessment tasks on building access and usability.
He was a member of the old Building Industry Authority, is a past President of the Disabled Persons Assembly of NZ and currently a member of the Access Advisory Panel of the Department of Building and Housing.
He has a Master of Building Science degree in architecture on Universally Usable Buildings and is currently completing a PhD on accessibility and safe building design.
Bill is determined to see that none of the hard won legislative and compliance entitlements for disabled people is lost and he has a vision for extending the current requirements for access to public buildings into private housing. In addition to chairing the Trust, Bill chairs the Technical Advice and Guidance focus group.
Vivian Naylor
BSc (Hons) London, CCS Disability Action - Northern Region, Barrier Free Advisor & Educator.
Vivian joined the Trust because she believes in the importance of designing the built environment in a way that is safe and usable by everyone and she fully identifies with the Trust's goals.
Vivian brings 40 years of lived experience of mobility impairments, both as a wheelchair user and walker with calipers and crutches. She has an indepth knowledge of other physical as well as sensory impairment and how design features of the built environment impact negatively on people.
She believes buildings are with us for a minimum of 50 years and we need to be thinking long term on the advantages of Universal Design in both public places and private houses. NZ can learn so much from the mistakes experienced in the Northern Hemisphere when homes were not designed to work for all generations and they are now facing shortages in housing that caters for an ageing population.
The importance of Sustainability is increasingly being acknowledged and designing all buildings that better meet the needs of everyone, reduces the requirement for major modifications in the future. A smaller carbon footprint.
Jonty Tetley BSc
Post graduate study at Victoria University and Website Designer.
Jonty joined the Trust in order to do proactive work on access for people with disabilities and also network with like minded people. Jonty chairs the Education focus group and has been a motorised chair user for 20+ years.
Carina Duke
Practice Advisor for Adult Orientation and Mobility Instructors at the Royal NZ Foundation of the Blind.
Carina also has an Environmental role to provide information on best practice for the Design of Buildings and the Roading Environments for persons who have vision impairment or are deaf/blind to external agencies.
Carina advocates for an environment that is accessible for everyone.
Gary Williams
Gary is Ngati Porou, lives in Christchurch and is mandated by DPA to help the Trust achieve its mission.
He works as consultant to the disability and NGO sectors. Gary's particular interests are issues for disabled people and especially disabled Maori, leadership development and training, the rights of disabled people and effective organisational governance and management.
Prior to moving to Christchurch, he was the CEO of DPA for 11 years. This afforded the status to influence decision-makers, gain high-level skills and work towards making the world a better place for disabled people.
It was in this role that Gary gained intimate knowledge of the plethora of disabled peoples’ issues and how they should be addressed.
Before DPA, Gary worked as a specialist software developer for GNS Sciences.
Annual Reports:
2010-2011 Barrier Free NZ Trust Annual Report
2009-2010 Barrier Free NZ Trust Annual Report
Download the report as a PDF
2008-2009 Barrier Free NZ Trust Annual Report
2007-2008 Barrier Free NZ Trust AGM Report
2006-07 Barrier Free NZ Trust AGM Report
2005-06 Barrier Free NZ Trust AGM Report
Advisory Groups Opportunity
The Trustees have formed advisory groups within the Trust team.
The groups are: education, advice and guidance, business development, research and initiatives and youth. Community members have been invited to join the groups as they discuss and debate the various functions of the Trust. If you are interested in joining any of these groups, the time commitment is limited to less than 10 hours a year but the opportunity for challenging and interesting discussion is huge. Vicinity is no barrier, we welcome expressions of interest from anywhere within NZ.
Please make contact with Lorraine via email or telephone to discuss further ceo@barrierfreenz.org.nz or 04 915 5848.
