News
At a recent Rehabilitation International (RI) Assembly, held in New York in August this year, Anne Hawker was elected to be the organisation's next president. She will assume this leadership role in 2008. In New Zealand, Anne is known for her work promoting rehabilitation in ACC and the Ministry of Health, for her role as National President of the Disabled Peoples' Assembly (NZ) and for her work in the Head Injury Society of New Zealand.
RI is a global network for promoting and implementing the rights and inclusion of people with disabilities. It is currently composed of more than 700 members from over 95 countries. RI is actively involved in representing rehabilitation perspectives on the international stage. As an example of their work, RI was recently working with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Anne will be the first woman to be President of RI - which is saying something since this organisation was been around since 1922. Anne informs us that she also happens to be the first person with a disability to be President of this organisation but is not, as it happens, the first kiwi in this role. The first New Zealanders to be President of Rehabilitation International was John Stott, who was elected President at the RI World Congress held in Auckland in 1996.
Anne tells us that the next RI World Congress will be held in Tuisia, which has been chosen because it is the ‘gateway to both Africa and the Arab region'. This is because RI is looking to promote rehabilitation and equal participation in these areas of the world.
We at the NZRA wish Anne all the best with her new role and with RI future activities!
William Levack
