New group for disabled

Press, 31 March 1980, Page 10

New group for disabled

A branch of Rehabilitation International has been formed in New Zealand.

Formed to provide a common meeting ground for all national groups working with disabled people, Rehabilitation International New Zealand (R.1.N.Z.) will' take over and extend a service which has been provided for the last 20 years .by the. New Zealand Crippled Children Society. . ; At a meeting in ' Welling? ton attended by representatives of 25 national bodies, the new group was formally set up and Ms Ann Ballin of Christchurch was appointed as chairman. Ms Ballin was named last year as the chairman of the organising committee for next year’s programme of the. International. Year of the Disabled in -New Zealand. She will represent New Zealand at a conference of Rehabilitation International in Winnipeg, Canada, later this year. Ms Ballin said R.I.N.Z. would promote the rehabilitation of disabled people and would receive , and disperse information about rehabilitation among its members. It would provide co-ordination and liaison among its members and support and encourage research.

The R.I.N.Z. executive committee will also act as the executive committee for the International Year of the Disabled, Ms Ballin said. The executive committee members and their organisations are: Mr J. B. Munro, Society for the Intellectually Handicapped; Mr Q. E. Angus, Council for ; .the Dis-

abled; Mr R. Archer, Society for the Deaf; Mr. J. M. Moulder, Civilian - Amputees’ Association; Mrs C. Purdom, Riding for tire Disabled;'Mi - J. S. Rutherford; Crippled Children Society; and Mr J. J. Weir, Rehabilitation League. ,? , ' ■ ■ ■ - '■

The Minister of. Social Welfare (Mr Gair) will also appoint representatives from three Government departments 'each year.