This summer, I had the opportunity to spend my summer working with Kaipātiki Project as part of my Laidlaw Leadership in Action experience. Tucked away in Auckland’s North, the Kaipātiki Project is a beautiful space- an eco hub with a passionate community of staff and volunteers passionate about sustainability, restoration, and now inclusion and accessibility, thanks to the enthusiasm of the amazing team about my project!
I joined the wonderful team in the office to undertake a leadership project focused on accessibility and inclusion for neurodiverse and rainbow communities. Working alongside the Funding & Impact Lead and Communications & Engagement Lead, I set out to create an accessibility assessment and roadmap that would help guide the Kaipātiki project's future work in making their space more inclusive, not just in theory, but in practice.
My project involved identifying the barriers that neurodivergent and queer people might face in accessing Kaipātiki project's spaces and initiatives, whether that’s volunteering in the nursery, joining in a stream regeneration day, or simply feeling like they belong in the Eco Hub’s community culture. For neurodiverse people, this can be about working on anything from lighting and noise levels, to communication styles, signage, and sensory spaces. For rainbow communities, it was important to bring intersectionality into the Eco Hub. Queerness in Aotearoa exists in a context where valuing the lived experiences of takatāpui, Pacific and Māori rainbow whānau means weaving anti-racism and a commitment to decolonisation into the very heart of inclusion work. This project aimed to challenge the real life effects of accessibility goals: Are we showing our values in visible, tangible ways? Are rainbow and neurodiverse people able to feel safe here without having to advocate for themselves first? Active allyship means anticipating needs, and not waiting to be told how to make somebody feel included.
The staff at Kaipātiki project are continuously committing to creating an organisation where neurodivergent and rainbow people are not just accommodated, but celebrated. These actions are truly transformative for individuals and for the wider community. This diversity and creation of new relationships and understanding between communities is something that brings richness, creativity, and depth to every project.
Kaipātiki’s mission is to grow a sustainable future for people and nature, and that future is strongest when it includes the entire community. I am so pleased to know that the recommendations and informative posters I made have proved to be a useful resource to the organisation. I feel so grateful to have played a part in this new chapter of their story, and I can’t wait to see how they continues to evolve.