“The Alli Way of Life”
The autobiography of Allison Franklin

I was born in Christchurch in 1959 and, a lack of oxygen during my breech birth resulted in brain damage causing cerebral palsy. The prognosis my parents received was a grim one, I was not expected to survive a week, but if I did, they were told that I would have a severe disability, probably never walk or talk…much less think!

I not only survived, but flourished, in the care of my loving family who always treated me as “normal”. In 1964 I was “main-streamed” before the term had been coined, attending my local primary school before I could walk or speak clearly. The book details these early years, the challenges that were faced and overcome, the commitment of my parents, siblings, teachers and friends to ensuring that I had every opportunity to try, and succeed in most, activities. Two major events were being sent to a unit in Rotorua for six months to acquire daily living skills, and accompanying my parents on a trip to England in 1972.

I describe the less-than-positive attitudes I encountered from fellow pupils at my intermediate and high schools, but also some of the humorous incidents that occurred.

Leaving school in 1977 having attained University Entrance, high unemployment in New Zealand meant my chances of getting a job were slim. A lucky break saw me offered a job in early 1979, although it meant me leaving home and shifting to Wellington where I was Secretary at the first Disabled Living Centre in Lower Hutt (a forerunner to the Disability Information Centres which now exist throughout the country). This was my first ongoing contact with other people with disabilities, and I quickly realised how lucky I had been to had have an education. Although I only lived there for 19 months, in that time I went flatting, bought a car and got my driver’s licence, returning to Christchurch a very independent young woman.

A few years later, after the International Year of Disabled Persons in 1981, the Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA) was formed. This was an advocacy and lobby organisation which gave people with disabilities their own collective voice for the first time in New Zealand. This denoted a fundamental shift in society’s attitude towards people with disabilities, empowering us to have direct input into issues and policies that affect us. I joined DPA in 1984, serving first on the regional assembly in Christchurch and then was elected to its National Executive in 1987. Concurrently, I was also working in schools giving Disability Awareness sessions to foster positive attitudes towards disability, and debunk myths and misconceptions around people with disabilities. Once again, humour was a major component of this work…when you make people laugh, they listen more carefully, and in the process learn more.

Being the recipient of a Roy McKenzie Foundation Travel Award, for my work in the disability sector in 1989, enabled me to travel to England in 1990 to study disability services there. This was somewhat marred by the death of my father three weeks before I left. I had to arrange the funeral and shift house (Dad had left me a modern townhouse) before leaving for England. I detail the trip and its experiences.

In 1992 I was elected National Vice-President of DPA, unaware that my success would result in my being part of a delegation to the Rehabilitation International (a global organisation of disability service providers) in Nairobi, Kenya, in September of that year. This was an amazing experience, and is dealt with in detail. Returning home I found that CCS (the Crippled Children Society as it was then known) had nominated me for a role with the newly-formed Southern Regional Health Authority. I assumed it was an advisory group, but was stunned to be told in the December that the Minister of Health, Hon Simon Upton, had appointed me to the SRHA’s Board of Directors. This led to over three years of hard, but satisfying, work and involved me in some major issues such as the closing of the Templeton Centre, enabling people with intellectual disabilities to live in the community and have fulfilling lives.

At the end of my term on the SRHA in 1996, I was keen to find more paid employment. This took over a year, resulting from my first working on a voluntary basis in the office DPA Christchurch & Districts, where I worked alongside a lovely man, who died suddenly just as we were becoming close friends. That year I also attended a conference in Sydney on “Cerebral Palsy and Ageing”, which I write about. I worked for DPA Christchurch until 2000. The following year I began my first foray into the private sector, being appointed Consumer Advisor at LifeLinks, an agency providing needs assessment and service co-ordination for people with disabilities under 65 years of age.

I left there in 2005, and later that year received a Civic Award from the Christchurch City Council. By then I was serving on the Council’s Disability Advisory Group, but the Award nomination was made by the minister at my church. No longer wishing to work in a regular job, due to deterioration of my physical condition (arthritis in spine, shoulders and hips), I now do proof-reading and editing work from home, and am on a Consumer Advisory Group for Meridian Energy. In 2008 I have been appointed to a Ministry of Health Ethics Committee, and latterly to a Standing Committee of the Lottery Grants Board, distributing funding to individuals with disabilities.

“The Alli Way of Life” (a pun I rather like…my friends call me Alli), also details my many overseas and New Zealand-wide travels, my battle with depression at times, and my love of people and life. I write about some of the relationships I have had, changing names where necessary to avoid embarrassment or upset to family members of the people I’m writing about. Cameo portraits (written ones!) of some of the amazing people, both disabled and not, that I have known along the way are included. This is not a “pity” tale, but one of positivity and achievement. As someone who wasn’t expected to live a week, I am now planning how to celebrate my 50th birthday in 2009! No doubt there are more adventures ahead…but I felt I had more than enough material for an autobiography now.