The Te Kura o Tititea Mount Aspiring College (MAC) campus will undergo a range of improvements to its accessibility, sparked by a disability advocate and Year 10 student. 

Toby Mills, who broke his C4 vertebrae in a biking accident last year, has been advocating for better accessibility at MAC, resulting in $500,000 being given to the school to improve access.

“The moment someone who is very clearly more 'abled' than you has to do something for you that you physically can't, you feel really bad,” he said.

“What I'm trying to achieve is for everyone to be treated the same so accessibility is not a ‘thing’.” 

Toby is a member of the Minister of Education's Youth Advisory Group (YAG) and last weekend he won the 14 to 16-year-old category at the Kahu Youth Volunteer Awards as the result of his extensive volunteering with M!NT Charitable Trust in addition to his advocacy work.

Principal Nicola Jacobsen said Toby’s advocacy had been instrumental in bringing about changes at MAC.

In term one Nicola and Toby, plus his mother Jo Mills and MAC deputy principal Vicki Ashton, walked around the school with a Ministry of Education occupational therapist to identify what changes needed to be made to improve accessibility, she said.

“With input from Toby, we identified a number of improvements we could make, including replacing heavy doors with sensor-activated doors, installing ramps to give access to the playing field, and re-surfacing gravel paths to make wheelchair access easier.”

Toby said that a disability should not stop anyone from being able to learn and access school facilities in the same way as everyone else. 

“What I want is for both able-bodied and disabled people to have the same access to the same level of education and resources. If you aren't able to walk up a set of stairs to get to your classroom and there's no lift, then you no longer have equal access.”

“Ensuring everyone can preserve their independence is what I believe is most important.”

The improvements to the college campus will be completed over the course of next year, Nicola said. 

PHOTO: Deanna Gerlach