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Your Way | Kia Roha is thrilled to welcome Sean Prenter as our first board mentee. At 26 years old, Sean brings a youthful perspective and passionate advocacy for disability rights to our organisation.
Sean’s journey into disability advocacy began unexpectedly five and a half years ago in 2019. While studying at the University of Otago, he suffered a traumatic brain injury after falling 15 metres from a balcony with rotted railings. This life-altering event set Sean on a new path of disability awareness, community building, and championing accessibility.
“When I first sustained my brain injury, the idea of getting back to study was insurmountable,” Sean recalls. Simple tasks like attending a one-hour lecture left him exhausted.
However, with support services providing accommodations like note-takers and extra exam time, Sean was able to gradually build his capacity. He is now pursuing a master’s degree in politics, philosophy, and economics at Victoria University of Wellington.
Sean’s personal experience navigating life with a disability opened his eyes to both the strengths and challenges of support systems like ACC. It also highlighted the isolation many disabled students face. This realisation sparked Sean’s passion for creating community and advocating for inclusion.
“There was no sense of local community, at least that we were aware of,” Sean explains. This motivated him to co-found the Otago Disabled Students Association, providing a platform for connection through events like movie nights. Sean’s advocacy expanded further when he helped establish the National Disabled Students Association, where he currently serves as co-president.
Sean brings this wealth of experience and perspective to his role on the board of Your Way | Kia Roha. He is particularly passionate about increasing awareness, fostering allyship, and building community among disabled people. Sean sees untapped potential in educating the broader public, noting how his own understanding of disability was limited before his injury.
“I think the big one that I see from my own experiences is that I had lived most of my life without a disability, with disability being something that was distant to me,” Sean reflects. “My understanding could probably be synthesised to relating to it with polite distance and maybe a charity-like mindset.”
Now, Sean aims to bridge that gap and create more inclusive environments, especially for young disabled people. He plans to leverage his connections with various disability organisations and his experience in student advocacy to provide valuable insights to the board.
Sean’s background adds a unique dimension to our team. Born in Wellington, he spent part of his childhood in Sussex, England, before returning to New Zealand. His family roots trace back to Dannevirke and include English and Irish heritage.
When asked about his core values, Sean emphasises the importance of presence. “I think the most valuable thing that we can do is be present for one another,” he explains. “It’s a very busy world with many different signals coming from different sides… I think more than ever people want to be seen, acknowledged, recognised.”
This value aligns closely with Your Way | Kia Roha’s emphasis on connection, reflecting Sean’s commitment to fostering meaningful relationships within the disability community.
As Sean begins his tenure as a board mentee, he looks forward to collaborating with other board members and offering his perspective on the contemporary environment for young disabled people. His experience balancing academic pursuits with advocacy work, coupled with his understanding of various support systems, will undoubtedly enrich Your Way | Kia Roha’s approach to serving the disabled community.
We are excited to have Sean Prenter join our team and look forward to the fresh insights and energy he will bring. His journey from experiencing disability as something distant to becoming a passionate advocate exemplifies the power of lived experience in shaping meaningful change. Welcome aboard, Sean!
