Information exchange as empowerment: a case study.

Abstract

In July 1994 a newspaper was created to share information in and among the community of people with disabilities in Palmerston North, New Zealand. The project became, in only a few months, not only economically viable, but extremely successful as a social and community experiment, and an endeavour by people with disabilities to inform each other and the larger community. This article describes the origin, design and development, and the current status of the newspaper, and advances the recommendation that people with disability elsewhere, and those professionally employed in the rehabilitation field, consider similar initiatives to inform, and thereby empower, people with disabilities.