Sally Thomas

Vice President

I have lived almost all of my life in Christchurch and am a proud Cantabrian! My partner Greg and I are the parents of four lovely men, one of whom, Alex, has Cerebral Palsy. My introduction to disability was well supported all those years ago through what was then Crippled Children’s Society. I have continued to connect with the organisation over more than 30 years through Alex, and more latterly both as an employee and currently in governance roles. The critical early support that we received and the connections that I made with other families set the scene for us and assisted our journey with disability to be a largely positive one. I am still so grateful to those who mentored and supported us.

I have worked in the disability sector since 1997 in a number of roles, currently as National Coordinator for the NZ Foundation for Conductive Education. I am passionate about the rights of disabled people and their families to have a great life with choice and control over how this looks – we are all individuals!

I hope to utilise my passion and lived experience of disability, along with the views of the cross-section of people that I connect with through my work and in the community, to create positive change in the lives of the people that sit at the core of our work. This is challenging work at a time when the disability sector is constantly changing!