In this month's episode of Wellington Access Radio show No Labels, host Thomas Bryan interviews Donald Beasley Institute (DBI) researchers Dr Robbie Francis Watene and Umi Asaka.

They talk about the work they do, the roles of disabled people in research, and highlights from recently published research on housing, and health and wellbeing.

They talk about what stood out to them from their research findings: the psychological and physical impact of living in an inadequate house; and families unable to keep their disabled family members living with them because of the inaccessibility of the house and lack of support provided.

They found that a lot of the people interviewed didn't know about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, or disabled people's right to live in the community (Article 19) or right to an adequate living situation (Article 28).


DBI Senior Researcher Dr Robbie Francis Watene is a disability advocate, scholar, and leader from Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. Robbie has been an expert advisor to the New Zealand Government on various strategies and policies and began working at DBI in 2018, where she is Project Lead for the Disabled Person-Led Monitoring of the UNCRDP, amongst other disability rights research projects. Robbie is passionate about inclusive research methodologies and ensuring disabled people are leading their own research agenda.

DBI Junior Research Fellow Umi Asaka'sprimary role involves working on the Disabled Person-Led Monitoring of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Re-Imagining Parenting project. She came to New Zealand from Japan when she was 15 years old. Having lived experience of disability and cultural diversity, she is passionate about envisioning and working towards a society where no one is left behind through research, activism, and community work.