One In Five for Sunday 3 March 2013
This week One in Five looks the experience of disability within Christchurch's Pacific Island community.
Katy Gosset visits the Fili family whose daughter Fia Palagi was born with an invasive tumour in her cervical spine. The family's social worker, To'alepai Louella Thomsen-Inder, has worked hard to gain access to vital medical supplies for Fia and to ensure that she has her own emergency kit in the post-earthquake environment.
To'alepai, who is a Samoan chief, also explains how language and cultural barriers prevent some Pacific Island families from getting the help they need. She says the situation of some Christchurch families has been exacerbated by new levels of poverty after the earthquakes.
The Fili family.