18/06/2026
A single fall. That's all it took.
Tasi was holidaying in Samoa when it happened.
“I tried to get back up and nah, nothing was working. My arms and legs weren’t responding.”
Fast forward seven months after staying in Auckland Hospital, Waitākere Hospital, and finally the Auckland Spinal Rehabilitation Unit... and Tasi was confronted with a reality many disabled people in New Zealand know all too well.
A lack of accessible housing.
He had been on the housing register, but nothing came of it. And so, he took his only option: moving into his family's garage.
“I was in the garage for... close to a year. I had no access to a bathroom or a toilet. Everything had to happen in the garage. I had to do a lot of bed washes. I didn't have a proper shower for almost a year. It was cold. And lonely at times.”
Nobody should have to live that way. But as we know, there is a difference between how things should be and how they are. Especially for disabled people.
Stats NZ's 2023 Household Disability Survey found that disabled people are more likely to live in poor-quality housing, with 29% saying their home is colder than they would like in winter and 25% reporting damp living conditions.
The numbers are sobering, yes, and too often the people they represent and their stories are forgotten.
Not Tasi.
Not this time.
While scrolling Facebook, Tasi came across a Homes of Choice ad for an accessible home in Henderson.
Not long after, he moved in.
“It’s pretty much given me my confidence back. I feel like a person again. I get to shower, work from home, have my own privacy... before, people would just walk into my garage, and I'd be lying there half naked. Now my home is my home.”
Family is important to Tasi. In this new home, his sister and her kids live upstairs, while he lives downstairs.
“We get to have dinners together. Watch movies together. Game nights, family nights, stuff like that. I can spend time with them, but I can also have my own space.”
“Before I couldn't do that. In the garage, it almost felt like I was a burden because people had to go out of their way just to come in and spend time with me.”
Like many people, accessibility wasn't something Tasi thought much about before his accident.
Now, he understands just how much the right environment can shape a person's outlook.
“Being in a space like this is way more helpful for recovery. It makes you want to recover. I truly believe your environment shapes your outlook.”
“Living in the garage was like, 'Ugh, I don't want to do anything. I don't want to get up and do my physio.'”
“But here, it's different. I can see the sun.”
“It makes me want to recover.”
When asked what the word ‘home’ means to him now, he said this:
“Home is family. Anywhere my family is, that's where my heart is, and that's where my home is.”
“But accessibility means I can connect with them better. That's what accessibility is. Being able to access the things that make us feel at home.”
