Community leader David Senior dies, leaves lasting legacy in Tai Tokerau

David Senior was a well-known community leader in both the Mid and Far North.

This week Tiaho Trust lost not only a trustee, but a steady hand and wise presence, who has helped to guide us for the past 20 years.

David Senior’s sudden passing has left us with a mixture of shock, sadness, and gratitude for his time, energy, insight, balance, and genuine care for the Disability Community in Tai Tokerau.

David Senior was a well-known community leader in both the Mid and Far North.

He was involved with a staggering amount of community organisations, including: the Far North Regional Museum Trust; Kaitaia Budgeting Services; Northland Kindergarten Association; Far North Disability Resource Centre; Far North District Council Disability Advisory Group; Te Hiku Sports Hub Incorporated; Elevate (Christian Disability Trust), and of course Tiaho Trust. Like all of the trustees on the Tiaho Board, David also had an impairment. That is an important part of our kaupapa.

David was blind. He was born with congenital glaucoma. While he was deemed “legally blind” as a child, he still had partial vision in one eye. When David was 8 years old, he boarded at the Homai School. Homai School (now BLENNZ) is a residential school for low vision, blind and deaf blind children.

He was learning how to read, using books with large text, until the age of 13 when he had an accident at the school.

When David tells the story of the accident it’s hard not to be astonished at the irony of it and how it happened at a school for the blind.

Being one of 27 junior boys at the boarding school, with only six showers the boys would always race to be the first (I guess this was to get a hot shower versus a cold one). There were metal pegs on the side of the wall where you could hang your personal items. On this occasion David did win the race, but when he enthusiastically bent down one of the metal hooks jabbed into his left eye, his good eye. It caused irreversible damage to his optic nerve.

This twist of fate sounds diabolical, but David was philosophical about his blindness.

At the time he struggled emotionally but found strength and comfort when he discovered Christianity.

He realised he was in the same position as the rest of the blind students and that he would need to learn new mobility skills using a cane and braille.

David lived in Tai Tokerau for the past 32 years. What he really enjoyed was getting involved locally in the community at a governance level. He liked the mental stimulation.

In this capacity, he felt he was not only accepted as part of the community but valued.

He once said to me: “To be valued you have to contribute, and you have to earn it. If you want people to value you, you need to be seen out there dealing with all issues, the good, bad and ugly. It’s about having that visibility in the community.”

At the end of the day, David Senior will be remembered as a valued member of his community, who contributed hugely.

One of David’s habits when summarising a range of viewpoints, was to preface his comments with the line “at the end of the day…”, reminding us of our shared purpose.

Certainly, for us at Tiaho Trust, at the end of the day, David leaves a legacy of good common sense and ethical leadership which will be remembered. Go well.