The Kiwi father of Down syndrome baby Leo, born last month in Armenia, has a conviction for assaulting his father-in-law from a previous marriage.

It has been just over a decade since Charlotte Cleverley-Bisman captured the hearts of the country when she lost her limbs to meningococcal disease.

Six-year-old Destiny can't walk without a frame because of domestic violence meted out to her birth mother. Now she needs a costly spinal operation in the US.

The New Year is a time for reflection. This year, we met everyday New Zealanders who have suffered heartbreaking moments in their lives.

Brant Tohu has quickly come to love his hook, fitted to one arm this month after he lost both legs and both hands within a year to an immune system disorder.

Being fat is a disability, EU judges have ruled, meaning that European companies must offer obese staff bigger chairs, special parking spaces and a lighter workload.

A seven-year-old girl who was born with learning difficulties because her mother drank heavily while pregnant is not entitled to criminal injuries compensation.

For some New Zealand celebrities it was a bit of horsing around, but their doodles of horses are helping to raise money for Riding for the Disabled.

A class set of laptops has proved life-changing for a young Aucklander who believes he is NZ's only wheelchair-using teacher with cerebral palsy.

Champion rower Rob Waddell celebrated the launch of a new surf programme for young, disabled Kiwis at Auckland's Mission Bay yesterday.

The evolutionary biologist and philosopher Richard Dawkins created a Twitterstorm this week when he posted about a young woman in Ireland who was forced to give birth to a baby conceived through rape.

Cerise Lawn says pregnant women must speak up when things don't look right, after signs of distress were overlooked and her baby was left struggling with disabilities from a damaged brain.

The details of a surrogacy case involving an Australian couple commissioning a pregnancy in Thailand have created outrage in all sorts of quarters.

Jared and Sarah Chisnall watched their eldest daughter deteriorate from a healthy 2-year-old to a brain-damaged 7-year-old. Now their son has the same condition.

A group of primary school children have solved a problem that our biggest bank couldn't solve - finding a way to let disabled people into its downtown Auckland branch.

The Australian man at the centre of a surrogacy scandal involving a disabled baby is reported to have spent time in jail for indecent assault.

On Tuesday night Philip Patston went to Parliament to collect the inaugural Arts Access Accolade.

A New Zealand manufacturer who adapts cars for wheelchair users says he has been forced to go overseas after officials here banned his design.

Wheelchair users who can't get into a new bank branch in downtown Auckland say its inaccessible design makes New Zealand look like a "Third World" country.

A New Zealand academic is living her own high-seas adventure tale, dodging flying fish and fending off squid during a 4000km row across the Pacific Ocean.

Community Spirit category: When Earlwyn Uncles' son was injured in a car accident and began playing wheelchair rugby, so too began Mr Uncles' involvement in the sport.

Even in Brazil where football is a religion, the miraculous sight of wheelchair-bound fans leaping from their seats has prompted calls for a police investigation into claims of ticket fraud.

Being accepted by her peers has been something a young Auckland teenager has always wanted.

Danielle Wright connects with a group of special children getting active on horseback.

A taxpayer-funded South Auckland disability support provider which received $30 million last year is investigating its own accounts.

Disabled athlete Daniel Holt had only just found his sporting niche in the swimming pool when it was ripped away from him.

Thanks to New Zealand research funded by the International Rugby Board, revolutionary prostheses and hearing aids are close to fruition.

A 13-year legal battle by parents seeking the right to be paid caregivers for their disabled adult children has ended in bitterness, with only a handful of parents being paid.

Some people choose to make changes in their life, sometimes personal, others are work related. For other people, though, that change is forced on them.