Wallace Williams shares his story with Holmes’ reporter Daryll Hutchison, where he has been present at Hunters Plaza, Papatoetoe, Auckland, on all four occasions to be in the running to win a brand new car.
The first three times he attended with his daughter, who would interpret for him. On the last day his daughter could not accompany him. As he was there on his own, he’d asked some bystanders to write down the names being called. Despite his name being called, the bystanders wrote the wrong name by mistake, meaning Wallace did not claim his prize.
Later, after finding out his name had been called, he claimed discrimination as there were no visual aids available for him to know he had won the prize. The owners of Hunters Plaza - Coles Myer, denied the claim. Wallace wants them in future to ensure there are visual aids to enable access.
The Human Rights Act was updated in 1993 to include new domains including disability.
