Prudence Walker on getting over our imposter syndrome and everyone playing their part

It was through seeing her mum's advocacy in the health system on her behalf and then her own desire to find solutions that sparked Prudence Walker’s interest in human rights from a young age. “I'd been involved in school councils and stuff like that because I was always into advocating for what was right,” she says. “I've always had an interest in human rights… I've always seen issues of social justice.” Although only in the role as Aotearoa’s disability rights commissioner since June, it’s as if she’s been preparing for it since she was at school. 

Speaking to her in a meeting room at the Human Rights Commission office in Tāmaki Makaurau, the setting of the conversation feels formal with office buildings surrounding us and reflecting through the windows. But her knowledge of disability rights isn’t just a job title, it’s something she lives out passionately. And she clearly has a deep understanding of a community she’s been a part of since she was a teenager.

Walker acquired a traumatic brain injury at 16 and was diagnosed with cancer at 18, so her relationship with her body and identity as a disabled person was initially framed from a very medicalised point of view. She found this affected her confidence, and coming to terms with being proud and transparent about her identity was “a long journey”. She said while having a medical understanding of what was happening with her brain was helpful to function, “things were quite confused for a really long time”.

It wasn’t until a brain tumour diagnosis as a teenager and getting involved with Canteen that Walker started embracing her impairments. She also took on her first big leadership opportunity as national president of Canteen when she was 22. Being around young people with similar experiences at Canteen, “was just kind of fun” she says. “This kind of acceptance of what I was experiencing was quite formative.”

As she grew up, beyond her involvement with Canteen, she started to think less medically about her impairments and how to “make sense of my own experience” of disability, says the now 42-year-old. “I think identity is an evolving thing for everybody, and probably as a constant, or at least at points in your life, it’s a real challenge for people as well, and it's ever-evolving.”

While she hasn’t always felt like she could disclose parts of her identity, like being disabled and queer, she found that when she did, the opportunity to connect with others was often worth it. “Being transparent about your identity creates conversation”, she says. “It's an opportunity for people to learn as well, because other people who identify in some of those ways need to see that.”

This kind of visibility is particularly important for her in her new role as the disability rights commissioner. She says it’s important for disabled people to put themselves forward for things that we think we can contribute to, even if the pathways are not as straightforward as nondisabled people. “We also have to get over our own imposter syndrome that we all have and kind of put ourselves out there a bit, which I know is kind of easier said than done!”

Walker knows there will be challenges in the role and it’s not just because she hasn’t worked in the public sector before. But she’s looking forward to those challenges. “Despite my injuries, and the fact that they're mainly brain-related, I have this desire for challenge; I need intellectual stimulation, for better or worse.”

“The challenge is in the responsibilities of the role and thinking about how to leverage the role as a tool to better the rights of disabled people in the time that I'm appointed,” Walker says. Confidence from disability communities is really important to her, along with good government relationships and understanding what's happening in that space.

She also acknowledges there’s a lot of great work being done by other organisations in terms of disability rights and collaboration is key. “It's about how I, in this position, can add weight, be another voice or use the tools that I have in the role to further those issues.” Although all disabled people have human rights and those rights are innate and have existed before being named in the UNCRPD, her role “acknowledges that our rights haven't been upheld and that we need to do better in terms of recognising the rights of disabled people.” 

One thing Walker does promise to do is to listen and engage with disabled people. She is very self-aware and acknowledges that her role as Commissioner might seem “elite” or appears to be removed from the everyday barriers that disabled people face because they’re not directly related to her specific role; but the more complaints that are sent through to the Commission the better understanding she has on where she needs to focus her attention. “I really want people to feel like I'm not distant from the community. Just get in touch if you're not sure, and I can always guide you if it doesn't fit within my responsibilities … hearing the issues raised by community helps me in my role where there are systemic issues that we can be highlighting.”

She also hopes by engaging with communities, more people are educated about rights even if it’s not an accessible concept for everyone. “We all understand rights in our heart. We might not have the language around rights. Like we might not use real rights-based language or necessarily be able to advocate for our rights and everything, but we know when we think, when we feel bad, or when we feel like we're being treated differently to somebody else.”

Looking ahead, Walker is pragmatic about her appointment at the Human Rights Commission. “I'd like to solve all the world's problems in five years, but that's probably not realistic,” she laughs. However, she says everyone has a part to play towards improving rights for disabled people in Aotearoa. “This is one way that I can contribute. Not everyone is going to want to or have the opportunity to contribute in that way. I'm not going to be the right person to have another opportunity. But they're all valid.”