Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Whangārei made children's e-book The Fun-tastic 7 is working its way to normalise disability

Avina Vidyadharan
By Avina Vidyadharan
Multimedia journalist·Northern Advocate·
6 Aug, 2021 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Glen McMillan and Ayla-Jane Ogle launched their e-book series The Fun-tastic 7, as part of their new Northland-based charity Children With Disability. Photo / Michael Cunningham.

Glen McMillan and Ayla-Jane Ogle launched their e-book series The Fun-tastic 7, as part of their new Northland-based charity Children With Disability. Photo / Michael Cunningham.

Glen McMillan and Ayla-Jane Ogle are on a mission to normalise disability with their creation of a children's e-book series The Fun-tastic 7.

McMillan came up with the idea and concept of the e-book to fund the Northland-based charity Children With Disability.

In April this year, McMillan teamed up with Charlie Germain and Kylee Ostermann to start the charity. Their mission was to take the initiative to improve more parks add accessibility and add more sensory projects to Northland. Their aim is to make Northland the most disabled-friendly region in New Zealand.

CWD chief executive Germain said there were not many disability charities in Northland and they were wide across the disabled group. Their charity was formed purely for the children in the community.

"Northland is a big region and we are very under-resourced. The children with disabilities are not looked after that well."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The charity, mainly formed to fund a liberty/wheelchair swing in Whangārei, thought they needed to do more for the disabled community.

"We are looking at implementing splash pads which are interactive fountains. For a lot of children with autism, it is all about sensory," said Germain.

"Then we thought why don't we have a sensory garden somewhere. Somewhere you could feel, smell, touch different textures, wheelchair high garden pads. Next year, we are hoping to set up a sensory room in Whangārei."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

McMillan said the e-book, as part of the initiative, would help provide financial help for the charity to grow.

The book has seven main characters and five of them are kids with some disabilities. All seven kids are part of the Fun-tastic 7.

While McMillan was the brain behind the concept, Ogle did the story writing, designing and brought McMillan's concept to life.

Ogle said she used his idea to create stories, and each story brings all the kids together as they helped each other in various situations.

Discover more

Promoting abilities - disability magazine's theme in 2021

30 Jul 05:00 PM

Moving - surprisingly in Google's top five stressful events list

16 Jul 05:00 PM
New Zealand

Wandatrak: The device helping find dementia sufferers who wander

15 Jul 05:30 PM

Sentimental times as Jonny farewells 'the Bismarck'

02 Jul 05:00 PM
A sneak-peak into the new children e-book Fun-tastic 7. Photo / Supplied.
A sneak-peak into the new children e-book Fun-tastic 7. Photo / Supplied.

"In the book, the kids work together. We also show how the kids with disabilities help the other kids.

"Most characters in the book are based on real-life people and their experiences and are named after Glen's animals. One of them who is in a wheelchair is named Toby, after his dog. Another character Telly is suffering from dyslexia, just like Glen."

McMillan fell from his pushbike at the age of 10 and became a child with a disability. After almost four years in hospital, he returned to a normal school.

The now 61-year-old said the other kids weren't too kind to him then and he could imagine the situation might not have changed so much in the present.

"I want to normalise disability and would like to get this book out to kids all across the globe. When they read it from anywhere in the world, they can learn and understand that kids with disabilities are not abnormal.

"I also suffer from dyslexia, my biggest weakness is that I cannot often spell things correctly, but that does not come in the way of life.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Young children expect to play with other kids, and disabled kids are no different. Kids are just kids at the end of the day.

"Not just physical or mental disabilities, we are also focusing on serious illnesses such as cancer in the book.

"The book is about education and awareness."

For more info check Children With Disability out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/childrenwithdisability

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

live
Northern Advocate

Stay inside: Nelson residents face new threat tonight

11 Jul 08:18 AM
Northern Advocate

Slip closes Mangamuka Gorge as severe weather lashes Northland

11 Jul 05:46 AM
Northern Advocate

Bay of Islands Vintage Railway earns top tourism award

11 Jul 04:00 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

Stay inside: Nelson residents face new threat tonight
live

Stay inside: Nelson residents face new threat tonight

11 Jul 08:18 AM

High winds are ramping up.

Slip closes Mangamuka Gorge as severe weather lashes Northland

Slip closes Mangamuka Gorge as severe weather lashes Northland

11 Jul 05:46 AM
Bay of Islands Vintage Railway earns top tourism award

Bay of Islands Vintage Railway earns top tourism award

11 Jul 04:00 AM
'Still loving it': Libraries manager reflects on retirement decision

'Still loving it': Libraries manager reflects on retirement decision

11 Jul 12:00 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP