Non-verbal content editor and Te Rito cadet journalist Will Sangster is a proud Tongan.
Listen up.
Will Sangster has a voice, but you may not hear his words. He has Cerebral Palsy and physically, at least, can’t talk.
But if you think this is a stumbling block for someone in the communications industry, you’re wrong.
It’s fair to say that Will, 24, has been breaking down barriers all his life. He says his disability is part of who he is, but it doesn’t define him.
“Just be yourself and be patient with me. Definitely treat me normally and don’t be shy.”
Will challenges his audience to watch what he has created, or read his words, to pay attention to what he has to say.
A digital producer for Attitude Pictures, he is among the 12 cadets who have started this year’s Te Rito journalism training scheme.
It is an initiative designed by a collaboration of four media partners - NZ Herald, Whakaata Māori, Newshub and the Pacific Media Network - and is funded by NZ On Air’s Public Interest Journalism, to expand diversity in the media.
Will’s disability results from his brain receiving insufficient oxygen during childbirth. It affects his speech, gait and hand function.
Yet in his role at Attitude, he managed to edit documentaries, write blogs and monitor the company’s social media channels. He’s also a TikTok star, with more than 17,000 followers on the app.
Life has taught Will to be resilient.
His inability to talk comes from a lack of control of his facial muscles.
A grainy clip of Will as a young child on TVNZ’s One News reveals well-intentioned Starship Children’s Hospital specialists had injected his salivary glands with Botox, to try and remedy a continuous saliva drool.
He and two others had their throats paralysed and were fed through a tube for months, unable to swallow.
An investigation found that all six children who were injected had wrongly received three times the normal volume of the paralysing drug.
As an adult, Will can try to speak. But it is not understandable to most people, at first.
Those who have worked with him or been around him for a period of time rapidly learn to pick up occasional phrases, read his body language or interpret his own form of sign language.
For much of his communication, Will relies on instant messaging or old-school pen and paper.
His parents tried everything to restore his verbal speech. They say thousands of hours of speech/physical therapy and two surgeries were worth it. At home, he doesn’t need communication aids.
“My parents understand everything. We are totally in sync.”
Artificial voice technology was investigated by the family but at the time required carrying around a heavy voicebox.
While it did work - as showcased by celebrated physicist Stephen Hawking - carrying a heavy box everywhere made it a hollow victory.
Other options were either exploratory or expensive and his speech still wasn’t understandable. Rather than pursue new technology or treatments, Will instead decided to find peace with his disability.
Will chose to spend his entire secondary school years in silence.
”I believed that since I couldn’t talk, I didn’t need to say anything at all”, he says.
He used no form of communication other than yes/no, nods/shakes of the head to teachers and students.
He achieved comparable results in all subjects to his peers. In Year 13, the opportunity arose to be a prefect.
The school was firm - leaders needed to communicate beyond a nod or shake of the head.
It was at this crossroads that he began using phones and pen/paper.
With newfound confidence, Will embraced wearing scarves. He uses them to wipe away saliva, caused by the limited control over the muscles in his mouth.
“I used to think it marked me as different, but now I feel like a cowboy. It’s become my signature look.”
He enrolled for the Bachelor of Communications Studies at the Auckland University of Technology to prove to the world that people who don’t communicate traditionally are of equal value as their peers.
Note-takers were provided (lecture recording was in its infancy back then), deadlines were extended and tasks were adapted. All without reducing the qualification’s integrity.
Convincing the university to take him on was easy. Getting a job was a different matter.
Statistics NZ data shows only 41.5 per cent of working-age disabled people are employed, compared to 80.4 per cent of non-disabled working-age people.
During those three years post-university sitting at home, after completing his hard-earned communications degree, Will questioned if it had been a waste of time.
After 300 cover letters and three years of writing to employers, with full disclosure of his CP, Will was employed at Attitude Pictures Ltd.
The rejection left Will feeling “lonely and a failure”.
“I coped by learning new ways to improve myself at home. Like starting up my freelance (videography) company.”
It was mentally challenging “but I got there in the end,” he says.
Landing the job at Attitude was “unbelievable and nerve-wracking for the first couple of weeks”.
“But I loved it and I can’t say enough about the team and my experience at Attitude. It made me a better person/creator/writer.”
The Attitude team acknowledged his disability without judgement and recognised a man who faced adversity dailywould be a great problem solver and a genuine asset.
Common prejudice that Will has experienced includes being passed over for job opportunities, being denied entry to bars and or being served alcohol. This is because people think Will is drunk, as his voice can sound slurred.
Working at Attitude has changed Will’s perception… of himself. He knows he has a valuable skill set.
As a strong supporter of diversity in the media, Will is excited to be a part of the second Te Rito journalism cadet scheme cohort.
During this programme, which started on May 1, he will have the opportunity to work in a variety of different newsrooms throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.
He’s intrigued to see how the media workforce will respond to a non-verbal journalist.
Disabled people in the industry are far and few between, which is a shame, he says.
Will’s intellect is sharp. Perhaps the most common misperception of people with CP is that they are intellectually impaired. The impact of CP is unique to each individual.
This is why disability awareness training is so important.
Camera operator Sam McCartin often works alongside Will, sharing footage that needs his magic touch.
“We’ve developed our own ways of communicating and he does a great job. There’s no issue.”
Attitude staff say that with a little patience, communicating with Will is simple. .
Robyn Scott-Vincent, Attitude Pictures founder, says: ”We each just need to put in a fraction of effort to adapt and help mitigate any challenges”.
Adaptive technology could enable Will to drive to work one day.
Funding for specialised vehicles is available. It’s the licence test that will be the challenge. Others with CP drive independently. For now, despite friendly coaxing at work, he’s content using taxis.
But a review of receipts for five days of work travel, highlights that Will spends nearly a quarter of his weekly income on taxis from Mangere East to Grey Lynn.
He pays because he wants to work.
Whilst NZ employers still have their eyes half shut when it comes to seeing the value of disabled employees, his chances are higher than young people living in Tonga, where his mother Lonili is from.
Back in the islands, Will says, there’s a significant lack of understanding regarding disability. Deeply ingrained religious beliefs, combined with traditional mythology, result in his condition being misinterpreted.
In the village, he’s been the subject of negativity. Will wants to see this change. He believes he’s already changed minds in his community of Mangere East.
“Don’t be afraid to go outside the norm, if you put your mind to it you can achieve anything,” Will says.
Locals are constantly surprised but celebrate his successes.
Autonomy over his own life decisions is non-negotiable.
A Government funded support worker assists him in the evenings. Will’s parents help when they can, like all dedicated parents, but treat Will exactly the same as his 21-year-old brother James, who is not disabled.
Will receives an allocation under the Individualised Funding government scheme. This allows him to select a support worker of his choice, rather than go through an established service provider.
He chose to employ his cousin Finau. They had an existing relationship and she could understand his vocalisation. A stranger would need every instruction to be written.
Will has carved a role as a part-time model. He featured in a recent Converse All-Star campaign that celebrated diversity.
He also featured in Health NZ’s Meaningful Mahi campaign, an attempt to draw people towards the profession of a disability support worker.
“I’m just thankful that companies like these are now conveying a positive message around disability to the public.”
He’s on track to be editing campaign videos like these in the future.
The Covid lockdowns gave Will time to focus on other creative outlets. He decided to use Tiktok to promote disability positivity. A video of him and his cousin Koli, depicting their unbreakable friendship over the years, reached 900k views.
Prompted by that success, the two young men set up a videography company called Snap Productions as a side hustle. They’ve been playing around with cameras since they were kids.
Koli does the camera work and Will does the editing, creating the finished product. Together they have done over 30 events, from friends and family birthdays to advertising campaigns.
Travelling solo isn’t something that people with high-level CP do. Will wants to break that stereotype.
Airlines won’t necessarily like him doing this. He’s often asked where his “caregiver” is when travelling domestically and unaccompanied.
That’s on them, he says. Perhaps they need to undergo disability awareness training.
Taking editing to the highest level is never far from his mind.
“Look out for my name in the credits at the end of a film in the future. It will be there. As an editor, not an actor,” Will reassures me.
- Josh McKenzie-Brown is a journalist and Digital Team member with Attitude Pictures
It comes after case numbers spiked in May, June, July and again in September.