Meet Council’s Accessibility Lead, Bonnie Mosen

Bonnie and her seeing eye dog Eclipse, esteemed alumni of The Seeing Eye, the oldest school for guide dogs in the USA, have worked at the Council since March 2024. Bonnie provides internal kōrero about accessibility to Council staff, and accessibility insights to Council work.

Her recommendations are threaded through infrastructure projects such as the redevelopment of Te Ngākau Civic Square, the Town Hall, and the Golden Mile to ensure they can be enjoyed by all Wellingtonians. 

“We want a city that’ll be sustainable, a city that everyone can enjoy, says Bonnie,

“The disability community is the only minority group that anyone can join, even if it’s temporary, so it’s important to embed accessibility in the design process." 

Bonnie's work considers wayfinding for those who are visually impaired, city access for those who use mobility aids (or for families that use prams), and other unique accessibility recommendations for events and venues.

“Accessibility isn’t one-size-fits-all, so it’s important to understand how different people will need different things,” she explains.

Bonnie gets her insights from her own lived experience as a blind person, and the feedback of the Council’s Accessibility Advisory group, who meet monthly to share their own lived experiences and knowledge about living with impairments to provide recommendations for a more accessible space.

“It’s so good to see members of the community be parts of these groups, we’re always trying and striving to be better.” says Bonnie

Aside from Eclipse, accessibility accommodations Bonnie uses in her own mahi includes Meta glasses, screen reading software on her phone and laptop, PictureSmart with ChatGPT to describe photos and images, and the visual interpreting service Aira, which uses of human visual interpreters and AI to describe things.

Bonnie’s favourite part of her role at the Council is the people, and the variety of her projects. 

“I really want to excite people about accessibility. I want people to see that accessibility is exciting, not scary. It’s not as complicated as they think it is.”

Moving to Wellington 11 years ago from the USA, Bonnie wants Wellington to lead by example on accessible design. 

“I really want the Council to be a model for the rest of New Zealand. Wellington is such a great, cool city and there are lots of visitors who come here to experience it.”

If you have any queries about accessibility in the city, you can email accessibility@wcc.govt.nz