One in four people have a disability in Aotearoa

Despite their unique skills, disabled people are often underemployed and are, therefore, financially disadvantaged. Many overcome this by starting their own business. Special Gifts aims to support disabled entrepreneurs and businesses who employ disabled people on fair wages by promoting their high-quality products to the rest of the country.​

How Special Gifts support the community

a platform that promotes products made by disabled entrepreneurs to the wider community, completely free of charge. We are always looking for activities and people to sponsor and support.

Who's behind Special Gifts?

Suzanne Jones has extensive experience in the disability sector, dedicated to supporting disabled people to achieve their goals. Her journey included initiatives like New Zealand’s first training café for adults with intellectual disabilities, Te Tuhi Café, where she helped trainees build valuable skills.

Through this work, Suzanne noticed a common theme: many trainees aspired to start their own businesses. Despite creating high-quality, much-needed products, they often struggled to connect with a non-disabled audience. Seeing an opportunity to address this, Suzanne founded SpecialGifts - a platform that promotes products made by disabled entrepreneurs to the wider community, completely free of charge. SpecialGifts aims to celebrate talent and foster inclusivity across Aotearoa.