(Rock music) (Engine revs) My name is Graeme Porter
and I live in Nelson. I'm an apprentice aluminium joiner and I work at Design Windows Nelson. And I race a TQ Midget. (Rock music) I live with my daughter Lilly-Rose.
She's almost four years old. Spending quality time with her,
it can be difficult but we get there. Family is most important. Lilly, do you want breakfast? Basically my disability is
pretty much my speech. I have trouble reading
and writing English. Sometimes I have to say
things about five times so that people can understand it. I use to speak really fast, but if it's a new person I've learnt
to slow down and speak clearly. What it affects is mainly
he asks me how to spell stuff or
how do you read this? But you just help him and
he improves on it himself. What do you need to do today
apart from work? I'm seeing the Mayor today for help with
my Parent to Parent speech. I met my wife Nyssa at school. I was originally in swimming sport and she use to be a
competitive swimmer. I was fifth form and so she
liked me since then. And I was chasing other birds then. We didn't start going out until
we'd both left school. What I love about Graeme
is his personality and how fun he can be. Also, he makes me smile every
morning with quirky comments. She is always there for me and
we look out for each other. Lilly-Rose is pretty much the
important thing in both our lives. He might have a disability
but it doesn't matter as long as you are in love
you just see past it. As a romantic lover he has
a side affect of doing things, like when he proposed to me he
didn't get down on one knee, he just said will you marry me and
handed me a box with the ring in it. That's all he did. Things I would like to improve
in our relationship is for him to help me out
more around the house. Especially since we both work. But he just comes home and
doesn't want to do anything because he has just
had a big day. (Nyssa) You brushed your teeth?
(Graeme) Yeah. (Nyssa) You haven't done
that in a while. (Graeme) I done it the other day.
(Nyssa) Really? (Graeme) Yeah and
you just don't notice it. (Nyssa) Because you haven't done
it for so long that's probably why. (Laughs). (Nyssa) Small wishes, I'd like
to have a night out from Lilly and it just be the two of us,
even if it's ten bin bowling. Something fun that we can
kick each other's ass in. He's got so much drive
for what he does. Every job he has he puts
everything into it. He's basically full on
all the time. If he's going anywhere
he'll walk a wee bit and then he takes off
and starts running. He was walking by himself
at ten months old. He barely crawled. Physically there's nothing
wrong with him. My disability was discovered
when I was younger. I might have been about four
when I was at Kindy. When he was two he couldn't
put two words together. So that's when they picked it up
that he had a speech problem. Before he got to school he had
a teacher aid at the Kindy. And had an extra session
at Kindy for his speech. School work, he was
not very good at English. But every other subject
he was good at. He was in a special Education
class at high school. Sometimes he got picked on
while he was in that class. I did get got bullied a little bit but I stayed just with a group
of friends that supported me. We just guided him into
what he wanted to do. If he wanted to play sport then we encouraged him into
what sport he wanted to play. I've always been a sporty person. At primary school I played basketball,
cricket and track & field. I use to play mainstream but when I left school I got
introduced to Special Olympics. I was shy through school so when
I came to Special Olympics it gave me the confidence to be
a leader and global messenger. I've been the Captain for
many years in the Nelson team. I'm the Athletes Representative on the Board of Trustees of NZ
for Special Olympics. And I'm the athletes representative
of the upper South Island. Even since I went to the World
Summer Games in Shanghai, I decided to give something
back to basketball. There has been many boys that
have come through basketball that struggle a little
with their skill level. I say to them, "If you miss
a shot keep going... ...because if you don't try
you don't succeed." And if they sit down then
I will get back up. All right guys not too far back. Remember you're going to
make it difficult for them... ...but not impossible. Alex is my basketball coach. He's a retired maths teacher and use
to be my maths teacher in 5th form. He's a good role model for me
and for other athletes. I was Graeme's mentor in his role
as athletes representative on the NZ Board of Trustees
for Special Olympics. He's a very responsible, loving young
man who's totally inclusive. He doesn't pass judgement
on anybody else. If you see a good pass and
a guy marking it then pass it. He's very competitive
and he wants to win. When he's playing he will play his
hardest until his team are in front. When they're in front he eases
back and makes sure that the weaker players in
his team get shots. If the other side catch up then Graeme tries to put on
a spurt to get ahead again and the whole process is repeated. I have him on sometimes because there
are times that tactic comes unstuck and his team doesn't win. Being a global messenger
and leader... I'm preparing a speech
for Parent to Parent group. I'm a wee bit nervous. (Alex) Is there anything that
will make you nervous when you're speaking to
this group tomorrow? I know sometimes I speak
too fast and mumble some words. So I will have to slow down
and take my time. In Parent to Parent are
parents who have kids with some sort of difficulty and
I think it's well worth mentioning that you have risen so far that while
I was away overseas last year that you actually took the whole
session for six weeks. That that's what you're
capable of doing now. That's a significant
achievement, I think. Do you want your pen back now? (Laughs) When Nyssa goes to work on Sunday
we tend to walk into town together. We walk to Queens Garden
and feed the ducks, or we go to Founders Park. As a father with Lilly-Rose
he's really good. He gets involved with her with
anything that she wants to do. The only thing he doesn't like
doing is reading her stories. But he makes up stories
which is the main thing. Lilly finds it hard when he rambles
on and she can't understand. She gets frustrated with him if she can't
understand what he's trying to say. But we've told Graeme to
slow down and he does. Ready, 1, 2, 3... Right now we only have one child
and Lilly is such a good girl. She has a personality of her own,
a mixture of both of us. One of the challenges is I'm away
quite often with Special Olympics either playing sport or for work. It's sometimes hard when I'm away
and Lilly misses her dad so much. Our lives get in the way a bit and
it's a challenge but we get through. With doing my apprenticeship my work
ethic has always been quite high and if the boss is happy I'm happy. If you give them respect you
get respect back. Graeme's one of our
aluminum fabricators. He essentially makes the doors
for us and it's quite technical. When we took Graeme on four years
ago we did interview a number of people because Nelson's quite
restricted for employment and Graeme did stand out
from the crowd. He's willing to learn and change and
put in a hand to help the team. >From day one Graeme's
always been like that. He's almost first in every morning
and usually last out as well. Occasionally I struggle with reading
and writing and maths. If I get stuck on something
there's a computer system that's got assembly details and I can
always ask the more experienced guys. Since we have a mortgage and
I'm the main bread earner I work as hard as I can and
the best that I can and any overtime I get goes to help
the family and fund my race car. That's my TQ Midget from
the first season I started racing. That's the following season it has similar paint job but
different sponsors. That's my third season. Design Windows came on board
with a four year contract. (Rock music) I've been in speedway
for a while now. Nyssa, I'm pretty sure she
doesn't like me racing the cars. Graeme in speedway
I hate it (laughs). It's not my thing but it's his and I'll
support him as much as he wants. I spend probably too much time either working on it, racing it, and sometimes spending money
on it that I don't have. (Engine revs) (Rock music) Yeah he's got a few things
on his plate with Special Olympics, basketball,
and Fulton Hogan League and it does take a bit out of us. If Lilly and I are at speedway, he
tends to forget we're watching and he goes and sees everybody
else apart from us. (Alex) I wonder sometimes
if he's over committing himself. He's got lots and lots of interests
and he loves them all, but whether he should ease
back on some them. Once you marry and you have kids
that's your priority. (Engine revs) Is that Lilly's race car? Do you like daddy racing? Is it fun to watch dad race? He's not really a person
that takes you on a date. Nup He'd rather go to speedway
track and watch speedway, that's our date apparently. Unless your friends make you
go out on a date or you just have the
night to yourselves it is not really a date. You just sit in the movies or he's like, "Hmm speedway
track instead?" So... It was seven years ago
since we've been on a date. (Friend) Really he hasn't taken you
on a date for seven years? No. (Friend) That's useless. (Graeme) No you
tell lies Nyssa. We did go out on a
movie night in February. (Nyssa) That wasn't
really a date though. (Graeme) Yes it was a movie
and we were alone. So it was a date night. (Friend) What would
your ideal date be? A really nice home cooked meal,
alone time with no speedway talk. (Nyssa) Come on
take me on a date. (Graeme) You'll
get there one day. (Jazzy music) I'm just waiting for the Mayor
so I can talk with her. I can introduce myself and
learn tips about public speaking. Hello I'm Jenny. I'm Graeme. Hello Graeme
nice to meet you. I work for the Mayor. (Jazzy music) Hi really nice to meet
you I'm Rachael. (Rachael) Nice to have you here.
(Graeme) You too. (Rachael) You got held up in traffic?
(Graeme) Yes on the main road. (Rachael) Oh it's a problem
at the moment. Come on through
to the office. I still get nervous public
speaking do you get nervous? Yep every time. I get butterflies. If I struggle I'll just say it later on
during the speech. It's part of my disability so
I just try the best I can. With your role as Mayor do you have
any public speaking tips? The main thing with public speaking
is to by yourself and be authentic. People have come to hear you talk
so they want to hear your story. Tell your story and then people will
engage with you through your speech. If you've got something you
feel passionate about and you want to talk
to people about that don't be afraid to put out a challenge. You have the opportunity to really
influence people through this role and make them think
about life differently. So positive challenges, ask
the audience to question themselves and to think about what
they are doing to make this a better community. Thank you very much. (Rachael) It's a real pleasure. I hope we can keep in touch and I'll see if we can hand out some
ribbons at a Special Olympics event. (Rachael) I would love
to do that Graeme. So where's next? Next I think we're
having a lunch then the Parent group public speech. Graeme what are you doing? I locked the keys
in the car that's got my speech in it
for the presentation. Oh well... This is what happens
when you rush things. Yes got my speech now! It takes great courage to do
public speaking and the man I'm going
to be introducing is not stranger to
challenges in his life. It's with great pleasure that
I welcome and introduce to you Graeme Porter. (Applause) Hi my name is Graeme Porter. I was a shy person at school
and in big crowds. I had trouble speaking,
writing and reading. I've been in Special Olympics
for 12 years now and that gave me the
confidence to play sport. My parents supported me
in the sport that I did and they never said no
to activities. They supported me through
school and sill are. One thing that I want
to say is... we all have a disability
in one way or another. Sometimes it doesn't show
and they can see ours but we can't see theirs. (Applause) I'm buying a suit for
date night tonight. Does daddy look good? Yes. I'm cooking cannelloni. Garlic, spinach, basil... two cans of tomatoes and
cannelloni tubes. I would class it as a date the
last time we went to the pictures alone in
Christchurch in February. She won't class it as a date
because it wasn't a meal. But we did have popcorn. Now I'm not a romantic man
but I think I can impress her. We got butter, garlic, spinach,
basil, cheese and milk. Let's go! Cooking Nyssa dinner,
something romantic. Volia it's in the oven. (Italian music) There goes dinner! I've butchered it. A lot, 14 years of putting up with me. It hasn't been that bad,
just your race cars isn't it? (Graeme) No. (Nyssa) Yes. (Graeme) No. Who brought up speedway? (Nyssa) I didn't bring up speedway
I brought up race cars. You sill brought up racecars
and speedway so... (Laughs) (French music) Cheers sweetheart. Thanks babe it's been really cool. He told me that he'd
had two serious goals. One was to get married,
which he did. And the other was to be a father,
which he's achieved. What are your wishes in life? Just to be happy and pretty
much enjoy what we do without too much stress.
