David Hicks, Unitec’s Academic Programme Manager, Supported Learning found himself taking on a much different role when he was asked to act as a relationship advisor for the TVNZ dating show Down For Love, produced by Attitude Television.
According to the show’s blurb: “In this dating show with a difference, we follow six Kiwis with Down Syndrome in the universal quest to find love and happiness.”
Even with almost 20 years of working with disability, special needs and neurodiverse students, Dave admits appearing on reality television was something new for him.
“However, I’ve done a lot of professional development and had experience working with young people in relationships and that’s anything from friendships through to what does it mean to be a good tertiary student or high school student?”
The production company heard about Dave from one of the show’s participants, a Unitec graduate from supported learning.
“They got in touch with me and asked me if I wanted to be involved in this TV show and I was like, okay why not? So before I knew it, I let Unitec know and over the past year we met when it wasn’t the extended lockdown.”
Filming took place on the Unitec campus, with the male participants coming to meet Dave for relationship advice. The show’s producers are working closely with the New Zealand Down’s Syndrome Association, who are collaborating in every aspect of the production.
NZDSA national executive officer Zandra Vaccarino, said in a Spinoff article about the show that “Down For Love provided a chance to showcase not just the diversity within the Down Syndrome community, but celebrate a part of their lives that is often misunderstood or ignored – romantic relationships.”
Dave has also formed a relationship with the NZDA, and recently presented at their annual conference about relationships.
“The directors have done a really good job of balancing entertainment, education and advocacy. Just being on prime time television raises advocacy and visibility, but the directors managed to put in bite-size bits of information about what it means to be different, and how it plays out in society. She’s woven in a really great narrative into each episode.”
Dave’s role in the show is to offer advice on the first date. “It was great, the stereotype for people with Down syndrome is they wear their heart on their sleeve, and they’re really positive and thoughtful. And that was the case. So we had discussions around dating and love.”
As well as helping the male participants through first date nerves, the show is also helping to raise awareness of Unitec programmes, says Dave. Josh, who appears in the first episode had done a MIT programme, and Dave has received many email queries about our programmes since the first episode aired.
The increased visibility can only be beneficial says Dave, helping to drive a paradigm shift in society around increased recognition and visibility of neurodiverse people.
“It’s the first prime time TV show of its kind in New Zealand, and it sits nicely against some really big hits recently such as Love on the spectrum, which is on Netflix, and the Undateables from the UK.”
Down For Love screens Monday at 8.30pm on TVNZ2, with prior episodes available on TVNZ On Demand.