Alexia Pickering

During her husband's political career, Pickering began to speak out about issues of access for people with disabilities, drawing on her personal experiences. Following her husband's death in 1988, Pickering became director of the Disability Resource Centre, and her guidebook, Accessible New Zealand: a complete visitor guide for the traveller with restricted mobility, was published in 2000.^[1] She was appointed as a justice of the peace in 1990.^[3]

Pickering served as a member of the national executive of the New Zealand Paraplegic and Physically Disabled Federation, a member of both the Rehabilitation International's Social Commission and ICTA Commission, and president of the New Zealand Federation of Disability Information Centres. She was appointed to the New Zealand Council for Recreation and Sport, and the New Zealand Building Industry Authority, and chaired the access advisory panel for the Department of Building and Housing.^[4]

She was involved in the establishment of the Barrier Free New Zealand Trust, the Laura Fergusson Trust, and the Hamilton Volunteer Centre Trust.^[4]

Pickering was a recipient of the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.^[3] In the 1996 New Year Honours, she was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for community service.^[5] She was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to people with disabilities, in the 2005 New Year Honours.^[6]

Pickering remarried George Matthewson, a parliamentary messenger, in 1999.^[3][4] Their marriage was later dissolved.^[2] She died on 27 April 2017, aged 86, and was buried with her first husband at Memorial Park Cemetery in Christchurch.^[7]