Bites: April May 2003
International Relations
DPA believes that it has a responsibility to
participate in the international community on
behalf of New Zealanders who have disabilities
to ensure involvement in sharing of new
developments and to promote its aims.
New Pacific forum established
A new entity for Pacific people with disabilities is being established.
Called the Pacific Disability Forum, this new organisation sprung out of discussions at an Oceania meeting of Disabled Peoples International (DPI).
The Forum's initial role will be to facilitate the exchange of information among its members using resourcing from a FJ $5,000 grant from Inclusion International - Asia/Pacific (IIAP) and a similarsized grant from People with Disabilities (New South Wales).
DPA will "cautiously" support the formation of the Forum in principle. Though we believe that information sharing is important, disabled peoples" organisations must be mindful of not duplicating structures that dilute our limited resources.
Terms of reference will be developed for the Forum by July this year and will help define what role disabled people will play in the Forum, particularly its leadership, whether the Forum will duplicate or usurp the role of DPI, and the implications for DPI in Oceania.
Maintaining our voice
South Pacific disabled peoples represented on the Oceania Disability Advisory and Support Committee (ODASC) of DPI had to ensure their voice wasn"t appropriated by non-disabled, New Zealand's representative says.
DPA chief executive, Gary Williams, who is Secretary for ODASC was also DPA's representative at the meeting held last November in Nadi, Fiji.
"The most influential people at the meeting were
non-DPI representatives," he says "Apart from
anything else, this seemed rather ironical given
DPI's motto: vox nostra - a voice of our own. "
"Given the outcomes from the meeting, we must
be vigilant that our voice is not, once again,
appropriated by others."
The meeting was attended by representatives from DPI-affiliated organisations in countries including Australia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati and New Zealand.
Representatives from the United Nation's Economic and Social Commission for Asia/Pacific, the Australian disability support services" organisation, the Japan International Co-operation Agency, the Secretariat of the South Pacific Forum and IIAP also attended.
Gary says some of the countries in the Oceania group did not have the resources for segregated activities for disabled people, such as residential institutions and workshops, and lamented their lack of facilities.
"I suggested that they learn from the New Zealand
experience and not create segregated settings,
which they would demand be dismantled in a
decade or two."
He says much of the Fiji meeting was spent with DPI having to justify its existence to non-DPI people and considering other mechanisms that would have greater influences for disabled people in the Pacific, rather than DPI.
Humanitarian aid the best solution
Humanitarian aid is the best contribution New Zealand could make to the Iraqi War, DPA believes.
That is because war is the major cause of impairments in the world.
So helping to provide equipment, rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure and allowing disabled people to immigrate to New Zealand are all possible ideas that DPA has advised the Minister for Disability Issues, Hon Ruth Dyson, to consider.
Advocacy and Awareness
DPA believes that self-advocacy is the strongest
and most effective form of advocacy and
therefore DPA supports efforts by people with
disabilities to promote assertiveness and selfconfidence.
Segregation in "special units" backward
Segregating children with disabilities and reopening special education units would be a backward step, according to this country's three major disability non-government organisations.
DPA, IHC and CCS, made this statement in response to news that the Supreme Court had upheld part of the Daniels Case, a court action taken by a group of parents concerned that changes in special education policy had led to a reduction in support.
DPA's chief executive, Gary Williams suggested the trio was concerned that the Daniels Case, and the publicity surrounding it, would lead to a mushrooming of special units and re-litigation of the policy that excluded disabled children from mainstream education.
"It is essential that we keep on track towards
inclusion, where all children learn and grow
together," Gary Williams said.
"This is an issue of appropriate use of resources, of
teachers having training and support and of
schools accepting that all children have a right to a
quality education."
"The families who took this action were obviously
deeply frustrated, but the issue is more
complicated than the development of policy - it's
about a whole attitude towards people with
disability that leads to them being segregated from
their peers."
DPA, IHC and CCS have agreed to continue to work together to promote "inclusion" and including young people with disabilities in New Zealand's mainstream education system.
Spotlight on electro-convulsive therapy
Controversy over the use electro-convulsive (ECT) therapy flared again recently with a call from Parliament's heath select committee to examine the health and safety aspects of the treatment.
Both the Chief Human Rights Commissioner, Rosslyn Noonan and the Health and Disability Commissioner, Ron Paterson, supported initiatives for an independent and comprehensive review of the use of ECT.
They were particularly concerned that informed consent, and the rights of particular groups such as children, adolescents and older people were protected.
They were also concerned that protocols be developed for addressing cultural, religious, and ethical issues on ECT therapy — with Maori and other groups.
Disability Services
DPA believes that every person with a disability,
and every family which includes a member with
a disability, should receive whatever services and
other support or assistance which may be
needed to reduce the disabling effects of
impairment and the handicapping effects of
disability. Services should be designed to make
possible for each person a full, meaningful and
constructive life of their own choosing.
DHBs to get disability funding for older people
Some $700 million in funding for disability support services for older people will be transferred from the Ministry of Health to District Health Boards (DHBs) from 1 October this year.
But each DHB must show that it can implement services integrated around older people's often changing needs, that there is some consistency with other services offered around the country, and that it has robust reporting and monitoring systems.
About 65 per cent of the money for older people's disability support services pays for residential aged care.
The government says the transfer of funding to DHBs will help them provide more integrated services for older people and that it makes sense for DHBs to be responsible for planning and funding all the services that meet their health and disability support needs. People with disabilities aged 50-64, including many Maori who have specific health-related needs at a younger age, and whose health support needs are assessed as "close in interest" to older people, will be funded by DHBs.
Asset testing removed
Asset testing of older people in long-term residential care will be progressively removed as from 1 July 2005, Disability Issues Minister Ruth Dyson, who is also Associate Health Minister has announced.
From 1 July 2005, single people and couples with both partners in care will be able to keep up to $150,000 in assets (including both property and savings) before their assets are used to contribute to the cost of their care, up from $15,000 and $30,000 respectively.
The Minister said the decision was in line with the government's 1999 election promise and was based on human rights considerations. "It is unfair that people aged 65 and over are required to use up their assets to contribute to the cost of their care, whereas younger people are not."
The policy is expected to cost $103 million in 2005/2006, rising to $163 million in 2010/11 and $345 million in 2020/21. About 31,000 people, or 7 per cent of people aged 65 and over, are currently in long-term residential care. The new policy will apply to all new admissions and to people already in care who are not currently eligible for a residential care subsidy.
Creating long term individual support
One of the New Zealand Disability Strategy objectives is to "create long-term support services centred on the individual".
Currently the government spends $1.2 billion a year on disability support services, funded through the Ministry of Health.
However, the NZDS is much wider than disability support services as most of the barriers facing people with disabilities involve issues such as public attitudes, human rights, employment and educational opportunities. These are covered by the 14 other objectives of the NZDS.
What is disability?
Statistics New Zealand defines a disability as:
"any self-perceived limitation in activity resulting from a long-term condition or health problem. "This limitation may be physical, sensory, psychiatric, neurological, intellectual, or age-related.
People are not considered to have a disability if their limitation can be completely removed by the use of an assistive device, such as prescription eyewear. Also, a person's limitation must have lasted, or be expected to last, for at least six months to be called a disability.
Helping government interpret NZDS
The Office of Disability Issues has a huge job helping government agencies interpret the New Zealand Disability Strategy, says its director, Jan Scown.
"We"ve got a big job to help them come up with meaningful ways to interpret the Strategy and its outcomes," Jan says. "We are tasked with monitoring their implementation in terms of what are good outcomes and (to see) if anybody is doing anything meaningful, and with providing service to the Minister's Office."
"We"ve got to try to educate the rest of government to think about what would be the impact of anything they are doing on people with disabilities. We"ve got to get some processes in place."
"Disability is not about disability services, " Jan says. "The key is to identify some priorities and where we can make the most difference. Otherwise we will be running around getting nowhere.
Payment for family carers, equitable access to coherent services, and the role of New Zealand internationally are some of the major projects for the Office.
The Office is also working on developing a project to gain recognition for New Zealand sign language as a official language, a work project involving a former member of DPA's national executive committee, Victoria Manning.
Barriers are the problem
"It's actually not the disability itself that is the
problem, it's the impact of the disability, the
fact that we"ve built an environment and a
community that is not providing the support
that people with disabilities need."
"So it's damn hard work functioning in a
wheelchair. It's damn hard work if you"re
blind, deaf. If you have an intellectual
disability it's difficult to understand the legal
system and how things work. Now all of these
things are infrastructure barriers that the
community itself has really put in the way,
not deliberately, but has put in the way of
people with disabilities.
"And one of the things we"re trying to do is to
remove those massive infrastructure
barriers."
Mark Bagsaw, marketing manager for IBM Australia, who is quadriplegic and visited New Zealand recently.
Interested in journalism?
Do you have a bent for words, and an interest in disability policy and journalism? DPA Bites is looking for contributors from the disability community. You must be a good writer and keen to tell some compelling stories. There is some remuneration. Please email your CV to DPA Publications Editor at: gen@dpa.org.nz.
NZ's first Supported Living Conference
New Zealand's first Supported Living Conference "Nothing Special" is to be held 10th to 12th September 2003 at Te Papa in Wellington. This conference will explore the state of the art and the personal experience of supported living opportunities in New Zealand and internationally.
Full programme and registrations will be available from mid May.
To ensure you receive a registration, or for further information contact:
Lorna Sullivan
Standardsplus@clear.net.nz
Phone: 09 262 5370
DPA National Secretariat Diary 2003
| May | |
| 8 | DPA meets with Disability Issues Minister |
| 17-18 | NEC meets in Wellington |
| 28 | CEO meets with Office of Disability Issues |
| June DPA Bites published | |
| 2 | Queens Birthday |
| 19 | DPA meets with Disability Issues Minister |
| 25 | CEO meets with Office of Disability Issues |
| July | |
| 30 | CEO meets with Office of Disability Issues |
| 31 | DPA meets with Disability Issues Minister |
| Regional financial statements toNational Secretariat | |
| November | |
| 14 | NEC meets in Whakatane |
| 15 | AGM, Whakatane |
Want to know more?
If you need more information from the DPA National Secretariat on any item in Bites simply phone / ITTY us on (04) 801-9100, fax your request to (04) 801-9565, send it email: gen@dpa.org.nz, or to DPA (New Zealand) Inc, PO Box 27-524, Wellington or check our website www.dpa.org.nz