Bites: June July 2003
Happy Birthday DPA - 21 years old this year!
DPA turns 21 this year and that landmark will be celebrated in style on Saturday 15 November 2003 with a Birthday Party, the National Assembly and the Annual General Meeting to be held on the Whakatane War Memorial Hall, from 10am to 4pm.
The day’s session will be followed by a celebratory birthday dinner and dance in the evening and there’ll even be a 21st birthday cake to mark the fact that 21 years ago, in 1983, DPA was formed, says organising committee member, Bev Grammer.
So put aside that weekend now and get ready, not only to talk policy, but also to party. More details will be announced later in the August mailout to all financial members.
Bev says the DPA Eastern Bay of Plenty organising committee, comprising Jane Brown (secretary), Karla Hammond, Adrian Wellington, Bronwen Newdick, Kathleen Oliver and George Hannah, have already been busy recently getting sponsorship for the event.
"I think it will great," she says. "We are only a small place but it will be really great to meet here and for people to see what Whakatane is like."
"There is quite a bit of accessible accommodation within walking distance of the War Memorial and everything is really central."
Whakatane now more accessible
An Access Group organised by DPA and other people with disabilities who are interested have been busy successfully lobbying the local council for access improvements to the Kopeopeo town centre in Whakatane and to the Whakatane Airport.
So the small Bay of Plenty seaside holiday town should be much improved for the arrival of DPA members at this year’s AGM and party, Bev Grammer says.
"Our township in Whakatane has been upgraded. They are upgrading the whole area and we have been involved - in just really simple things. They had beautiful architectural chairs designed but they had no backs and no arms on them and people just couldn’t sit in them because they were not appropriate."
"We had an artist redesign them so they still look really groovy but the access works really well."
The DPA-led Access Group also lobbied for tactile additions to the Kopeopeo centre and for a plane ramp to be introduced into Whakatane Airport. The ramp now means people who use power chairs can access the airplanes.
"They didn’t have any way of getting wheel chairs on and off. The council passed a special submission that they would make Air New Zealand and Whakatane Airport put in a special ramp that will ensure that the chairs will get in and out. Especially power chairs couldn’t go from Whakatane because they didn’t have any way of getting them into the plane."
So, Bev and her team are looking forward to seeing you in the Bay of Plenty in November and you’ll have a great time.
Please note that the date for the 21st party, the National Assembly and AGM has been changed from the previously advertised date of 22 November to 15 November. So mark your diary entry to the new date now.
Does disability count? Apparently not!
Disability doesn’t count apparently, at least according to the latest discussion document from Statistics New Zealand called, Census 2006 - Preliminary Views on Content.
This document recommends removing disability as a topic from the 2006 Census, while including topics on cigarette smoking and fertility and making minimal changes to other census topics such as income, work, education and training and housing.
DPA believes the rationale for dropping the disability question is itself questionable, as the Government spends annually at least $1.2 billion on disability support services and needs to research disability issues to help gauge the quality of the spending.
"They need to know if the resources are going into the right areas," says DPA chief executive, Gary Williams. "Over the next five years they will probably spend something like $6-7 billion, as a guessitmate, on disability support. Therefore, it would seem prudent to invest $2 million on a disability survey."
Questions on disability were included in the 1996 and 2001 Censuses, the document says. "They were used to select samples for post-censal disability surveys, and no disability information from the census was published. "
Little change in five years, says Stats Dept
Statistics NZ says results from the 1996 and 2001 Disability Surveys indicate that the small amount of change has been such that the topic of disability is better included on a cyclical basis rather than five-yearly.
The department also says it is unlikely that there will be a post-censal survey on disability following the 2006 Census unless there are major changes in government policy that are likely to have a significant impact on the well-being of people with disabilities.
Statistics NZ social statistics manager, Denise Brown, says results from the previous two censuses indicated that surveying disability issues can be done less frequently than every five years.
The last two censuses included questions on disability that provided the framework for detailed questionnaires in post-censal surveys, undertaken because census data is not particularly reliable.
"We know that the answers we get from censuses are not very accurate. What we ask in the census really just provides a framework."
The post-census surveys following the last two censuses that had the disability question contained more detailed questions to determine whether in fact people had a disability.
For example, some people who in the census said they had a disability actually didn’t; and some people who said they didn’t have a disability actually did. "They tend to be older people, " Denise Brown says.
"We have done two surveys five years apart and the results have showed very little change. We are of the view that it’s an area where we probably only need to run a survey less frequently than every five years," she says.
Submissions on the Preliminary Views opened in April and were due on June 27. Check: http://www.stats.govt.nz
Youth policy
DPA’s youth policy is expected to be launched on International Youth Day - 12 August 2003 - after it is validated by the national executive and the regions.
"I have drafted it because I am the youth working group convenor," says NEC member, Bev Grammer. "I am assuming it will distributed to other areas of DPA for people to see before it gets launched."
The policy is based on DPA’s policy manual, the Our Vision document, and discussions at the youth leadership camp at Hanmer Springs last January. "We are looking at launching it with Ruth Dyson and involving some of the youth from the camp," Bev says.
Lead in UN move
A high power meeting on disability at the United Nations in New York was expected to validate the call for a United Nations Convention on Disability to be drafted.
DPA chief executive, Gary Williams, left New Zealand for New York on 14 June to attend a crucial meeting where the debate on a UN Convention for people with disabilities was to be held.
"The UN needs to agree that there needs to be a Convention and the UN needs to draft it," Gary said just before he departed. "That’s why they are looking for input from disabled people from around the world and from governments."
"It’s quite important. This meeting is going to be crucial in determining the UN’s stance on disability issues."
"The other thing we know is that the New Zealand Government is wanting to take a leading role at the UN and to get the UN to start drafting a Convention."
The director of the Office of Disability Issues, Jan Scown, was to lead New Zealand’s delegation travelling to the United States. The party also included two key people who have long been associated with DPA, Robyn Hunt and Dave Henderson.
"We also know there are going to be other New Zealanders in New York, Robert Martin and Don Wills," Gary, who returns to this country on 30 June, said.
Office co-ordinator Robyn Crisp leaves
DPA National Secretariat office coordinator, Robyn Crisp (pictured), left DPA on 23 May 2003 to move to the Tongariro plateau with her partner, Murray, for a change of lifestyle and to grow saffron.
During the five and a half years that Robyn was involved in DPA she assisted many people in numerous ways. She was noted for always being available to lend a hand, for her good humour, organisation and resourcefulness and her readiness to do various tasks that were not actually in her job description.
Indeed, at a lunch on Thursday 22 May, to mark her farewell, Robyn admitted that when she took on the office co-ordinator role, her job description was five pages long and she didn’t know how she’d ever manage to do everything.
A number of people turned out for Robyn’s farewell and to celebrate her contribution to DPA including, former chief executive, Dave Henderson, former policy analyst, Owen Hughes, president Bill Wrightson, former president, Paul Gibson, and NEC member Linda Beck, who sang a lovely rendition of Bread and Roses for the occasion. Good luck Robyn! We will miss you.
Lorraine Dick joins us
Lorraine Dick (pictured) is the new office administrator at DPA’s national office in Wellington. Lorraine has previously worked a number of years in the union movement and not for profit organisations. She is also looking forward to meeting DPA members and getting to know the National Executive Committee. Welcome Lorraine!
NEC member on HRC body
Christchurch-based DPA national executive committee member, Linda Beck, has been appointed to the Human Rights Commission’s new key external advisory body, the National Advisory Council.
Linda, also a member of the Board of Trustees of Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind, will be advising on Mana ki te Tangata - New Zealand Action Plan for Human Rights (NZAPHR).
The project to develop the NZAPHR, previously the National Plan of Action for Human Rights, was launched last December and is designed to reinforce fundamental human rights such as freedom of expression.
It will also provide a framework for making human rights and issues of fairness central to areas such as health, education, housing and employment.
The rights action plan is to be developed and completed late next year and will involve public consultation. The plan is expected to set the human rights agenda for the next five to 10 years, monitoring how well New Zealand is doing in terms of human rights and providing a set of recommendations for improvement.
Exchanging information
The national executive committee has decided that DPA will pursue a more active relationship with the Mental Health Commission and agendas other than that of the Government.
Those decisions came out of a briefing to the national executive provided by the chair of the Mental Health Commission, Jan Dowland, when the committee met in Wellington on 17-18 May.
The Mental Health Commission was established six years ago and has the role of monitoring the area of mental health, reducing discrimination and boosting the strength of the workforce. However, it will be de-commissioned in 2007.
Meanwhile, DPA, which has been considering the establishment of a Disability Commission, will establish more formal links with the Mental Health Commission and develop further its own strategy alternatives.
Hui for Maori
A series of four hui are to be organised by DPA around the country during the coming few months between now and September.
Logistics are still being worked through but it is likely the four hui will be in Wellington, Christchurch, Auckland and Taranaki, with the aim of finding out what Maori people with disabilities want from DPA. The discussions from the hui will also feed into the Ministry of Health’s Maori disability action plan.
DPA National Secretariat Diary 2003
| July | |
| 30 | CEO meets with Office for Disability Issues |
| 31 | DPA meets with Ruth Dyson |
| Regional financial statements to National Secretariat | |
| August | |
| DPA Bites published | |
| Call for nominations for vacancies on the NEC | |
| Call for remits for consideration at the AGM | |
| 9-10 | NEC meeting, Wellington |
| 12 | DPA launches Youth policy |
| September | |
| 11 | DPA meets with Ruth Dyson |
| 24 | CEO meets with Office for Disability Issues |
| 26 | Close call for nominations and remits |
| October | |
| NEC elections | |
| 23 | DPA meets with Ruth Dyson |
| 29 | CEO meets with Office for Disability Issues |
| 31 | All Regional AGMs held by this date |
| November | |
| 14 | NEC meets in Whakatane |
| 15 | 21st Birthday Party, National Assembly and 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