DPA Bites June / July 2004
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.
DPA’s contributes positively to the UN Disability Convention
DPA’s President Mike Gourley, CEO Gary Williams and policy researcher Wendi Wicks, were all members of the NZ Government’s delegation to the United Nations (UN) Ad Hoc committee on a convention to protect the rights of persons with disabilities, held at the UN headquarters in New York. Jan Scown (Office for Disability Issues) headed the delegation, which included Robyn Hunt (Human Rights Commission), Mary O’Hagan and Chris Hansen (Mental Health Commission) and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade.
The purpose of the meeting was to start negotiating the text of a legally-binding convention, based on a draft prepared earlier in the year by a small working group of countries, including NZ, and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). Most of the draft was given a “first reading”, a process whereby countries and NGOs suggest changes to the draft text. Nearly all of the draft was discussed and covered areas such as the right to life; equal recognition as a person before the law; non-discrimination; respect for privacy, the home and the family; freedom from torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment; access to information, right to health, work and education.
The negotiating mandate of the NZ delegation was to foster partnerships between governments and disabled people, promote outcomes consistent with the New Zealand Disability Strategy and facilitate agreement between nations for a Convention text. With this mandate, the DPA representatives were able to influence New Zealand’s suggested changes which would advantage disabled people. This was in stark contrast to some countries whose suggestions, if implemented, would nullify or minimise the effect of a convention.
The fourth session of the Ad Hoc committee will be in New York in August where the rest of the draft, including title, structure, preamble, definitions, monitoring mechanism and final clauses will be given their first reading. After that the negotiations will begin in earnest.
EQUIPMENT
DPA believes that people with disabilities have a right to equipment on an equitable basis that provides them with a lifestyle appropriate to their needs.
EQUIPMENT FUNDING CUTS REJECTED
The recent crisis in funding for specialist equipment is of concern to DPA. In April the Health Ministry put nearly all funding on hold until July 1st as the demand for modifications to houses, vehicles and special equipment were “at levels well ahead of last year” and had to be curtailed for the rest of the financial year.
DPA's concerns about this are that it reflects the historic under-funding that is obscured by the notion of “priority waiting lists”, the capped budget as compared with a demand-driven budget and the seeming lack of control on expenditure.
DPA CEO Gary Williams says that “for people with disabilities who are dependent on special equipment, the stopping of funding is just unacceptable. As we understand it, the budget was only out by a minor percentage so surely it could have been managed in a more creative, less drastic fashion. The arbitrary cessation of services creates real hardships for people”.
NATIONAL EXECUTIVE
COMMITTEE (NEC) ACTIVITIES
Wellington, May 8-9th 2004
Changes on the NEC
* With great regret the NEC accepted the resignation of Chris Ford from the NEC and Huhana Hickey from both the NEC and the National Maori Adviser role.
* As advisor, Huhana had presented many challenges to the NEC and DPA concerning the inclusion of Maori within the organisation and it is hoped that Huhana will be in a position to stand for the NEC in the future. Huhana’s resignation no way indicates that the NEC will not continue to grapple with the issues faced in regards to Maori participation and partnership. The NEC discussed at length the role of the Maori Adviser, and how DPA might better support Maori development within the organisation. A kaumatua will be approached initially in order to build up a relationship for better understanding.
* Kim Robinson and Minnie Baragwanath fill the casual vacancies on the NEC.
Discussion on Workbridge
* DPA has held the role of Presidency of the Workbridge Council as of right for the last three years and it was decided that DPA would try to retain the role.
* Workbridge has made some funds available to DPA, managed by the National Secretariat, to cover some costs incurred by disabled people when attending policy and advisory forums.
* DPA and Workbridge will jointly approach the Tertiary Education Commission about the difficulties being experienced in gaining access to training support funding with private training providers.
* A remit was passed by the 2001 National Assembly to the effect that Workbridge provide evidence that either it is "valuing" disabled people or else be disestablished. Ruth Harrison, the CEO of Workbridge, reported to the NEC that she believed the organisation had made progress in addressing these issues, especially in extensive awareness training, the expenditure of the full amount of support funds, and an increase in support funds available. Over this period client satisfaction surveys have indicated improvements on every level. However, continued impediments to Workbridge, identified by disabled people, include the administration, the limitations and criteria of support funds.
Other key discussion points
* Human Rights Commission: Bruce Coleman from the Human Rights Commission spoke to the NEC about the Inquiry into Accessible Public Land Transport. (See elsewhere for more information on this enquiry and how to make a submission). There will be a DPA National submission and regions and individuals are also urged to put in submissions.
* Total Mobility: Difficult situations are arising because of the differences in the way each regional council operates the scheme, especially for people who are using their entitlement outside of local regions. All regional councils are now in the process of preparing ten-year plans and will be considering Total Mobility in their planning and budgeting. At present there are two national reviews into Total Mobility including one by Transfund and they are hoping to get some results from this available by July.
* ACC/DSS Action Group, established in Christchurch, is currently working alongside the Office for Disability Issues on their Equity and Coherence Project. This is not about seeking to reduce ACC benefits, but bringing about greater consistency of benefit between ACC clients and disabled people who use government-funded disability support services. DPA will provide support to this group in promoting the need for greater equity for all disabled people.
* Regional Package: The operational resource package for regions has been upgraded.
* Supported Independent Living: The NEC resolved to strongly oppose the current directive from the Ministry of Health for Needs Assessment/Service Coordination (NASC) agencies to reduce supported independent living.
* Charities Commission Legislation: The NEC will ensure that DPA can continue to have a political voice as a registered charity in the upcoming Charities Bill. June 3 is the deadline for submissions on this Bill and DPA is having input via the Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisations.
* Air New Zealand Lifting Issue: DPA is still concerned about Air New Zealand's policy on lifting people in aircraft (see the last DPA Bites for further information on this). The policy is not in legislation and is not defensible under either ACC or OSH guidelines. This is a human rights issue and will be challenged under human rights law.
* Political Influence: Disabled people will be supported in being effective in political influence - particularly in countering stigma. It was suggested that we have some engagement with the "speakers bureau", a group who supported the development of the "like mine, like minds campaign".
* Women's Caucus: The focus for the women's caucus this year is to be on parenting and relationships for disabled women. Concerns have arisen around issues of screening, access to screening programmes for disabled women, and the tying of the screening register with access to general health information, thus overriding the Privacy Act.
* Needs Assessment Service Coordination Association (NASCA): DPA has sought to have representation on the NASCA executive. For this, there must be clear guidelines for participation and we must ensure independence of our voice.
* Manifesto: With a possible early election we need to have a manifesto readily available and need to be more active now in getting this prepared for national elections, local body and District Health Board elections. Regions will be supported to become very active in order to raise regional profiles. Grasping hold of local issues and promoting these helps raise visibility. Using common themes that get synergy with other interest groups can be helpful.
INTRODUCING A NEW NEC MEMBER
Kim Robinson
"Greetings all, I'm Kim Robinson and hail from Auckland. My interests are politics and human rights. Most readers will be familiar with some of the Deaf community's actions over the last few years such as the Telecommunications Relay Service and Captioned Movies in Cinemas. Therefore I am bringing onboard to DPA NEC a strong background of human rights and political advocacy through effective policy making.
I believe DPA has the potential to continue to play an effective role within the New Zealand and international political arena as a leader in disability accessibility. I want to encourage all readers to contribute in anyway they can. Each little contribution will enable us to achieve the results faster."
TRANSPORT
DPA believes that transport is a basic right of all people. Recognising this, Government must ensure that all forms of transport and its infrastructure, both in the community and nationally, must be fully accessible to people with disabilities.
ACCESSIBLE PUBLIC LAND TRANSPORT
In September 2003 an inquiry was announced into Accessible Land Transport by the Chief Human Rights Commissioner, Rosslyn Noonan. This followed a significant number of complaints, enquiries and representations to the Human Rights Commission which suggested some elements of the public transport system were not accessible to people with disabilities. The Commission is considering the need for changes to legislation, regulations, policies and procedures for funding arrangements.
The consultation report, made public in April 2004, provides a comprehensive assessment of accessible land transport issues for people with disabilities in New Zealand, including views both of people with disabilities and of people working in the transport sector.
Members of the public are now invited to make submissions as part of the Commission's Inquiry. Submissions can be made in a variety of ways and more information concerning this, plus copies of the Inquiry Consultation Report, can be obtained from the Commission website www.hrc.co.nz/Inquiry.
National Assembly and Conference,
Palmerston North,
29-31 October
The Theme: New Zealand Disability Strategy, how far we have moved towards an inclusive, non-disabling society and the directions we wish to take the strategy.
The Aim: to produce a report on the implementation of the NZDS for the Minister of Disability Issues. What has worked, is working and where is room for improvement?
Key note speaker: Venus Ilagan, President of Disabled Persons International will speak on 'International perspectives on the disability rights movement, with special reference to the Asian region, and how disabled people are becoming organised in countries where disability rights and support services are absent or poorly developed.
Panel Discussions: (1) Venus, Mike Gourley and Robert Martin will discuss the NZDS, in light of what Venus has said about international trends. (2) In preparation for the afternoon workshops, a number of people will reflect on the NZDS in terms of its impact on their lives, and the services they receive etc.
Workshops: There will be 2 workshops in the afternoon focusing on "How far has the NZDS advanced the goal of a non-disabling society that highly values our lives and continually advances our full participation.?" Delegates will be asked to evaluate certain aspects of the NZDS to see what is working, what isn't and ways we would like to develop it to hasten the arrival of the non-disabling society.
Footprints: a local business, has been employed to help in the running of the Conference and they have an enviable record in this area. They promise a Saturday evening delegates will not forget, built around a magnificent meal and "Futuristic Theme Event".
In light of the discussion on NZDS this is going to be an important conference and fun as well! So I urge members to begin planning to attend. The August issue of DPA Bites will contain information on registration, a detailed programme and further background information.
Martin Sullivan
Convenor, Local Organising Committee
Young Leaders Camp.
Do you have any young members in your region, who could benefit from some professional development? If so, you should consider nominating them to attend DPA's Young Leaders Camp in January 2005. This camp will provide an opportunity for young disabled people to learn the skills and knowledge necessary for them to take up leadership roles both within DPA and the wider community. It will cost $50 to nominate a DPA member from your region.
The 20 participants will learn from positive disabled role models who will present workshops and challenge them to be all that they can be. They will be given the chance to learn and develop within a supportive environment, and will come out better off for their experience.
Please help me identify the participants for this upcoming camp. In the future, we hope the participants of this camp and subsequent camps will become the new faces of DPA and other disability organisations.
Application forms will be available from the 1st of July 2004, and may be obtained by contacting the youth leadership project coordinator,
Nathan Bond
E-mail nathan.bond@paradise.net.nz
FAX 04 977-3869
DPA DETAILS
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