DPA New Zealand

DPA Bites June 2006

DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES

DPA believes accommodation support and housing polices must actively promote the right to human dignity and the right of the individual to choose their own lifestyle and accommodation options.

People with disabilities must be able to remain within their own communities and share in an ordinary lifestyle with access to necessary support services when required.

Inquiry needs to be about basis for support, DPA says

A focus on philosophy should be central to the Parliamentary inquiry into the care and service provision for people with disabilities, says DPA CEO Gary Williams.

Parliament's social services select committee, chaired by Labour MP Georgina Beyer, announced an inquiry into neglect and abuse in the disability sector in mid-May.

'It's comparatively easy to focus on process and operational issues like service delivery, but we need to look at the underpinnings for services,' Gary says.

'When values are not given primacy, operational and process issues will show a pattern of failure, absence of safety or of quality services.'

Gary says the whole purpose for providing support services is to achieve the mission of the NZ Disability Strategy, to have "a society that highly values our lives and continually enhances our full participation". If this mission is taken seriously, he says, people are less likely to feel abandoned and neglected by the system.

"Disabled people need to be involved in the inquiry process so that the select committee can hear real stories from real people who are more than just passive recipients of care. The danger is that the people who use support services lose their visibility and become "bed nights" or "bathing hours".
"Parliament needs to see and hear the human face of care - providers, users and carers."

2006 Budget bites

Home-based rehab for people following accidents

'More funding for home-based rehabilitation providers will help ensure injured people living at home receive high quality care by helping to retain and recruit support workers,' said the Minister, Ruth Dyson. 'The additional funding will start to address the shortage of support workers providing home-based rehabilitation, such as home help and attendant care.'

Currently around 2700 New Zealanders require significant long-term care.
Over the next four years, home-based rehab funding will get an extra $5.5m and ACC contributions towards specified treatment providers will increase by $12.9 million.

Providers' pay will increase by up to $5 per treatment visit to a total of $24.48 per treatment visit, or up to $12.57 /hour (to a total of $61.57/hour). The aim is to strengthen consumer choice over the type of treatment provider.

Disability services

National disability services have been allocated an extra $16 million for funding that goes through District Health Boards (DHBs) and other Disability Support Services providers. Last year's vote was $707.1 million but only $699.1 million was actually used.
All DHBs received a slight to moderate increases of between $1-$10 million for personal and mental health services, including services for the health of older people, provision of hospital and related services and management outputs. Funding for disability services not devolved to DHBs nearly doubled, going up from $463 million to $864 million.

National Assembly & Conference

The 2006 DPA National Assembly & Conference will be hosted by Auckland DPA
24-26 November 2006
at the Auckland University of Technology
Wellesley Street Campus
Corner Wellesley Street and Mayoral Drive
Auckland

NEWS FROM THE NEC

The National Executive Committee (NEC) met in Wellington in mid-May.

Measuring Success of the New Zealand Disability Strategy

The NEC had a discussion on how they think the success of the NZ Disability Strategy should be measured.

Generally, there was consensus that DPA should be involved in the monitoring of the Strategy. We also need to know what has actually happened for each action point in the Strategy. Disabled people need to do more to turn the Strategy into reality rather than waiting for someone else such as Government to do it.

Ideas included:

International

The 8th and possibly the last session of the United Nation's Committee developing a Convention of the Rights of Disabled People in New York is being held in August 2006.

Immediately following the UN Ad hoc committee meeting, Rehabilitation International are holding their Annual Assembly in New York. The President and CEO will attend these meetings.

New to the NEC

Brendon Murray of Invercargill has been politically active for many years. Involved in the Labour Party, human rights groups and other Invercargill community organizations, he came into the newly-revived local DPA via a human rights seminar. Musculo-skeletal problems affect his mobility and cause him pain, but he's a great promoter of self-help. 'For too long the attitude to disability has been, "do something for me" - I reckon we should be doing things for ourselves,' he says. He's particularly interested in children and young people's issues, educational issues and total mobility. 'Now I've got the time to put into DPA, which I think is an important organization. Being on the NEC gives me a wider horizon.'

David Tamatea lives in Opunake and has Taranaki iwi affiliations. He's particularly interested in governance, and has a lot of experience with health provider groups. He's a member of ACART, which advises government on assisted human reproduction procedures and research. Living in a rural community and with personal experience of disability (a double hip replacement following an accident, and arthritis) he's only too well aware of disability service gaps in rural communities. 'My goal is to be part of the management team for disability services, and I'd like DPA to have a strong influence on Government,' he says.

A good hard look at ourselves

Things have changed a lot since DPA was formed nearly a quarter of a century ago, especially the political and social changes reflected in the launch of the New Zealand Disability Strategy. So last year's National AGM decided to review DPA's organizational structure and position to make sure it can still be effective as the leading voice of people with disabilities both nationally and overseas.

The review group wants to hear from everyone. Regional forums involving DPA regional representatives are already making submissions, but the review group also wants to hear from individual members (and non-members for that matter). All the feedback and ideas will be combined and they won't be sourced back to one individual. The review group will then report to the AGM about what they find, make suggestions and offer options for change, and put recommendations to the AGM.

REGIONAL ASSEMBLIES

DPA believes the Assembly's strength lies in the effectiveness of its Regional Assemblies, which monitor issues relevant to people with disabilities and ensure that they are addressed at regional and, when appropriate, national level.

Regional Forums

Three DPA forums over the last three months have involved about 40 people from 15 DPA regions as well as the national DPA team and speakers. Each weekend event involved networking, information gathering and sharing, funding exploration, and friendship building as well as the formal programme.

The national DPA Review was a key focus, with much brainstorming and discussion about what DPA is (and isn't) and what is needed to make the organization respond well to members' needs as well as community demands.

Skills development and training components were also on the agenda. Working with the media was a major topic for each Forum, along with development of regional support.

Networking with People First

This involves supporting People First in the early stages of their journey drawing on DPA's 20+ years experience. DPA and People First are able to work jointly on some issues such as the upcoming Public Transport Review and DPA members can help with mentoring People First's members.

Working together allows DPA to draw on different perspectives and ways of working such as role playing and interactive workshops, rather than just dialogue. DPA members can mentor some People First members. At the Palmerston North Forum, Johnathan Pickering presented the People First Central Region's Path Plan.

Funding Regional Activities

Ideas included:

Organisations and projects for funding that Regions mentioned include

Dealing with the Media

Most people only remember three points from any media story. So you need to identify the three things you want to get across beforehand and keep on saying them. Three main points to remember when dealing with the media:-

  1. Regard media as your friend rather than the enemy. You need each other.
    2. Build up a relationship with local media; it helps to have this in place before something newsworthy (good or bad) breaks. Start small.

For example:

Where next?

"Funding has been secured for next year's regional capacity fora. We will continue being creative with the funding so that as many people as possible can participate." (Gary Williams, DPA CEO)

NEWS

Congratulations!

The following people with connections to DPA received awards in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours List:

Associate Professor Anne Bray of Dunedin becomes an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit for services to medical research. Professor Bray has been a significant contributor in the promotion and undertaking of applied research and education in the area of intellectual disability.

Linda Beck of Christchurch and Sara Georgeson of Wellington have been made Members of the NZ Order of Merit for 'services to people with disabilities'.

Linda, a member of DPA's National Executive Committee, is a lawyer specialising in legal consultancy and advocacy for people with disabilities. She is a trustee of the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind and past chair of the Association of Blind Citizens, Christchurch Branch. She is also involved in a number of disability groups and review boards including Workbridge and the National Advisory Council to the New Zealand Action Plan for Human Rights. She is a legal advisor for Head Injuries Society Canterbury and also volunteers her time at the Christchurch Community Law Centre.

Sara Georgeson, a former Vice-President of DPA is an Analyst for the National Advisory Committee on Health and Disability. Previously she was a committee member as a representative for the disability sector and was a member of the Disability Sector Reference Group of Standards New Zealand. She is a long serving contributor to the work of DPA at regional, national and international level. She has been a member of Palmerston North and Districts DPA since 1983 and has served as their president and vice president. During her term on the DPA National Executive Committee she represented DPA in international forums, attending the Disabled Persons International Leadership Training Seminars in Fiji and China, and the Disabled Persons International World Congress in Japan.

June Ombler, a founding member of DPA, becomes a Companion of the NZ Order of Merit for Community Service.

She has contributed to community work, in particular to disability support and advocacy in Otago, for more than 25 years. She was a member of a number of organisations, including the Aged Care Consultative Committee, Otago District Health Board, the New Zealand Association of the Blind and Partially Blind, the Dunedin Advisory Committee of the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind, the Retina Society. She established a charitable trust to provide grants to help students with a visual impairment undertake tertiary study and a research scholarship for the study of the retina. She has received a number of community awards, including the Chairman's Award for Outstanding Achievement as a member of the Blind Community of New Zealand by the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind in 1993, the Caltex and Dunedin Unsung Hero Award in 1995, the Orangi Kaupapa Trust Award for Community Service in 1996 and Certificate of Honorary Life Membership for Outstanding Service to the Retina Society in 1999.

Shirley Hazelwood of Kaponga and Val Poszeluk of Napier receive the Queen's Service Medal.

Shirley, who developed polio in 1948, started a post polio support group 1993, and has been the field officer for almost 15 years. She has been an advocate to change attitudes towards people with disabilities, through helping to write a book on polio and its effects, letters to the editor, speaking at meetings and other activities to improve accessibility to buildings in the community. She is a member of the Taranaki DPA, the Kaponga Progressive Society and is the contact for the Probation Service so people can readily support the community, including the disabled.

Val has been active in the senior and disabled communities of Hawke's Bay for more than 35 years. She was involved with the Parkinsons Society of Hawke's Bay for 15 years, first as a volunteer driver of the Age Concern van and later as supervisor for the field office. She was co-ordinator of the Napier Christmas Cheer Appeal for 15 years, a volunteer at the Pukeora Home teaching disabled children to swim, a volunteer with the Paralympics swimming team in 1976, regional president of DPA and director of the Disability Training Service. She was also volunteer with the CCS, a support person with the Prisoners Aid and Rehabilitation Society and co-ordinator of the Elder Abuse Team.

50 years on

This year celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the Salk polio vaccine being introduced into New Zealand in 1956, and the beginning of mass immunisations.
In America in 1955 there was great excitement and joy as the news of Jonas Salk's vaccine was broadcast on radio and in newspapers. Church bells rang in cities and towns all over the nation. The dreaded epidemics of paralytic poliomyelitis, which swept the world at regular intervals, could now be halted and possibly one day eradicated by the development of this life saving vaccine.

Jonas Salk was the son of a Jewish immigrant and his legacy to the world cannot be underestimated. He and his research team worked 8 years on the polio vaccine at the University of Pittsburgh. The vaccine was not patented to him and he earned no money from it. "How can you patent the sun?" he said.

Epidemics

In New Zealand the first reported deaths from polio were in 1908 and large epidemics occurred in 1916, 1925, 1937. Prolonged epidemics of polio repeatedly struck in the summers of 1948/49, 1952/53 and 1955/56. A last gasp epidemic came in the early 1960's.

Limited supplies of the Salk vaccine became available in New Zealand in early 1956 and immunisation initially targeted 8 and 9-year-old children. As supplies improved, immunisation was extended to anyone between 6 month and 29 years. By April 1962, 95 percent of all school children received 2 doses of the Sabin vaccination given by the Department of Health. New Zealand was certified polio free in 2000.

However polio still threatens to re-emerge as society becomes less vigilant, and at risk from "imported" cases. As of January 2006 there are over 1,800 cases of new polio notified worldwide.

Survivors

In New Zealand today there are somewhere between 3,000 to 5,000 polio survivors. These survivors carry the memory of their polio experiences and are the living witness to part of New Zealand's disability history. After huge efforts to rehabilitate and recover from the effects of polio, survivors went on with life, married, had children, had careers and achieved a place in society. But they were forgotten. Polio survivors are now aging and within 10 years most of the remnant will have died.

Although polio has almost faded from the national psyche of most New Zealanders, it is still relevant to honour this 50th anniversary of one of the greatest vaccine discoveries in medical history. Polio survivors should not be ignored or forgotten as they continue to live with great courage and perseverance, with great dignity and stubbornness.

Thank you Jonas Salk and Benjamin Sabin for your vaccines, which make it possible that polio will not plague our planet in the future.

"Hope lies in dreams, in imagination and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality." Jonas Salk

by Edith Morris - DPA member, Waikato