DPA New Zealand

DPA Bites June/July 2007

National Assembly - 3rd November

This year's 1-day DPA National Assembly will be on Saturday, 3rd November at the Novotel, Palmerston North.
The programmne will start at 10am and conclude at 3.30pm.
More information will be coming out from the National Secretariat in the coming months.

DISABILITY SUPPORTS

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.

'It's about our lives'

'This isn't an inquiry about things, like books written or primary production or exports,' said DPA representatives Gary Williams and Wendi Wicks in their submission to the Select Committee Inquiry into services for people with disabilities. 'It's about our lives.

'We know our own lives best and we should lead in talking about the services we use.

"If they were working, we wouldn't be having the inquiry. Change must happen soon, and we need to lead it.'

DPA stressed that leadership is critical in getting the services right, and should be top priority.

'The incoherent, inadequate, inconsistent and shamefully under-resourced provision of services to disabled people does not need new structures, rules and processes unless they are informed by changed attitudes to disabled people and a commitment to let us lead.

'We need to honour the objectives and values in Whakanui Oranga: The NZ Disability Strategy.'

An independent Disability Commission has been called for repeatedly by disabled people and DPA said it was disappointed that this had not yet been achieved. Some gains had been made, including setting up the Office for Disability Issues. 'But its situation within a large government department does not give it the independence or remit we would expect from a Commission'

Independent Advocacy is the key

Many people with learning disability are unhappy with their service provision but don't know what to do about it, according to the national organisation People First.

Every person with a disability should have an independent advocate, they told the Select Committee inquiry. The advocate can make sure they are receiving information about what is available, rather than just information about what a service thinks it can offer.

An independent advocate can also help if a complaint needs to be made. 'It is hard for my support person to make a complaint about my service as they will be supporting me to complain about their employer.'

Accurate information in plain language is essential for people with learning disabilities, and can also help others such as people who can't read or who don't speak English easily. They tried to get financial support from the Committee so they could translate the inquiry terms of reference into plain language but didn't even get a response.

What does $150m buy?

Over $150 million has been put aside in the Government's recent Budget for services to people with disabilities. The money will be paid out over four years. Another $36 million has been put aside for the coming year to allow for extra demands from 'demographic and financial' pressures.

DPA President Mike Gourley was welcoming but cautious about the announcement. 'The extra $150 million is certainly welcomed and needed,' he said in a press statement. 'But we don't know how this will be used to support services.

'Investing in service quality is better than investing in bricks and mortar,' he said.

'We've seen the price tag. Now we need to see the quality of the goods on the rack.'

Operational funding for disability services (over the next four years) in the Budget included:

NEWS FROM NEC

Making the Convention matter

The recently-signed UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is a great opportunity to drive public attention on to the local and national scene, the National Executive Committee (NEC) decided at its latest meeting.

It would also be a good way to draw the disability community together. DPA and NZCCS are starting down this track, cooperating on a 'social change' programme. Paul Gibson, Ruth Jones and Sharif Millad are members of the NZCCS Social Change Team.

This involves a marketing effort using the Like Minds, Like Mine approach to put forward good stories about people with disabilities.

Keeping DPA moving

'Succession planning' is the new buzz term - making sure DPA officeholders don't get stuck with the job for too long, by having deputies for president, secretary and treasurer. This gives time for building self-esteem and confidence in people to take over the roles.

Workshops on succession planning will be part of the 2008 regional capacity-building forums.

DPA Review

The three priorities from Pat Hanley's report are:-

  1. Changing Communities
  2. Changing Government Policies
  3. Changing the World

Regions will discuss these at June/July DPA Regional Meetings and give feedback.

Disability Advisory Council

DPA is responsible for appointing a person who brings the experience of physical but non-injury related impairment. Our current appointee, Mike Gourley, has completed his term and is to be succeeded by Beverley Grammer.

REGIONAL ACTIVITY

DPA believes that 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.

News from Northland

Tiaho Trust

Tiaho Trust is a 'for disabled - by disabled' organisation providing information and empowerment services to the disabled community of Northland. It contracts to the Ministry of Health to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of disability information in Northland, and is developing two significant web sites in Northland.

The Support Options website, www.SupportOptions.co.nz, run by Auckland's Disability Resource Centre in collaboration with the Tiaho Trust, provides up to date, accurate and usable disability support service information in their region. Users of the site can print out their own fact sheets containing information about a support service and details of providers - particularly helpful in areas with limited internet access.

The "Tiaho Trust" web site, www.tiaho.org.nz provides interactive dialogue, awhi and support. It brings up to date news on disability issues both in Northland and nationally. Tiaho is investing in video technology and capability to capture disability issues and culture for broadcasting on the Tiaho web site.

With the Trust's representation on various advisory committees in the Northland region, people can 'have their say' at these by contacting Tiaho Trust. Tiaho also supports thirteen disability information advisory service providers in Northland (DIAS Collective) such as Arthritis NZ, Royal NZ Foundation of the Blind and the Deaf Association, helping them increase awareness and usage of their services in Northland.

Freedom to swing

Rhonda Courtney enjoys a new experience - 'flying through the air' just like other children in the 'Liberty Swing' in Whangarei's Town Basin playground. The swing, designed to allow children who use wheelchairs to experience the same thrills as other children, was gifted to the Whangarei community earlier this year.

After a saga of funding involving the Variety Children's Charity (which donated the swing), the local Council and the Rotary Club, the swing was installed, to the great delight of the disabled children of Northland.

Free keys for the Liberty Swing, which fit all 14 of these swings throughout New Zealand, are available for families who have children who use wheelchairs.

Fish stories

The Eko Fishing Club of Northland grew out of the Young Stroke Survivors Club. In March this year, 20 members took part in the Haines Hunter Lowrance Beach and Boat Fishing Competition. The organizer provided a wheelchair friendly convenience portaloo and a special area near the stage so that wheelchair users could see the action without people standing in front of them and blocking their view.

Getting around

Transport and especially parking are the 'big issues' around the country right now. DPA in Palmerston North held a forum in early May which included input from a wheel-clamping business. There was vigorous discussion on whether mobility parking places in the centre of the city should have time limits and if so what these should be.

In Tauranga, the issue hit the Bay of Plenty Times headlines when parking wardens occupied a mobility parking space while ticketing cars nearby.

Christchurch DPA reports closer policing of accessible carparks in malls and suburban shopping centres, with clamps and fines being imposed.

Mobility scooters have been the top topic for DPA Aoraki (South Canterbury), with scooter expos in towns, scooter use training and a scooter risks morning in Timaru. This involved District Council and DPA members traveling around together identifying hazards and recognizing the risks of poor surfaces.

Public transport use by people with disabilities has been tackled by Wellington DPA. For those who can access buses there has been an improvement, however getting on and off trains remains very difficult.

GENERAL NEWS

Disturbing picture of assaults on disabled people

The growing number of complaints of assaults on intellectually disabled people at the Haumietiketike Unit at Porirua Hospital paints a deeply disturbing picture, Disabled Persons Assembly CEO Gary Williams said in a media statement in April.

Numerous complaints from different individuals of abuse, assault and over-enthusiastic restraint have been made over the last five years, and it seems they have not been satisfactorily dealt with.

'These are people who are held under the Intellectual Disability Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation Act, and we believe their basic human rights are infringed when the act doesn't seem to protect them,' he said. 'These are serious complaints, and need to be dealt with promptly, properly and openly.'

With the Disability Convention just signed, Government needs to review its legislation, he said. 'Clearly they need to consider whether this Act is fully consistent with our international obligations.'

Nations lining up to sign Convention

So far 95 nations around the world have signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The nations range from Algeria to Yemen and include New Zealand and Australia but not the United States of America.

New Zealand has not however signed the Optional Protocol. The Protocol means the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ("the Committee") can receive and consider complaints from people who claim to be victims of a violation of the provisions of the Convention. Fifty-two nations have agreed this, among them Argentina, Lithuania and South Africa, but very few European countries. 'Old Commonwealth' countries such as Australia, India and Canada as well as the United Kingdom have also not signed the Optional Protocol.

When a country signs a Convention like this it means it has some work to do before its legislation lines up with the provisions of the Convention. Signing expresses the intention to be bound by the Convention, and in the meantime the country won't do anything that contravenes its provisions. Once everything is in place, a country can ratify the Convention which means it is then legally bound to observe it.

Only one country - Jamaica - has ratified the Convention so far.

Twenty countries have to ratify it before it comes into force.

So there's still a long way to go.