Welcome to the first issue of Participate for 2001. Firstly, it covers the launch of the New Zealand Disability Strategy, the undoubted highlight of my time as Minister for Disability Issues.

Prime Minister Helen Clark launched the strategy, Making a World of Difference - Whakanui Oranga, at Parliament on 30 April. Her involvement shows the seriousness with which this Government takes disability issues, and our ongoing commitment to implementing the strategy.

The aim of the New Zealand Disability Strategy is to remove the barriers which prevent disabled people from participating fully in society.

I have been impressed and heartened by the overwhelming interest through all stages of the strategy. Around 1200 people participated in consultation meetings. We received 700 submissions on the draft document (including feedback from 68 meetings), and the launch itself attracted over 1000 people: 400 at the official launch at Parliament; 500 at regional functions in Auckland, Hamilton, Christchurch and Dunedin; and a further 140 who tuned into the Internet on the day to listen.

In particular, I want to thank the disabiity sector reference group who played a crucial role in developing the strategy. Reaching consensus on a public document is never easy. I know there were many interesting discussions along the way, and that some of you would have liked the strategy to go further.

But that should not cloud what represents a significant achievement. The New Zealand Disability Strategy is an excellent starting point on which to build a society where disabled people are able to participate in our communities and reach their full potential.

This issue of Participate also outlines some of the work already going on in Government: the vocational services review; compulsory care legislation for people with an intellectual disability; strategies for e-government, Maori health and positive ageing; an improved building access standard; and changes to the delivery of special education.

Thank you once again for your ongoing contribution and support. It gives me great confidence that the New Zealand Disability Strategy is in safe hands.

As Gary Williams, chief executive of DPA, said at the launch: 'The Disability Strategy is the most important thing to happen to disabled people in New Zealand. What happens next is up to us all.'

Lianne Dalziel
Minister for Disability Issues

Vision and objectives of the New Zealand Disability Strategy

Vision:

New Zealand will be inclusive when people with impairments can say they live in:

'a society that highly values our lives and continually enhances our full participation'.

Objectives:

1. Encourage and educate for a non-disabling society

2. Ensure rights for disabled people

3. Provide the best education for disabled people

4. Provide opportunities in employment and economic development for disabled people

5. Foster leadership by disabled people

6. Foster an aware and responsive public service

7. Create long-term support systems centred on the individual

8. Support quality living in the community for disabled people

9. Support lifestyle choices, recreation and culture for disabled people

10. Collect and use relevant information about disabled people and disability issues

11. Promote participation of disabled Maori

12. Promote participation of disabled Pacific peoples

13. Enable disabled children and youth to lead full and active lives

14. Promote participation of disabled women in order to improve their quality of life

15. Value families, whanau and people providing ongoing support

Where to from here?

Eleven key government departments are now developing work plans to implement the New Zealand Disability Strategy over the coming year. They are the Ministries of Health, Education, Social Policy, Justice, Pacific Island Affairs, Women's Affairs and Transport; the Departments of Work and Income and Labour; the State Services Commission; and Te Puni Kokiri.

From next year, all departments will develop annual work plans, showing how they will begin removing the barriers facing disabled people. Departments will be monitored against their work plans and will be required to report on progress. There will also be overarching reviews of progress after five years and ten years.

Final decisions about monitoring are yet to be made. However, the Government has agreed that monitoring must involve disabled people.

Departments must also consider the disability sector reference group's advice, as well as the strategy itself, when they develop their work plans.

Copies of the New Zealand Disability Strategy - Whakanui Oranga, and A Brief Summary of the Analysis of Submissions on the New Zealand Disability Strategy Discussion Document are available from the Ministry of Health, phone (04) 496 2277 and on the website: www.nzds.govt.nz.

The language of disability

Some people have expressed surprise that the New Zealand Disability Strategy refers to 'disabled people' rather than 'people with disabilities'.

This term was recommended by the disability sector reference group, and reflects our changing understanding of disability issues.

For many years, disabled people were described primarily by what they couldn't do - for example the disabled, the blind - without any reference to being people.

The term, 'people with disabilities', was introduced to emphasise that all individuals are people first, no matter what their physical or mental abilities.

An awareness of the social model of disability and an increased sense of collective identity and pride has led to the use of the term, 'disabled people' again.

The social model says that individuals have impairments (not disabilities). Impairments can be physical, sensory, neurological, psychiatric, intellectual and so on. What often disables people is not their impairment, but barriers that stop them from participating fully in their communities.

This is the meaning behind the term, disabled people, as it is used in the New Zealand Disability Strategy.

Excerpts from PM Helen Clark's speech at NZDS launch

'Thank you to everyone who has come tonight. Your presence in such large numbers shows the importance of both the strategy and of it being successfully implemented.

'There were two major underlying factors that governed the development of this strategy: the social model of disability and a commitment to human rights.

'Our society is built in ways which assume we can all move quickly from one side of the road to the other, that we can all see signs, read directions, hear announcements, reach buttons, climb stairs, open heavy doors, interpret complex information, and that we all have stable moods and perceptions.

'For the one in five New Zealanders with a long-term disability, that is not necessarily the case. Many can't reach their full potential, or participate fully in our communities because of the barriers they face doing everyday things.

'These barriers arise from our physical environment, social attitudes, education and employment opportunities, access to services, income levels, and other factors which affect people's goals and aspirations. These barriers are socially constructed - and they can be removed. That, in a nutshell, is the aim of the New Zealand Disability Strategy. . . .

'With the New Zealand Disability Strategy we have, for the first time ever, a national framework which will enable us to address disability issues across agencies, policies, services and legislation. Within that framework, we will be able to address issues before decisions are made which affect disabled people, rather than as an afterthought, as happens so often at the moment . . .

'The primary focus will be on what government departments and other publicly funded organisations need to do to remove the barriers faced by disabled people. But it is also important to reflect on some of the key findings from consultation on the strategy.

'Disabled people have made it clear that attitudes which lead to discrimination are the biggest barrier they face. That challenges us to ask ourselves whether we judge people by what they can't do, rather than by what they can do.'

Excerpts from Gary Williams' (DPA) speech at NZDS launch

'This strategy points to attitude as the biggest barrier facing disabled people. Our society is all the poorer for its attitude.

'For example:

• Some people think it's okay to lock disabled people away because they might be dangerous.

• Disabled people are captives in an environment because an industry needs people to be dependent.

• Ordinariness doesn't include disabled people.

• Ignorance still feeds the "not in my back yard" syndrome.

• Deaf people still can't phone anyone in New Zealand even though their counterparts in Australia or the US can.

'These kinds of attitudes have to change and Government must show leadership.

'Such leadership can only happen if we are involved in a meaningful way. Up until now, our leadership skills, like all things positive to do with disability issues, have been under-developed, under-resourced and under-utilised.

'The strategy has gone through a development period and has been born. It will now grow and mature. Ultimately, it is we who will help it grow because it is our lives that will be enhanced with a successful strategy. We have it in ourselves to provide the impetus. As it grows, we must monitor its performance and be there to guide choices when they arise.

'The Disability Strategy is the most important thing to happen to disabled people in New Zealand. What happens now is up to us all.'

Vocational Services Review to go to Cabinet in June

The review of vocational services for people with disabilities is almost completed. The review covers services purchased by the Department of Work and Income, and an overview of services provided by other government agencies including the Ministry of Health, ACC, State Services Commission and Skills NZ.

Recommendations arising from the review are expected to go to Cabinet in June. No final decisions have been made. However, the consultation process has identified a number of key issues, including the need for:

• quality resources and services provided by trained staff who have a professional approach;

• services tailored to the needs of individuals, communities and groups, rather than a 'one size fits all' approach;

• a more realistic level of assistance so people can achieve their personal goals;

• removal of barriers to participation in the community and workforce;

• real jobs and real pay, not make-work or another version of welfare.

Compulsory care bill back in Parliament

The Health Committee has tabled the Intellectual Disability (Compulsory Care) Bill in the House. The revised bill provides a framework for the compulsory care and rehabilitation of people who have an intellectual disability and who have been charged with, or convicted of, imprisonable offences.

This closes a legislative gap that has existed since 1992, which has caused a small, but highly vulnerable, group to end up inappropriately in prisons, forensic psychiatric services or released into the community.

The most significant change in the revised bill is that people with intellectual disabilities who have not committed offences are not subject to compulsory care. The original bill, introduced by the last Government, included within its scope non-offenders whose behaviour posed a serious risk of danger to themselves or others.

The Government has also agreed that some of the funding tagged to the bill should be used to provide services to people who have not offended, but who need extra support because they have high and complex behaviour needs.

The committee received 66 written submissions and heard 26 oral submissions, most of which supported the removal of non-offenders from the legislation.

Copies of the bill and the Health Committee's report are available from Bennetts bookshops.

Disability survey to begin in June 2001

Statistics New Zealand will run a disability survey this year, as a follow-on from the 2001 Census. The survey will measure the activity limitations of disabled people ie what they can and cannot do. It will also provide information on the nature, duration, severity and cause of activity limitations, and the barriers disabled people encounter in everyday life.

There will be two phases to the survey - a survey of households (about 40,000 people) from 16 June to 28 September 2001, which and a survey of residential facilities (about 1000 people) in November 2001.

The survey has been designed to produce reliable statistics on Maori and Pacific people, as well as the general population. Results are expected about April 2002.

For more information, contact Bridget Murphy, phone (04) 495 8067, e-mail: Bridget_Murphy@stats.govt.nz or visit the Statistics Dept website: www.stats.govt.nz

Better building access standard

Standards New Zealand has released an improved and expanded version of Standard 4121: 2001: Design for Access and Mobility - Buildings and Associated Facilities.

The only standard cited in the Building Act 1991, it provides for the design of buildings and associated facilities to allow easy access and use by disabled people.

The standard applies to all new buildings, and existing buildings (other than private homes) when they are altered or there is a change in use. It also applies to associated facilities such as car parks, hotels and motels, day care centres and picnic areas.

For more information, contact Standards New Zealand, phone (04) 498 5990, or visit their website at www.standards.co.nz.

E-government strategy aims to make information accessible

The e-government strategy, with the catchy title, government.nz@your.service, was launched in April. It aims to make government information accessible to people with different knowledge and skills. Eventually, people will be able to access all government departments and organisations through one website on the Internet, at any time of day.

The Government has set aside $16 million over four years to fund the E-government Unit, in the State Services Commission, to oversee the strategy. Guidelines are being developed to outline ways in which public sector sites must be constructed to ensure maximum accessibility for all New Zealanders, including disabled people.

The guidelines are available at www.e-government.govt.nz/guidelines/web-guidelines.

SES to be replaced

Specialist Education Services (SES) is to be disestablished and its services transferred to a new directorate within the Ministry of Education. A new network of learning and support resource centres will deliver special education services from February 2002.

The aim of the new structure is to improve co-ordination between special education services and services offered by other government agencies. It will also enable special education to be more responsive to local needs, while creating national consistency, leadership and accountability.

The disestablishment of SES is included in a Supplementary Order Paper to the Education Amendment Bill (No 2), which is currently going through the legislative process.

Project teams, with key representatives from the Ministry of Education and SES, have been set up to develop the new structure. Details of the changes are still being worked through, including the number and location of regional and local centres.

If you wish to comment on the changes, please phone the special education hotline (0800 622 222) or e-mail: special.education@minedu.govt.nz.

Draft Maori Health Strategy aims for healthy Maori families

Health Ministers Annette King and Tariana Turia launched He Korowai Oranga, the draft Maori Health Strategy, at the beginning of May. The aim of the strategy is whanau ora, supporting healthy Maori families.

Although Maori life expectancy has improved over the last 40 years, it is still more than eight years lower than for non-Maori. Maori also experience a heavier burden of disease and injury and, as a population group, have the poorest health status of any group in New Zealand.

The strategy sits alongside the New Zealand Health Strategy released late last year, and supports whanau, hapü, iwi and Maori communities' aspirations to take control of their own health development.

Launching the strategy, the Ministers said guidelines would be developed to assist District Health Boards to establish partnerships with iwi and other relationships with Maori.

The Government also wants to increase the proportion of Maori at all levels of the health and disability workforce. Maori currently make up 6.9 percent of those actively engaged in the health workforce.

The discussion document was produced by the Ministry of Health with the input of a sector reference group and a focus group made up of Maori health workers, users of health services and providers from the health and disability sector.

Nine hui are being held around the country in May to discuss the future direction, goals and pathways for Maori health. The final strategy is due to be completed by December 2001, and will be followed by an implementation plan.

Copies of He Korowai Oranga are available from the Ministry of Health, phone (04) 496 2277, or from the Ministry's website: www.moh.govt.nz

Positive Ageing Strategy values older people

Hon Lianne Dalziel recently launched the New Zealand Positive Ageing Strategy and 2001/2002 Action Plan, in her role as Minister for Senior Citizens.

The aim of the strategy is to ensure that older people can participate fully in the community in the ways they choose. This also means encouraging people of all ages to think positively about ageing and about those who are getting older.

Older people are living independently, in better health, for longer than ever before.

For example:

• Only 5 per cent of older people live in residential care settings - although this increases to 25 per cent for those over 85 years of age.

• Older people make up a significant group of caregivers, especially to their spouses and grandchildren.

• Older people play a significant role in the voluntary sector. Around one in three people aged 65-74 does voluntary work or helps someone outside their own home.

However, ageing is not always a positive experience. For some people, it means poverty, isolation, boredom, loss of self-esteem, ill-health and insecurity. Even those who have resources and support can be held back by widespread prejudices about ageing.

The strategy outlines key policy principles for positive ageing, and sets out priority goals and actions in 10 areas: income, health, housing, transport, ageing in place, cultural diversity, rural issues, attitudes, employment and opportunities.

It is a living document with annual action plans for Government agencies, and a monitoring system to check on progress.

Copies of the New Zealand Positive Ageing Strategy and 2001/2002 Action Plan are available from the Senior Citizens Unit, Ministry of Social Policy, Private Bag 39 993, Wellington, e-mail: natalie.lavery001@mosp.govt.nz or on the websites: www.mosp.govt.nz and www.executive.govt.nz/minister/dalziel.