About the New Zealand Disability Strategy

The NZ Disability Strategy provides a framework that will enable the government to begin removing the barriers that prevent disabled people from participating fully in society.

The Strategy has the vision of a society that highly values the lives and continually enhances full participation of disabled people. It provides an enduring framework to ensure that government departments and agencies consider disabled people before making decisions.

There are 15 Objectives, and over 100 action points.

Strategy objectives

Action to implement the New Zealand Disability Strategy objectives can be grouped into five themes. These themes do not reflect a hierarchy of priority, nor are they mutually exclusive.

Work towards one objective may contribute to several or all themes, which is represented in the following diagram of overlapping circles, centred around the Strategy’s vision of an inclusive and non-disabling society.

Themes description

1. Promoting citizenship - by fostering society’s ability to include disabled people. This requires initiatives to improve public awareness of disability, to raise the visibility and promote the leadership of disabled people, and to ensure disabled people’s rights are upheld. Objectives in this theme are: 2 - Ensure rights for disabled people, 1 - Encourage and educate for a non-disabling society, and 5 - Foster leadership by disabled people.
2. Building government capacity - by ensuring agencies have the necessary knowledge, skills and systems to address disability issues. This requires improved information collection and understanding of what will help to eliminate barriers to participation. Objectives in this theme are: 6 - Foster an aware and responsive public service, and 10 - Collect and use relevant information about disabled people and disability issue.
3. Improving disability support services - by ensuring the way they are provided enables disabled people to have ordinary choices and responsibilities. Objective 7 - Create long-term support systems centred in the individual is in this them.
4. Promoting participation by disabled people in all areas of life - by identifying and maximising opportunities in all sectors of the community. This requires government agencies to take disability issues into account when making decisions in a wide range of sectors; for example, addressing longstanding barriers in transport, sports and recreation, relationship services or companies regulations. Objectives in this theme are: 3 - Provide the best education for disabled people, 4 - Provide opportunities in employment and economic development for disabled people, 8 - Support quality living in the community for disabled people, and 9 - Support lifestyle choices, recreation and culture for disabled people.
5. Addressing diversity of need - by acknowledging that, in addition to common issues, there is huge diversity among disabled people. It is also important to address the specific needs of disabled people’s families. Objectives in this theme are: 11 - Promote participation of disabled Māori, 12 - Promote participation of disabled Pacific peoples, 13 - Enabled disabled children and youth to lead full and active lives, 14 - Promote participation of disabled women in order to improve their quality of life, and 15 - Value families, whānau and people providing ongoing support. Specific action improving the lives of people with intellectual disabilities (such as outlined in the National Health Committee’s To Have an Ordinary Life report, September 2003) is included in this group.