The New Zealand Disability Strategy

A partnership between disabled people and government underpinned the development of the New Zealand Disability Strategy (the Strategy). It was launched in April 2001 following extensive consultation and continues to be embraced by government and the disability sector as the best action plan for achieving an inclusive society.

The substance of the Strategy’s vision, 15 objectives, 113 actions and underpinning principles, challenges most aspects of the way society has historically dealt with disability issues. It introduces requirements for government agencies and the wider community to transform their understanding of disability and to take many practical steps.

The Strategy shows how and why society should move from considering disability issues within a welfare or medical framework to understanding disability within a rights framework using a social model. It recognises that disability results from barriers people face when society does not take into account their impairments. The continued implementation of the Strategy requires progressively more sectors of the community to embrace these fundamental shifts in how to think about disability and to make the consequential changes in their areas of influence.

Reporting requirements

This annual report to parliament is required under the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000. To inform this report, government departments are required by Cabinet to develop departmental plans for implementing the Strategy and to provide annual progress reports on how they are carrying out their plans. This year three Crown entities have also voluntarily chosen to report on their activities in relation to the Strategy.

Reporting can and should be about more than holding government agencies to account for their activities. An underpinning theory of the Strategy is that an increased understanding of disability as presented in the Strategy will help to achieve the long-term transformation of New Zealand from a disabling to an inclusive society. The reporting process can promote this understanding.

Reporting can also help us to understand the current situation and status of disabled people. In this way, this report can collect and present knowledge and ideas and improve our capacity to move towards the Strategy’s vision.

Structure of this progress report

Last year, the progress report grouped the 15 objectives according to four general themes outlined in the diagram below.

These groups do not reflect a hierarchy of priority nor are they mutually exclusive. Progress towards the vision of the Strategy requires simultaneous progress in all groups and work towards one objective may contribute to all.

This report adopts the same organising principle, with some minor adjustments. There is a chapter for each of the four themes that summarises activities undertaken by government agencies between July 2003 and June 2004 according to the Strategy’s objectives and actions. There is also additional contextual information at the front of each chapter which is not confined to the reporting year. This is designed to give a better sense of how the reported activities might connect to the overall desired outcomes and how we might measure or show progress towards them.

Are we creating a more inclusive society?

Previously, the progress reports were based solely on self-reporting by government agencies. Since the launching of the Strategy in 2001, every government department has undertaken activity in response to the Strategy. We might surmise, therefore, that every department has contributed in some way to getting better outcomes for disabled people. But this is very difficult to demonstrate. Change often takes years to show up in statistics that indicate outcome status and, when it does, it is not usually possible to show a definite connection between particular activities and outcomes.

One way of tracking progress is by making transparent:

• the current situation faced by disabled people, using available information on trends
• the key factors identified as disabling
• the key assumptions about why particular strategies and activities should lead to improved outcomes, and gaps in current activity.

This information can collectively provide a baseline for measuring change and determining trends in the future.

The main statistical information on trends for overall outcomes is found in chapters three and four of this report and uses the 2001 Disability Survey data. Clearly, this information cannot provide any indication of progress since the launch of the Disability Strategy which was also in 2001. However, it gives a good sense of some of the problems the Strategy was developed to address. Moreover, following the next census and the 2006 Disability Survey it will be possible to get a better sense of whether the Strategy has made a difference.

This report does not provide comprehensive contextual information for each chapter. Rather, it provides a snapshot of issues and trends. This will be built on in future years to enhance the effectiveness and relevance of the reporting process to help us make systematic progress towards an inclusive society. The Office for Disability Issues welcomes contributions of information to improve their knowledge and for inclusion in future reports.