Objective 8: Support quality living in the community for disabled people.

A key issue for disabled people is being able to move around in their communities. Having access to the transport system, public and private, and the interconnecting environment is important for disabled people’s participation in society as they need to be able to get to work, school, or sports, and go shopping or visit people, just like non-disabled others.

The 2001 Disability Survey reported that 3% of disabled adults and 2% of disabled children had not made any short trips in the previous 12 months. In the 2006 Disability Survey this had improved and 2% of adults and 1% of children had not made any short trips.

Agencies continue to work to improve access to transport for disabled people, with many local councils now employing disability advisors and consulting disability advisory groups at the outset of planning for changes. When disability issues are considered from the beginning, it increases the likelihood that changes and upgrades to transport and infrastructure will be made accessible and remain so into the future.

Some key pieces of work currently underway include:

• Human Rights Commission’s Accessible Journey report - The Ministry of Transport is working on the recommendations made by the Human Rights Commission Inquiry into Accessible Public Transport. The Ministry is assessing recommendations and working towards a clearer understanding of the issues faced by disabled individuals using public land transport.
• Local and regional transport accessibility - A number of local councils are working on making their public transportation systems more accessible, which includes talking to disabled people about what they need, and considering accessibility from the beginning of development projects. Examples include upgrade work of the transportation network in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington.