6 Sept 2000: Gary Williams, Chief Executive Officer, Disabled People's Association - DPA(NZ)

Banquet Hall, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 11am, Wednesday, 6 September 2000.

Good morning, Ministers, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

For those who don’t know, DPA is the national assembly of people with disabilities. We are the only advocacy organisation of people with disabilities and our service provider organisations in New Zealand. We advocate on generic issues to do with disability regardless of impairment.

In the lead up to last year’s general election, we released Our Vision. This was our manifesto, outlining our expectations for the incoming Government.

We are pleased to see that the coalition Government has read Our Vision and taken on board many of our suggested initiatives, including the need for a national strategy for people with disabilities.

Today’s launch is just the beginning of a long, long process. The end of the process will result in a society which accepts people with disabilities as a very important part of the community.

Of course, this process will last longer than the term of the current Government, and if experience is anything to go by, this will take decades or even centuries.

And for this to happen there has to be a commitment from all New Zealanders that this is the right thing to do.

DPA sees the New Zealand Disability Strategy as a chance for New Zealand to do something that, in the long-term, everybody will benefit from.

Finally, a few words of advice for the Government: "listen to the people". Successive Governments have listened to their officials, their agencies, consultants, organisations who provide for people with disabilities and even overseas experts. But never to us. We are the experts, we do know what we are talking about and we do know what’s best for us.

Heed our words and the strategy will deliver everything you want, and more.