What is the disability sector?
This section describes what is meant by the disability sector and its different elements.
Understanding the disability sector
When planning your work and opportunities for consultation, you need to know who you should or could be targeting.
The ‘disability sector’ includes three distinct groups: disabled people; their families/whānau and organisations representing them; and other organisations providing services to disabled people. This is represented in diagram D.
Structure of the wider disability sector
- Disabled people - people with impairments who have first hand experience of the disabling nature of society.
- Disability community - disabled people, partners, friends, families, relatives, unpaid carers and others directly involved in informal support as determined by disabled people. This includes advocacy/consumer organisations made up of and representing disabled people.
- Wider disability sector - organisations and people (disabled and non-disabled, professional and lay people) who work in support of disabled people and disability issues. This includes service providers and funders (both government and non-government) and umbrella agencies that represent providers and consumers for particular aspects of the disability sector.
Individuals and organisations may belong to all three groups.
Disabled people
Disabled people have the best knowledge and experience to provide a disability perspective into your policy development.
You need to design consultation or information gathering processes that recognise the diversity of disabled people and their experiences. Before you start the consultation process, find out whether or not consultation related to your policy area has already been carried out with the disability community by another government agency or another part of your organisation.
If your policy area provides services to disabled people, you may want to consider mechanisms for consulting directly with and collecting information regularly from these users about their experience of your service.
Another effective method is to consult with and/or purchase information from advocacy and disability consultant organisations. They specialise in disability issues and represent the perspective of disabled people.
The perspectives of disabled people are not homogeneous.
The life experiences of disabled people are influenced by the nature of their particular impairment. Factors such as gender, age, geographic location, ethnicity, culture, social values and sexual orientation also profoundly affect an individual's experience of disability.
Impairments cut across all aspects of community life and all sectors of society.
Impairments affect every income bracket, age group and region. Statistics show that as we age many of us are directly affected by impairment.
A quick call to a disability advocacy organisation may reveal the likely key issues for your policy area. They may also help you find out if there is a need to undertake wider consultation with the disability community.
Disability community
The disability community includes disabled people, their family/whānau and organisations that represent either or both of these groups.
Family/whānau have distinct issues
There are some issues specific to family/whānau that support disabled people, particularly those who care for disabled children. You may need to get a family/whānau perspective as well as a disabled person’s perspective.
The perspective of parents and families of disabled people should be considered a separate area within the wider disability community. Parents and families can experience the impact of disability as well as their family member with an impairment.
Consultation will benefit your policy making
A large number of local and national consumer, disabled people and/or family/whānau organisations represent a diverse array of disability-related issues and have a range of roles and functions. There are also a few national organisations that specialise in policy advice and advocacy for disabled people and their families/whānau.
Whatever your policy area, your work is likely to benefit from some consultation with the disability community. Make sure you tap into the rich resource of disability community organisations. You could either contract an existing organisation or set up an issue-specific reference group using individuals from non-government organisations.
More information
Wider disability sector
Non-government organisations that provide services to disabled people
Most disability-specific services are provided by non-government organisations. These are often not-for-profit organisations that receive funding from a mixture of government contracts, public donations and service-user charges. Some also involve a significant voluntary component.
Depending on your policy area, you may want to get the perspectives of some or all of these organisations. This will help make sure your policy is either positive or neutral in its impact on these organisations and will facilitate good government–community relations.
Umbrella agencies that represent providers and consumers for particular aspects of the disability sector
There are a number of national organisations that represent particular aspects of the disability sector, such as vocational services. Other organisations may relate to a particular impairment type or population group, for example hearing impairment.
Contacting specific organisations such as these can be a practical way of reaching their wider networks and facilitating focussed consultation on your policy issue.
Government organisations that provide support services for disabled people
A number of Ministers, their associated departments and other government agencies have specific roles with regard to disability policy and services.
Key agencies are:
- Ministry of Health
- Ministry of Social Development
- Accident Compensation Corporation
- Department of Labour
- Ministry of Education
- Mental Health Commission
- Human Rights Commission
- Office of the Health and Disability Commissioner.
Other government agencies fund, regulate or provide services to disabled people as part of the general population or make specific provision for disabled people in their general services. In particular, the Ministry of Transport, Housing New Zealand Corporation, the Ministry of Economic Development and Sport and Recreation New Zealand all provide specific services to disabled people as part of their general responsibilities.
Depending on your area of policy development, you may want to identify a contact within a government agency with a specific role related to disability issues. The contact can advise whether what you are proposing conflicts with government policy directions in their area of disability expertise. It may also be important to liaise with individuals with disability expertise in your own organisation to ensure a coherent and consistent approach to disability issues from your agency.
The Office for Disability Issues can help you identify who you might consult with. The Office can also comment on papers and proposals to make sure they contain an adequate disability perspective.
More information
- Key contacts for consultation with the disability sector - Word - 512Kb
- Office for Disability Issues - our role
- Office for Disability Issues - our relationships with government