For central government, its part in New Zealand’s integrated system involves responsibility for setting legislation, supporting this with adequate government infrastructure and maintaining momentum in delivering strategies and policies that address the needs of people with disabilities.

• Legislation
• Central government infrastructure
• Policy development processes
• Internal monitoring mechanisms

Legislation

Over the past 30 years, new and revised legislation has incorporated the rights of people with disabilities. This legislation has confirmed access by people with disabilities to the entitlements and services for ordinary citizens and, where needed, has provided for additional supports to put them on the same level as other population groups.
Significantly, rather than one overarching law, our approach is to include the interests of people with disabilities within all legislative responses - health, education, social assistance, transport and housing. This approach underlines the responsibility of society to design systems and services that are accessible to all people, including people with disabilities. However, protection is required for occasions where society fails in this responsibility. In New Zealand, this is provided by the Human Rights Act 1993, a key piece of legislation that protects the rights of people with disabilities, along with all New Zealanders, and guards against discrimination on the grounds of disability.

The disability community has embraced the opportunity provided to help shape legislation as it is reviewed. For example, consultation has ensured that the Building Act 1991 (and its successor the Building Act 2004) comprehensively incorporates a disability perspective (see case study below). This, together with many other key Acts, underpins a strong theme of inclusion and participation, and provides a model for inclusion in other legislation.

Case Study: Building Act 1991
The Building Act demonstrates a disability influence across all levels of the building regulation framework, operational policy development and implementation, and decision-making by regulators. The Act promotes health and physical independence for users of buildings. In effect, it requires all new and refurbished buildings to which the public can enter to be made accessible to people with disabilities.

Consultation with the Office for Disability Issues has ensured a disability perspective is integrated into decisions at all levels. This input is particularly effective where disputes between owners and building certifiers on reasonable and adequate access and facilities have to be determined.

An access advisory panel of experts from the disability sector and professionals promoting accessible solutions advise on disability issues in the whole regulatory process.

A strength of our system is that New Zealand legislation requires us to put in place and to implement a strategy for disability issues – the New Zealand Disability Strategy. Formalising the New Zealand Disability Strategy in this way makes it a more compelling and useful tool. The legislation also requires progress under the Strategy to be monitored and reported against annually to Parliament. This reporting requirement increases the visibility of New Zealand Disability Strategy activity and enables the disability community to challenge government on the progress made against the Strategy’s objectives.
Major New Zealand legislation relevant to people with disabilities includes the:

“When it was time for Mark to go to school, myself and a number of parents of autistic students lobbied the Ministry of Education to establish a class for autistic students that used visual strategies. The timing was right and a classroom for (then) seven autistic students was set up in a mainstream primary school.”

• Social Security Act 1964 - provides financial benefits and supports to enable people to participate in their communities and the labour market. Invalids and Sickness Benefits have been available since the original Social Security Act in 1938.
• Accident Compensation Act 1974 - establishes a no fault compensation and lifelong support system to all New Zealanders who are incapacitated or disabled as a result of accidents. It covers health, rehabilitation, financial, physical and other services.
• EducationAct 1989 - ensures people with special educational needs (whether because of disability or otherwise) have equal rights to enrol and receive education at state schools. It provides for additional educational supports and funding for children with disabilities. The inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream schools has had the added benefit of increasing the awareness and acceptance of disability amongst other children.
• Human Rights Act 1993 - removes discrimination on the basis of disability. The Act provides protection for people facing unlawful discrimination on a number of grounds, including disability.
• New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000 - provides for public funding, personal and public health services, disability support services, and establishes new publicly-owned health and disability organisations. This is the Act that requires the development of the New Zealand Disability Strategy and the annual reporting to Parliament on progress in implementation.
• Sign Language Act 2006 - recognises New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) as an official language of New Zealand, able to be used in legal proceedings. It also means that government services and information must be accessible to the Deaf community through the use of appropriate means, including the use of NZSL.

Case Study: New Zealand Sign Language Act
Deaf New Zealanders who use New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) as their first language have had limited access to government services. Until recently, this was linked to poor recognition of NZSL as a real language. For two decades the Deaf community lobbied for recognition of its own. As a result of this, the government began work on the NZSL Bill in 2003.

The Office for Disability Issues (charged with developing the Bill) undertook extensive consultations and developed innovative new resources to enable the Deaf community to input into the Bill. This included nationwide Deaf community consultation meetings, translating information into easy-to-read and pictorial formats, providing information in NZSL video clips on the Office’s website, organising interpreters in Parliament, and broadcasting debates on the Bill live on the internet.

For the first time the Select Committee accepted submissions in NZSL on videotape in place of written submissions. Most of the 300 individual submissions were from Deaf people (many on videotape) who had not previously been able to access the workings of Parliament.

The Bill was supported by all the major political parties and was passed into law in April 2006. The NZSL Act 2006 declares NZSL to be an official language of New Zealand, provides the right to use it in legal proceedings, and sets out principles to guide government departments in their recognition of NZSL. This is presenting a current and ongoing resourcing challenge. However, we are determined to overcome these difficulties to ensure full recognition of NZSL.

One of the key functions of the New Zealand Disability Strategy is to maintain strategic oversight of all the disability elements embedded in the diverse range of ‘mainstream’ legislation. The Strategy draws together all the strands in one place so we can review and monitor the response to disability holistically.

Central government infrastructure

New Zealand has had a permanent government infrastructure or platform supporting disability issues for six years. Our platform provides a stable foundation upon which support for people with disabilities can be built, and from which the goals of the New Zealand Disability Strategy can be advanced. That infrastructure comprises Ministers, departments and agencies.

“I can see that since the Disability Strategy has been in place there is some evidence of organisations recognising the need to work together, and beginning to find practical ways to do so.”

The Minister for Disability Issues is the primary central government advocate for New Zealanders with disabilities. The Minister works within Cabinet to make broad policy decisions that lead the direction of government engagement with disability issues. The introduction of a dedicated portfolio has ensured disability issues and needs are addressed in wide-ranging ways rather than as a subset of health or social security/social assistance matters. The Minister’s legislated function of reporting annually to Parliament on New Zealand Disability Strategy progress helps maintain the momentum for change and ensures progress is objectively measured.

Supporting the Minister is the Office for Disability Issues. A separate government agency administered by the Ministry of Social Development, the Office also provides government with policy advice and services. The Office has been used as a model for other countries including the United Kingdom and the Victorian State Government in Australia.

A key Office function is the monitoring of the New Zealand Disability Strategy. For this function, the Office works with government agencies at the start of the reporting year to identify actions and achievements they will complete to progress the Strategy. The documentation of targets reduces the risk of individual departments taking no action.

Maintaining the momentum for progress requires the involvement of more than just government. In New Zealand, community and voluntary organisations have a long and valued heritage of helping to address the needs of people with disabilities. The Government is committed to supporting the sector to continue this vital role. The Statement of Government Intentions for an Improved Relationship between Government and the Community and Voluntary Sector sets out the agreed principles government will follow when engaging with the sector. This includes community and voluntary organisations in the disability sector. An Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector was established in 2003 to help implement and monitor these commitments.

Other government departments and agencies also form part of the infrastructure supporting the Strategy. The Office for Disability Issues works with all government departments and agencies to ensure their policies and programmes include people with disabilities as part of their client group and in their ordinary business. This may mean providing additional support services or tailored delivery mechanisms. For example, in education, students with disabilities are afforded the same right to attend a normal state school as any other child. The Ministry of Education funds specific services to help these students reach their full learning potential and participate along with other students. Additionally, for the small number of children for whom a mainstream state school is not appropriate, special units, classrooms and schools are available, depending on need. These may offer a modified curriculum and learning goals.

Until recently, the education of children with disabilities was the responsibility of a separate government agency – the Special Education Service (SES). In acknowledging that the Ministry of Education should be responsible for the education of all New Zealand children, the government merged SES with the Ministry in 2002.

Other government strategies and policies

Through the influence of the New Zealand Disability Strategy we are today seeing the consideration of people with disabilities becoming ‘business as usual’. Their needs are becoming better integrated at the beginning of the design process, rather than tacked on at the end. This is increasingly important as people with disabilities form a growing percentage of government sector client groups. New Zealand’s population is ageing and living longer, and the likelihood of disability increases with age.
Current government strategies that affirm people with disabilities include:

• New Zealand Health Strategy - identifies the Government’s health priorities. The Strategy’s aims include achieving good health and wellbeing for all New Zealanders throughout their lives, improving health for all those currently disadvantaged, and providing timely and equitable access for all New Zealanders to a comprehensive range of health and disability services, regardless of ability to pay.
• New Zealand Injury Prevention Strategy - provides direction for injury prevention activities by establishing the Government’s priorities, affirming the commitment to addressing the impact of injuries and identifying specific actions to address the occurrence of injury.
• New Zealand Positive Ageing Strategy - seeks to improve opportunities for older people to participate in the community in the ways that they choose. As many older people develop impairments or disabilities, work progressing this strategy also contributes to the outcomes of the New Zealand Disability Strategy.
• New Zealand Mental Health Action Plan -outlines Government policy and priorities for mental health and addiction between 2005 and 2015. The Plan provides direction for investment in mental health and addiction, focusing on co-ordinated community-based services.
• New Zealand Housing Strategy - sets out priorities and a programme of action to lead the sector over the next 10 years. It focuses on reducing unmet housing need, reducing inequalities, improving the quality of housing stock, and encourages appropriate provision of and investment in housing. The Strategy includes a housing work programme for people with disabilities.
• New Zealand Action Plan for Human Rights - identifies key human rights outcomes and actions needed to achieve them, specifically identifying people with disabilities. Just half the proposed actions fall within the sphere of government. (Note: Government has not formally adopted the Plan’s recommendations.)
• Working New Zealand: Work Focused Support – provides intensive employment support to all New Zealanders receiving a benefit who are able to work, to enable them to return to work. This initiative enhances the expectations of people with disabilities: that they are as capable of work as other beneficiaries. It also provides them with greater support, such as through the PATHS (Providing Access To Health Solutions) programme, so they can do so.

Policy development processes

“I hope that 10 years from now disabled people are not being called ‘disabled’ and are seen, like anyone else, as people with a few issues, just like the rest”.

In addition to specific strategies, New Zealand’s public policy processes make a strong commitment to considering disability populations:

• policy papers to the Cabinet Social Development Committee (a committee of Government Ministers), and other Committees where relevant, must include a disability perspective. A toolkit developed by the Office for Disability Issues guides policy makers on incorporating this perspective
• legislation requires consultation with disability communities before changes to the New Zealand Disability Strategy can occur.

Another change within central government that is assisting New Zealand Disability Strategy progress is the shift to a focus on outcomes, rather than inputs, processes and services. Government departments must show their activities and services are having an impact and are contributing to the achievement of the desired outcome. This concentrates departments on activities that are likely to achieve the greatest progress towards an outcome and on measurement of effectiveness and impact.

Internal monitoring mechanisms

The internal monitoring and accountability mechanisms for government departments can be bought to bear to identify the extent to which government agencies meet the needs of clients with disabilities.

“Somehow you must find a way to cherish all the people as individuals. Don’t let the numbers come between yourself and them. Don’t be a faceless bureaucrat.”

Generally, reporting mechanisms such as Annual Reports on Performance, reviews and evaluations of activities, contracts and strategies all help ensure agreed levels of funding and services are provided to target groups. This includes people with disabilities.

More directly, the five-yearly New Zealand Census, along with a post-Census survey of people with disabilities, helps identify progress towards New Zealand Disability Strategy outcomes. The national statistics department is now also including disability questions routinely in other surveys and drawing out and making available disability-related data from existing research. The Health Research Council, the major government-funded agency responsible for purchasing and co-ordinating health research, is increasingly focusing on disability aspects in its projects.

The Government also commissions research and evaluation on the effectiveness and impact of specific strategies and programmes. These are done within government departments such as the Centre for Social Research and Evaluation within the Ministry of Social Development. Among other activities, the Centre evaluates the success of employment programmes for a range of people, and the barriers for people leaving benefits. Government-funded research is also contracted out to independent researchers.