Home | Contact us | About this site | Site map

• About Us
• What's Happening
• What We Do
• New Zealand Disability Strategy
• Leaders and Achievers
• Resources
  • Guides and Toolkits
  • Publications
    • New Zealand Disability Strategy
    • Office email updates
    • Briefing to the Incoming Minister for Disability Issues
    • Pathways To Inclusion
  • Research about disabled people
• Contact us
• About this site

Home » Resources » Publications » Office for Disability Issues: Email Update

Office for Disability Issues: Email Update

15 December 2006. This email is a regular update from the Office for Disability Issues on our work and recent disability-related news.

Part 1: Office for Disability Issues and government news

01: Christmas greetings from the Office for Disability Issues - Jan Scown, Director

2006 is nearly over. Soon we will stop our work for the year and enjoy our Christmas break. We are often so busy we do not have time to reflect on what we have done. As I look back at this year, I can say that much has been acheived. Most notably the New Zealand Sign Language Act was passed in April, culminating over 20 years of effort from the Deaf community. Just yesterday the UN General Assembly adopted the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons. New Zealand had a lead role in its formulation which took over 4 years to reach agreement. The success of the project is largely due to the way we all worked together, government and disabled people to achieve our goal. We now need to work together to ensure that the Convention is ratified and implemented by New Zealand. The future looks bright. Next year promises to be even busier than this year. We will be involved in analysing the post Census disability survey, the review of long term supports, the five year review on the implementation of the New Zealand Disability Strategy, and the ongoing drive on the implementation of the New Zealand Disability Strategy.

On behalf of the staff here I would like to thank you for the way many of you have worked with us in 2006 and wish you a happy and relaxing Christmas break.-Jan Scown

02: United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which New Zealand played a leading role in finalising, was adopted by the United Nations today, said Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Disability Issues Minister Ruth Dyson.

"This is the first, new, comprehensive human rights treaty of the 21st Century, and New Zealand can be proud of the leadership role it provided throughout the five years of negotiations," Mr Peters said.
"Many disabled people around the world still face overwhelming obstacles to their day-to-day participation in society. Many are also victims of violence and exploitation. The new treaty will lead to a major shift in how governments treat people with impairments," said Ruth Dyson.

Ms Dyson noted that New Zealand was one of the few delegations to have disabled members and they played a major role in raising the Convention's standards. New Zealand’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Don MacKay, chaired the difficult concluding sessions of the negotiations, and successfully steered delegates towards agreement on many previously unresolved issues just as time was running out.

"States and disabilities organisations have worked together since 2001 to get a worthy and comprehensive outcome. It is a process that will set the benchmark for future standards and action," said Mr Peters.

"We are confident that the end product is worthy of the intensive resource committed to it. We now need to turn this effort into practical reality and ensure the Convention is made to work effectively for disabled people," Ruth Dyson said.

For more information go to:
UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan's statement
or UN Enable - Promoting the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
or for the history of the Office's involvement

03: Release of 2006 NZ Disability Strategy progress report

Every year the Minister for Disability Issues's annual progress report on progress in implementing the New Zealand Disability Strategy is presented to Parliament. This is something that is required each calendar year under section 8 of  the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000.

The report will be made available on the Office website next week. It will initially be available in a Word document and PDF file, and then later as html pages. Copies of the printed report will be available in January 2007.

04: Accessible websites

We now highlight some of the developments in measuring the accessibility of website information on the international and New Zealand scene.

International

Nomensa, a UK-based web accessibility agency released the results of the first ever global website accessibility survey. The report, which was commissioned by the United Nations (UN), reveals that 97% of websites tested fail to achieve a minimum web accessibility level. Nomensa examined the leading websites in five different sectors in 20 countries including its Head of State and leading airline, bank, newspapers and retailers. In all, the survey tested 100 websites based upon international standards. The 20 countries audited in the Nomensa-led United Nations survey were Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States of America.

For more information go to: http://www.nomensa.com/unreport

New Zealand government agencies

A survey of government website accessibility was done in 2005 by the Office for Disability Issues. It measured how well government is doing to make its online information accessible to disabled people. This survey is being repeated in 2006, as a joint project between the Office for Disability Issues and the State Services Commission.

It is expected that the results of the 2006 survey will be released in March 2007. For more information go to: http://www.odi.govt.nz.

Private sector (International)

The Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) has developed guidelines to assist organisations such as banks to identify barriers to buildings, information, internet sites or ATMs and then develop Action Plans to remove those barriers over time.

The Human Rights Commissioner and Commissioner responsible for Disability Discrimination, Graeme Innes welcomed the release of Westpac Australia's 2006 Accessibility Action Plan which makes a number of new commitments to improving access to its service for customers with disabilities. This is the third Action Plan developed by Westpac," said Commissioner Innes.

"In addition to a number of ongoing actions to improve access in areas such as buildings and electronic banking it is particularly good to see new commitments to the captioning of customer information videos, redesign of queuing systems, mental health awareness training and a number of employment related strategies".

Westpac Australia has included some very positive statements into its action plan, which we can all learn from. We have quoted their statements for those interested in following their example in New Zealand.

"Westpac's Disability Discrimination Action (DDA) Plan is our commitment to people with disability. It represents our belief in the fundamental principle (as outlined in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992) that people with disability have the same rights as other members of the community.

The objective of the action plan is to create an environment in which customers with disability have equal access to our products and services, and that staff with disability can thrive in our workplace.Westpac's Accessibility Action Plan (AAP) outlines our commitment to provide equal access to products and services for customers, access to the Annual General

Meeting for our shareholders and access to equal career opportunities for employees.
The 2006 plan is the third Westpac has lodged with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and builds on the strong steps already taken to create fair and equal access for all.

The Accessibility Action Plan was previously referred to as a Disability Discrimination Action Plan to reflect the name of the legislation. The new name reflects the shift from compliance with an act to cultural change where accessibility is simply part of the way we do things at Westpac."

For more ingformation go to: Business: private and government business enterprises on the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission website.

05: Email Update archived on the Office for Disability Issues website

We are starting to archive these email updates on the Office for Disability Issues website. You can find them in the publication section at http://www.odi.govt.nz.

Part 2: Sector news

06: Children's Day

National Children's Day will be on Sunday 4 March 2007. Organisations are invited to visit the Children's Day website for ideas on event planning as well as ideas of activities to do at home and at school.

For more information contact:

Tania Guenter
Communications Advisor
National Children's Day
Phone: 04 918 9487
Mobile: 029 918 9487
Website: http://www.childrensday.org.nz

07: Post Graduate Diploma in Arts (Disability Studies) applications

Post Graduate Diploma in Arts (Disability Studies). Applications for entry to the 2007 session of the Postgraduate Diploma in Arts (Disability Studies) program at Massey University are now being accepted. The program is offered extramurally and can be completed part time. The application deadline is 31 January 2007. However, prospective students are encouraged to apply as early as possible.

Information, admission details and application forms are outlined on the program website at Massey University.

For more information contact:

Dr Martin Sullivan
Senior Lecturer
School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work
Massey University
PB 11-222
Palmerston North
Phone: 0800 627739 ext. 2833
Email: M.J.Sullivan@massey.ac.nz.

Part 3: Events and conferences

February 2007

08: New Zealand Rehabilitation Research Institute of New Zealand and New Zealand Rehabilitation Association Conference

Date: 16-18 February 2007
Place: Rotorua
Theme: Innovation in Rehabilitation-applying theory to practice.

For more information contact:
Email: suzanne@creative-events.co.nz
Phone: 09 420 4045
Fax: 09 420 3071
Web: http://www.rehabilitation.org.nz

March 2007

09: Family Governance & Self Directed Services

Date: 26-27 March 2007
Place: Hamilton, Waikato Stadium
Date: 29-30 March 2007
Place: Christchurch, Holiday Inn on Avon
A two day symposia to build a greater understanding of the concepts, implementation and achievements of family governed and self directed services in New Zealand.

For more information contact:
Phone: 09 262 5374
Fax: 09 262 5371
Email: StandardsPlus@imaginebetter.co.nz
Website: http://www.imaginebetter.co.nz

10: Certificated Behaviour Training

Date: February/March 2007
Place: Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington

For more information contact:
Nick Burnett
Director Team Teach Australia
22 Kristen Court
Redcliffe
Queensland 4020
Email: nick@team-teach.com.au
Website: http://www.team-teach.com.au

April 2007

11: Social Policy, Research and Evaluation (SPRE) Conference 2007

Date: 3-5 April 2007
Place: Wellington
Theme: This conference will provide a forum for a diverse audience of policy practitioners, non government organisations, researchers and evaluators, and the wider community to come together to discuss and debate the landscape of social policy in New Zealand in an open, engaging and innovative way.

For more information go to: http://www.msd.govt.nz/social-policy-conference

12: Alzheimers New Zealand National Conference

Date: 26 – 28 April 2007
Place: Wellington
Theme: Dementia Across the Ages

For more information contact:
Helen Galloway
Administration Coordinator
Alzheimers New Zealand National Office
Phone: 04 381 2364
Fax: 04 381 2365
Website: http://www.alzheimers.org.nz/conference.php

13: Enhancing our Com(mon) unity

Date: 30 April, 1 & 2 May 2007
Place: Rotorua Convention Centre
Theme: A conference on creating social inclusion for people with experience of mental illness.

For more information contact:
Phone: 09 262 5374
Fax: 09 262 5371
Email: StandardsPlus@imaginebetter.co.nz
Website: http://www.imaginebetter.co.nz

July 2007

14: Public Health Conference 2007: Te Torino: Re-Imagining Health

Date: 4-6 July 2007
Place: Auckland
Theme: Urban design, food matters and voices. Topics will include kaupapa Maori, systems and structures, workforce, inequalities, determinants of health, and globalisation. Papers are now being called for, and the closing date for abstracts is 31 January 2007. Abstracts can be submitted on the website – http://www.pha.org.nz. Submitters will be notified by 31 March if their papers are accepted.

For more information contact:
Liz Price
Communications Manager
Public Health Association
Phone: (04) 472-3060 or 027 695 7744
Email: pha.media@pha.org.nz
Website: http://www.pha.org.nz