Part One: Office for Disability Issues and government news.
This is the Office's email update of 22 December 2008.
01: 2008 End of year message - Jan Scown, Director Office for Disability Issues.
2008 is a year when a number of the projects we have been working on over the last few years have reached significant milestones.
In particular, the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in September is a highlight. It is the result of a real partnership between disabled people and government agencies, and of a lot of hard work. Of course the hard work isn't over - the Convention now needs to be implemented.
We reported to Cabinet in February on the work underway across government to implement the directions agreed as part of the review of the long-term disability supports, and made some recommendations to maintain the momentum.
And later in the year, an independent report on six years of implementing the New Zealand Disability Strategy was made public. While everyone acknowledged there had been plenty of implementation activity, disabled people wanted to see faster progress in areas that made a real difference in their lives.
Many thanks to those in the disability sector who made time in their busy lives to provide valuable input into these reviews.
A new development this year was a project to establish an employers disability network- owned and run by employers to support their responsiveness to disabled employees and customers. A steering committee made up of government agencies and business, union and disability sector organisations has overseen the Work and Income project team.
On behalf of everyone in the Office, I would like to thank you for your cooperation and help in 2008. We are looking forward to next year, which looks likely to be another action packed year.
Our best wishes for a happy and safe Christmas and a successful and productive 2009.
02: Disability Advisory Council - new members.
The membership of the Disability Advisory Council and the appointing organisation as at December 2008 is:
- Beverley Grammer, DPA (Chairperson)
- Nigel Ngahiwi, Ngati Kapo (Deputy Chair)
- Alan Jones, Association of Blind Citizens
- Allysa Carberry, Carers Alliance
- Denis Wederell, Neurological Alliance
- Dick Stark, Grey Power
- Eamon Daly, DPA
- John Ward, Hearing Association
- Pati Umaga, Wellington Pasefika Disability Network
- Royce Flynn, Deaf Association of New Zealand
- Susan McDonald, People First
- Terry Ututaonga, Carers Alliance.
The terms of reference for the Council have been revised and can be found with summaries of the Council meeting on this website.
03: Briefing to Incoming Minister.
The Briefing to the Incoming Minister for Disability Issues is available on the Ministry of Social Development website (in Word and PDF format).
Briefings to other Ministers are listed on the Beehive website.
04: Ministry of Health Draft Disability Supports Plan 2008-2010.
The draft Ministry of Health Disability Supports Plan is about the direction the Ministry of Health wants to take disability support services. It was influenced by feedback received from disabled people, their whanau and carers (during countrywide forums, hui and fono in 2007), about what was important to them. It has five key strategic priorities for Ministry of Health funded disability supports:
- flexibility - a support system that can respond to individuals needs now and into the future.
- workforce - a capable and reliable disability support workforce.
- families - strong and supported families and whanau and informal carers
- information - information and advice that is useful for disabled people and helps to improve disability support services.
For more information:
Contact: Alison Hearn
Email: disability@moh.govt.nz
Phone: 0800 DSD MOH (373 664)
05: Workshop on monitoring the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The Office for Disability Issues hosted a workshop on 15 December on the Disability Rights Promotion International (DRPI) project. Professor Marcia Rioux of York University, Toronto, Canada has led the DRPI project since 2002. The project now operates in eight countries including Australia, Canada, India and Africa. Marcia spoke at the workshop about how disabled people's organisations, universities and government agencies collaborate to monitor and report on disabled people's rights. Key to the project is building the capacity of disabled people, researchers, academics and others in each country to carry out research and monitoring.
The discussions from the workshop will feed into the Office for Disability Issues advice to government on options for New Zealand's monitoring of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
06: 2006 Disability Survey statistics - on the labour market, and education
Statistics New Zealand and the Office for Disability Issues have produced Disability and Education in New Zealand in 2006, which is based on data from the 2006 New Zealand Disability Survey.
The report on education is the second in a series of six reports to be published. The first report was Disability and the Labour Market in New Zealand in 2006.
07: Families Commission questionnaire on Caring Roles and Responsibilities.
In May - June 2008 the Families Commission ran a questionnaire on the Caring Roles and Responsibilities. The questionnaire was for people who are in a caring role. It looked at different aspects of their role as carers, including who and how many people they care for, the types of support they receive (eg information, training, financial, social), and any issues they have or compromises they have had to make as a result of this role. It also measured carers' awareness of the Carers' Strategy.