New Zealand has experienced increasing prosperity over the last 15 years. Job growth and active employment policies and services have reduced unemployment. Higher wages and greater financial support from government for low to middle income working families have helped to improve people's standard of living and financial security. This prosperity, however, has not been shared by everyone. On a range of social indicators such as education, employment and income levels, disabled people continue to fare less well than others.

Because disabled people make up a significant proportion of the population that has poorer outcomes, New Zealand cannot make real social and economic progress until disabled people have the same opportunities to gain qualifications, to be employed, and to earn a decent living that other people have.

Current thinking on disability is reflected in two instruments that inform government policy and practice with respect to disability issues: the New Zealand Disability Strategy (the Disability Strategy) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability. These instruments recognise that disabled people have the same rights of citizenship as everyone else - including the opportunity to participate in society and to lead lives similar to those of other people ('an ordinary life' ²).

While disabled people acknowledge the positive achievements made in recent years, they are seeking more rapid progress. Major challenges remain. Disabled people's full participation in society is limited by their lack of access to things that help most people to operate in society, to take advantage of opportunities and to achieve goals. These things include access to information, communications, transport, buildings and the physical environment.

In addition to being able to access things used by the population at large, disabled people need to be able to access modern, appropriate and good quality disability supports and they want to have a choice over who provides these services. Because their aspirations have changed, disabled people now expect to have more control over their lives and to have a say in the decisions that affect them. They expect the support they receive to increase their autonomy, not to diminish it (as could happen in the past).

To meet these challenges, opportunities to act exist across most portfolios, as well as in areas specific to disabled people and their families and whanau. The implementation of the New Zealand Disability Strategy and the findings from three recent important reviews of disability supports provide a platform for action. Disabled people have a keen interest in the outcomes of these reviews, and how recommendations are progressed.

Because of the cross-sector, cross-government nature of disability issues, we propose that a Disability Sector Forum, comprised of the chief executives of relevant agencies, be established to provide better leadership around such issues. The Forum could work together to enhance progress on shared outcomes.