Improving attitudes and behaviours towards disabled people
Disabled people say that people's attitudes and behaviours can be as big a barrier to participating in society as physical barriers can be. Promoting greater understanding of disability, and disabled people's desire to live a life on an equal basis with others, is a key action in the New Zealand Disability Strategy and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
What we are doing
Budget 2010, invested $3 million dollars over three years for a campaign to improve attitudes and behaviours towards disabled people. The focus of the campaign is to address the constraints of a disabling society. There needs to be a widespread attitudinal change before there will be a change in behaviour.
The campaign will fund community-driven social change, strengthen existing initiatives and support new approaches to changing attitudes.
There are two primary funding channels:
- a national strategic partnership with organisations to develop and implement projects that will increase access to employment, education, and goods and services
- the Making a Difference fund for local, community-based initiatives that are collaborative and have support from across the community.
