Making sure that policy works for disabled people

The Disability Toolkit for Policy is available on the ODI website and guides policy practitioners to consider disability throughout the policy process. It is designed to be used alongside similar tools for other population groups such as the Ministry for Women’s Bringing Gender In.  The toolkit sits alongside others in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Policy Methods Toolbox.

“This is an important tool in the policy-making process, and will help to ensure better outcomes for disabled people.

“If we are to make a real difference for disabled people in New Zealand, it is through every policy paper, not just the disability focussed papers,” says Minister for Disability Issues Hon. Carmel Sepuloni.

The Disability Toolkit for Policy includes guidance on:

1. Thinking about disability issues at the start of the policy process
2. Engaging with the disability community
3. Embedding disability into the policy issue
4. Incorporating disability into the policy options
5. Incorporating disability into Cabinet papers, information and communications
6. Considering disability throughout implementation
7. Considering how disability outcomes can be monitored and evaluated.

This toolkit underwent wide user-testing and goes toward addressing recommendation 12 of the Independent Monitoring Mechanism’s Making Disability Rights Real 2014-2019 report :

“Develop, with disabled people, a disability discrimination impact assessment tool/framework and apply this whenever new legislation is developed or current legislation amended, to ensure systemic processes for harmonising all legislation with the Disability Convention and eliminating any discriminatory provisions.”