Disabled People Living In New Zealand

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Legislation discouraged disabled people from settling in New Zealand. The Imbecile Passengers’ Act 1882, for example, required a bond from the person responsible for a ship that discharged any person ‘lunatic, idiotic, deaf, dumb, blind or infirm’ who might become a charge on public or charitable institutions

From 1854, institutions were established for people with experience of mental illness. The Lunatics Ordinance 1846 provided for the safe custody and prevention of offences by persons dangerously insane, and for the care and maintenance of persons of unsound mind. These people were initially housed in jails and later in designated institutions.

The first school for deaf children in New Zealand opened in 1880

•Social beliefs in racial fitness increased, becoming reflected in the government’s social policy on disabled people.

• Until 1916, the New Zealand Census identified people who were deaf and dumb, blind, lunatics, idiots, epileptics, paralysed, crippled and/or deformed

• In 1924, legislation was passed allowing a pension for blind people. This legislation was well ahead of the social security reforms of the late 1930s, which introduced the invalids benefit for those permanently unable to work and the sickness benefit for those temporarily experiencing ill health.

• In 1929, Templeton Farm in Christchurch was opened for ‘high-grade imbeciles and low-grade feeble-minded cases without psychotic complications’, under the administration of the mental health system.

• Sheltered employment opportunities for disabled people began with the Disabled Persons Employment Promotion Act 1960. Operators of sheltered workshops were exempted from applying the same employment conditions required elsewhere. This created a distinction between sheltered employment and employment on the open labour market.

• The orientation towards large institutions for disabled people began to be challenged during the 1950s and 1960s. Through the 1990s more concerns were expressed about the limitations of the government provision for reducing social barriers experienced by disabled people.

In 2000/2001, the government developed the New Zealand Disability Strategy. The Strategy was based on the social model of disability, which makes a distinction between impairments (which people have) and disability (which lies in their experience of barriers to participation in society).

In 2002 the Office for Disability Issues was set up. Its purpose is to provide a focus on disability across government and to lead the implementation and monitoring of the New Zealand Disability Strategy.

In 2004, the New Zealand Sign Language Bill was introduced into Parliament. This Bill proposed recognising New Zealand Sign Language as the third, official language in New Zealand.

New Zealand has taken a leading role at the United Nations in the development of a convention making explicit the rights of disabled people.

A review of long-term disability support services was begun in 2004. Led by the Office for Disability Issues and working across government agencies, the review aims to improve the fragmentation and incoherence of services as experienced by disabled people.

www.odi.govt.nz,2011

Regional and national situation

They regional situations are not counsel deal or services, but they Information Service are pleased to direct for individuals in the correct way to discover assist."Wired for Health" is a sequence of websites direct through the Health Development organization on behalf of the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills. Health information is offer for a variety of viewers so as to relate to the National Curriculum and the National Healthy School criterion, that is planned to assist schools develop into healthy and efficient as long as an environment that is favourable to knowledge and that give confidence pupil to achieve. It is part of the Government’s drive to reduce health inequalities, promote social inclusion and raise educational standards through school improvement. www.mental health org.nz

Incorporate strategies

Ensure rights for persons with disabilities and encourage and educate for people without disabilities

Provide the best education for persons with disabilities

Provide opportunities in employment and economic development for persons with disabilities

Foster leadership by persons with disabilities

Foster an aware and responsive public service

Create long-term support systems centered on the individual

Support quality living in the community for persons with disabilities

Support lifestyle choices, recreation and culture for persons with disabilities

Collect and use relevant information about persons with disabilities and disability issues

Promote participation of Mäori persons with disabilities

Promote participation of Pacific peoples with disabilities

Enable children and youth with disabilities to lead full and active lives

Promote participation of women with disabilities in order to improve their quality of life

Value families, whänau and people providing ongoing support

Respective Government agencies are required to formulate plans for the implementation of the New Zealand Disability Strategy. These plans are submitted to the Office for Disability Issues under the Ministry of Social Developmenthttp://www.unescap.org/sdd/issues/disability/policycentral/CountryProfiles/New-Zealand.doc

Incorporate policies

The Government's special education policy affirms the right of every student to learn in accordance with the principles and values of the Education Act 1989,

Propotion of people suffering from disability who report their report are not meeting relating to support service, equipment, technology ,transport, work and housing.

Propotion of people suffering from disability using certain kind of support service, equipment and technology.

Barrier to participation by people with disability in areas such as at work or post secondry school education

Inequity experience people with disability, including indicator to which people with disability are more disadvantage than people without disability

.www.moh.govt.nz

Incorporate Funding

ACC manages New Zealand’s accident compensation schemes.

and Ministry of Health funding for equipment, housing modifications and vehicle modifications for disabled people living in Auckland and Northland and

Ministry of Health also cover funding for equipment, housing modifications or vehicle modifications for disabled people living in the rest of New Zealand (south of the Bombay Hills and Disability funding give Information about how to access Ministry of Health funding for disabled people in New Zealand.

Funding for community groups, voluntary groups and in some cases, individuals, includes Community Organisation Grants Scheme (COGS) and Lottery Grants Board. http://www.supportoptions.co.nz/support/links.aspx.

The New Zealand Federation for Deaf Children is an incorporated society made up of regional member groups. They provide family information kits, an assistive equipment subsidy and a freephone helpline providing information about many issues related to childhood deafness. The Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind (RNZFB) provides support for parents of children diagnosed with visual impairment and blindness

Terminology

Individual who are disable use variety of terms to refer to themselves but everyone should use terminology that give legal direction and is considered by most of people in society . The two most commenly used words for disability are ‘handicaped’ and ‘disabled’.There are a number of words and phrases that reinforce a negative attitude towards disability and people with a disability.

Words such as ‘cripple’, ‘spastic’, ‘deaf and dumb’, ‘handicapped’ present an

unacceptable stigma of disability and people with a disability.

Alternatives such as ‘wheelchair user’, or ‘people with learning difficulties’, are more

appropriate and less likely to cause offence. ww.lgnz.co.nz/library/files/store

Identify attitudes

Attitudes to disability in this country have changed radically over the past 100 years. For the most part, these shifts reflect changing attitudes overseas, in a similar way to other social policy changes

For most of the 20th century, disability was thought to be a problem inherent in individuals. This is commonly known as the ’medical model’, where disability was seen as being something ‘wrong’ with a person, which could be ’cured’ or at least contained.

Solutions to the ‘problem’ of disability took the form of government and wider society helping to fix or accommodate the problems of those afflicted individuals. This was often by segregating people with the problem and providing a service (such as an institution) to meet their ‘special’ needs. As a result, the ‘human’ needs of many individuals were unmet.

www.coda.ac.nz/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context...n

Barriers

There are a number of barriers that confront people with disability when

looking for, and retaining employment. Some of these barriers are;

Access - lack of equitable access to opportunities, information, buildings, transport, services, etc.

Discrimination and/or attitudinal - prejudice and ignorance resulting in negative discrimination or lack of appropriate accommodations.

Economic and social status - a vicious cycle of lower economic, educational and health status relative to the rest of the population.

www.odi.govt.nz › Resources

Service provision

The currently the service system is not operating effectively. There is no real leadership in this area with both the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Health failing to implement endless government and National Health Committee reports/strategies. Similar leadership is needed in the disability field.Funding support for people with impairments is immensely complex. One woman receives funding for her son's day/work experience programme from 5 different agencies. Each has its own staff and reporting requirements. The cost of the bureaucracy in the 5 agencies probably far exceeds the minimal amount he receives and the advocacy support and time she has to give to this is huge.Individualised funding has been trialed with some people - usually those whose needs are so complex that no service can meet them. It bypasses bureaucracy and the complexity that has evolved, giving control back to individuals and their families.There is also concern about the inequities which result from having one level of funding for people whose impairments were caused by accident (ACC) and a lower level for people whose impairments result from illness or genetics. Staff in the disability sector are too often on low wages without adequate recognition of or career development opportunities within their chosen profession.

ww.greens.org.nz/policy/disability-policy-removing-barriers

Access Frameworks

There are number of access framework for Disable People. Some of these are

Ministry of Health – Health and Disability National Service, Disability Services (DS)

Disability Support Services

District Health Boards (DHB)

Auckland DHB

Counties Manukau DHB

Waitemata DHB

Northland DHB

Ministry of Social Development

www.supportoptions.co.nz/support/funding_