What a great year! 

This year we completed several key planks of our strategy for creating an inclusive society. This included a strong demonstration of our commitment to the Human Rights of disabled New Zealanders:

• We signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled Peoples and
• we repealed the outdated 1960 Disabled Persons Employment Promotion Act.

These planks have been a lot of work to nail down and a long time coming. They are a testament to our collective dedication to a non-disabling society over the last six years.

Our dedication has been recognised internationally. We can feel truly honoured that New Zealand won the prestigious Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Disability Award. This achievement acknowledges New Zealand efforts to raise national and international consciousness about disabled people’s needs and aspirations, and enhancing their full acceptance in society.

To ensure we know as much as possible about the progress we are making and any barriers to progress that we need to address, we are collecting more information about disability. This helps inform policy development and priority setting.

Recently collected information has shown that our achievements to date are positively impacting on outcomes in a variety of areas of a disabled person’s life – from employment and environment, to transport and citizenship.

Of course, there is more work to do to fully realise the vision outlined in the New Zealand Disability Strategy. I can assure you that the accolades we have received internationally will not result in complacency nationally. 

I am pleased to able tell you about many exciting new initiatives in this Newsletter.

This is a bit of a bumper Christmas edition which reflects on the achievements of the past year and looks forward to consolidating these and meeting the new challenges of 2008. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 

Ruth Dyson

In the attached issue of Participate:

Policy Updates.

• Moving forward with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 
• Measuring progress 
• Enjoying the right to work 
• Accessibility 
• Transport

News 

• Roosevelt award applications
• Research shows how disabled children can do well in mainstream
• Paralympics Athletics in Christchurch

Watch this space

• A taste of what is coming in 2008
• Blogs