Disability Issues Minister Ruth Dyson

Address to DPA National Assembly and Conference
Central Baptist Church, 190 Church Street, Palmerston North
7pm, Friday, 29 October 2004

Rau rangatira maa,
tenei te mihi ki a koutou i runga i te kaupapa o te ra.
Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

[Distinguished guests, greetings to you gathered here for this purpose today. Greetings once, twice, three times to you all.]

Good evening. Over my 5 years as New Zealand’s first Minister for Disability Issues it has been my real pleasure to speak to you at your national assembly. Thank you for giving me this opportunity once again.

Acknowledgements
·I want to begin by acknowledging the work of DPA, particularly your President Mike Gourley, the members of your National Executive Committee, and your Chief Executive Gary Williams.
I regard DPA as an extremely important organisation due to its national pan-disability approach, and place high value on your support, feedback and information sharing. Thank you.

·I would also like to pay a special tribute to one of your executive, Marilyn Baikie, whom I understand has been nominated for life membership of DPA. Marilyn’s contribution to disability issues - in her home town of Christchurch, at a regional level within DPA, on a national level where she has been on your executive since 1985, and at an international level where she began as Vice Chairperson Asia and Pacific Region of Disabled Persons International in 1988 - has been remarkable, and very deserving of recognition.

·I understand that your keynote speaker tomorrow is Associate Professor Christopher Newell from the University of Tasmania. Welcome once again to New Zealand.

·Last week an announcement was made that the new Chair of the Mental Health Commission is Ruth Harrison. As Chief Executive of Workbridge and the Chair of the National Chief Executives Group, Ruth has shown that a strong voice from the wider disability sector is an effective way to achieve positive change.

This is an excellent approach to transfer to her work with the Mental Health Commission. I would like to acknowledge her work over the past three years and wish her well in her new role.
·Partnership between government and disabled people is essential. It is good to see some government officials here. (e.g. Jan Scown)

THE NEW ZEALAND DISABILITY STRATEGY

When I became the Minister in 1999, one of my first priorities was the development of the New Zealand Disability Strategy, which was launched in April 2001 following extensive consultation. It continues to be embraced by government and the disability sector as the best action plan for achieving an inclusive society.

The Strategy’s social model, vision, 15 objectives, 113 actions and underpinning principles, challenges most aspects of the way society has historically dealt with disability issues. It introduces requirements for government agencies and the wider community to transform their understanding of disability and to take many practical steps. One of those requirements is that every government department must plan to implement the Strategy and report to me on their progress, and I then provide an annual report to Parliament.

It is my great pleasure to formally launch the fourth progress report this evening, after it was tabled in Parliament yesterday.
This year the report covers all government departments, as well as three Crown entities, a total of 41 agencies.
It is very encouraging to find organisations such as the Accident Compensation Corporation, Sport and Recreation New Zealand and the Housing New Zealand Corporation now providing reports, and making a commitment to implement the strategy.

In the message from DPA that prefaces the report, your president comments that the Strategy is now in its fourth year of operation, and that it’s time to raise the bar! Together we are working hard to do just that.

Fourth report on progress
Last year’s report grouped the 15 objectives according to 4 categories – rights of citizenship, government capacity, participation in all areas of life, and specific populations. This year’s has continued with the same framework.

For the first time the report puts government activities within a broader context, by providing a snapshot of the overall issues and trends that are relevant to the Strategy’s objectives.

These snapshots show that disabled New Zealanders have lower levels of educational attainment, lower employment incomes, a poorer general health status, less choice in housing, and higher unemployment rates than the general population. Disabled people also face barriers to accessing public transport and find accessing disability support services to be overly complicated and sometimes inequitable.

This situation is not going to change overnight. Many disabled people are caught in a cycle of deprivation, with low incomes and poor access to the support services and working arrangements that might allow them to move from their marginalised position in society. While this is a difficult cycle to break, I remain confident that the New Zealand Disability Strategy provides the best long-term plan for do so.

In Summary
Over the last year, highlights include but are not limited to:
·New Zealand’s efforts, in partnership with disabled people, at the United Nations negotiating a convention on the rights of disabled people;
·the introduction of the New Zealand Sign Language Bill officially recognising the language of Deaf New Zealanders;
·the introduction of the DPEP Repeal bill to ensure disabled people have the same employment rights and entitlements as other New Zealanders;
·work analysing the post-census disability surveys and the decision to fund a third and fourth survey in 2006 and 2011;
·support for the recommendations in the National Health Committee’s seminal report on the lives of adults with an intellectual disability;
·the establishment of a major review of long-term disability supports
·the development of a number of innovative initiatives and pilots to help disabled people who want to work get into work;
·changes to Invalids Benefit which will see the 15 hour rule and the stand-down period changed to make it easier for disabled people to make work pay;
·changes to funding of vocational services which will mean disabled people will no longer have their Disability Allowance taken up by vocational service fees;
·funding for the establishment of a new transitions service for young people leaving school, which will include disabled young people. This service will be contracted to existing community based organisations;
·an extra $23.15 million for four Special Education projects to improve support for high needs children and disabled students;
·extra funding for the Office for Disability Issues to establish a reference group of disabled people, to consult with the disability sector, and employ two additional senior staff to meet increased demand for policy advice.
I am proud of these achievements. Some are key activities described in the report, and some are new activities just beginning to be implemented. All demonstrate the real commitment our government has to removing barriers and increasing the participation of disabled people in New Zealand.

RIGHTS OF CITIZENSHIP

UN Convention
One of the main activities for New Zealand in the area of rights has been at an international level, with the development of a United Nations convention on the rights of disabled people. New Zealand has been very involved in this development, taking a facilitating and leadership role since June 2003.

The New Zealand delegations to the United Nations have modelled partnerships between government officials and disabled New Zealanders, with representatives from the Human Rights Commission, Mental Health Commission and DPA attending the meetings in New York as members of the delegation.

Like Minds Like Mine
Another major activity aimed at improving the enjoyment of citizenship rights is the ongoing implementation of the Like Minds, Like Mine campaign, a project to counter stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness.
This project has been underway for more than six years and involves mass media advertising as well as a diverse range of capacity building, advocacy and awareness-raising initiatives. Much of the process has been evaluated, providing useful information about how to improve the campaign.

In DPA’s message in the fourth progress report, your President has challenged the government to extend this type of campaign, to educate New Zealanders about all areas of disability. As you are aware, this is something I am also keen to see happen, and it is beginning to happen in a small way in the area of work, which I will tell you about shortly.

Legislation Change
There have also been some important legislation changes.

The New Zealand Sign Language Bill had its first reading in Parliament in June 2004, and was referred to the Justice and Electoral Select Committee, unopposed. This Bill acknowledges, for the first time, that Deaf people have a right to use their own language, and public submissions on the Bill have been called for.

The Residential Tenancies Act has been changed to extend to people in boarding houses, providing better protection for tenants. This is of particular benefit to some people with mental health issues.
A wider review of the act is also underway that will consider protection of the rights of people in supported accommodation.

The Disabled Person’s Employment Promotion Act (DPEP) Repeal Bill is in Parliament and the Select Committee heard oral submissions last week. Repealing the Act will redress the unfair treatment of disabled people who work in sheltered workshops, by removing the blanket exemption from minimum wage and holiday legislation. This will finally ensure that disabled people in employment have the same rights and entitlements as everyone else.

Fostering leadership and encouraging ongoing debate
Fostering leadership by disabled people and encouraging ongoing debate on disability issues are vital, and there has been significant growth in both these areas.

A number of conferences over the last year have involved debate and knowledge-sharing about disability issues. I would particularly like to acknowledge the work of StandardsPlus in modelling the involvement and participation of disabled people and their families in their conferences ‘Nothing Special’ and ‘Coming of Age’; and the sponsorship of the Ministry of Social Development and Office for Disability Issues that made this possible.

In September 2003, the National Health Committee launched a major report, ‘To have an ‘Ordinary’ Life’, which looked at the lives of adults with intellectual disability and made detailed recommendations for change. It has provoked lively discussion in the media and at conferences.

I have endorsed all of the recommendations in the report, and with my fellow Ministers have directed government departments to do further work on their implementation. The Office for Disability Issues is scoping the further development of advocacy and self advocacy for disabled people, and the Disability Services Directorate will report to me on increasing flexible funding and the availability of more flexible supported living.

More disabled people are involved in the work of government departments, mainly though the use of reference and focus groups. The Office for Disability Issues recently released a consultation document asking for feedback about how they should set up a group of disabled people to give them regular advice on the implementation of the New Zealand Disability Strategy.

The proposal acknowledges DPA as the only pan-disability organisation owned and operated by disabled New Zealanders, and I encourage you to continue to work with other advocacy organisations to co-ordinate your voices. Read the Office’s consultation document and tell them what you think.
GOVERNMENT CAPACITY
When the Office for Disability Issues was established two years ago, it was tasked with building the capacity of government agencies to deal with disability issues. The Office’s work programme aims to ensure there is a systematic approach to increasing awareness of and solutions to disability issues across government.

Long term disability support
Over the last year, the Office has scoped a cross-sector project to promote coherence with the New Zealand Disability Strategy across government, and to create equity of access across government-funded disability supports. In June 2004, the government agreed to a review of long-term disability supports. The objectives of the review include:
·advice to government on how to achieve durable improvements to the systems for providing disability support services, consistent with the Strategy; and
·structures and processes that allow people with similar impairments and associated needs to have better and more equitable access to long-term support services.

The review will report on options for improvement in 2005.

Needs Assessment and Service Coordination (NASC)
We have been working for a long time to both improve our existing Needs Assessment and Service Coordination agencies (NASCs) and to extend the model so that it is based on better intersectoral collaboration, cooperation and flexibility.

Trials of better intersectoral collaboration
Three pilots have been chosen to trial ways to improve collaboration and cooperation between agencies providing needs assessment and service coordination services. I am pleased to see that a major focus of all successful proposals is improving transitions, especially from school to work and adult roles.

·A Wellington- based trial will be led by Capital Support, the NASC agency for the area. It will focus on the Ministry of Education’s Ongoing and Renewable Resourcing Scheme (ORRS) students with high or very high support needs who are planning to leave school in the next four years.

·A Rotorua trial will be led by Support Net and will use the PATH (Planning Alternative Tomorrows, with Hope) planning and assessment tool. This trial aims to develop an intersectoral collaborative process that enables young people and their families/whanau to become fully involved in deciding their futures after school.

·The third trial is based in Christchurch, but includes a mix of city, small towns and rural Canterbury areas. Led by Lifelinks, this trial is aiming to establish ‘a single point of contact’ needs assessment and service coordination process, to identify the needs of people up to the age of 25 and their families and whanau, across all sectors.

Supporting all NASCs to work consistently within national guidelines
The Ministry of Health also has three national projects aimed at supporting all NASCs to work consistently within national guidelines developed after the review.

My aim, at the end of the day, is that people with disabilities will have access to a more coordinated and integrated assessment process, no matter where they live or what their needs are. Then their identified support needs will be met by developing a package of services for them from a range of appropriate government departments and funding streams.

PARTICIPATION IN ALL AREAS OF LIFE
Participation and independence for disabled people in all areas of life includes enhancing their access to education, employment, housing, transport, recreation, culture, and their freedom to make lifestyle choices. Much is happening in all of these areas. Here are some of the key activities.

Education
The 2001 Disability Survey found significant differences in education outcomes for disabled people compared to people without impairments. For example, 39 per cent of disabled adults have no educational qualification compared with only 24 per cent of non-disabled adults.

However, the news is not all bad. A comparison between the 1996 and 2001 disability surveys showed there was:
·a 7 percent increase in the proportion of disabled children receiving some form of special education;
·a 9 percent increase in the proportion of disabled children receiving educational assessments; and
·a 6 percent increase in the percentage of 0-4 year olds participating in early childhood education.
There was also a slight increase in the percentage of disabled adults living in households who were enrolled in formal education, but the university enrolment rate was slightly lower.

In DPA’s 2003 Annual Report, you outlined your concerns that education funding does not follow a person through life, with the result that parents and disabled people have to fight for disability support services at each level of education. You also expressed concern that the current education funding framework is not flexible enough to respond to the diverse needs of disabled students.

We are taking action to address these issues.

A substantive programme of research is underway in the area of special education, which should help build a body of knowledge about what practices are effective. The Ministry of Education’s Group Special Education has recently been running a series of community consultations, aimed at helping them to plan more effective services for the future.

The 2004 budget provided an extra $23 million for four Special Education projects to improve support for high needs children and disabled students.

A code of practice called ‘Achieving Equity: New Zealand Code of Practice for an Inclusive Tertiary Environment for Student with Impairments’ has been developed with significant input from disabled people. It is a resource for tertiary providers setting out best-practice standards.

Employment
In response to the clear message from disabled people, this government is very focused on providing opportunities in employment and economic development for people with disabilities. Goal 8 of the Government’s Employment Strategy and Objective 4 of the New Zealand Disability Strategy are both about improving participation in employment and earnings.
There is an enormous amount of activity in this area, which I find really exciting. Activities range from the broad programme of youth transitions, to the seven areas of work in implementing Pathways to Inclusion, and some encouraging initiatives to improve services and support for people on Sickness and Invalids benefit.

Youth transitions
A strong focus for Government in 2004 has been to strengthen the transition of young people with disabilities from school to work. We need to ensure they have access to the youth transition services available to all New Zealanders, as well as provide tailored transition services to accommodate the unique needs of this group.

There are two key areas of activity – Ministry of Social Development transition pilots specifically for disabled youth, and some significant programmes announced in the last two Budgets aimed at all youth.

Ministry of Social Development Transition Pilots
Since June last year, the Ministry of Social Development has been running transition pilots for young disabled people who are aged over 16 and are in their last year of school. The pilots have two goals: for young disabled people to receive tailored transition planning, and for as many schools as possible to get support and advice in supporting their students with disabilities through transition.

A little over half way through the pilots, 198 students from 109 schools have developed tailored transition plans. Evaluations are showing excellent results, with inspiring personal stories. As the pilots continue, we’ll be developing our understanding of best practice and how future contracts can deliver it.

Youth transitions in Budget 2004
In a joint initiative between central government and local government via the Mayors Task force for Jobs, more than $110m of new funding has been announced in the last two budgets to either extend existing transition programmes or develop new ones. The aim is to significantly reduce the number of young people aged 15-19 who are not currently in education, training or employment.

Programmes which have been extended are:
·the STAR (Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource) programme which assists senior secondary school students to find suitable work or further study at secondary or tertiary level; and
·the Gateway programme designed to integrate structured workplace learning with senior student’s classroom based learning, enabling students to pursue individual learning programmes which are hands on and practical, gaining new skills and knowledge in a workplace in their local community.

Currently, 63 schools across New Zealand offer Gateway, and that number is expected to increase as part of these Youth Transitions initiatives. A third programme, Designing Careers, has been piloted in 75 selected schools and provides individual learning and career plans for every student in year 10.

A new initiative is the Youth Transitions Service announced in Budget 2004. This aims to:
·provide a customised support and career planning service for young people at risk of prolonged disengagement from work, training or education;
·develop an informed consent referral process for the service;
·work with others to develop opportunities for young people; and
·help integrate youth services in each area.

The Ministry of Social Development will co-ordinate the service nationally, but it will be established and ‘owned’ locally in 14 priority Territorial Local Authorities. The Ministry of Social Development will work with mayors to co-ordinate and fund the planning process (including front line govt agencies, local authorities and community groups), identify existing premises from which the service can be delivered, and ensure it is integrated into services already in place in the community.

There will be a lead provider in each area and the service will be progressively rolled out across five sites early in 2005, 10 more sites in 2006, and 14 more sites in 2007.

Young people with disabilities will have access to all these programmes. The Government shares with New Zealand’s Mayor’s Taskforce for Jobs the goal that:
‘by 2007, all 15 – 19 year olds will be engaged in appropriate education, training, work or other options that will lead to long term economic independence and well-being’.

Young disabled people are included that goal, and we are actively working to ensure this occurs.

Pathways to Inclusion
When Pathways to Inclusion was launched in 2001, fewer than half the providers of vocational services offered services that aimed to achieve paid employment. Pathways sets out seven actions aimed at increasing the participation of disabled people in employment and encouraging and enhancing community participation.

A five-year change period was given, during which providers are expected to adapt to the new environment. A little over halfway through, we’re seeing innovation and new solutions in vocational support for people with disabilities.
The Ministry of Social Development and the Department of Labour are working closely with providers to help them continue to adapt to the new environment.

I am very pleased to be able to say that changes to funding of vocational services have been made which will mean disabled people will no longer have their Disability Allowance taken up by vocational service fees. And I am extremely hopeful that the DPEP Repeal bill will be back in Parliament before Christmas.

The Ministry is also calling for proposals to expand Supported Employment Services to areas where there is no service, or an undeveloped service. Contracts are under negotiation with 18 organisations. We expect to see 500 people with disabilities placed into and supported in employment as a result.

Supporting disabled people to work
Sickness Benefit and Invalids Benefit have long been recognised as not sufficiently flexible for people who want to work. Work to restructure these benefits and make them more appropriate and relevant has begun.

Legislative change has removed an Invalid’s Benefit rule that cancelled a person’s entitlement to a benefit if they worked more than 15 hours a week. This acted as a disincentive to people to trial employment for a longer period of time.
People can now trial work for more than 15 hours a week for up to six months, without losing their benefit entitlement.

In today’s labour market, a shortage of suitably skilled workers means that employers need to cast their nets wider when looking for employees. People on Sickness and Invalids benefits represent an untapped pool of talent for employers. And many of these people tell us that they want to work – they just need the right support to do so.

The Ministry of Social Development is moving away from focusing on a person’s impairment, instead starting with the fact that many people can move into part-time, full-time, or intermittent employment if they get the right support. In a new case management model for around 15,000 people on Sickness and Invalids Benefits in 14 concept sites around New Zealand, the person with ill health or disability works with their case manager who helps them to identify their capabilities.

Then they design a service package to remove or minimise the barriers to work. The package can include health, training, and rehabilitation services, and a tailored employment plan, matching the person’s needs to a menu of employment support services, including job matching, work brokerage, in-work support, and training.

After the first six months of this new way of working in the concept sites, 614 people have moved off Sickness or Invalids Benefits into employment, compared with 407 in the same time period last year. What these figures mean is that clients who previously received little attention from Work and Income are now being actively helped into employment that suits them. It’s a quantum move away from the passive approach of simply processing benefits and entitlements, and one that I hope will continue to result in more people being supported into paid employment.

Working with employers
Some of you may have seen the document, People Power, developed for employers as a project involving the EEO Trust and the Department of Labour with some funding from the Ministry of Social Development.

This booklet tells employers about the changing face of the New Zealand workforce, and profiles a number of success stories where employers looked beyond their traditional workforce and used innovation, creativity and common sense to find, nurture and keep the people they need, including disabled people.

As part of this work to get more people into paid employment, I have requested that officials from the Department of Labour and the Ministry of Social Development set up a forum that brings together employers, the disability sector and key government agencies to highlight the potential of disabled people in the labour market. I know Gary has already met with officials as they begin to plan for this event.

The purpose of this Employers Summit is to shift the focus away from the incapacity of people receiving Sickness and Invalid’s Benefits towards a focus on the business value to employers of accessing a pool of skills and experience that they may not have fully utilised before.

It is not that employers are doing a person with ill health or disability a favour by employing them – it is that these clients have a huge amount to offer, and employers stand to gain a great deal. I look forward to hosting this summit early next year, and to extend this message to the employers themselves.

CONCLUSION
Our success to date has been due to the disability movement working together, setting priorities together, and making strong and steady progress. I can assure you that I will continue to maintain an open and direct dialogue on disability issues. I appreciate the support and the challenges that the movement offers. I have enjoyed meeting those challenges and sharing many victories.

As I said to you last year, in future, we have some incremental changes to make, some structural changes and some big policy moves. A combination of all of the above is needed to achieve our vision of an inclusive society, and to ensure that we do make a world of difference.
I look forward to continually improving our understanding of what matters most and how to make the best use of all our resources so that, in the future, disabled New Zealanders can say they live in “a society that highly values our lives and continually enhances our full participation”.

Thank you.