Making it easy to speak up conference

I want to acknowledge Anthony Hill, the Health and Disability Commissioner and Tania Thomas, Deputy Commissioner Disability for your kind invitation to speak at this hui.

I am pleased to be part of what can only be described as a stellar cast of speakers.

There is nothing quite as enticing as a conference promo that suggests this will be a “conference like never before”.

I can well believe it.

We are right on the brink of an amazing period of development within the disability sector; which is inspired, guided and driven by people with disabilities and their families.

And so we are certainly embracing a time, like never before.

A time when it has never been easier to speak up and for the voice of disabled persons to be heard – and what’s more to be listened to.

As Minister of Disability Issues I am determined that disabled persons will have a key role in monitoring the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

In Budget 2010 we announced funding for a group of six Disabled Persons organizations – brought together under the umbrella of the Convention Coalition.

They have a key role in monitoring the experience of disabled persons in accessing their rights.

And talk about timeliness – tomorrow, Tuesday 7 December, I will be receiving their first report which I am greatly looking forward to.

I am so pleased that it was disabled people, trained in interview techniques, who spoke to and gathered this information in the report. I know it can be easier to speak to another person who has a better understanding of your own situation rather than someone who may be perceived as an outside – no matter how honourable their intentions.

But wait –there’s more.

It is great to see space on the programme for Ros Noonan, the Chief Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission.

The Government has also funded the Human Rights Commission – and the Office of the Ombudsmen - to form the independent-of-government part of the framework to drive implementation of the Convention.

Between them these independent groups will promote, protect and monitor the rights of disabled people. In essence we have a three legged stool which firmly places the views of disabled people and their families on an equal footing with a rights agenda and the independence of the Ombudsmen.

So how will we know this three tiered approach is successful?

The Government’s first report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is currently out for feedback. The report tells the United Nations how well disabled people are doing compared to other New Zealanders. It also tells the United Nations what the New Zealand Government has been doing to improve their experience, and what it plans to do. It provides the perfect mechanism to assess whether we are doing the best we can be doing.

We want comments from disabled people and their families because it is so important that the government gets this baseline report right, as it will effect change in New Zealand over the next four years. I encourage you to go to the Office for Disability Issues website or to contact the Office so your thoughts can be heard. The Office is accepting comments up to the 17 December 2010.

The three strands of the strategy, are very much driven by my desire to hear the voices of the disability sector and in particular disabled people and their families. It is from listening to these voices, opinions and experiences the Government knows what is working in New Zealand for disabled people and where we may need to make improvements.

I want the challenge of this conference, to support Speaking up, to be heard in every home, in every business, on every street. New Zealand needs to ensure that the voices of all can be heard, are listened to and people are encouraged to speak up.

Disabled people have the right to speak up about what’s important to them; to determine their own destiny, to be in charge of their own lives.

We need to create an environment where disabled people and families feel comfortable about commenting on service quality and making a complaint if necessary – this is what we refer to as taking on the disabling society.

This was another major focus of Budget 2010 – the investment of three million dollars from 2010 to 2013 for a public awareness campaign to promote changing attitudes and behaviours that limit the opportunities of disabled persons. This is a very important initiative which I am really excited about in terms of the tangible difference it can make.

Of course the disabling society is not just about an environment ‘out there’ – the infamous general public.

A disabling society can be demonstrated in the prejudices and biases that exist within our own neighbourhood – the attitudes that tell us to step back rather than step up. This is where we come to the value of such a simple idea – the circle of friends.

Remember that old Glenn Campbell crooner,

If you try a little kindness, then you’ll overlook the blindness

Of a narrow minded people on the narrow minded street.

The Circle of Friends is a project I was inspired by when I visited the Community Living Project in South Australia and more recently Interactionz in Hamilton.

It takes off from the starting point of each of us trying a little kindness - whether it be family, whanau, friends and carers.

We know that depending on the severity and range of impairments there is often a range of supports needed. But what has happened over time is that sometimes family members and friends may feel that the formal carer is so much better qualified than they are, to provide support, and so they step back – leaving the disabled person wondering whether that support was really there. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy if you like.

The Circle of Friends changes all that.

Sometimes it is the simplest ideas that can have an outstanding impact. A circle of friends is just that – it encourages friends and the wider family to look out for the interests of the disabled person by literally wrapping a circle of friends around them. I have asked the Ministry of Health to look at circles, to build on our own efforts to find the best ways possible to support people with disabilities to be living the life they want in their own homes. I have to say that it is one of the most exciting projects I am involved in and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it.

Where greater support is needed that support needs to be given so that people are in charge, or at least feel they are in charge of what happens to them.

To this end the government is also continuing the modernisation of support services so that disability services are ‘serving’ disabled people and their families, not dictating to them.

There is no denying that we are in a period of considerable change in disability support; particularly with the new model for disability supports being developed.

Essentially the new model is about increasing disabled people's choice and control over disability supports, allowing more flexibility in how funding is allocated, and introducing a local area co-ordination type service.

Local Area Coordination has a stronger focus on developing ongoing relationships with disabled people and their families – and in working with you to identify what you need to lead the life you desire. The Ministry of Health is actively started to work with

local communities to get this going.

All these initiatives have arisen because people decided to speak up - whether it is at a select committee hearing, at conferences like this or by writing a report.

And I want to assure you today, that the government – and I – have certainly been listening to the disability sector and has started putting a framework in place.

As chair of the Ministerial Committee of Disability Issues I have been working closely with key Ministers from different portfolios so we can better focus the activities and policy development of various government agencies on a common goal – making a real difference in disabled people's lives. None of us – the sector, disabled persons and their families, Ministers – have any time or inclination to waste on meetings for meetings sake.

So we have been developing a single disability action plan to make the most of the resources we have. We have decided upon three areas of priority where if we concentrated our resources and rethought what we are doing we believe the biggest impact can be made.

The areas are:

1. supports for living – how government funding of supports for disabled people can align with the Ministry of Health's new model for disability supports;

2. mobility and access – what government provides to enable disabled people to move around their community and to be able to access buildings and services;

3. jobs – what government provides to assist disabled people to get and retain paid work.

I am really keen to hear from you what changes can be made in these areas that would enable disabled people to live independently, be able to move around their communities and be able to provide better work opportunities for disabled people.

To ensure that we hear from you directly, please contact the Office for Disability Issues, as the focal point within government on disability issues, and let them know what you think.

The Office has a key role in supporting the Ministerial Committee on Disability Issues, and the associated Chief Executives Group on Disability Issues. It is also there to monitor and promote implementation of the New Zealand Disability Strategy and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

But what I believe is its most significant role, is that the Office works to ensure disabled people are heard across government in the development of policy and services.

There is so much we could be doing together; that we can learn from each other, to ensure disabled people can enjoy the fullest quality of life, the absolute fulfillment of immense potential.

I hope that this conference meets all our expectations, and is truly a conference like never before. I hope it is easy to speak up, easy to express the truths and the experiences that we all need to hear from.

And I give you my absolute assurance that Government will be listening – and that Government will act on what is heard.

Tena tatou katoa.