Disability

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• Not available on their website yet.

• Immediately establish a process to implement the recommendations of United Nations Convention on the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
• Revise the building code so that new houses and building premises are required to be accessible by design unless specifically exempted
• Advocate that 3% of the Disability Services budget is set aside to directly fund leadership training for people living with impairments and independent advocacy organisations.
• Introduce needs based funding for children with impairments and to double the percentage receiving individual funding.
• Remove exemptions to the obligation of employers to pay the statutory minimum wage to workers with impairments, and provide financial assistance to employers of people with impairments for adaptations and to employees with impairments for equipment and personal support. (more here)

• Ensure implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and adopt the Optional Protocol to the Convention.
• Develop a language guide and training for workers in government-funded agencies in showing respect and valuing individuals for their talents, not dismissing them for their differences.
• Comprehensively review the entire system of special needs support so that resources are allocated based on individual needs assessment for each child, rather than each child having to meet the criteria imposed by the system.
• Ensure the implementation of Kia Orite: Achieving Equality: the New Zealand Code of Practice for an Inclusive Tertiary Education, including specific targets and subsequent plans.
• Ensure that the Supported Living Payment for those permanently and severely restricted in their ability to work because of a health condition, injury or impairment is paid at a higher level than short term benefits, and that the Disability Allowance is available to meet direct additional costs. (more here)

• Ratifying the UNCRPD Optional Protocol to enable disabled people whose rights have been breached to take cases directly to the UN.
• Introducing a non-means tested benefit to meet the costs of disability of all disabled people.
• Abolishing the minimum wage exemption permit and ensuring meaningful jobs are available to all disabled people.
• Increasing the use of New Zealand Sign Language in public life including support for the ongoing development of Māori signs.
• Providing fair payment for support workers, including immediate resolution of the ‘Parents as Caregivers’ case and ensuring night shift workers receive the minimum wage with immediate effect. (more here)

• We will establish a national Māori advocacy service.
• We will extend individualised funding; and promote the Circle of Friends to enable disabled persons to live the life they wish.
• Establish an annual Disability Employment Summit.
• We will investigate post-school options to ensure this first generation of children who have experienced mainstreaming can continue to succeed.
• We will individualise the resource for Day Services so that families can plan better to meet the needs. (more here)

• Not available on their website yet.

• Ensure that the Office for Disability Issues has the resources to monitor and report on the full implementation of the Disability Strategy in a timely fashion. Benchmarks will be determined and monitored annually in conjunction with the consumer organizations of people with disabilities. Compliance with the benchmarks will be a factor in the performance appraisals of all state sector chief executives.
• Promote disability support services that facilitate independence and that are delivered after informed self-assessment wherever possible. Our vision for independence includes both physical and economic independence, thus recognizing the importance of ensuring improved access to work for those with disabilities.
• Review the Child Disability Allowance with a view to increasing the rates in acknowledgement of the enormous emotional and financial strain faced by parents and caregivers when raising a child with special needs.
• Review the Ongoing Reviewable Resource Scheme (ORRS) funding with a view to ensuring that more funding is made available to directly meet the needs of the child as documented through the Individual Education Plan (IEP) process.
• Review the student/teacher ratio for blind and vision impaired students from 1:35 towards 1:15. (more here)

• Establish community-based advocacy services to ensure that every disabled person and their family have a case manager who ensures that clients have access to every support to which they are entitled.
• Support the development of “family governance groups” to oversee life-long care arrangements for individuals with disabilities.
• Commission an independent review of current audit and monitoring provisions for disability care providers.
• Promote a client-driven, rather than provider-driven, disability support sector. Better collaboration between what clients want and what services are available may require changes to funding and contracting arrangements, with the client having a stronger voice in decision-making.
• Support home ownership for people with disabilities through rent-to-buy and shared equity mechanisms and the use of State Housing stock for this purpose. (more here)