Strong Voices

At IHC we are enormously proud of the research that has been conducted looking at wellbeing indicators for people with intellectual disabilities in New Zealand.

It’s hard to make progress and set priorities without a deep understanding of what life is like. This data clearly shows the gaps between reality and the support and opportunities we believe everyone deserves. The research From Data to Dignity: Health and Wellbeing Indicators for New Zealanders with Intellectual Disability confirms what many of us already know to be true.

People with intellectual disabilities are more likely to die younger, have poorer health outcomes, have low employment and internet access and experience poverty, violence and crime. One of the problems for us is what to tackle first – but that work is under way.

Right now all New Zealanders face higher costs of living and higher unemployment, and there’s a housing crisis. But people with disabilities have been encouraged to hope that they will finally receive special attention with their own Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha.

Instead, many were left confused and upset when Whaikaha pressed pause while the purchasing rules for flexible funding supports were redrawn – and fearful with the news of overspending. Now the new Minister of Disability Issues has announced a full, independent review of the disability support system funded by Whaikaha, saying the review will consider what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of disability support and provide more certainty.

We are fans of sustainability and certainty and are not opposed to a review that might make things better and clearer for people with disabilities and their whānau.

But how many more reviews do we need before New Zealand remembers that in 2008 we ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities? We have evidence now about health status, about shortages of accessible and affordable housing, about poverty among people with disabilities and about struggles to access education.

Do we keep doing reviews in the hope of finding a different, cheaper answer? Hopefully this is the one that will make a difference because we are constantly talking to families and individuals who are worried.

IHC is built on community – we share information, we come together to support each other, we get together to advocate – and whatever happens next we will insist that people with intellectual disabilities have their say.

Gina Rogers Editor,
Strong Voices