Submission to the Justice and Electoral Select Committee, by Trish Grant on 16 July 2008.

IHC strongly supports the prompt ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

It is imperative that New Zealand is able to participate in the inaugural Conference of States Parties in early November. This means that the treaty examination and associated bill processes must be completed by September at the very latest.

Submission to Social Services Select Committee, by Trish Grant 28 April 2008

This submission focuses solely on the how the provisions relating to “severely disabled children and young persons” under sections 141 to 146 of the CYPF Act (“the Act”) sit alongside the care and protection provisions under sections 13 to 19. 

The Bill also does not address any of the serious problems that separate provisions cause for disabled children, and that have been with us now for some time.  IHC believes that these fundamental problems will remain and that disabled children will continue to be denied basic rights that should be afforded to all children, regardless of impairment.

The removal of the separate provisions, together with a more balanced approach to care and protection issues, will pave the way to towards meeting this objective.

Submission to Ministry of Education, by Trish Grant 4 June 2008

In order for Schools Plus to be effectively developed and implemented, the existing under resourcing and inequalities in the education system must be addressed.

There is an urgent need to re-examine the concept of ‘special education’. The issues experienced by schools, students and families are not just poor implementation of policy, but are due to the concept of ‘special’ education being fundamentally flawed.

Submission to the Local Government and Environment Select Committee, by Andrew Wilson 29 February 2008

Initiatives in the Bill that provide legislative tools to improve housing affordability and to address a pressing need to prohibit covenants that exclude sections of the community from areas of housing, are welcome by the IHC.

Submission to the Health Select Committee, by Trish Grant 7 March 2008

In this submission IHC focuses on the high-level purpose and principles statements set out in the Bill, which we generally support, with some improvements needed to recognise the needs of people with disabilities and other specific population groups. We broadly support the Bill, including its aim of reducing health inequalities, recognising the wide determinants of health status, having new strategies to promote good health such as screening and providing guidance on key health issues, improving emergency management, and that public health powers are exercised within a human rights framework which balances the rights of the individual with the public interest. However, there is only one reference in the whole Bill to people with disabilities. 

The health status of people with an intellectual disability is a national disgrace. We know the issues and the outcomes wanted: the need is for action, a blueprint. To achieve this the needs of people with disabilities must be recognised in the Bill to help get the priority they deserve in the public health system.

Submission to the Ministry of Justice, by Trish Grant February 13 2008

Adults and children with an intellectual disability may experience or witness domestic violence in their own families, in residential settings or at the hands of caregivers.

However the victims of domestic violence who have an intellectual disability rarely receive the protection or rights to support available through the Domestic Violence Act 1995 due to not being heard or having their situation taken seriously. There is a lack of appropriate support available, despite the clear legislative entitlement.

Submission to the Ministry of Transport, by Trish Grant 19 February 2008

In order to have an “ordinary” life people must be able to move around their community easily. The nature of intellectual impairment means that few people are able to walk long distances, cycle or drive and therefore there is a reliance on friends and family’s private vehicles, disability service provider transport, taxis, the total mobility scheme and public transport. Not all people with intellectual disabilities can access public transport and to do so requires the learning of skills through training, support and accessible information.

For public land transport to be accessible, all aspects of information provision, vehicle and infrastructure standards and building design need to be accessible to people with various service needs.

Responsibility for planning, funding, regulating and providing public land transport services is shared between central, regional and local government and private enterprise. The lack of a comprehensive approach has lead to disabled people having acute and on-going difficulties in using public land transport services.

Submission to the Law Commission, by Trish Grant 5 March 2008

IHC is interested in and affected by the Law Commission’s issues paper on Tribunals in New Zealand from both the perspective of people with an intellectual disability and in our own role as a major service provider and employer. The focus of this submission is on ensuring that people with disabilities are able to access and fully participate in New Zealand’s tribunals on the same basis as other people.

IHC supports the approach of the Commission that tribunals have developed in an ad hoc and unprincipled manner without overall coherence, and are difficult for the average citizen to access and navigate. IHC emphasises that for those who are disadvantaged, and those who attempt to support them, it is even more difficult. People with intellectual disability are also likely to have the most need to access dispute resolution and redress mechanisms as they are particularly vulnerable to being taken advantage of and because of difficulties associated with communication of concerns and complaints. We underscore that there must be justice for all.

Submission to the Retirement Commission, by Trish Grant 13 February 2008

Increasing the financial literacy of people with an intellectual disability is fundamental to their full inclusion and participation in the community and helps prevent abuse by others. There is a large body of literature on structured teaching and adaptive strategies which can be applied to supporting adults with an intellectual disability to make their own financial decisions. Even if someone cannot manage their money on their own, there are ways through models of supported decision making, they can contribute to choices about how it is spent.

Submission to the Inland Revenue Department, by Lynn Fiebig 25 January 2008

The implementation of a before-tax payroll giving system would provide a simple, convenient and effective way for employees to be able to contribute to a cause of their choice. Employees would benefit from a system that is streamlined to provide immediate tax rebates without the requirement to keep receipts from donations and file a tax return at the end of each year. Employees would also find attractive the chance to support an NGO in a significant yet anonymous way, while still having the possibility of increased involvement with that NGO if they wish.

Submission to the Social Services Committee, by Trish Grant 28 November 2007

There are more than 50,000 people with an intellectual disability living in New Zealand. An intellectual disability is generally lifelong, requiring various types of support to enable people to participate as members of the community. In terms of the Family Courts Matters Bill (fulltext PDF, 1297Kb), people with an intellectual disability are involved particularly in the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988 (PPPR) and the Intellectual Disability (Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation) Act 2003 (IDCCR), along with the Care of Children Act 2004, the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989 (CYPFA) and the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992 (MHCAT). As people who have families and their own relationships and marriages, all of the other legislation and proceedings covered in the Bill affect people with intellectual disabilities. The focus of our submission is on the opening up of the Family Court, the ability to have support persons and provision for "vulnerable persons".

We encourage the direct and full participation of people with intellectual and other disabilities in the Family Court, which includes not deterring them from being involved. We do not consider that the Bill demonstrates sufficient understanding of, or attention to, what is required for people with intellectual disability to participate in Family Court proceedings.

Submission to the Ministry of Social Development, by Trish Grant 26 September 2007

IHC is a member of the New Zealand Carers’ Alliance and supports the development of a New Zealand Carers’ Strategy. IHC was founded by parents and has a commitment to advocate with and support families who have a child with an intellectual disability. Parents however, are not the only members of our constituency who have an interest in the development of the Carers’ Strategy. Many carers are themselves disabled people. People with an intellectual disability often take on caring responsibilities for their parents, relations, friends and their own children. IHC believes that everyone needs to be supported in the caring roles that they will have at different points in their lives.

Submission to the Ministry of Social Development, by Trish Grant 22 July 2007

IHC views the development of the Five Year Action plan for Out of School Services (the Action Plan) as a positive step towards improvements in these services for children and young people with disabilities. We support the vision of out of school services that value both diversity and quality, however consider that the measures outlined in the current plan are inadequate to bring about the changes required to ensure that out of school services are inclusive and responsive to children and young people with disabilities.

Submission to Ministry of Health and District Health Boards New Zealand, by Trish Grant 9 August 2007

Workforce development within the disability sector is of vital concern to IHC.  The current Select Committee Inquiry into the Quality and Care of Services Provision for Disabled People received a large number of submissions that saw the disability sector’s dependence on a low paid and unskilled workforce as one of the biggest factors that have caused many to describe it as a sector in crisis. 

Incidents of abuse that led to the Inquiry are directly attributable to an untrained and undervalued workforce that is currently unable way to provide the support necessary to ensure that people with disabilities are treated as citizens with the same rights as all New Zealanders.  Fundamental improvements to the way we structure and value the disability workforce are required if disabled people are to be truly recognised and respected as fully participating members of the community.

25 August 2006

In 2006 IHC consulted widely about the range of services and supports available for people with an intellectual disability and their families. Feedback was strongly that the system was not working and needed to be changed.

IHC has used this feedback to form the basis for the IHC submission to the Social Services Select Committee on the Inquiry into the Quality and Care of Services Provision to Disabled people.

IHC does not support the reduction of number of Members of Parliament from 120 to 100. People with disabilities come from many communities, many ethnicities, from different age groups and are of different genders and sexual preferences. It is important that Parliament, as far as possible, reflects the diversity of New Zealand society. Any reduction in the number of MPs is likely to put the New Zealand Disability Strategy at risk, and to stall the advancement of people with disabilities.

This Bill arises from concerns about a “recent spate” of youth offending. IHC agrees that any behaviour that harms people, property and public security is of serious concern, but there are powerful reasons why a legal system should take into account the age and circumstances of young offenders. This Bill adopts a narrow and punitive focus, which appears not to take account of the vulnerability of children and of their need for care and protection. The views of children do not appear to have been considered in the preparation of this Bill, and yet it has important ramifications for their lives.

Pre-service and ongoing teacher education about disabilities are top priorities for action. There is lack of knowledge about rights, confusion about creating inclusive practice, and absence of teacher-education programmes about teaching diverse learners in mixed-ability settings. IHC wants graduating standards to include and uphold the rights and duties contained in its ten-point Code of Education Rights.

IHC asks the Government to support the full implementation of the New Zealand Disability Strategy and follow the recommendations of the National Advisory Committee on Health and Disability report To Have an ‘Ordinary Life’. It recommends the Government replaces the invalid’s benefit with a single core benefit for people with intellectual disabilities, recommends the repeal of the Disabled Persons Employment Promotion Act and a review of the Intellectually Disabled Compulsory Care Act.

Making the Transition to School from Early Intervention report available in Te Reo Maori, Pasifika and other languages would be helpful. A plain English version would make the document more widely accessible and a pictorial version, containing diagrams and photographs, would be especially helpful to illustrate adaptations and services referred to.

All children shall have equal opportunity to attend and participate successfully in inclusive, well-resourced, safe and healthy schools. This applies to all aspects of schooling, including enquiries, enrolment, course and subject selection, curriculum delivery, assessment, planning, monitoring and transition between schools and beyond school to tertiary education, vocational and industry training and to places of work.

It is the fundamental right of people with an intellectual disability to have the same employment conditions, holidays, rights and entitlements as others and to be covered by the same employment legislation. The notion that a worker with a disability is less productive than other workers is questionable, and perpetuates stereotypes about disability. Exemption from the minimum wage results in both direct and indirect discrimination.

April 2004

 Women are often the primary caregivers with the burden of juggling paid and unpaid work. They tend to be at the centre of family responsibilities and care duties. Those in the paid workforce are reported to be working harder and longer and their working lives do not often fit the pattern of 40-hour, five-day weeks. There is often a reluctance to refuse weekend or late work, and this places people with extra family responsibilities at risk. There is a need for family-friendly initiatives at work and in community.

There is strong support for continuing free provision of school dental services and improved provision, given the fact that many children’s oral health has declined over the last decade. Children in lower socio-economic communities and remote rural areas are at particular risk. IHC supports investigating subsidies for non-contracted dentists who have particular skills in treating patients with disabilities.

25 September 2003

IHC supports the establishment of the “welfare and best interests of the child” as the paramount principle in the Care of Children Bill. It urges specific recognition of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, that human rights be promoted for children in all family/whanau situations, and the repeal of Section 59 of the Crimes Act to reduce violence in children’s lives.