Appendix two: Disability Action Plan 2014-2018

Increase employment and economic opportunities: This shared result focuses on building employers’ confidence to employ disabled people and provide accessible workplaces, opportunities for work experiences, entrepreneurship, and education achievement and skill development. It recognises obligations in the CRPD, particularly Articles 24 and 27.

Priority 1: Increase the educational achievement of disabled children and adults.

a) Build capability for inclusive education to improve delivery in the CRPD context.

Lead: Ministry of Education.

Priority 2: Increase the number of disabled people who transition from school and from tertiary education into employment.

a) Improve transitions.

Lead: Ministry of Education.

Priority 3: Increase the number of disabled people, including long-term unemployed disabled people, in paid employment and self-employment on an equal basis with others.

a) Implement a long term work programme to improve employment outcomes for disabled people including the development of guidelines on reasonable accommodation.

Lead: Ministry of Social Development.

b) Develop better alternatives to replace the minimum wage exemption, looking at existing and new schemes.

Lead: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Priority 4: Increase the number of employers who are confident in employing disabled people, with the public sector taking a lead.

a) Government to take a lead in employing disabled people and providing paid internships.

Lead: Office for Disability Issues [Deferred until further discussion in 2015].

Ensure personal safety: This shared result focuses on promoting systems and practices to protect disabled children and adults in all settings. It recognises obligations in the CRPD, particularly Articles 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 23.

Priority 5: Reduce barriers to disabled people making decisions to determine their own lives.

a) Ensure disabled people can exercise their legal capacity, including through recognition of supported decision making.

Lead: Office for Disability Issues [Scope approved on 21 November 2014, for implementation in 2015].

Priority 6: Reduce the number of disabled children and adults who are victims of violence, abuse or neglect.

a) Educate disabled people about their rights not to be abused and what abuse is.

Lead: DPOs [Scope approved on 21 November 2014, for implementation in 2015].

b) Investigate funding of DPO partnered programmes that support disabled people to speak up for themselves and ensure this is linked with victims of crime work.

Lead: Office for Disability Issues [Deferred until further discussion in 2015].

c) Increase safeguards for disabled people who are socially isolated and develop initiatives to remove what is socially isolating them.

Lead: DPOs [Deferred until further discussion in 2015].

d) Review the current care and support processes for disabled children who are (or are likely to be) subject to care under the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 to establish whether they are being treated equitably and fairly, and in their best interests, and if not, to provide advice on changes needed to legislation, operational policy, operational delivery and/or monitoring and enforcement.

Lead: Ministry of Social Development

Deferred until 2015/2016: e) Complete a stocktake of key reports, recommendations and findings on preventing violence, abuse and neglect, including the cultural context for disabled Maori and Pasifika.


Lead: DPOs [Deferred until further discussion in 2015/2016]

Priority 7: Increase the responsiveness to disabled people of civil defence and emergency management around New Zealand.

a) Promote implementation by local civil defence and emergency management sector of the guidelines for inclusive practice including learnings from experiences of disabled people in the Canterbury earthquakes.

Lead: Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management.

Transform the disability support system: This shared result focuses on ensuring effective engagement with disabled people and coordination across sectors and across agencies to focus on outcomes and maximum progress from available resources. It recognises obligations in the CRPD, particularly Articles 19, 20 and 26.

Priority 8: Promote disabled people having choice and control over their supports/services, and make more efficient use of disability support funding.

a) Evaluate learning from the Enabling Good Lives Christchurch demonstration in 2014/15, and consider in 2015/16 improved assessment processes which are culturally responsive, strength based, holistic, involve whanau (whanau ora principles), and are integrated (for example in Enabling Good Lives).

Lead: Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health.

b) Enabling Good Lives demonstration in Christchurch with the involvement of DPOs

Lead: Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health.

Deferred until 2015/2016: c) A good start in life: Develop policy options to improve government supports for parents, family and whanau of disabled children aged 0-6 years.

Lead: Ministry of Education.

Priority 9: Promote the involvement of Disabled People’s Organisations in the design and monitoring of the disability support system transformation.

a) DPOs and government working together - joint work programme on involving DPOs in decisions that affect disabled people agreed by the Chief Executives’ Group on Disability Issues and Independent Monitors on 21 August 2013.

Lead: Office for Disability Issues [Scope approved on 21 November 2014, for implementation in 2015].

Priority 10: Increase the capability of disability support service providers to be of service to disabled people.

a) Develop and implement effective ways for disabled people and DPOs to provide feedback (both qualitative and quantitative) safely about the quality of services and support and to monitor, evaluate, and scrutinise and make providers accountable to funders for achieving outcomes.

Lead: Ministry of Health [Deferred until further discussion in 2015].

Deferred until 2015/2016: b) Ensure providers are responsive to disabled people and provide choice and tailoring of services. Explore how provider performance should be assessed, including through accreditation, provider performance measurement, and contract monitoring systems.


Lead: Ministry of Health [Deferred until further discussion in 2015].

Deferred until 2015/2016: c) Explore how the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992 relates to the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and the CRPD.

Ministry of Health [Deferred until further discussion in 2015]

Promote access in the community: This shared result focuses on: accessible buildings and spaces, transport, urban design; accessible information, communications; access to health services, justice services; and political and civic participation. It recognises obligations in the CRPD, particularly Articles 5, 8, 9, 21, 25, 29 and 30.

Priority 11: Increase government services’ responsiveness to disabled people.

a) Increase accessibility of information across government agencies.

Lead: Office for Disability Issues [Scope approved on 21 November 2014, for implementation in 2015].

b) Understand the journey through the justice sector for disabled adults, disabled children and their families through the development of a National Data Standard for Disability.

Lead: Ministry of Justice.

c) Increase access to health services and improve health outcomes for disabled people with a specific focus on people with learning/intellectual disabilities.

Lead: Ministry of Health.

Priority 12: Increase the accessibility for disabled people of the built environment and transport services.

a) Understand the issues with accessibility for disabled people of transport services, by completing a stocktake using the Human Rights Commission’s Accessible Journey report recommendations as a framework, and then in 2015/2016 determine options to improve the accessibility of transport services.

Lead: Ministry of Transport and NZ Transport Agency [Scope approved on 21 November 2014, for implementation in 2015].

b) Review of the building accessibility regulatory system.

Lead: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and Office for Disability Issues.

Priority 13: Promote disabled people participating in political and civic processes.

a) DPOs to complete a stocktake of what are the areas needing the most attention and which will make the biggest difference to promote disabled people participating in political and civic processes. ODI will convene a discussion with DPOs and relevant government agencies to discuss priorities from the DPOs stocktake and identify possible actions.

Lead: DPOs [Deferred until further discussion in 2015].