The Disability Gap
2007-08-13 22:38:00.0
AUTHOR: Judy Turner
The Social Services Select Committee I serve on is currently undertaking an inquiry into Disability Services in NZ.
One submitter gave us this interesting definition of DISABILITY.
"In 1969 I had a motorbike accident which left me with a Spinal Cord Impairment. Impairments are what disabled people have. I do not have a Disability.
Disability is the barriers people with impairments experience when they try to participate in society/contemporary social organisations designed for and by able-bodied people. These barriers are social, cultural, political and economic in nature; they disable people with impairments."
This means that while we may celebrate the development of new medical procedures and technological break-throughs like cochlear implants for the deaf, we need to understand that these reduce impairment but do not reduce disability.
Most submitters are very supportive of the New Zealand Disability Strategy but suggest that the gap between good policy and current practise is enormous. Several submitters think we should set up a separate Disability Commission focused on advocacy work for the sector. I am not sure whether another beaurocratic structure is necessary but do think that the current Health and Disability Commission needs to up its game in regard to the Disability sector.
The move to deinstitutionalise care of the disabled has not gone smoothly, and appropriate community care has not been well sustained in many instances. We currently have a poorly trained and paid workforce, an onerous audit regime that is too focused on compliance rather than service development, a shortage of appropriate respite care facilities and money wasted on services that do not always reflect clients needs.
HOWEVER some amazing people work in this sector, and there are some fantastic advocates among the disability community who are staunch and tenacious fighters for their rights to have a normal life.
The inquiry is not over yet and I am learning heaps about the courage of these people and their families.