Disability in New Zealand

Overview

The endless hunt, and fight for accessible home appliances. (2023, Blind Citizens NZ)

Government won't enforce accessibility, despite promising legislation to 'make NZ more accessible'. (2022, Stuff)

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Housing

The intersecting issues for disabled women experiencing homelessness “Disabled women experiencing homelessness often contend with heightened levels of social isolation, exacerbating the difficulties connecting with support services.” (2023, Coalition to end women's homelessness)

Another month, another report on disabled people's housing “but is the government listening?” (2022, RNZ News)

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Riding the silver tsunami as a disabled New Zealander

“We are living longer than previous disabled generations. As activists, we worked for change then and still do now. Yet support systems for elders are unprepared for us.” (2023, The Spinoff)

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Five mobility aids our community are obsessed with An ice cream-grabbing walking cane and other personalised aids. (Oct, The D*List)

The everyday technologies essential for accessibility four disabled people on the tech they consider essential. (2023, The Spinoff)

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Impact

The essential numbers showing how disabled people experienced the pandemic:

“By 2022 disabled people’s high rates of vaccination, combined with self-isolation, meant this high-risk group were slightly less likely to get Covid-19 than non-disabled people. However, despite overall lower infection, they were still seven times more likely to die (11 deaths) and 3.5 times more likely to go to hospital.” (2023, The Spinoff)

Disabled were 13 times as likely to die from Covid-19. “People who received disability support services in 2022 were 13 times as likely to die from Covid-19 than the general population, new data shows.” (2023, Stuff)

How will disabled people cope with Omicron in the community? (2022, RNZ)

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Response

The daily, grinding tragedy of Covid-19 “By unilaterally disarming in the fight against the coronavirus, the Government is exposing New Zealanders to the very serious ongoing health burden of Covid-19.” (2022, Newsroom)

Mixed response from disability advocates over Covid welfare support funding. (2022, Stuff)

Reporting on an inquiry into how government response to the Omicron wave impacted disabled people: they "do not appear to have been given prominence in government policy and decision making," (2022, RNZ)

'Oh well, we'll all get it' attitude to Omicron ignores increased risk to people with disabilities (2022, Stuff)

Ministry of Health 'so far removed from the day-to-day lives of disabled people' (2022, RNZ)

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Living with COVID-19

For those of us with disabilities, lockdown won’t end as long as Covid strategies leave us behind (2021, the Guardian)

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Tāmaki Makaurau disability communities protest funding cuts a photo-series. (Apr, D*List)

Disability advocates call for stronger accessibility laws. “More than 100 people, including those with disabilities and supporters, have marched to Parliament to deliver a petition calling for better accessibility legislation.” (Mar, New Zealand Herald)

Hot takes on the new Blind Low Vision ad campaign “From 'a pretty cool ad' to 'a self-congratulatory approach', here is what some blind and low vision folks think of a campaign using high-contrast and text-to-speech technology.” (2023, D*List)

From the Debrief's own Áine Kelly-Costello: Saying the quiet part out loud: “For a blindness service provider, creating a work environment which is untenable for people who come from the community the organisation supposedly serves is shameful.” (2023, Blind Citizens NZ)

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When the rain doesn’t stop. The Debrief's Áine Kelly-Costello on experiences in the Auckland flooding. (2023, Blind Citizens NZ)

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Sign Languages

'World-first' as NZ Sign Language used at 35,000 feet “Deaf New Zealanders on a flight from Auckland to Wellington have — for the first time — been given flight-safety instructions in their own language.” (May, 1 News)

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Braille

Governments urged to increase access to braille (2023, 1News)

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Israel-Palestine Conflict

Disabled NZ resident battling to get out of Gaza “Despite Ghada Alree being unable to walk and reliant on family for mobility, New Zealand initially told her this week they would not allow her mother to be added to a list with her for evacuation from Gaza to Egypt.” (2023, NZ Herald)

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Overview

New Zealand’s Disability-Led Path to Accessibility in the Arts “Other places could learn from the island country, where measures like audio description and braille surtitling have become standard practice.” (Sep, Reasons to be cheerful)

New Zealand Opera to provide braille surtitles for live performances

“NZ Opera’s general director, Brad Cohen, developed the technology alongside his company contexts.live. It sends braille surtitles to a user’s personal braille-reading machine at the same time as the sighted audience is reading the translations on screen.” (Jun, the Guardian)

Halloween character costumes that are actually scary “Parking Warden Who Doesn’t Believe It’s Your Mobility Permit” and other frightening figures. (2023, The D*List)

Spreading kōrero of disability and music technology (2023, Arts Access Aotearoa)

Stay home club “Making remote portraits of New Zealanders in isolation—using only their phone cameras.” (2022, New Zealand Geographic)

Blind Scrabble master takes on the country's best (2022, Stuff)

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TV and Film

Clickbait & Crutches: A fiercely disabled web series. “A new web series about disability and the internet came out of a desire to tell our own stories about who we are and how we connect online.” (May, The D*List)

Applying the Fries Test in Aotearoa “Does a work have more than one disabled character? Do the disabled characters have their own narrative purpose other than the education and profit of a non-disabled character? Is the character’s disability just a part of them, or are they eradicated either by curing or killing them?” (2023, Arts Access Aotearoa)

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Media

First reporter with cerebral palsy breaks down barriers, “Whakaata Māori has made media history by having a journalist affected by cerebral palsy produce a story for television with his voice and subtitles.” (2023, Te Ao)

D*List editorial values launching a new disability magazine. (2023, D*List) The new home of disability culture in Aotearoa. (The Spinoff)

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Child disability data and life outcomes One of the damning statistics:

“In the June 2017 quarter, 42.3% of disabled youth aged 15–24 years were not in employment, education, or training (NEET) [...] four times that of non-disabled youth”. (May, DR Bex's Substack)

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Social Media

Fake sign language is spreading on TikTok. “Sign language has become trendy on TikTok, but many videos feature incorrect signs, sparking fears the trend will cause lasting damage to American Sign Language” (2023, Washington Post) see also the same problem in New Zealand.

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Overview

Unaffordable home heating increases risk of severe mental distress. (2023, PHCC)

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Social Protection

Dreams, realities, and the broken promises of disability support. (Aug, RNZ)

Disabled people deserve a meaningful place of our own. “The decision to downsize Whaikaha and strip it of its responsibility for delivering support services has outraged disabled people, who fought for decades for a ministry of their own, writes Robyn Hunt.” (Aug, The Spinoff)

Concerns raised over Māori and Pasifika disability support in restructure of Whaikaha, the Ministry of Disabled People:

“We don’t know if the Māori voice around disabilities will continue, because we’re not sitting at decision-making tables, and that’s where we all need to be.” (Aug, Te Ao Māori News)

What happens when disabled people lose flexible funding “An announcement, then the fallout” (Jun, The Spinoff)

Why we cannot let the disability support changes happen. (Mar, RNZ News)

Big gap in support funding between disabled people on Ministry of Health and the national accident compensation scheme. (2022, Stuff)

Removing Disabling Experiences a vision for a person-directed system that will “provide four enforceable rights to social and income support, habilitation, and healthcare.” (2022, Warren Forster)

How the government asked for social welfare advice, got it, ignored it, and the impact on people with disabilities. (2022, Stuff)

Disabled people missing out on 'essential' support over relationship status (2022, Stuff)

We need a welfare system that works better for people with disabilities (2022)

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The love/hate relationship we have with our teacher aides. “Our teacher aides helped us in the classroom when we needed it the most, despite our resentment for making us stand out when we just wanted to fit in.” (Oct, D*List)

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Debate reignites over how much disabled workers are paid:

“Through a wage exemption scheme, disabled workers can be paid as low as $2 an hour. The current minimum wage is $23.15 per hour.” (Jun, 1 News)

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Accessibility remains an afterthought – how NZ’s digital health tools risk excluding people with disabilities. (Mar, The Conversation)

Woman wheeled herself to hospital when ambulance couldn't take her wheelchair (2022, Stuff)

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Why doesn’t every New Zealander know about Eve Rimmer? “She had a glittering international sports career and became a brave advocate for paraplegic rights, but Eve Rimmer is still largely unknown to the country she represented.” (2022, The Spinoff)

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Migration

The pain of the policy that splits disabled kids from their parents Jap Sahib and his mother Prince are one of many families who have endured the pain of living split between countries. (Oct, D*List)

Family who couldn’t get residency due to child’s disability wins after nine-year battle (Sep, Stuff)

Calls to scrap discriminatory immigration health requirements (2023, Stuff)

Why does NZ make it so hard for disabled people to move here? By the Debrief's own Áine Kelly-Costello. “We need Aotearoa's disability communities to rally behind scrapping eugenic migration rules.” (2023, D*List)

'Inhumane': The Government policy that deports disabled children (2022, 1 News)

Time to scrap ableist migration rules down under The Debrief's own Áine Kelly-Costello arguing for fair migration rules. (2022, Overland)

New Zealand denies entry to autistic daughter of immigrant couple. “Rules do not allow people to move to New Zealand if they would impose a high cost to the health system”. (2022, the Guardian)

Girl, 12, denied residency because her autism does not meet 'acceptable standards of health'. (2022, Sky)

Government won't review 'discriminatory' immigration policy towards disabled people. (2022, Stuff)

Immigration policy discriminates against disabled “It’s become commonplace to read news stories about people with disabilities who have been denied New Zealand residency and face deportation.” (2022, Stuff)

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Overview

The joy of disabled mutual care “the ways that disabled people care for each other, from families to couples to community as a whole.” (2023, D*List)

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Conditions in Institutions

‘National disgrace’: landmark New Zealand report finds 200,000 victims of abuse in state care. (Jul, the Guardian)

Whanaketia – Through pain and trauma, from darkness to light. The final report on the abuse and neglect of children, young people and adults in the care of the State and faith-based institutions in Aotearoa New Zealand between 1950 and 1999:

“Of the estimated 655,000 children, young people and adults in care from 1950 to 2019, it is estimated that up to 256,000 were abused and neglected. During the Inquiry period, 1950 to 1999, it is estimated around 510,000 people were in care and up to 200,000 were abused and neglected. The true number will never be fully known as records of the most vulnerable people in Aotearoa New Zealand were never created or were lost and, in some cases, destroyed.” (Abuse in Care, Royal Commission of Inquiry)

The horrors of Kimberley “For over 50 years, the Kimberley Centre in Levin billed itself as a home away from home for hundreds of vulnerable New Zealanders. Behind the facade was a site of unspeakable abuse.” (2023, The Spinoff)

‘There was no respect or effort to recognise me for who I was’:

“Artist and dancer Lusi Faiva was two when, diagnosed with cerebral palsy, she was taken to live in an institution for people with intellectual disabilities. She spent five years at the Kimberley Centre, experiencing neglect, terrible loneliness, alienation from her Sāmoan heritage and a sense of entrapment which has inspired a lifetime of seeking expression and freedom.” (2023, The Spinoff)

Complaints laid after woman found in own faeces, weighing 35kg at a residential care home. (2022, NZ Herald)

Abuse in Care: “Men raped disabled children, paid staff for access”. Testimonies from a commission of inquiry into institutional care. Further coverage at: 'a prison with no bars' and 'you can't walk away from this'. (2022, Stuff) Also on NZ Herald: 'hellhole, worse than prison'

Chief Ombudsman scathing of environment at Wakari Hospital ward "We're mixing in this facility – not just patients who are mentally ill and need caring for – but we’re mixing them with those who come from a different forensic stream who have been involved in criminal offending and who are there for a very different reason; it’s not safe." (2022, 1 News)

He Purapura Ora, he Māra Tipu. A report on survivors of abuse in care, their efforts to restore their lives and hold governments to account. (2021, Abuse in Care Inquiry)

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Risk: A visual poem by Ruby Solly exploring the intricacies of indigenous, disabled pride. (Feb, The D*List)

Exploring te ao Māori and te reo Māori whakaaro from one Pākehā blind person. (2023, Blind Citizens NZ)

Cha'nel Kaa-Luke and her dreams for indigenous Deaf communities: research on indigenous Deaf people should show "how to better engage with our communities on terms that suit us". (2023, D*List)

‘I’m Māori first’: The vision-impaired community finding strength in whakapapa (2022, The Spinoff)

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Alan Hall's controversial murder conviction set to be quashed after 36 years (2022, Stuff)

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The Power of Stories from the Margins: 5 Questions for Áine Kelly-Costello. (Aug, Disability Rights Fund)

Eat, pray, love and medicate: A chronically-ill backpacker's odyssey:

“It’s okay that I am better acquainted with the bathroom floor than the sights of Berlin. There is no checklist for the dreamy European summer.” (Jun, The D*List)

Prudence Walker on getting over our imposter syndrome. “The new disability rights commissioner's introduction to disability was confusing and medicalised; it wasn’t until she met others with similar experiences that she accepted who she was.” (2023, D*List)

Articulations: Henrietta Bollinger's “debut essay collection speaks to their experiences as a queer, disabled person, and as a twin.” (2023, Tender Press) See an interview with the author on D*List.

Dear mum, from your disabled child:

“Mum, I want you to be proud of me. Deeply, viscerally proud. But pride looks different for me than it does for others. Other people feel proud – inspired, even – when a disabled young person like me gets out of bed in the morning. When we get a certificate at school. But I want you to know that I feel proud most when I drink wine through a straw without feeling embarrassed. I feel proud when I’ve processed my internalised ableism enough to hang out with my crip friends on a Saturday night in public. And I would love it if you could celebrate those moments with me too!” (2023)

#DynamicDisability: How a hashtag changed our lives discovering language to describe fluctuating disabilities helped Melissa Irving find herself and her people. (2023, D*List)

Human not machine: how autistic writers are writing new space for themselves:

“Why are autistic people so attracted to these magical or other-worldly connections? Most of us experience loneliness and isolation – and if we are repeatedly rejected by humans then the idea of friendship with ghosts or aliens may almost seem less far-fetched.

“It’s also the fantasy we might be able to meet someone else on equal terms; both of us having to adapt to and learn each other’s way of communicating, rather than always having to be the ones who make the effort, exhausting ourselves to the point of burnout.” (2022, The Spinoff)

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Overview

Lack of Wellington mobility taxis angers wheelchair users (Jul, The Post)

Disability advocates call for enforceable standards in tourism (Jan, 1News)

Wheelchair users call for accessible beaches: 'Can you imagine the freedom?' (Jan, RNZ News)

Putting a blind-friendly transport system on the political agenda. Editorial by the Debrief's own Áine Kelly-Costello. (2023, Blind Citizens NZ)

Not Built For Me: Freedom, frustration in navigating public transport with a disability (2022, Stuff)

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Air Travel

Deaf community hopeful airline safety videos will feature NZSL Chief Ombudsman ruled the regulatory body's decision not to include it is "unreasonable". (2023, 1 News)

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Overview

This government won't stop attacking disabled people The community is being relentlessly targeted (Aug, Emily Writes Weekly)

Beyond Whaikaha: Seven ways new government policy could impact us. (Apr, D*List)

Accessibility legislation a tokenistic toothless failure say disabled people, including the Debrief's own Áine Kelly-Costello: “This proposed bill is systemically ableist to its core”. (2023, 1 News)

UN disability rights experts concerned with NZ progress, call for urgent action. (2022, Stuff)

Lack of cross-government ownership a major barrier warns disability rights report, which particularly emphasizes the need for consultation with disabled people. One of the authors says “there is still a quantum leap required to remove disparities for disabled people in New Zealand”. (2022, Ombudsman)

Disability Rights: How is New Zealand doing? Highlights cross-cutting issues of data collection, lack of agency ownership of the Disability Convention, and lack of genuine partnership with disabled people. (2022, Ombudsman) See coverage on Stuff.

Why is a non-disabled person leading the establishment of a disability ministry? (2022, The Spinoff)

Appointment irks disabled community Ministry for Disabled People sees major appointments of people who do not identify as disabled. (2022, Otago Daily Times)

Disability advocates frustrated over feedback process for accessibility legislation (2022, Stuff)

Accessibility Bill lacks teeth by the Debrief's own Áine Kelly-Costello. (2022, Te Awa) See also coverage on Stuff.

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Assisted Dying and Euthanasia

Disturbing Data In Latest “Assisted Dying” Report 5% increase in assisted deaths in last twelve months and 12% of applicants had a disability:

“What is most disturbing is that one in four applicants weren’t receiving palliative care.” (Sep, Scoop)

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What would the different parties’ policies mean for disabled people? “Looking at the election policies stacked in front of the New Zealand public this year, I feel as though I have time-travelled back to the 1980s.” (2023, The Spinoff)

$1m Election Access Fund gets mixed response from disabled people. (2022, Stuff)

A disabled person's view of the Wellington occupation (2022, RNZ)

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The rare and magical quality of our relationships “Relationships as disabled people hit differently; they ask us to be both courageous and vulnerable, and to provide and receive.” (Sep, The D*List)

More guidance needed for health providers on learning disability competency and sex education (2022, Stuff)

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Meet the 25 athletes representing New Zealand at the Paralympic Games (Aug, The Spinoff)

Bonding over battle: How wheelchair rugby is more than just a sport. (Jun, D*List)

Duck hunting season begins with first wheelchair-accessible maimai (May, RNZ)

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