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Are you Committed to the Convention?
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Useful tips for implementing
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with
Disabilities for disability service providers
New Zealand signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights
of People with Disabilities on 30 March 2007, and ratified the
Convention on 26 September 2008. It received a great deal of
support from people with impairments across the country and
provided hope that it will increase the momentum of the
implementation of the New Zealand Disability Strategy. The purpose
of the Convention as stated in Article 1 reads as follows:
The purpose of the present Convention is to promote, protect
and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and
fundamental freedoms by all people with disabilities, and to
promote respect for their inherent dignity.
People with disabilities include those who have long-term
physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in
interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and
effective participation in society on an equal basis with
others.
Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa
Greetings to you all!
It's always good to challenge ourselves and to move out of our
comfort zones. It's important to acquire new knowledge and to try
working in new ways. I challenge you to create an exciting work
environment and to stimulate your staff to go beyond the usual to
discover better, more effective ways of doing things to be
non-disabling.
If your organisation provides any service to people with
disabilities you have an obligation to take reasonable actions to
fulfil the purpose of the Convention. We recognise that your
obligation is to 'progressively realise' the articles within the
bounds of available funding. As part of our role in promoting the
articles of the Convention and the objectives of the New Zealand
Disability Strategy, the Health and Disability Commissioner, with
the advice and support of the office's Consumer Advisory Group, has
devised ten practical tips to assist you to implement the
Convention at an organisational level. Please note that this is
only a suggested guideline and not an exhaustive list of all the
things you can do to implement various articles of the
Convention.
Your organisation may already have implemented some of the
suggested actions, or it could be a work-in-progress. Through this
resource we invite you to work towards as many of the suggested
actions as possible within your organisation.
I sincerely hope that you will find these "Ten Tips" practical
and useful. If you have any questions regarding this resource,
please contact our office on 09 373 1060 or email hdc@hdc.org.nz
Tania Thomas
Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner - Disability
Suggested Actions:
1.
Provide accessible information:
Ensure that all information your organisation provides to
consumers, including your policy documents, procedures, forms and
guides, publications etc, is available in various accessible
formats to cater to your target group/s. Such formats may include
Braille, large-print, easy-read, plain-language, audio, New Zealand
Sign Language, and accessible "information and communication
technology" (i.e. ensure your website is tested for accessibility).
2.
Provide accessible equipment and environments:
Ensure that "universal design" principles are followed in your
organisation - i.e. the design of products, environments,
programmes, and services should be such that they require the least
amount of adaptation during their lifetime and are easily
accessible to people with different types of impairment. For
example, all areas of your premises should be accessible to people
with mobility impairments; and your programmes and service delivery
should cater to the needs of people with intellectual or sensory
impairments. Also ensure that any external venue that you use to
host any meeting or event is fully accessible.
3.
Provide staff training on the rights of people with
disabilities:
Promote the training of professionals and staff working with
people with disabilities on the rights recognised in the Convention
and The Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights.
This will enable your staff to better provide the assistance and
services guaranteed by those rights. Your local advocate from the
Nationwide Health and Disability Advocacy Service can provide free
training on the Code of Rights.
4.
Promote disability leadership:
In line with the notion of 'Nothing about us - without us' it is
important to ensure that the development of policies, services
planning and delivery, and other decision-making processes are
actively influenced by disabled people and their wider networks.
This will promote disability leadership.
5.
Promote awareness of the capabilities and contributions of
people with disabilities:
People with disabilities make a significant contribution in
society in various capacities, from employees to entrepreneurs, and
from artists to activists. However, often their contribution does
not get as much recognition as their non-disabled counterparts. To
promote an awareness of their unique talents, abilities, and
achievements you could conduct events, award campaigns, press
releases, and other means of public awareness that the consumers
and/ or their families are comfortable with.
6.
Promote inter-dependent living and community
participation:
Ensure people with disabilities have access to a range of
in-home and community-based activities and are appropriately
supported to participate. Also provide the necessary personal
assistance to support inter-dependent living and inclusion in the
community. It is important to prevent all forms of isolation or
segregation from the community.
7.
Prevent exploitation, violence, and abuse:
Take all appropriate measures to prevent all forms of
exploitation, violence, and abuse by ensuring the provision of
information and education to all concerned on how to recognise and
report instances of exploitation, violence and abuse. Ensure that
all facilities and programmes designed to serve people with
disabilities are effectively monitored by independent
authorities.
8.
Protect respect and dignity of people with
disabilities:
No person with an impairment, regardless of place of residence
or living arrangements, should be subjected to any form of
interference with his or her privacy (including matters related to
family, personal correspondence, or other types of communication),
or to an attack on his or her dignity and reputation. Ensure that
all reasonable steps are taken to inform and educate staff
regarding prevention of, and protection from, such interference
with a person's privacy.
9.
Provide "reasonable accommodation" to people with
disabilities:
Ensure that "reasonable accommodation" is provided to people
with disabilities in your organisation - i.e. make necessary and
appropriate modification and adjustments (that are manageable
without undue burden), where needed in a particular case, to
provide people with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise of all
human rights and fundamental freedoms, on an equal basis with
others.
10.
Promote a culture of "thinking about accessibility" and
"being non-disabling":
Most importantly, ensure that in whatever you do, you and your
staff are constantly and consciously "thinking about accessibility"
and "being non-disabling". This can be achieved by incorporating
such a discussion as an agenda item in all your internal meetings.
Ensure that your staff are aware of current respectful disability
language and terminology use. Also, take time to talk to the
consumers who use your service (through formal feedback mechanisms,
if required) to find out what works well and what could be
improved.
If you wish to read the articles of the Convention in detail or
need more guidance on what you can do to implement the Convention,
the following page lists some useful links.
Useful Links:
To read and understand what the Convention means for New
Zealand, visit:
http://www.odi.govt.nz/what-we-do/un-convention/index.html
For help on accessible information, visit:
For help on providing accessible equipment and environments,
visit:
http://www.barrierfreenz.org.nz/
To read the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers'
Rights, visit:
/the-act--code/the-code-of-rights
For information on fundamental human rights, visit:
http://www.hrc.co.nz/home/default.php
For information on auditing requirements/ expectations,
visit:
For information on providing reasonable accommodation in a work
setting, visit:
http://www.workbridge.co.nz/?page=1335
For information on Ministry-funded support services for people
with disabilities, visit:
http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/disability-fundedservices
For other relevant information, visit:
For further information and help:
Health and Disability Commissioner
PO Box 1791, Auckland 1140
Auckland:
(09) 373 1060
Wellington:
(04) 494 7900
Other areas:
0800 11 22 33
Email:
hdc@hdc.org.nz
Website:
www.hdc.org.nz