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Is your Agency Committed to the Convention?
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Suggested actions for implementing
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with
Disabilities for government agencies
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.
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 some useful tips
to assist disability service providers across the country to
implement the Convention at an organisational level. As part of the
same initiative, we encourage you, as office bearers of a public
service, to take reasonable actions within your power to fulfil the
purpose of the Convention. Please note that New Zealand needs to
submit a progress report to the United Nations every four
years.
We recognise that your obligation is to 'progressively realise'
the articles of the Convention within the bounds of available
funding. Accordingly, your agency may already have implemented some
of the actions suggested herein, or it could be a work-in-progress.
This is an invitation to work towards as many of the suggested
actions as possible within your agency. Please note that this is
not an exhaustive list of all the things you can do to implement
various articles of the Convention. Please refer to the Useful
Links section for more ideas and resources.
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) Accessible Information:
a) Ensure that all information issued from
your agency is available in various accessible formats. This may
include Braille, large-print, easy-read, plain-language, audio, and
New Zealand Sign Language
b) Ensure that your website is tested for
accessibility and meets the New Zealand Government Web Standards
2.0.
2) Accessible Environments:
Ensure that all your office premises, including the access
routes to your office buildings from the road and/or car parks meet
the NZS 4121:2001 - Design for Access and Mobility standards and
appropriate provisions of the Building Act 2004. Also ensure that
any external venues that you use to host any meetings and/ or
events are fully accessible.
3) Disability Responsiveness Training:
Provide Disability Responsiveness Training to all your frontline
staff and managers, and to those back office staff who interact
with the members of the public either face to face or over the
telephone. Also ensure that your staff are aware of current
respectful disability language and terminology use.
4) Consultation with Disability Community:
Crucial policy and funding decisions made by you have
significant impact on the provision of disability services.
Therefore it is important to ensure that the development of such
policies and other decision-making processes are actively
influenced by the disability community (i.e. disabled people and
their wider networks including consumer groups). This will help
promote leadership within the disability community.
5) Disability Focus on Public
Communication:
Ensure that all public communication (through newsletters,
magazines, website, etc.) includes a disability perspective. This
includes incorporating disability related issues and stories
alongside other material to recognise disabled people as part of
New Zealand's diverse population.
6) Employment:
Take reasonable efforts to employ people with disabilities in
the public sector and ensure that "reasonable accommodation" is
provided to assist disabled employees to carry out their work
effectively. This includes advertising using all possible networks
to ensure that people with disabilities learn about job vacancies;
ensuring that recruitment processes are accessible (i.e. accessible
venue and other disability support is provided); and using
employment options such as job sharing, providing flexible hours,
and providing necessary adaptive equipment.
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 are 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/
For information on fundamental human rights, visit:
http://www.hrc.co.nz/home/default.php
For information on providing reasonable accommodation in a work
setting, visit:
http://www.workbridge.co.nz/?page=1335
http://www.ssc.govt.nz/display/document.asp?docid=6948
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