Monday, 21 October 2013

DIScover transcends countries and cultures

The Upper Hutt City Council-produced document ‘DIScover: serving customers with disabilities’ has been presented to a delegation visiting New Zealand under a Japanese Government Development Programme.

UPPER HUTT, Wellington NZ, 21 OCT 2013—The Upper Hutt City Council-produced document DIScover: serving customers with disabilities, proved extremely popular at a presentation conducted on 15 October in the Upper Hutt Council Chambers. Nine members of the Young Core Leaders of Civil Society Groups Programme visited Upper Hutt for the afternoon to hear about how the DIScover project has impacted on customer service staff and changes that have been made to Council facilities as an outcome of the project.

The programme that brings the delegation to New Zealand is funded by the Government of Japan. It sends a group of between nine and twelve delegates to New Zealand, on a near-annual basis, to look at the services both government and non-government organisations provide in the disability sector. The programme also offers staff working in the youth, older adults, and disability sectors in New Zealand an opportunity to visit Japan and share their knowledge with a larger group of young Japanese working in similar sectors.

Upper Hutt’s DIScover project is underpinned by the philosophy that “disability” does not describe people but rather an attitude that society imposes on people with impairments. It has been embraced by a number of government and non-government organisations, and has won several awards.

The success of DIScover shows how a small investment (by the Ministry of Social Development’s Making a Difference fund) can have national and now international benefits.

“We were clear from the beginning that this project would benefit more than just people who live in Upper Hutt,” says UHCC DIScover project manager, Frances McEwen. “It was so exciting to share the DIScover concept with the Japanese delegation. I asked if they were happy for me to add ‘Japan’ to the list of organisations and places that have requested information on DIScover and they all said yes.”

It is now hoped that the resource and training package will make its way into businesses and organisations in Japan to better inform their customer service staff on how best to serve people with disabilities.

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