Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
License needed for work use Register

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | News Video | Crime | Employers | Housing | Immigration | Legal | Local Govt. | Maori | Welfare | Unions | Youth | Search

 

Access Alliance Calls For Life Changing Accessibility Legislation To Remove And Prevent Barriers

Access Alliance, New Zealand’s largest alliance of Disabled Persons Organisations, disability advocacy groups, and service providers, calls on the government to implement the legal framework outlined in the report released today, entitled “Making New Zealand Accessible: A Design for Effective Accessibility Legislation”, authored by Warren Forster, Tom Barraclough and Curtis Barnes.

The report sets out a vision for a new accessibility system for the one in four New Zealanders that identify as having a disability. The vision puts people at the heart of our communities and details how to create an integrated, people-centred, person-directed system that will remove barriers for disabled people.

The legislative design in the report is sophisticated and wide-ranging. It carefully balances how to remove barriers for disabled people and others with access needs, whilst ensuring that the future accessibility system is easy to use, effective and efficient.

Chrissie Cowan, Access Alliance Chair, says currently disabled people and other people with access needs are denied their rights to full and effective participation in society, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

“Previous governments have been content to merely tweak disability policy. But the legal researchers’ report makes it clear that transformative change is needed. The inequities have gone on for too long and are too widespread to address through slow change and minor tweaks to what we have now.”

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

“And let’s be clear. This isn’t just about making life fair for disabled people; this is about creating a society that is better for all of us. The needs of disabled people are not special; they are not extra nor are they exceptional. The needs of disabled people are human.”

The Government has committed to introducing legislation to accelerate accessibility. New accessibility legislation is a once in a lifetime opportunity that has implications for all parts of our society, and it’s important we introduce the right kind of legislation first up.

“We hear time and time again from organisations that they want to be accessible, but they need certainty of what accessibility standards mean. We need the government to be specific and to provide a process that enables Aotearoa to systematically remove barriers that disabled people face.

“As our population grows and people live longer, the impact of accessibility barriers will only increase. We cannot afford to let barriers in the built and digital world prevent people from participating fully and equally in society,” says Ms. Cowan.

Accessibility is about navigating more than just physical environments. It’s also about access to services like public transport, entertainment, banking, information and communication. Accessibility also serves more than just disabled people. It serves people with neurodiversity (e.g. dyslexia), older people, carers, parents using strollers and prams, and people with English as a second language.

“An estimated half a million New Zealanders experience access barriers as family caregivers. So even when you just add that group to the one in four Kiwis with a disability, you get a sense of how big this opportunity is.

“Getting this legislation right has huge potential, but the consequences of getting it wrong will take decades to unwind,” warns Ms. Cowan.

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

Gordon Campbell: On The New Government’s Policies Of Yesteryear

Winston Peters is routinely described as the kingmaker who decides whether the centre right or the centre-left has a turn at running this country. He also plays a less heralded, but equally important role as the scapegoat who can be blamed for killing taxes that his senior partners never much wanted in the first place. Neither Ardern nor Robertson for example, really wanted a capital gains tax, for fear of Labour copping the “tax and spend“ label they ended up being saddled with anyway. Usefully though, they could tell the party faithful it was wicked old Winston who killed the CGT... More

Government: National, ACT, & NZ First To Deliver For All Kiwis

The new coalition government of National, ACT, & NZ First will be stable, effective, and will deliver for all Kiwis. "Despite the challenging economic environment, New Zealanders can look forward to a better future because of the changes the new Government will make ... We believe in this country. We are ambitious for it. We know that, with the right leadership, the right policies and the right direction, together New Zealanders can make this an even better country," says incoming PM Christopher Luxon... More

ALSO:


 
 

Green Party: Petition To Save Oil And Gas Ban

“The new Government’s plan to expand oil and gas exploration is as dangerous as it is unscientific. We need to come together to stop them,” says Co-leader of the Green Party, James Shaw... More

PSA: MFAT Must Reverse Decision To Remove Te Reo

MFAT's decision to remove te reo from correspondence before new Ministers are sworn in risks undermining the important progress the public sector has made in honouring te Tiriti. "We are very disappointed in what is a backward decision - it simply seems to be a Ministry bowing to the racist rhetoric we heard on the election campaign trail," says Marcia Puru... More

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.