A new Ministry for Disabled People was announced on 29 October 2021.
“Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni and Health Minister Andrew Little announced the plans this afternoon, saying the government was delivering on its promise to reform disability systems.
The planned reforms include:
- Establishing a Ministry for Disabled People and a separate Accessibility Governance Board
- A nationwide rollout of the Enabling Good Lives approach to disability support services
- Introducing Accessibility for New Zealanders legislation to improve access across Aotearoa.
The ministers said the new ministry would work for better outcomes for disabled people, leading and coordinating policy for support services and across the wider disability system.”
Russell Palmer reported that “While the model has its opponents who warn it is not financially sustainable, the outcomes have been held up as vastly superior to the current system.”
Once again the devil will be in the detail and time will tell whether it is sustainable or not. What we do know from the outset is that enough is never enough when it comes to public funding. Do we really need yet another Ministry?
“The public sector employed around 403,000 people (headcount) in 2018, 18% of New Zealand’s total workforce (2,238,000), as measured by Stats NZ’s Business Demography data. The majority (88%) work in the State sector (354,000) and 12% in local government (49,200).”
And this was 2018, pre-Covid and what will have been a public service blow-out.
I wrote a previous article about the problems I face trying to navigate the world as a profoundly deaf New Zealander. Now, I understand that deafness is often not classified as an actual, real, disability. Deafness is sort of a joke, really. I have been told, “You are lucky you are deaf,” and “Why don’t you just get a hearing aid?” and “You can still see the movie, so just work it out.” Would they say, “How lucky you are to be blind” or “Why don’t you just get glasses?” or “You can still hear the movie so just work it out”? I think not. I have no idea why the plight of those of us who are deaf is so amusing to so many others.
I previously mentioned how difficult it was, with my hearing loss, to deal with NZ Post. That comment was based on a demeaning experience of some one-and-a-half hours attempting to send two parcels to Australia. Fast-forward to this week when I once again went to mail a parcel to Australia. Eventually, the counter clerk, (despite my sign that she is apparently unable to read), as she keeps speaking to me from behind her PPE-clad face, accepts that I am unable to hear her. She is not well pleased and will carry out any number of facial contortions rather than write things down for me. I think to myself, I may be deaf but thank goodness I am not stupid.
I still have the clutch of scrappy notes she eventually and eye-rolling-ly wrote, and one of which states because there are things to discuss you may need to bring someone with you next time because this is a legal document and I need your input. (smiley face) Well, I was inputting, in real-time words. What was I not doing? Apart from being able to hear, you mean? More shrugging and eye-rolling. That I am required to bring a minder with me so I can understand and conduct the intricacies of posting a parcel weighing less than 300 grams is insulting, verging on abusive.
Over thirty minutes passed before finally the parcel was chucked into a nearby bin. It may make it to the recipient for this Christmas. Or not. NZ Post seems not to care, and the customs declaration (the legal document noted in this case) demands to know if I want the item returned to me, at my cost, or destroyed. But am I not paying for the service to have it delivered? Why would I want it returned or destroyed? More shrugging of shoulders.
I apologised that it was difficult for her on her side of the counter and said she had absolutely no idea how difficult it was on mine. She gave me a jaunty double-thumbs up with some more mumuuumumble and so I assume her day had not been wrecked, as had mine.
And while I am on the subject, why does every single mail piece necessitate a separate transaction with counter staff? Why oh why is it not possible to have kiosks aka the ones at airport check-ins, to weigh, identify, enter all required information, print the necessary labels and documentation. Over-size items would still require personal attention – exactly as they do at airports. I can fly, or used to, around the world to see my children with far less fuss and human interaction than required by NZ Post to send a letter. And no one, ever, has suggested I need to bring a minder with me.
By the time I left I was again distressed and humiliated and pretty fed-up with the whole NZ Post situation and their ill-trained counter staff unable to carry out a simple request. It is exhausting just trying to live.
There are ten rights listed under the Health and Disability Code.
Right 1
The right to be treated with respect.
Right 2
The right to freedom from discrimination, coercion, harassment, and exploitation.
Right 3
The right to dignity and independence.
Right 4
The right to services of an appropriate standard.
Right 5
The right to effective communication.
Right 6
The right to be fully informed.
Right 7
The right to make an informed choice and give informed consent.
Right 8
The right to support.
Right 9
Rights in respect of teaching or research.
Right 10
The right to complain.
NZ Post’s Statement of Corporate Intent states:
Objectives Under the Act, New Zealand Post Limited (NZ Post) is required to operate as a successful business and specifically to achieve the following objectives:
• to be as profitable and efficient as comparable businesses that are not owned by the Crown;
• to be a good employer; and
• exhibit a sense of social responsibility by having regard to the interests of the community in which it operates. Within this context the purpose and core strategies of NZ Post are defined.
nzpost.co.nz
Well, I am a community member and NZ Post, you state you will be efficient and exhibit a sense of social responsibility by having regard to my interests. You are inefficient, don’t have any regard for my interests. You couldn’t care less. And, according to the NZ Health and Disability Code, NZ Post yet-again contravened seven of my ten rights as applicable. I do have the right to complain.
Should we have a Ministry of Common Sense? (smiley face). Common sense is, it seems, a sense not at all common.
Your common sense is your natural ability to make good judgments and to behave in a practical and sensible way.
Synonyms: good sense, sound judgment, level-headedness, practicality
collinsdictionary.com
NZ Post, you need a trainer – just look me up.
