Disability advocates say more needs to be done to help the nearly one million Kiwis who live with a disability.
New data from Stats NZ showed one in six New Zealanders are disabled — close to 10% of children (around 98,000) and more than 750,000 adults.
It also found that nearly half a million people with disabilities needed more care in at least one aspect of their lives.
These unmet needs included support, reasonable accommodations to allow a person to participate equally, medical care, and home modifications and equipment.
The biggest group with unmet needs was disabled school students, totalling around 51%.
These needs included requiring a teacher aide, health professional, or technology to help with school work.
1News met 5-year-old Zoey, who has a rare debilitating disorder called spinal muscular atrophy. It means she’s unable to run, jump and climb and has difficulties keeping up with her friends and peers.
She started school this year with her mother Chauntel Wedlake forced to go too, as Zoey had little support.
“She has a bit of difficulty being unable to get onto the playground with other children. And we’re still awaiting a teacher aide for her,” Wedlake said.
Stats NZ also found that 34% of disabled people in the workforce had unmet needs too.
Disability advocate Gary Williams has cerebral palsy and has long advocated for change. He was worried that life was too tough for many disabled adults.
He told 1News “lack of housing, lack of job opportunities, people not being able to choose where they live, who they live with” were some of the biggest issues.
Housing often failed to accommodate people’s needs. While one in three with a disability have a job, it can be a struggle for those who want one.
“A key barrier to me is around the workplaces themselves that employers are afraid of employing a disabled person,” Disability Connect CEO Mike Potter told 1News.
“We’re also seeing there are challenges in terms of transport if you’re not able to drive. How are you going to get to and from your place of employment?
“And then there’s the flexible adjustments that are needed for someone to be able to take on a job.”
In the most recent Budget, the Government promised $1.1 billion for disability support services. Consultation on what those looked like was underway.
“The support for disabled people itself doesn’t meet that need, and so actually, that budget needs to stretch across all areas of government,” Potter said.
Now, the Ministry of Disabled People was rewriting the disability strategy – which was over 10 years old.
“We’ll be working this year to develop with colleagues across government and outside of government some really concrete actions that government can commit to delivering to improve things for disabled people and their families,” the ministry’s chief executive Paula Tesoriero said.
“And the minister has established a working group of other ministers that she’ll be working with to help drive that change.”
The community was also keen to contribute.
“I would love to see more schools have more inclusive play areas for children,” Wedlake said.
“Let our sector decide for itself what is most important to us,” Williams added.
