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DISABILITY
INTRODUCTION
New Zealand First recognises the right of every New Zealander to equality of opportunity. Twenty percent of our population have a long-term impairment. In many cases the real handicap to full participation in society by people with disabilities is not the disability itself but environmental barriers, ill-informed attitudes, and inadequate support services.
PLANS
New Zealand First will:
- strengthen the advocacy role of the Minister for Disability Issues;
- ensure that the Office for Disability Issues has the resources to monitor and report on the full implementation of the Disability Strategy in a timely fashion. Benchmarks will be determined and monitored annually in conjunction with consumer organisations of people with disabilities. Compliance with the benchmarks will be a factor in the performance appraisals of all State Sector chief executives;
- promote policies recognising that people with disabilities are in the best position to identify and articulate their own needs and thus ensure that the private sector is aware of its obligations;
- ensure that all agencies delivering services to people with disabilities meet standards and demonstrate a constructive relationship with their client group;
- promote disability support services that facilitate independence and that are delivered after informed self-assessment wherever possible. Our vision for independence includes both physical and economic independence, thus recognising the importance of ensuring improved access to work for those with disabilities;
- improve the oversight of quality of care and treatment of people with a disability living or detained in institutionalised settings;
- use a range of incentives to ensure that a 'universally accessible' New Zealand applies to infrastructure, transportation, information, and other services;
- review the Child Disability Allowance with a view to increasing the rates in acknowledgement of the enormous emotional and financial strain faced by parents and caregivers when raising a child with special needs;
- review current funding streams for disability funding with a view to better directing service delivery;
- further develop a strategy for meeting the needs of an ageing population and review specific 'disability' provisions and rest-home care;
- assure equity of access to disability services across generations by removing income and asset testing for long stay geriatric hospital care services and asset testing for long stay geriatric private hospital care;
- review the Ongoing Reviewable Resource (ORRS) scheme funding with a view to ensuring that more funding is made available to directly meet the needs of the child as documented through the Individual Education Plan (IEP) process;
- review the student/teacher ratio for Blind and Vision Impaired students from 1:35 towards 1:15;
- ensure resources are available to all students with disabilities on an equitable basis; and,
- ensure that the objectives of the New Zealand Sign Language legislation are fully carried out.
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