Disability Support Services (DSS) has partnered with All is for All on a creative platform inspired by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.
The work addresses the crucial task of record keeping – the information organisations create or record about each person while providing care or support.
The creative platform supports DSS guidance to help disability care providers improve how they create, manage and provide access to care records. It responds to a key finding of the royal commission: poor record keeping by care providers can compound harm for disabled people.
The royal commission heard evidence of records containing ableist and dehumanising language, care decisions made without seeking or representing people’s views and barriers that deterred people from accessing their own information. For some, these records may be the only link to whakapapa, whānau and identity.
Everyone wants to be understood
In response to the brief, the creative work drew on a simple human truth: everyone wants to be understood. Records are more than paperwork, they are how people understand themselves, and how others understand them.
The work was developed in collaboration with survivors of abuse in care. The group was made up of those who live with disabilities and those who were central to the inquiry. Their input helped shape, refine and challenge the creative approach, resulting in a simple but powerful message: ‘My experiences matter’.
The campaign challenges disability care providers to see that record keeping is more than an administrative task. What they write can shape a person’s life story, making it essential to create records that reflect each person’s experiences with care and respect.
More than paperwork
Content will be shared with disability support providers across Aotearoa to highlight the value of meaningful record keeping.
Videos, postcards and posters will be distributed to providers through the DSS website, provider forums and the New Zealand Disability Support Network newsletter and Archives New Zealand.
Keith Wiffin was a part of the group who shaped the creative platform. He’s a survivor of state-based abuse and was central to the work of the royal commission.
Wiffin says: “This work speaks to the vital importance of records and record keeping. Records, despite often containing inaccuracies and deficiencies, can be mana-enhancing validation that sees a person as somebody, not nobody and [records]should be respected as a taonga.”
On the success of the project so far, Carmela Petagna, general manager quality assurance and improvement at DSS, says: “Every record represents a person, their experiences and their relationship with the services that support them.
“Improving record keeping is not just about systems and processes, it is about protecting rights, strengthening safeguarding and ensuring people are recognised with dignity and respect. We are proud to have worked alongside survivors to help shape an approach that places people and their stories at its centre.”
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