New Report “From Data To Dignity: Health And Wellbeing Indicators For NZers With Intellectual Disability” Welcomed

In a new report by Kōtātā insight for IHC using New
Zealand’s Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), health and
wellbeing indicators were used to see how life is for people
with learning (intellectual) disability. Overwhelmingly, all
indicators show very poorly. This information is not new and
proves that nothing has changed since the 2003 To Have An
‘Ordinary’ Life report. This is despite having a lot
more focus on disabled people by various governments over
the past 20 years, including a Minister for Disability
Issues, a Disability Strategy and a Disability Action
Plan.

People First New Zealand is a Disabled
People’s Organisation run by and for people with learning
(intellectual) disability. Members have been speaking up
about health and wellbeing issues for many years. Poor
health indicators were raised to Te Whatu Ora (Health New
Zealand) when it was setting up, and during the consultation
about the new disability health strategy. The need to
improve health outcomes for people with a learning
disability was in an earlier Disability Action Plan. An
advisory committee was setup which included representatives
from People First NZ and IHC along with many others with a
lot of knowledge about what would make a big difference to
the lives of people with learning disability. A list of
actions was developed. One of the actions said that paid
annual health checks would make a big difference to people
with a learning disability. However, none of the actions
were implemented.

New Zealand is signed up to the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (UNCRPD). Article 25 clearly states what the
government needs to do to meet its obligations about
health.

National Chairperson Ronnie Sione says, “We
are looking to Te Whatu Ora’s Health of Disabled People
Strategy to improve health outcomes for people with learning
(intellectual)
disability.”

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References:

From
Data to Dignity: Health and Wellbeing Indicators for New
Zealanders with Intellectual Disability. https://tinyurl.com/IHCkotata

United
Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (UNCRPD) Article 25. https://tinyurl.com/article25UNCRPD

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