Disabled people must continue to have access to community living options

The Court of Appeal’s ruling that over night disability support workers are entitled to Minimum wage provisions should be viewed in the context of how we as a society value the lives and rights of Disabled people says DPA, the national pan-disability organisation and collective voice of disabled people.

CEO Ross Brereton says, the Court’s ruling now provides a real opportunity for the government and the wider community to really focus on how we can continue to ensure that a range of community living options are available to disabled people.

Disabled people under Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ratified by New Zealand in 2008, have an equal right to live in the community with choice equal to others.

Governments’ are obligated to take appropriate measures to facilitate the enjoyment of their right and their full inclusion and participation in the community. Under the Article, Disabled people must have the opportunity to choose their place of residence where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement. These rights and government obligations to fulfil them are understandable still little known by the New Zealand public, says Ross Brereton.

We have a way to go for Disabled people and government to realise the intentions of the Convention. Currently Disabled people do not have real choice over where they live and who they live with. The choice of residential living options, particularly the quite inappropriate placement of hundreds of younger Disabled people in aged care rest homes, is often by default due to the lack of alternative community living options and accessible housing.

Negative talk about the way care is provided to Disabled people in the future (e.g. the possible need of larger residential facilities) is unhelpful and unsettling to disabled people and their families and would be in breach of the Convention.

DPA will have discussions with other Disabled Persons organisations, service providers and the government to look at a positive way forward for all concerned