a room with different accomodation signs on the wall, like sloced captioning and hearing aid loops

Navigating disability services means accessing a complex system of funding and support administered by different departments – a process not helped by inaccessible websites Image: Bianca Cross

OPINIONPoliticsFebruary 17, 2022

Why is a non-disabled person leading the establishment of a disability ministry?

Robyn Hunt

Guest writer

Navigating disability services means accessing a complex system of funding and support administered by different departments – a process not helped by inaccessible websites Image: Bianca Cross

Establishing a new Ministry for Disabled People without disabled people leading it is simply history repeating itself, writes Robyn Hunt.

Disabled people who attended a recent online protest rally voted no confidence in the process of establishing a Ministry for Disabled People if it is not led by a disabled person. However disabled people, at the rally and beyond, emphasise that their opposition to this appointment is not personal to the individual appointed.

The Disabled Leadership Now rally attendees say the government is not listening to rank and file disabled people, and does not understand the depth of feeling of exclusion from the process. They objected to a communications vacuum from the establishment unit.

Last October the establishment of a disability ministry was announced and disabled people were cautiously optimistic. This is not a new idea; the disability community has long sought a separate ministry. But the initial optimism was followed by disappointment and anger when, just before Christmas, the establishment process and the director appointment were quietly announced. A person who did not identify as disabled or bring strong connections to the disability community was appointed.

It could be argued that this is only the establishment phase, but disabled people are concerned that during this time, systems and processes will be established without the application of an authentic “lived experience” disability lens, perpetuating old ways of thinking, being and doing,

This lack of trust does not bode well for the future of a ministry that will combine functions and services from MSD and the Ministry of Health, many of which have a profound impact on the lives of deaf and disabled people. A new generation are not prepared to wait any longer for a change of outdated attitudes and approaches still informing disability policy setting, implementation and behaviour.

Old wounds have been reopened. There is anger and frustration as history repeats. Unlike other disadvantaged groups in the community, disabled people have rarely been in charge of their own destinies when it comes to the allocation of government resources and decision-making powers affecting almost every aspect of their daily lives. For example, the office for disability issues, established in 2002 as a result of the first Disability Strategy, has had two non-disabled directors, despite applications by qualified disabled people. An initial advisory group soon failed, and the suggestion of a governance group was rejected outright.

Yet an advisory group is again proposed as part of the establishment of this desperately important ministry, a sop to the lack of disabled leadership. Advisory groups frequently lack influence, are powerless, poorly selected (often by non-disabled people), inadequately resourced, supported and remunerated, and have no accountability to their communities. A governance group could face the same problems, and may be seen as antithetical to core public service structures and operations and machinery of government.

With disability unemployment consistently double that of the general population, and poorer education outcomes, it could be argued that disabled people are simply not up to the job. However, while disabled adults generally have lower-level school qualifications than non-disabled people, that does not mean there are no well-educated, well-qualified, experienced disabled people.

Recent history helps understand why this is such a big deal for the disability community. Disabled people have faced generations of discrimination, often embedded in legislation. For example, senior public servants could be dismissed on the grounds of disability until the introduction of legislative amendments following the inclusion of disability in the Human Rights Act 1993. Discrimination was rife and blatant before this. As the public service modernised with the introduction of new technologies in the late 1980s, a group of blind switchboard operators – mostly women – were made redundant with no support or retraining. Some never worked again. Constant restructuring of public entities saw disabled people dismissed simply because they were disabled.

While the 1988 State Sector Act included equal employment opportunity provisions for particular groups of people, including disabled, embedded attitudes and public sector changes meant limited progress for disabled people. The work of the EEO (Equal Employment Opportunities) Unit made a difference. It was permanent for some but sadly not for many disabled people. The core public service has avoided scrutiny on disability employment. It does not maintain information on numbers of disabled people employed, unlike other groups, but disability does not have influential critical mass commensurate with being 24% of the general population. Unlike women, for example, who are more visible and accepted in senior roles.

Updated in 2020, the Public Service Act contains more general provisions for “diversity”, a concept that frequently excludes or marginalises disability in practice. There is no progress measurement.

Disabled people have consistently had difficulties in maintaining and developing their careers as public servants because of a lack of workplace accommodations, even at senior levels. Others rely on the generosity of colleagues for support, such as access to some information.

A clear example of the lack of flexibility is working from home, not previously allowed for disabled public servants. Now, it is commonplace in a pandemic. Disabled people felt they were not trusted enough for something that is so easily managed.

Disabled public servants can be isolated with little or no contact with disabled colleagues. Career progress has not generally been fostered. Management quality varies. Some leave to develop their careers elsewhere.

Disability is complex and nuanced, and the disability community is very diverse and intersects with other communities and identities. Some disabled public servants don’t see themselves as part of the wider disability community, seeing no advantages in identifying with the “other”. Some can and do hide their impairments, experiencing considerable stress to pass as non-disabled because it is easier from a career, if not a personal, perspective. They may fear consequences if they disclose, or feel no need to if there is no impact on their work. But managing change and complexity is a critical element of public service. Disabled people manage them in their daily lives, contributing a valuable skill.

Disabled individuals are recruited to government policy working groups, to represent a disability perspective alongside officials, high-profile external consultants, and disability service providers. Adequate access is inconsistent. They often feel their perspective is undervalued, that their influence is limited, co-opted as a cheap, relatively risk-free token appointment. It is difficult to establish a serious career or livelihood on such a basis.

Progress is still individualised, one disabled person at a time. Despite lip service to the social model of disability, as explained in the first disability strategy and the CRPD (UN Disability Rights Convention) there is little evidence of a systemic understanding of it in policy implementation and practice. Charity and medical paradigms are still very current. Change should go deeper than superficial disability awareness.

Establishing a successful disability ministry means quality engagement and communication with Deaf and disabled people, and intentional employment and development of disabled employees’ careers. Disabled applicants to direct the building of the ministry were shortlisted but not chosen.

Keep going!

Footage from the anti-mandate protest and inset, the bmx track in Karori (Image: Tina Tiller)

PoliticsFebruary 17, 2022

Were the rubber mats at the protest stolen from a local skate park? An investigation

Madeleine Chapman

Editor

Footage from the anti-mandate protest and inset, the bmx track in Karori (Image: Tina Tiller)

Claims are flying that anti-mandate protesters have stolen rubber mats from a local skate ramp and used them on parliament grounds. Madeleine Chapman investigates.

In the images and livestreams of the ongoing anti-mandate protest at parliament, the mats are immediately recognisable. Square and rubber, 50cm x 50cm, with holes for ventilation and drainage. Most commonly – or more likely, exclusively – seen under children’s feet, carpeting council playgrounds throughout the country. The mats are black and green, with interlocking edges like a kids’ play-mat puzzle.

They’re recognisable to anyone who’s been near a playground in the past decade but the particular mats seen lining the now-swampy grounds at parliament for the past week were recognisable to Capital BMX coordinator David Harkness because they were, in his mind, the same ones he’d helped dig up, clean, and move across the BMX track at Ian Galloway Park in Karori just this month. The same ones that were then gifted to their neighbours at the Wellington Skateboarding Association in two lots – one neat stack and one haphazard pile – for them to lay alongside two skate ramps. The same ones that were recently stolen – the neat stack over Waitangi weekend and the second pile last weekend during the storm – by an unknown culprit.

The rubber mats. (Screengrab: Bryce Edwards’ Twitter)

When Wellington City Council was decommissioning playgrounds around the city two years ago and lifting the rubber matting from the ground, Capital BMX got in touch. They were working on developing the BMX track at Ian Galloway Park and needed soft ground for the riders to walk on to protect their specialised clip shoes. Unwanted playground matting was perfect, so the council donated a heap of soft squares to the club to use at their discretion. They laid them along the banks of the course to help with flooding and used them to make a path back to the starting line. They made a rest area with rubber matting that wouldn’t flood or get too muddy. When they had used all they needed, they still had piles left over.

In the background: some of the mats stored before they were shifted to the skate ramps (Image: Capital BMX Facebook)

A stone’s throw away from the track (if you’re a good thrower) sit two skate ramps alongside each other. In between and around the ramps is a walkway lined with stones so that skateboards won’t get muddy when they inevitably roll off the ramp. Except now when boards hit the stones, the stones bounce up and onto the next ramp, creating a hazard for skateboarders in the middle of a run. Young children also love to throw the stones onto the ramps for fun. Last year, seeing the piles of leftover matting at the BMX track, the skateboarders asked Capital BMX if they could have some of it for their path. Harkness agreed, and when preparation was being done for a Waitangi weekend BMX meet, volunteers cleaned and shifted “a couple hundred squares” over to the ramps.

“It was going to be a really nice give and take between the two clubs,” said Harkness. “All the stones they didn’t need they were going to give to us to help drainage between the straights.” The trade was a first step in what Harkness hoped would be a strong alliance between the clubs as they looked to lobby for more facilities, like restrooms, at the park.

The skateboarders laid down the first section and scheduled a working bee to lay the rest, but when they returned after Waitangi weekend, one of the piles was gone. Reached for comment, a Wellington Skateboarding Association (WSA) spokesperson confirmed the theft and said it hadn’t taken long to work out where the mats might have been taken.

“People started sending me photographs of what looked to be them down at the protest. Then as the storm came through and the rain got heavier, the rest of the piles of mats disappeared,” he said. The spokesperson didn’t want to be named so as not to become “a target for the protesters”, after receiving aggressive messages from those supporting the protests when he posted about the incident on social media.

He filed a police report on the missing mats, noting that he believed they were being used at the protest, “in the hope that after they’ve finished with them we’d get them back”.

“It just sucks that they took them. But that’s life so we’ll just get on with it,” he said. “I guess if you don’t have something nailed down then people will take it.”

On February 15, political commentator Bryce Edwards shared footage he’d taken from the protest. The caption: “Festival atmosphere walking through the Parliamentary Grounds occupation right now – video part 2”. The very first frames of the video show the grass covered in hay, with a makeshift path being walked on by protesters. The path is lined with rubber square mats.

Left: the mats at the protest. Right: the mats at the BMX track

A number of people not associated with the clubs caught wind of the situation and shared the story on various social media platforms, including a still from Edwards’ footage as evidence of the crime.

A Stuff report on the event published on February 13 includes a photo of a different makeshift path at the frontline of the protest, again made up of square rubber mats. For the skateboarders, it’s less about the cause and more about common decency. “I don’t have prejudice against people who are anti-mandates, or pro-mandates for that matter,” said the WSA spokesperson. “It just sucks that they took the mats. I don’t care who they are or what they’re doing but it doesn’t justify them taking our stuff.”

One of the people who sent images of the protests to Capital BMX and WSA was a manager in the parks, sport and recreation department at the city council. He had been liaising with WSA about assisting with lifting and moving the stones in order to lay the mats when he spotted the familiar-looking squares on the news.

When asked for confirmation, a council spokesperson said that “though we can’t prove conclusively that the mats at parliament are the same ones stolen at the weekend from the Karori stockpile, we have our suspicions and we’ll be hoping to retrieve them at the end of the occupation”. The mats used around Wellington City Council playgrounds are “quite distinctive in design”, the spokesperson said. And the donation to the BMX club was a one-off arrangement, meaning there aren’t piles of unused rubber mats all over Wellington.

A search online for the same rubber matting produced zero results of the same product for sale outside of a Trade Me listing for 12 squares in a different colour in Auckland (buy now $50).

It’s not known whether the mats were taken by someone familiar with the two clubs, but the WSA spokesperson suspects that, given the relatively obscure location of the park, the culprit must have been someone who frequents the area, either as a dog walker or a local resident.

No one has come forward to own up to the crime and no one can be “100% certain” who took the mats, but for all those affected, the suspects are hiding in plain sight on parliamentary grounds. And the skateboard association just wants them back eventually.

“There might be someone down at the protest who’s quite willing to give them back but I doubt they’re gonna wash it and return it and be good sports about it,” said the spokesperson, before adding a disclaimer.

“We don’t 100% know it’s them, but it sure looks like it.”

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