Parent to Parent Conference
Parent to Parent New Zealand Inc. is holding it’s annual conference on 13- 15 October at West Plaza Hotel, Wellington.

Please contact us on 0508 236 236 for more information.

Coming of Age Conference
Over the next few months updates and feedback from our "Coming of Age" Conference co-hosted by Standards Plus and Parent to Parent New Zealand will be featured.

Coming of Age Conference Papers are now avaliable from Standards Plus. www.imaginebetter.co.nz

"Coming of Age" - Conference Pictures - click on a thumbnail to view larger image
Thank you to Tom Shaw for sharing his wonderful photos with us.

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Opening address by Hon Ruth Dyson at the "Coming of Age" Conference 22-24 September 2004 at the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington.

Hon Ruth Dyson
22 September 2004

Exploring the Future of Young People with Disabilities
Disability Issues Minister Ruth Dyson
Address Coming of Age in New Zealand conference: ‘Exploring the Future of Young People with Disabilities’
Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington
10.15am, Wednesday, 22 September 2004

Tënä koutou katoa. Tënä koutou ngä tängata hauä me o koutou whänau, hoa, häpori hoki, tae atu ki te hunga e tautoko ana i te whakakotahi i a ngäi tätau. Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

[Greetings to all people with disabilities, their families/whanau, friends and communities, and all those who support a fully inclusive society.]

Good morning. As the Minister for Disability Issues it is my great pleasure to open the Standards Plus and Parent to Parent Coming of Age Conference.

I want to begin by congratulating the organisers for creating this platform for families, support workers, and young people with disabilities to share their personal and professional experience.

Over the next two days, an exceptional range of speakers and workshops will focus on how we can help young people with disabilities enter dynamic futures as adults.

The concurrent Youth Conference for young people with disabilities, and the Sib Shop for siblings of young people with disabilities, will ensure their perspectives are heard.

This is a truly inclusive event. And it is very fitting that your conference takes place just before Parent to Parent’s 21st celebration — a coming of age for that organisation.

We are all Coming of Age

Coming of Age, leaving the safety of school and home for the wide world beyond, is an established rite of passage.

While most young people take that rite of passage for granted, the path is not always easy or smooth for young people with disabilities. These young people can face multiple barriers to a successful transition from home and school.

Seeking to remove or reduce those barriers is the goal of this Coming of Age conference.

It is also the goal of this Government. We are committed towards the Coming of Age of New Zealand society — a Coming of Age that moves us away from the exclusive, discriminatory society of the past to a fully inclusive and accepting society.

We have come a long way in the last five years.

This morning, I would like to talk about where we are at in New Zealand’s Coming of Age, particularly in how we support young people with disabilities make the transition to a positive, inclusive adult life, and enjoy full rights of citizenship.

Only 30 years ago, many people with disabilities lived in institutions, and their lives were quite separate from the wider community. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that funding began to be clearly diverted away from institutions.

Then, in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, many people with disabilities were moved out of institutions into homes, and a range of organisations were set up to provide community-based living options.

Now, we are moving into a third stage, where people with disabilities are not just living in the community, but are supported to be active members of the wider community, included and participating in all of the ordinary activities of community life. Including, where appropriate, paid employment.

Let’s consider some recent milestones on our journey.

The New Zealand Disability Strategy gives us a vision and framework for action. The vision is of a fully inclusive society, where people with disabilities can say that they live ‘in a society that highly values their lives and continually enhances their full participation’.

Sitting underneath the New Zealand Disability Strategy is the Pathways to Inclusion policy, giving us a new direction for employment and community participation by people with disabilities.

The Office for Disability Issues operates out of the Ministry of Social Development, the main sponsor for this Conference. The Office has three main areas of responsibility: giving policy advice on cross-government disability issues; leading the government’s implementation and monitoring of the New Zealand Disability Strategy; and working closely with the disability sector so it can advocate for the sector.

And, of course, we have a Minister for Disability Issues. I am honoured to have the opportunity to advocate on behalf of people with disabilities around the Cabinet table.

Five years ago, none of these structures were in place.

Now, it’s time to find further ways to work for an inclusive society, and ensure a dynamic future for all young people with disabilities entering the adult world.

Youth transition pilots

Transition is a crucial time in a young person’s life. And good transition doesn’t just happen.

Successful transition is a long-term, co-ordinated process that must be driven by the needs and aspirations of the young person themselves.

Transition services for young people with disabilities is a big focus for Government in 2004.

Transition for a young disabled person might mean transition into training or work. It might mean transition into supported or independent living. It might mean transition into different forms of participation and belonging in the community.

We recognise that transition services need to take these different pathways into account. However, we also recognise that many young disabled people want to take part in some amount of paid work, and can do so if they get the right support.

We’re very encouraged by the success of the transition pilots being run by the Ministry of Social Development. Fourteen transition providers are receiving funding to provide transition planning services for young disabled people who are aged over 16, and are in their last year of school.

The pilots have two goals: for young disabled people to receive tailored transition planning, and for as many schools as possible to get support and advice in supporting their students through transition.

The pilots began in June 2003, and will run until April next year. A little over half way through, 198 students from 109 schools have developed tailored transition plans. Evaluations are showing excellent results, with inspiring personal stories.

One young man has successfully made the transition from school to polytech with the support of the transition provider.

This has had benefits not only for the young man involved, but also for the relationship between the provider and the polytech. The polytech is now more confident in supporting disabled young people to take part in tertiary education.

Another young man has been assisted through the transition service to independently use the public bus system near his home. This has expanded his horizons considerably, and given him a greater chance of exploring his community and finding work.

Several young people have undertaken voluntary work for a wildlife reserve, a tree planting trust, a child care centre, and a rest home.

Others have secured paid employment, working with the full support of a job coach until they are able to reduce that support and eventually work independently.

Setting goals for their future, and working with the wide range of people they meet during their work experience, has led to a huge increase in self confidence for these young people.

Their stories inspire us to do more, and do better.

As the pilots continue, we’ll be developing our understanding of best practice and how future contracts can deliver it.

Youth transitions in Budget 2004

We’re also exploring how to link these pilots into the Youth Transitions Service announced as part of Budget 2004.

Youth Transitions Services will be rolled out in 14 sites around New Zealand over the next three years. A lead provider in each site will ensure school leavers at risk of missing out on training, further education, or employment get solid support and assistance for a successful transition.

Young people with disabilities will be part of the target group for the Youth Transitions Service, and we expect that the transition planners in the MSD pilots will be closely involved.

Youth Transitions Service is one of a package of transition programmes that got Budget funding of $56.875 million over the next four years.

The Ministry of Education will pilot the Designing Careers initiative in 75 schools around New Zealand, developing individual career and learning plans for students.

Career Services will be contracted into the initiative to provide ongoing support to schools helping their most at-risk students, including students with disabilities.

Evaluations of Designing Careers will particularly focus on how well the initiative supports disabled students through transition.

Budget 2004 also delivered more funding to the mainstream programmes that students with disabilities can access, like STAR, Gateway, and Modern Apprenticeships.

Young people with disabilities living in rural or remote areas face particular barriers to transition. The Ministry of Social Development is working with NZCCS, IHC and Workbridge to provide transition coverage for these young people.

The Ministry is also calling for proposals to expand Supported Employment Services for people with disabilities in areas where there is either no service, or an undeveloped service.

Contracts are under negotiation with 18 organisations. We expect to see 500 people with disabilities placed into and supported in employment as a result.

Invalids Benefit changes

2004 also saw legislative change that reflects the reality of disabled people’s working lives.

Changes to the 15-hour rule mean that an Invalid’s beneficiary can get approval to trial work for more than 15 hours a week without losing their entitlement to benefit. .

Invalid’s beneficiaries can also trial employment for up to six months, and have their benefit reinstated for the same impairment or injury if they reapply during that time.

These changes to benefit rules support the Ministry of Social Development’s Sickness and Invalid’s Benefit Strategy, which is finding new ways of helping people who want to work move into employment.

The Strategy is a mix of research, policy, and innovative service delivery. We’re trialling these new ways of working in 14 concept sites around New Zealand, and looking forward to the results of early evaluations.

Interagency work

Successful transition programmes aim to ensure that all the relevant agencies are involved at each stage of transition.

Interagency co-ordination at a high level is crucial to successful transition. Co-ordinated funding, in particular, supports providers to offer flexible, tailored support. It also frees them up from the compliance load of multiple funding streams, so they can focus on what they do best.

The Ministries of Education, Social Development, and Health, and the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services are currently implementing co-ordinated funding for around 50 young people with high and complex needs that cut across at least two of the health, welfare and education sectors.

Each young person receives individual ‘wraparound’ funding. This means, in essence, that the person is funded, not each individual service.

The Ministry of Social Development is leading a programme to provide Individual Funding Packages for Very High Needs young people who receive Ongoing Renewable Resource Funding, are over 21, and have left school.

The Ministry is currently reviewing the programme with the Ministries of Health and Education, with the aim of increasing its focus on transition support.

A major intersectoral project led by the Ministry of Health aims to improve collaboration in needs assessment and service co-ordination for people with disabilities.

The Ministry is considering proposals for three pilot projects to be held over the next 12 months. These pilots will develop new systems for flexible funding and support packages, showing us what is possible, and what works.

The project is in large part a response to the recommendations of the report To Have An Ordinary Life Kia Whai Oranga Noa, released in 2003.

This landmark report emphasised that people with intellectual disabilities simply want to have the things others can take for granted – to have an ordinary life.

It found that fundamental changes in thinking and policy are needed if we are to make real progress in improving the lives of people with an intellectual disability.

Recommendation 21 of To Have An Ordinary Life is about shifting the focus of needs assessment and service co-ordination away from simply allocating pre-purchased services.

Rather, the focus needs to be on the individual – on their needs now and in the future, in all areas of their life.

Flexible, co-ordinated funding is integral to that shift of focus.

Currently, around 10% of all needs assessment and service co-ordination funding is available for flexible, individualised packages.

The pilots soon to get underway will give us good ideas about how that percentage can increase.

Office for Disability Issues

The Office for Disability Issues is working with other government agencies to follow up on their response to To Have An Ordinary Life.

Agencies are particularly encouraged to use the report’s information-gathering model, which puts the disabled person at the centre of service and policy, when they examine the impact of their services on people’s lives.

The Office also supports agencies using To Have An Ordinary Life’s recommendations in their work to implement the New Zealand Disability Strategy.

Each government department is required to develop an annual Disability Strategy Work Plan, showing how they will implement the Strategy in the coming year.

Work Plans for 2004/05 show a wide scope of activities that will foster participation and inclusion for people with disabilities.

Activities range from improving the uptake of income support among people with an intellectual disability, to improving access to short walks and amenity areas, to providing a telecommunications service that will enable hearing and speech impaired people to communicate with other users of the standard telephone network.

The Office for Disability Issues is also leading cross-sectoral work to ensure that long-term disability support services eliminate barriers to participation, and make New Zealand a more inclusive society.

We want to ensure equity of access to disability support services, so people with similar needs have access to similar levels of support. And we want to make that access seamless, easy, and available to everyone who needs it.

The review of long-term disability support services will start by the end of this year, with recommendations due back by the end of 2005.

Inclusion

One of the main risk factors for a young person entering transition is a lack of school qualifications.

All young people, including young people with disabilities, have the right to attend and to learn at their local school.

However, some mainstream schools tell us they don’t feel they have the capability or capacity to provide the necessary support for young people with disabilities.

Special Education within the Ministry of Education is responsible for ensuring inclusion within our schools. Inclusion means everyone at the school having equal opportunities to participate, to learn, and to thrive.

The principles of inclusion are clear. Inclusion must reduce barriers to learning and participation for all students. Inclusion must come from a whole school perspective, not a purely special needs perspective.

Successful inclusion isn’t just about money or resources; it’s about values, energy, and innovation.

Over the next few months, Special Education is meeting with principals, teachers, young people with disabilities, and their families to learn how well these principles are working in practice.

We’re asking what works, what doesn’t, and what people’s priorities are for successful inclusion.

The consultation is due to finish in October, and Special Education will report on its findings by the end of the year. Those findings will influence our decisions about future policy and delivery.

Special Education also has a working group looking at models of successful transition from early childhood education into primary school. This will help ensure a nationally consistent approach to supporting transitions into school for children with special education needs.

And the Ministry of Education is developing training programmes for specialist teachers, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists working in our schools.

Closing

New Zealand as a society is still Coming of Age in its attitude towards and inclusion of people with disabilities.

There will always be more to learn, and more to achieve. But we are making great progress.

I’ve told you this morning about some of what the Government is doing to help ensure a successful Coming of Age for young people with disabilities.

Now it’s time to hear from the people who live the reality every day. Young people with disabilities, the siblings, parents, and extended families of young people with disabilities, and the agencies and organisations who are dedicated to their support.

Best wishes for your Coming of Age Conference.

Thank you.

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Coming of Age Conference - Feedback

"I wish to express my sincere thanks for being able to attend your conference last week. I found the conference to be invaluable, it was very inspiring, moving and also gave me much to process when considering the next step I wish to take in regards to be future planning for my son and other children alike. I felt very empowered by the key note speakers as they put alot of things into perspective and validated some of the feelings I have had in regards to having a child with a disability, and of course the journey that it takes you on."

"A big thanks for all your hard work in helping to make the conference a big success that it was. I think everyone left feeling they had all gained something out of the conference. Thanks, once again, everyone. You all make a good team and I really enjoyed catching up with you all."

"It was fantastic having my family with me at this event they all grew by the experience in particular our sons. My son came home that much more grown up and even more determined to lead the life he wants to lead and we are incredibly proud of the way he is supported by the youth. So thank you!"

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