Originally published January 22 2006
New Zealand examines its treatment of the disabled
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The New Zealand Ministry for Disability Issues has released its annual Work in Progress report, which claims that the country needs improvement in the areas of respite care and career support.
The Work in Progress 2004-05 report, released yesterday, is the fifth annual report from the Ministry for Disability Issues on implementing the strategy.
In 2001, nearly 20 per cent of parents or caregivers of disabled children reported needing respite care or carer support in the previous 12 months, and nearly half said they had been unable to get this respite care.
A comparison between the Disability Surveys found the unmet need for respite care did not change between 1996 and 2001.
"I am delighted to see that the latest progress report shows that the initiatives of government departments and agencies are having an increasing impact on disabled people in areas such as employment, human rights, transport and communication."
# Significant improvements in attitudes towards people with experience of mental illness since 1997 and 2005.
# The proportion of disabled public servants declined from 11 per cent in 1998 to 7 per cent in 2002.
# Budget constraints affected access to disability support services.
# In 2001, about 74 per cent (53,300) of disabled children aged five to 14 attended only mainstream classes; 16 per cent (11,400) attended mainstream classes and a special unit.
# In 2001, about 55,800 (9 per cent) of disabled adults living in households were enrolled in formal education.
# Twenty seven per cent of disabled adults in households had a post-school qualification compared to 34 per cent of non-disabled people in 2001.
# In 2001, 58 per cent of disabled people aged 15-64 living in households were employed (full and part-time) compared to 77 per cent of non-disabled people.
# In 2001, disabled Maori were more than twice as likely to report an unmet need for transport costs than other disabled people.
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