Making it easy to do the right thing

Disability ResponsivenessHEAL 6024 Nursing in the Community Aotearoa

Associate Professor Dianne Roy - 2015

When I hear the word……I think……..

• Disability• Impairment• Retardation• Lunatic• Suffering• Handicapped

Challenges of language & definitions

• Historical variations – see: http://www.odi.govt.nz/resources/guides-and-toolkits/disability-perspective/disability-nz.html

• Context• Location• Culture• Age• Politics• Theoretical perspective

• Challenging to get precise agreement

Human Rights Act 1993• 21. Prohibited grounds of discrimination • (1) For the purposes of this Act, the prohibited grounds of discrimination

are - …

• (h) disability, which means—• (i) physical disability or impairment:• (ii) physical illness:• (iii) psychiatric illness:• (iv) intellectual or psychological disability or impairment:• (v) any other loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or

anatomical structure or function:• (vi) reliance on a guide dog, wheelchair, or other remedial means:• (vii) the presence in the body of organisms capable of causing

illness:…

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

• UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

• NZ signed in 2007, ratified in 2008• Signatories must ensure the full realisation of all

human rights and fundamental freedoms for all disabled people, on an equal basis with others, and without discrimination on the basis of disability

• Involvement of disabled peoples organisations (DPOs) essential in all decision making

• Congruent with, and potential to strengthen the impact of, the NZ Disability Strategy (2001)

Play:HDC Disability Responsiveness DVD

Definitions in this course/NZ context

• Impairment - something an individual has.• Disability - occurs at a societal level and is the

process which happens when one group of people create barriers by designing a world only for their way of living, taking no account of the impairments other people have (MOH, 2001).

• Long term condition - any on-going, long-term or recurring condition that can have a significant impact on a person’s life.

Language in this course/NZ context

• Person-first language• Focus on person not LTC/impairment.

• Person with diabetes • Diabetic medication

• Disabled people• Focus on ability not disability• Avoid emotive language

• ‘Uses a wheelchair’ not ‘confined to a wheelchair’• ‘Has/lives-with asthma’ not ‘suffers from asthma’

New Zealand Disability Strategy (MOH, 2001)

The NZ Disability Strategy presents a long-term plan for changing New Zealand from a disabling to an inclusive society. It has been developed in consultation with disabled people and the wider disability sector, and reflects many individuals' experiences of disability.

New Zealand will be inclusive when people with impairments can say they live in: “A society that highly values our lives and continually enhances our full participation” (MOH, 2001 p. 1).

New Zealand Disability Strategy (MOH, 2001)

• Congruent with legislation and other policies• Not legally binding but implementation strongly

encouraged and promoted• Includes fifteen objectives, underpinned by

detailed actions• Each year, the Minister for Disability Issues reports

to Parliament on progress with implementing the NZDS

• For the latest report see: http://www.odi.govt.nz/nzds/progress-reports/2014/index.html

Play:Campbell Live clip

Grant Calder - UpdateLeft: Grant Calder, of Lauder Station, Don MacRae, of Wanaka, and Stu Fulcher, of Galloway, with dogs Cramp, Bess and Dude. Lowburn Collie Club centenary trials, January 2014 (Source: ODT).

Right: Deer hunting success 2011 (Source: Argo News).

Getting it right?

• Find out rather than assume• Ask people what they need (be polite and

respectful)• Don’t feel embarrassed• You can’t be expected to know what people

need• Most people will not be offended

(HDC/Diversityworks, 2006)

Some reflective questionsHow will I: show respect for this person? know I have communicated clearly and that what

has been communicated is understood? ensure there are no avoidable barriers getting in

the way of me doing my job well? ensure the person’s ideas, skills, experiences have

been used in the decisions made in my nursing care?

what will I do to include the person in the decision-making surrounding his/her issue?

(HDC/Diversityworks, 2006)

Summary

• D iscrimination• I solation• S tigma

• A ttitudes• B ehaviour• L aws• E nvironments

ReferencesHuman Rights Act, Statutes of New Zealand, 82 Stat. (1993). http://

www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0082/latest/DLM304212.html

Health and Disability Commissioner & Diversityworks Group. (2006). Making it easy to do the right thing: Disability responsiveness training (DVD).

Ministry of Health. (2001). The New Zealand disability strategy: Making a world of difference Whakanui oranga. Ministry of Health. Retrieved from http://www.odi.govt.nz/nzds/

Office for Disability Issues (2008). Disability perspective toolkit. http://www.odi.govt.nz/resources/guides-and-toolkits/disability-perspective/index.html

United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disability http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml

http://www.odi.govt.nz/what-we-do/un-convention/index.html