Introduction

The Disability Action Plan 2014-2018 sets strategic priorities that advance implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the New Zealand Disability Strategy.

 

It emphasises action across sectors that require collaboration between government agencies, Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) and other entities.

The Ministerial Committee on Disability Issues approved the new plan on 8 April 2014. The Ministerial Committee is mandated by Cabinet to provide leadership, coordination and accountability across government on disability issues. This function includes setting priorities for cross-government action.

A collaborative, cross-government approach to action is necessary because many of the barriers that disabled people experience to participation and contribution in society lie across several agencies’ responsibilities.

The Ministerial Committee has set a strategic framework over the four year period 2014-2018 to provide consistency and certainty in the areas that Ministers expect to be progressed. It allows momentum to build with implementation and enables forecasting of resources.

The plan’s shared vision is for disabled people to experience equal rights of citizenship. Supporting this vision are five person-directed outcomes that have been developed to focus activity on making a positive difference in disabled people’s everyday lives.

In line with the Better Public Services model, there are four shared result areas that prioritise collaborative action by government agencies, DPOs, and others.

Actions in the plan are additional to, and complement, disability-related activities by individual government agencies in their own areas of responsibilities and business-as-usual services.

Implementation of the plan will need to consider obligations to other treaties (such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child) and the Treaty of Waitangi.

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