Issue 25-Newsletters-News and Publications-Disability

Disability in New Zealand
Disability Services Provider E-Newsletter, Issue 25 July 2008

In this issue:

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Disability Services Provider E-Newsletter: July 2008 (PDF, 1 MB)

With Support I Can…

With Support I Can…, is the next step in Disability Services’ information evolution and combines accessibility features, multiple languages and real life stories all in the one package - a DVD. The five films show us what it is like to live with a disability and the difference getting support can make.

Produced by Unreal Films in Wellington, the DVD includes an audio prompt menu, captioning, plus English, New Zealand Sign Language, Te Reo Maori, Cook Island Maori, Samoan and Tongan language options. It is aimed at disabled people and their families who are not currently accessing our services, and those with communication needs such as English as a second language, hearing impaired, vision impaired and/or intellectual disability. It will be a useful tool for disabled people, their whanau, frontline health and disability professionals, information and advisory services.

The DVD was launched at the Rialto Cinemas in Wellington on May 27. 10,000 copies are being printed and will be available shortly. If you would like more information about the DVD please contact Julz Britnell on Julz_Britnell@moh.govt.nz, ph 04 496-2001, or freephone 0800 373-664 and leave a message.

DDG Update

Geraldine Woods.

Geraldine Woods
Deputy Director-General
Health and Disability National Services Directorate

The last couple of months have seen a number of new information initiatives come to fruition. At the end of May we launched our Disability Services DVD at the Rialto Cinemas in Wellington. It was a great event with many of the film’s stars, the local disability community, providers and funders attending the launch. The DVD has been very well received. Copies are due to arrive soon and will be distributed widely.

We have also recently completed information on Equipment and Modification services in Maori, Cook Island, Samoan and Tongan languages – these are being distributed via disability information and advisory services, Specialised Assessors and service providers.

It has been a busy time in Disability Services as we come to the end of our financial year. Ensuring that the funding we have goes to services that support the needs of disabled people and their families is at the forefront of our planning and we are constantly looking at how we can best do this.

Finally, it is with great sadness that I acknowledge the death of Sue Merrilees. Sue worked as an analyst with the Disability Policy Team from 2001. She contributed to the Disability Services group in many ways and will be greatly missed by me, her colleagues and the wider disability sector.

Consumer Consortium

The Consumer Consortium is a group of 20 disabled people who provide input and advice to Disability Services on its planning, policy and service development. The Consortium provides a link for support and communication between us and the people who receive the services we fund.

The Consortium meets two times a year currently and many members are also on Ministry working groups, advisory groups and steering groups.

The latest meeting was held from Tuesday 27 May to Thursday 29 May. Due to the large number of people seeking input from the Consortium, the meeting had to be extended for a third day.

The Consortium is an excellent avenue for getting input into projects or work from disabled people and we are currently looking at how best we can meet the increasing volume of input sought.

Sue Merrilees

Sue Merrilees, a highly valued member of the Ministry’s Disability Policy Team died in Hutt Hospital on 25 May 2008. Sue had been experiencing health problems for some time. A large funeral that celebrated her life and many achievements was held on 30 May.

Sue worked as an analyst with the Disability Policy Team from 2001, and in that role, contributed in many areas, including vocational services, residential services and areas such as transport. Prior to working for the Ministry, Sue attended Victoria University and gained a BA Honours degree, and prior to that worked at the Patent Office, and DPA’s National Office. For most of her adult life, she lived at the Laura Fergusson community in the Hutt Valley.

During her lifetime, Sue was a hard working member of many working groups, including those related to health and disability sector standards. Sue brought a sharp mind, a wicked sense of humour, and a broad and deep experience of disability issues, to all her work. Her personal experience of disability, including issues with her powered wheelchair, made us never forget why consumers and disability supports are important – and should we be inclined to forget, she would remind us!

Sue is very much missed her mother Nancy, all her many friends in the disability community, and her colleagues at the Ministry, including members of the Disability Policy Team, and Disability Services staff with whom she has worked since 2001.

David Chrisp

David Chrisp left Disability Services on Friday the 20th of June 2008. David moved to Dunedin to become the Regional General Manager - Funding and Planning for the Otago and Southland DHBs.

David has been the Manager of the Business Support Team for five years and prior to this was the manager of the Service Development Team in the Disability Services Directorate. In the past year he also provided an overall leadership role for Disability Services when it merged with other parts of the Ministry to become Health & Disability National Services.

David has worked for the Ministry and its predecessor the Health Funding Authority for nearly 12 years and was known for his commitment and dedication to work particularly in the Disability Services area.

Workforce development

These past six months have been very busy for those involved in the workforce programme. Rather than attempting to cover all that has been happening, this update highlights a couple of key areas of special importance. Firstly, work that is underway to develop a national workforce development strategy and secondly two exciting new qualifications that will be available from 2009 for needs assessment and service coordination (NASC) workers.

A workforce strategy for disability support services Work is underway to develop a disability workforce strategy

The strategy makes use of information gathered in a training stocktake undertaken in late 2007 and updated in mid 2008 in partnership with the National Residential Intellectual Disability (NRID) providers’ group. We intend to use the strategy to make sound decisions about how best to improve outcomes for service users.

This strategy will have maximum value if all stakeholders participate in the development process. A Workforce Reference Group was set up and is pivotal in the development of the strategy. You can participate by contacting the Ministry (see end) or through sector representatives on the Workforce Reference Group (listed opposite). We plan to present the strategy as a consultation document by the end of August 2008 and welcome comments from the sector at, before or during the consultation phase.

New NASC qualifications

We are pleased to announce the recent approval of a new national certificate by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority. We have worked closely with our project partners, NASCA and Careerforce (the Community Support Services Industry Training Organisation), to develop this new National Certificate in disability support assessment, planning and coordination (Level 5).

Following a request for proposals in December 2007, we are finalising negotiations with a tertiary education provider to deliver a new graduate diploma for NASC workers (Level 7) from Semester One 2009.

These new qualifications have been designed to sit alongside each other on the ‘qualification staircase’ so that workers can move from the certificate to the diploma and then to postgraduate qualifications. Both new qualifications will be launched at the NASCA Conference in December.

To find out more out our workforce development programme please contact Rob Gill by email at rob_gill@moh.govt.nz or ph. 09 580 9111.

Workforce Reference Group

Name	Organisation
Lena Berger	Rescare NZ Inc.
Philip Beilby	Vaka Tautua
Sharon Brandford	IDEA Specialist Services
Mark Nalder	Nelson Marlborough Health Services
Moira Lipshaw	Laura Ferguson Trust
Kerry Davies	PSA Auckland
Jane Cumming	NZ Home Health Association
Laurie Hilsgen	Carers NZ
Marvynne Ashley	Gracelands Group
Joanna Mason	Supported Living NZ
Bronwen Foxx	Federation of Disability Information Centres
Lynda Rangitaawa	NZ Federation of Vocational & Support Services Inc.
Maria Greig-Anderson	NASCA
Shane Te Pou	Te Roopu Taurima O Manukau
Rob Gill	Ministry of Health

EMS information

Disability Services is pleased to announce that information about Equipment and Modification Services are now available in Te Reo Maori, Cook Island Maori, Samoan and Tongan languages.

These resources are available in a variety of formats including large print, Braille, audio tape, MP3, html, pdf and word. You can order the resources from your local Disability Resource Centre or contact DRC Auckland on (09) 6258069, drc@disabilityresource.org.nz.

Maori fact sheets on Equipment and Modifications.

Bi-lingual booklets on Equipment and Modifications in:

Cook Island Maori/English

Samoan/English

Tongan/English.

New resources by Workbridge

Workbridge is a national non-government organisation that provides an employment service for disabled people. They provide services for disabled people looking for work as well as employers looking to recruit. Workbridge has developed two new resources about working with disabled employees.

Their Managers guide: A best practice approach to working with disabled employees, was developed in conjunction with the UK Employers Forum on Disability. It provides practical “how to” information for employers and is available free from the 27 Workbridge centres nationwide.

Workbridge at Work is their annual magazine. The current issue looks at working together to achieve success in helping disabled people into employment.

More information about the services Workbridge provide is available on their website www.workbridge.co.nz or call 0508 858 858.

Training & Leadership fund - consumers

A $500,000 fund was allocated in 2007 -2008 to help disabled people train other disabled people as part of Disability Services Workforce Development Strategy. The fund aims to foster leadership by disabled people within the disability sector. A particular focus is to help disabled people become more confident to manage their own supports.

Organisations that submitted proposals which were accepted for funding were:
People First, Standards and Monitoring Services (SAMS), CCS Disability Action, Deaf Association of New Zealand, Standards Plus and Up2date.

Organisation	Proposal - as per applicants Executive Summary in proposal document
CCS Disability Action	This application is for funding to resource workshops with disabled people and their families. There would be five workshops across the country facilitated and led by disabled people. Our strength is in being the catalyst for social change. CCS Disability Action has been involved in facilitating positive story telling and transformational conversation and resulting community developmental work.
CCS Disability Action	This application is for funding to resource workshops with disabled Maori and their whanau. There would be five hui across the country facilitated and led by disabled people. Our strength is in being the catalyst for social change. CCS Disability Action has been involved in facilitating positive story telling and transformational conversation and resulting community developmental work.
Deaf Association of NZ Inc	The Deaf Association proposes that the Ministry of Health invests $100,000 as a capacity building grant to the Deaf Association. This grant will be used to develop the capacity of the Deaf Association to be able to provide a broad range of information in New Zealand Sign Language through the Deaf Association website and others. The funds will be spent on equipment, training and reconfiguration of our website.
Standards Plus & Up2date	The proposal is to provide disabled people and their families with information about how they can use the funded systems and supports more effectively and how they could support some of their needs outside the paid support system. We will support people to get a better understanding of what a social/ political model of disability is, how to secure freely given supports, how to use individualised funding and how to safeguard arrangements once they have established them.
SAMS	SAMs has obtained the license to replicate the Partners in Policymaking programme in New Zealand. We have successfully offered this course to people with a disability and family/whanau for three years and are approaching HDNS to make a 50% contribution to course costs so that the course can be offered in 2008. Partners in Policymaking operates for one weekend a month over an 8 month period and draws participants (people with a disability and family/whanau) from around New Zealand. The course is specifically designed to increase participants ability to take leadership roles within services and the disability sector. The course if facilitated by a range of presenters including people with disabilities.
People First Christchurch	To train our members to take on most of the day to day operation of their own organisation in the Mid South region and Christchurch.
People First Christchurch	Learning about Self Advocacy – courses for People First groups in the South Island. Design and provide user-led training workshops for People First groups in the South Island. Two sessions in each of the three regions.
People First Christchurch	Leadership Training Course for people with a learning disability in Christchurch. Design and provide an user-led Leadership Training Course for people with a learning disability in Christchurch. Six sessions over six months

Save our Sight month

NZAO President, Geoff Sargent, with a Low Vision Kit.

New Zealand Association of Optometrists (NZAO) is staging its annual Save Our Sight awareness campaign reinforcing the message of how important it is for people to have their eyes checked regularly by an optometrist to diagnose and treat conditions such as Glaucoma, Diabetes and Age-related macular Degeneration (AMD) which can result in blindness. We are encouraging people to visit their NZAO optometrist to identify problems before they deteriorate and also to educate them about the kinds of aids that are available to help people with low vision.

An estimated 81,000+ adults and 13,200 children have such low vision that their sight problems cannot be helped by spectacles or contact lenses. Their condition is such that they may not see well enough to read, do hobbies or even move around their own homes safely.

This year’s campaign offers good practical advice on solutions to low vision problems and making them accessible to people.

Our major initiative for Save our Sight 2008 is the Optometry Low Vision Kits which will include:

Low vision practice guidelines
Information on community linkages
A computer settings guide for large text and background contrast
General colour and contrast brochure for people with low vision
A good lighting guide

To support this initiative the NZAO has secured Ministry of Health funding for 300 of these Low Vision Kits to be distributed to optometry practices throughout New Zealand during Save Our Sight month. These will help optometrists demonstrate to clients how low vision aids might improve their situation.

The Hon. Ruth Dyson will be launching the Save our Sight campaign in Wellington. We are also producing four advertorials to be shown on Good Morning television during the month of August on 4, 15, 22 and 25. Our low vision front-man for 2008 is Andrew Black of Wellington and he will be talking about low vision in general in week 1, low vision and AMD in week 2, low vision, diabetes, and glaucoma in week 3 and in week 4 will demonstrate some of the low vision aids that are available.

Ideas for practices to participate in Save our Sight include holding a low vision meeting in the community, demonstrating low vision aids to community or church groups, distributing information about Save our Sight and the benefits of regular eye exams to households in your neighbourhood, and being an ambassador for optometry.