At Kanohi ki te Kanohi, our key purpose is to provide a voice for the disabled community of Ōtautahi Christchurch. Each and everything we do is about making sure that voice is heard.
One major initiative that we’ve taken a leadership role in over the past few years is the transformation of the Disability Support System in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Changes are coming to make the system better for disabled people and their whānau, and we wanted to be part of making sure our collective voice is a key part of the decision-making process, every step of the way.
Gary has been involved right from the start. He was asked to be involved with the Canterbury Enabling Good Lives (EGL) steering group which oversaw the production of a report on how to implement EGL in Christchurch. He then became a member of the Christchurch local advisory group. At the same time, he was appointed to the national EGL leadership group to provide a connection back to the Christchurch community and to ensure that the EGL principles were maintained.
Currently, Gary is involved in a number of pieces of work, including considering how Government might organise itself to implement EGL, how funding might be allocated to disabled people and their whānau and to examine workforce issues.
He believes the new system is important because disabled people and their whānau currently engage with multiple agencies, which makes accessing support complicated. The new system will make things easier and give people much more choice and control over their support and lives.
Ruth has worked in the Whānau Ora space from its inception in Canterbury in 2011 and was the inaugural Manager: Family and Communities for the Enabling Good Lives Demonstration in 2013. She is currently part of a working group looking at the Whānau Ora interface of the transformation and what an ideal system might look for people and their whānau.
Her view is the there has always been significant synergy between these two approaches, so she is pleased to co-lead the work that connects the EGL and Whānau Ora principles and practice.
“For me, the outcome of this mahi will always be ensuring that the very essence of Whānau Ora is maintained for tangata and whanau whaikaha – that we can be Māori first and receive manaaki from the Disability Support System in ways that are tika for us.”
What is the new system all about?
The Aotearoa New Zealand disability support system is undergoing a major transformation that will positively change the way disabled people and their whānau receive Ministry support.
The new system will bring together multiple agencies so people with a disability will have a single point of contact and be able to access one stream of support funding across the different Ministries to use in the way that best suits them.
The new system is being trialled first in the Mid Central District and then in the Waikato and Ōtautahi Christchurch, before being rolled out nationwide.