Being Māori and disabled is a 'double-edged sword'
Thursday, 14 April 2022
Being Māori and disabled is a “double-edged sword”, says Ruth Jones.
“The barrier is the assumptions about being Māori and disabled,” she said. “Racism and ableism is ingrained in people.”
Jones (Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata) said for many, being Māori and disabled is something to be proud of.
But the Ōtautahi Christchurch resident said it can be “really tricky” when people are dislocated from their whānau and whakapapa, and are isolated because of their disability.
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The daily barriers of being disabled, particularly for tāngata whaikaha Māori, were raised at the Independent Monitoring Mechanism (IMM) forum into New Zealand’s implementation of the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
At the forum held earlier this month, Disability Rights Commissioner Paula Tesoriero said the IMM appreciated the Government’s acknowledgement of the daily barriers disabled people face and the considerable work that still needed to be done to improve lives, particularly for tāngata whaikaha Māori.
“During the IMM forum, there were several references to broad strategies with or by Māori without including a disability lens or vice versa – confirming, as indicated in our report, that tāngata whaikaha/whānau hauā, most of whom identify as Māori first, have significant challenges in their lives because approaches are not integrated.”
Tangihaere Gardiner is a Māori disabled advocate who is autistic.
Growing up, Gardiner attended a predominantly Māori primary school, and then went to an integrated high school which was a “culture shock”.
They never felt “othered” for being autistic around their Māori community; people around them accepted “that’s just how they are”. But at their later years at school, having a disability seemed like a “massive hindrance”.
The 25-year-old from Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland said people didn’t like to think about the intersection of being Māori and disabled, and was “really glad” there was a conversation happening around it, in response to the issues raised at the IMM forum.
Gardiner (Te Iwi Morehu, Ngāti Whātua, Te Arawa) said there weren’t enough disabled Māori being put in positions of power.
They said it would help would be to have more Māori services that cater to disabled people and vice versa, and “both sides should talk to one another”.
Having more visibility as well as more Māori disabled teachers would also help from a young age so “we don’t look at disabled people as being othered”.
Gardiner hoped to see many advocates coming through, and said there were more opportunities now to make things better for disabled Māori, but they couldn’t say if it would get better for another few years.
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Chair of the IMM Dr Jonathan Godfrey said while there had been improvements for disabled people, there were still numerous examples of inequality.
“No-one should forget the horrors of the past for disabled people, but we must move forwards if we are to avoid the same outcomes affecting the next generation of disabled people.
“Disabled people do not have parity, and we will not have parity until we can see effort is being made to address every equity gap.”
Jones agreed. “Everyone must be of equal worth,” she said. Having access to go to the hairdressers and be part of her marae “should just be made ordinary”.
The principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Whānau Ora (a Government health initiative based on Māori cultural values) provided a good foundation for “a good life” and should be implemented in the systems created for disabled people, Jones said.
Conclusions from the IMM Forum will be published in June in preparation for the United Nations’ review of the CRPD in early August.