New Ministry for Disabled People needs a relevant Māori lens, advocates say

Monday, 1 November 2021

Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni describes how collaboration with Māori and disability organisations will aid development of the framework of the new Ministry for Disabled People. (First published November 1, 2021)

The absence of a te reo Māori sign language interpreter at Friday’s announcement of the new Ministry for Disabled People spoke volumes for long-time Māori disabilities advocate Tania Kingi.

“What happened there was a failure to recognise inclusion. They haven't yet included concepts of disability from a Māori worldview,” Kingi said.

The Te Roopu Waiora Trust researcher said practical measures to include te ao Māori must be embedded in the Government’s new ministry from the beginning, or Māori will be left out again, just as the karakia and mihi were overlooked for translation.

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Health Minister Andrew Little says the new system will work with Māori leaders for improved outcomes for whānau.

Kingi, of Ngāti Awa, who is completing her PhD in indigenous concepts of disabilities, said while the new ministry would be a step up from the previous system, if it was to be successful in catering to Māori, the ministry needed to set up systems to deliver with a focus on te ao Māori, Kingi said.

The new ministry comes into existence in July next year, with its host switching from the Ministry of Health to the Ministry of Social Development, Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni said on Friday.

“It [the new ministry] will join up all the supports and services available to disabled people and replace a fragmented system where there is no single agency responsible for driving improved overall outcomes for disabled people.”

It’s designed to break down the barriers and create co-ordination between services for people with disabilities, as previously there was no one place for them to turn to for assistance, Sepuloni said.

Left, Tania Kingi stands with Molima Molly Pihigia at Te Roopu Waiora Trust.

“The changes we’ve announced will benefit Māori and need to be viewed alongside each other, not in isolation from one another.

Sepuloni said the commitment to upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi and continued engagement with tāngata whaikaha and their whānau will help to transform the disability system.

“In a practical sense, we only need to look at the Mana Whaikaha prototype that is being run out of the Midcentral DHB to know its effectiveness and why the national implementation of Enabling Good Lives will be so important to tāngata whaikaha and whānau whaikaha Māori.

Ronelle Baker says Māori voices from disabled communities need to be included in the ministry’s design.

Minister of Health Andrew Little said the new ministry would work with Māori leaders to support tāngata whaikaha Māori, or people with disabilities, to ensure there was a strong relationship built for whānau.

“The future health system, including Health New Zealand and the Māori Health Authority, will need to work closely with the new Ministry for Disabled People, tāngata whaikaha Māori, disabled people and whānau to achieve this.”

But Kingi was concerned that there were no practical elements to show how te ao Māori would be included, other than speaking to iwi leaders and the Māori Health Authority, which may not include a Māori disabilities' perspective.

“They talk about including Māori people, but not our traditions. Using a few Māori words won’t cut it, we need to make sure we include te ao Māori. It’s expanding it, not one versus the other.”

However, Kingi understood that to get the new ministry to where it needed to be, the Māori disability community would have to step up to help.

She has been working with Ronelle Baker to bring together a collective voice that supports te ao Māori within the disability sector.

Baker, a descendant of Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāpuhi, lives with muscular dystrophy.

She agreed it was crucial that whānau with lived experience were heard and a focus on embedding te ao Māori from the outset was imperative.

“It’s good that iwi leaders are there to support the kaupapa of the new ministry, but their voices shouldn’t be in place of Māori who are experiencing disability,” Baker said.

“There’s not been a strong collective voice at the table nationally and we need to make sure there’s an easy mechanism to go through to give voices from the communities we’re serving.

“If it’s not there from the beginning, all of the prototypes of the design and developments will be flawed.”

The Māori disability action plan, Whāia Te Ao Mārama, 2018 – 2022, developed through the lens of a Māori worldview by the Ministry of Health with the support of Kāpō Māori Aotearoa and Te Ao Mārama, the Māori Disability Advisory Group, was an example of how the new ministry could include Māori in their development, alongside other disabilities organisations such as Enabling Good Lives and Pae Rangi, Baker said.

She was hopeful that a bicultural approach would be taken and a position within the ministry would be appointed to ensure te ao Māori was embedded across its services.

“But it can’t be a tokenistic role,” Baker said.

“It has to have power and influence. They must understand the complexity of te ao Māori.”

In the New Zealand Disability Survey from 2013, 24 per cent of New Zealand’s population identified themselves as disabled.

Māori had a higher disability rate than non-Māori, regardless of age, with 26 per cent self-reporting as disabled, more than 176,000 people.