Enabling government: public policy benchmarks for equality of opportunity for people with disabilities

Abstract

Societal attitudes towards people with disabilities have altered radically over the last 125 years. The state's view of people with disabilities and its obligations towards them have sometimes led, but have mostly been led by, these societal changes. Public policy on disability has evolved in a haphazard way, resulting in fragmentation of disability support services across government departments, and people with similar need being treated differently based on disability type or cause of disability. The legacy of dependence of people with disabilities on charitable giving for essential services, and the traditional medically-centred approach to disability have meant that while legislation has been passed theoretically according people with disabilities equal status in society, much remains to be done to turn these laudable goals into reality. Current policies in the main do not take account of the contention of advocates in the disability sector that it is society's barriers, rather than the impairment itself, which cause an impairment to be disabling. Instead, current policy focuses largely on the impact of the impairment on each individual with a disability, rather than what society must do to reduce the impact of that impairment. Because this basic premise of the modern disability rights movement is not widely understood or accepted throughout New Zealand's public sector, disability is seen predominantly as the responsibility of a select number of government departments, rather than an issue which requires consideration in every aspect of public policy. This thesis proposes a means to address these deficiencies in public policy on people with disabilities. A set of benchmarks for equality of opportunity is suggested, based on principles of justice, best practice internationally, national and international law, and consultation with advocates in the disability sector. The benchmarks can serve as a thermometer for assessing disability policy as a whole. They can also be used to formulate key evaluative questions to ask of any proposed change. Whichever policy can be said to satisfy the most benchmarks most comprehensively is the one that will best advance equality of opportunity. A practical application of these benchmarks in some areas of policy debate within the disability sector is offered in order to demonstrate the usefulness of the tool to everyday public policy situations.