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'We have no voice' - Disability advocate says the sector needs its own ministry

June 29, 2020

Dr Huhana Hickey says the Health and Disability System Review showed the need for separate ministries.

An advocate for people with disabilities has reiterated the need for disabilities services to be taken out of the health system and given its own ministry.

The Health and Disability System Review report was released last week, but numerous representatives of the disabled community say it completely failed to represent their best interests.

Speaking this morning to TVNZ 1's Breakfast, advocate and human rights lawyer Dr Huhana Hickey, who identifies as disabled, reiterated that the report shows the health system is not the best place for disabled policy.

"Disabled people aren't necessarily sick - the Ministry of Health has a very big focus on health - but it's also on hospitals," Dr Hickey said.

"It should be the Ministry of Sickness to be honest - they deal with disease."

It comes as a Health and Disability review found many disabled people struggle to get support, particularly Māori and Pasifika.

Ms Hickey said the report failed to listen to repeated calls for disabilities to no longer come under Ministry of Health jurisdiction.

"Disability has never, ever featured well under the Ministry of Health," she said, "it transitioned over around 1993 and it failed - prior to that the DHBs weren't working that well with disabled people.

"We actually need our own voice now, it's time, we've matured to that point - we have a voice for women, we have a voice for Māori, we have a voice for Pacific islanders - but we don't have a voice for disabled people.

"We have no voice.

"We actually need a Ministry of Disabilities that oversees all law policy and processes - housing, education, all that."


It’s been labelled the most comprehensive look at Aotearoa’s health and disability system in a generation.

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