This government is making things harder, not better, for disabled children and their families
Access to mainstream education for disabled learners is a horror story and this government is actively preventing families from accessing the supports they need
It’s been a difficult year. Multiple decisions by this government have directly and indirectly negatively impacted on families with a disabled, neurodivergent, and/or Deaf child.
compiled a list of these decisions below:
The Fairer Future Coalition did some math and figured out the actual, real-world cost to disabled people and their families. You can read the report in full here. Hint, the promised tax cuts aren’t even a drop in the bucket compared to the increased costs faced.
The 18 March announcement by Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People dismantled many of the supports disabled children and their families rely on to make everyday life work. While some of the restrictions have been wound back, uncertainty and confusion remain. One only needs to read the responses by Whaikaha to questions by
to see how confusing everything is:
On the 23 May, the Minister for Disability Issues said, during Parliament’s Question Time, that “the Ministry of Education is responsible for funding support during school hours.” Essentially, this means that parents can no longer use disability support funds during the hours of 9am to 3pm; supposedly our children are in school.
Yet, as I myself have all too recently experienced, many schools do not provide adequate support, many disabled children do not attend full time, and things such as regular stand downs (both formal and ‘kiwi’) make it just about impossible for parents to hold down paid employment.
My child is home from school again
My daughter is home from school again. Last term, the school assured me that they were working very hard. They had a plan in place, they told me. They were very positive about this plan, had worked hard on it as a team, and thought it would work to address the underlying distress my daughter would express when she was overwhelmed, overstimulated, and/or…
Schools do not fund activities like Riding for the Disabled (RDA); parents pay. Schools do not fund a carer to look after your child when you have to collect them at 12pm every day; parents pay. Schools are not funded to provide learning supports for disabilities unless your child is approved via one of the labyrinthine and Kafka-esque processes (e.g., ORS, High Health Needs). Data from 2022 shows that at least a third of applications for those children most in need of support were declined by the Ministry of Education (MOE). MOE-funded learning supports have extremely long wait lists.
Many families end up paying out of pocket for the activities and therapies their disabled child requires. Other families end up home-schooling their disabled child (and in need of therapy for PTSD!) as a result of their bruising and harmful encounters with schools and teaching staff. We don’t know how many exactly, as the Ministry of Education does not record how many home-schooled children have a disability.
Home-schooled families have been caught up in the blanket ban from the Minister, leaving them doubly penalised - they are not allowed to access Ministry of Education funded learning support nor can they use their disability supports to meet their child’s needs. As it is, home-schooled children cannot participate with their peers in sporting events; the NZ Secondary School Sports Council (NZSSSC) expressly prohibits homeschooled students from participated in sporting competitions. This double exclusion for disabled children and their families is cruel - and unnecessary.
The Minister of Education recently announced $89 million in funding for three (3) residential specialist schools, primarily for much-needed property development and repair. This does nothing to improve the daily reality of the 99.4% of learners (disabled and non-disabled); these three specialist schools limit their enrolment to approx. 40% (4,448) of ORS-funded students. Most disabled children attend mainstream school - indeed, this is the aim of the Education Act (1989), the Education and Training Act (2020), and the Enabling Good Lives principle ‘Mainstream First’. The planned property development and repair for 305 mainstream schools across the country (and which would also have benefitted disabled learners) was paused by the very same Minister.
The disability specialist schools in receipt of these millions are non-integrated; that is, their core aim is not to provide support to disabled learners in mainstream schools, nor is it to provide training for teachers in mainstream schools, nor is there a focus on transition support for students to return to mainstream education or employment.
The lack of training and professional support for disabled learners in mainstream schools, combined with insufficient resourcing for school communities, significantly contributes to the alienation and exclusion many disabled children and their families experience. It is also a violation of the rights of disabled children.
The Education Minister’s statement goes against the express recommendations of the 2022 committee of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) on New Zealand’s progress on disability rights, which stated:
Take measures to cease investment in residential specialist schools for children with disabilities and establish a deinstitutionalization process that ensures adequate support is provided for children with disabilities to return to their families and exercise their right to an inclusive education.
The UN Committee recommended the following:
Develop an inclusive education strategy that includes measures for the devolution of segregated education settings into a mainstream inclusive education system, to transition funding and resources from specialist education to inclusive education, to prioritize inclusive education in teacher training, to establish uniform, inclusive education policies and guidelines, to develop an inclusive education curriculum and to promote and raise community awareness;
Withdraw the proposal to change entry requirements for enrolment in residential specialist schools and redirect funding and resources into an inclusive education system;
There are models that work!!
BLENNZ (Blind and Low-vision Education Network NZ) provides a range of supports to blind and low vision learners, their families, and their school communities. BLENNZ employs Resource Teachers: Vision, as well as Developmental Orientation and Mobility Instructors, both of whom provide support to the learner, their teachers, and their families. BLENNZ provide training and resources to schools and teaching staff through their 14 regionally located Visual Resource Centers. On top of this, BLENNZ run a campus in Homai, Auckland, where blind and low vision learners and their parents attend ‘intensives’ (residential programmes run over the course of a few days). A similar model is employed by Ko Taku Reo/Deaf Education NZ. It’s not perfect (nothing is!) but, overall, it means learners are supported to learn in local, mainstream education settings instead of being segregated out.
The Education Minster/Ministry of Education could require all specialist schools to follows similar models to that of BLENNZ and Ko Taku Reo, such as for students with learning/intellectual disabilities, neurodivergent learners, and complex care needs. If the government wanted to.
The Ministry of Education could approve ORS applications for all students in need of learning support, instead of capping it at 1300 students across all schools (about 1 per cent of all students). If they wanted to.
The Minister for Disability Issues could allow families to use their disability supports in a way that works for them, while access to learning supports in education are worked out. If she wanted to.
Clearly this government doesn’t want to, despite what parents, school communities, and the UNCRPD are saying.
These cuts are so much bigger than Enabling Good Lives and Whaikaha, they're so much bigger than tax cuts. I'm glad to read this piece today, and thank you for it. I have been really concerned that a lot of the local disability rights movements around the motu have focused exclusively on EGL and Whaikaha. We need to kōrero more about how even what you've covered here today is still a tiny fraction of the massive impacts across multiple systems for disabled people in Aotearoa. Thank you for this, Bex. Let's all keep the momentum going.
Just want to add, amongst all the heartbreak, there is a new non-profit recently established (HESSA) to enable home schooled children to participate in school sport events.