In practice, many aspects of the education system in New Zealand lack consistent working knowledge of what an inclusive education system is and how it functions. People with a disability are at a high risk of being bullied. There is a lack of data as to what students require, what supports students are/are not getting and the supports they need to thrive. Recently it was discovered that children with disabilities were being held in seclusion-like conditions in several schools. This led to the practice of seclusion being explicitly outlawed in an updated version of the Education Act 1989. The Government needs to gather comprehensive data and evidence to fully understand what is required to ensure the right to an inclusive education is realised for people with disabilities. Employment – Article 27 Disabled people are less likely to be employed than the general population or other minorities. In the June 2017 quarter, disabled people were more likely to be unemployed and their average weekly incomes were just over half those of non-disabled people. In the June 2017 quarter, 42.3 per cent of disabled youth aged 15–24 years were not in employment, education, or training (NEET). This was more than four times the NEET rate of non-disabled 15–24 year-olds (10.0 percent). NEET is made up of those who are: unemployed – not in education not in the labour force – not in education and caregiving not in the labour force – not in education and not caregiving. The group that contributed the most to the higher NEET rate for disabled youth were those not in the labour force, not in education, and not caregiving (35.8 percent). Employment for disabled people is often limited by opportunity and people's attitudes rather than disability. Housing – Article 28 There appears to be a lack of accessible housing in New Zealand. This includes housing, housing in the private rental sector, state housing (housing stock of HNZC), and social housing. A recent report released by the Salvation Army concluded New Zealand needs to build about 2,000 more social houses per year over the next decade to adequately respond to unmet demand. According to the report, disabled people make up a large proportion of long-term social housing tenants.
Implementation of the 2014 Concluding Observations The following table is produced based on our current knowledge in relation to each recommendation. The intention is to provide a high-level overview of the Government’s progress towards implementing the Concluding Observations of the Committee: Key Red = No action Yellow = Some improvement/work underway. (Note, ‘yellow’ does not quantify the amount of improvement/work that has been undertaken.) Green = actioned CRPD Article Recommendation Status General Principles and Obligations (Articles 1-4) New Zealand ratify the Optional Protocol as soon as is practicable. GREEN General Obligations (Article 4) New Zealand the matter of offending phrases that come up with searches related to autistic persons to the attention of Google to discuss what can be done to prevent or eliminate this type of “hate speech”. GREEN Specific Rights (Articles 5-30) Equality and (Article 5) All family members who are carers are paid on the same basis as other carers are, and that family members who are carers be entitled to make complaints of unlawful discrimination in respect of the State party’s family care policy. RED Equality and (Article 5) Consideration be given to amending the Human Rights Act 1993 to include a definition of reasonable accommodation in conformity with the definition of reasonable accommodation in Article 2 of the Convention. RED Equality and (Article 5) Guidelines on Reasonable Accommodation be completed and distributed. GREEN