Category Archives: Inclusion

by | November 17, 2012 · 10:48 am

A night at the Opera

I have only attended an opera performance twice in my life. The first was at Covent Garden in the 70s, a rather good seat I managed to get for five pounds. The performance of Peter Grimes was somewhat spoilt by the man sitting behind me attempting to pick up the woman sitting next to me. I can’t remember if he succeeded or not. Nor can I remember much of the opera.

There were no such shenanigans at the second performance I attended a couple of Saturdays ago. I am not sure why it took me so long. I have listened to and enjoyed a lot of opera on radio and disc. I have even watched the Ingmar Bergman film of the Magic Flute, though I think I fell asleep halfway through.

But this performance was rather special. The production of the Bartered Bride was audio described and a first in Wellington. I have watched audio described movies and live theatre, but for some reason I was particularly excited about the opera. Perhaps it was the attraction of the touch tour beforehand, which lived up to my expectations completely.

The St James is a lovely old theatre. It has real atmosphere, the wonderful musty dusty evocative theatre smell, the dimensions of the ornate Victorian auditorium and the narrow dim wooden staircases and draped velvet curtains summoning up the ghosts of former productions in the empty auditorium. Going up onto the stage and looking out, up into the gods was a treat for those of us who could see enough to appreciate it. But the cast members who generously made themselves available in costume to talk to us, and the sets we could get close to and touch gave the whole performance an extra dimension of delight.

Getting up close and personal to the very realistic bear reminded me of the legendary children’s theatre in Christchurch, where I went every year as a child from the age of four until my teens. I used to be taken backstage to see the actors in costume. My enduring love of the theatre dates from those performances.

Robyn touches the fur on the fiercely realistic bear which towers over her.

The whole opera experience was very friendly, very hands on. We were sent a Word copy of the programme in advance, an extra pleasure as I can never read them. Before the performance we were given an introduction from the audio describers, one of whom is a good friend. Their voices and the pace of audio description were appropriate, and their delivery was warm and with obvious enjoyment. The lively circus scene presented them with quite a challenge, which they met with aplomb.

The production was in English, which helped, but all the preliminaries and the audio description contributed to a memorable and very accessible experience. I feel encouraged to attempt a more challenging production should one be offered.

The only, very small criticisms are that some of the dialogue was hard to hear from our seats at the back of the stalls, and the ushers were a bit over-anxious, a minor fault which increasing interaction will overcome. The booking process might have been a bit clearer, and next time the production could be networked more in advance.

But these were very minor. After all it was a first for New Zealand Opera. It was good practice to include the audio description dates and information in the main publicity. That makes accessibility an everyday thing, which is just as it should be.

Thank you everyone from NBR New Zealand opera who was part of the action. Please do it again, soon.

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Filed under Disability Issues, Disability Rights, Inclusion, Information Accessibility, The Arts

by | October 26, 2012 · 11:00 am

Health literacy, a disability view

This is not so much about disabled people needing health literacy, as about medical professionals being disability literate. By that I don’t mean knowing about particular medical conditions, but rather about an understanding of this complex and nuanced state of being, and the etiquette that ensures disabled people are treated with dignity, respect and fairness. Perhaps we should turn health literacy on its head and ask, are health professionals disability literate?

And just in case you think there are only “two people who use wheelchairs in Wellington” as a politician once told me, we are talking about 20% of the population and an ageing population overall with higher rates of disability.

The Convention on the Rights of Disabled people, (CRPD), is very clear. Article 9 and Article 21 deal with accessibility and with access to information and Article 25 with the right to health. New Zealand is accountable as it has ratified the Convention and there are clear monitoring and reporting processes. Some of the information included here is taken from research for and monitoring of the CRPD.

The New Zealand government report, To have an ordinary life, which chief human rights Commissioner David Rutherford has described as being” thrown in the rubbish bin” by the government gives some clear direction about health literacy.

The report highlights the poor health status of people with intellectual/learning disabilities as a result of systemic discrimination. It points to poor diagnosis and failure to treat conditions because of poor communications between health professionals and patients with learning disabilities. This group are high users of prescription medicines as a result. The report says that District Health Boards, (DHBs), have to improve service access policy, assessment tools and staff education. A recommendation from the report was that health promotion tools are designed to be accessible to this group of people.

The Health passport project is designed to increase medical staff understanding of disability. The individual disabled person owns the document which contains the information they want to share with health professionals about their impairment/s and the ways staff can help and support them, what works and what doesn’t. This may be critical for a person’s wellbeing, especially if they are receiving treatment for something other than their impairment/s. The Health Passport initiative is currently being trialled in Wellington region DHBs.

For Deaf people, who use New Zealand Sign Language as their primary means of communication, the availability of Sign Language interpreters is problematic. Some places have none. Blenheim, with a population of 30,000 and a sizeable Deaf population has no professional Sign Language interpreters. The West Coast of the South Island also has none. This is an even greater problem for Maori Deaf with only two bi lingual interpreters in the whole country.

In the research for the Convention Coalition monitoring report, Disability Rights in Aotearoa New Zealand disabled people spoke of the lack of access to health related information in alternative formats, including Easy Read. One blind research respondent said in the report,

“The health system does not provide information to blind people in ways which are accessible. Prescriptions have printed labels, and we can never be sure that the directions are read in full or accurately. Lack of information about what is being prescribed, and when it should be taken presents a significant health risk.”  P47

The report recommends that “the Ministry of Health, in partnership with the Association of Blind Citizens of New Zealand, investigate the production of all health related brochures and medication labels using the European Union’s standards for accessibility.” P83
It also recommended that People first be consulted for advice and information about production in Easy Read format. P83

Disabled people also wanted equitable access to their own health information, and wanted inclusion as part of the general population in health promotion campaigns. This is an area which has received little or no attention to date.

Earlier posts relating to health literacy are; Health literacy for grown-ups and Health literacy and the right to health.

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Filed under Accessible Engagement, Disability Issues, Disability Rights, Inclusion, Information Accessibility, Web Accessibility

by | May 1, 2012 · 6:15 am

Dismantling disableism – Three powerful tools

This is my contribution to Blogging Against Disableism Day.

There is no doubt that there is a lot of it about. Disableism diminishes both the disabled person and the perpetrator. It is a clumsy made up word to describe something particularly unlovely so it is appropriate that it is an ugly word.

Disableism diminishes both the disabled person
- and the perpetrator.

Wikipedia describes “disableism,” or “ableism” as it also calls it as “a form of discrimination or social prejudice against people with disabilities.”  I am not going to describe it any further, in case I descend into what a good friend of mine describes as the “aint it awful” stuff.

Instead I want to identify three (non-violent) weapons which can be used against it.

1. Humour

A light heart and a witty one liner go a long way. It takes a bit of practice but there is plenty of help out there, especially on the Internet. One of my favourite sources of humour is Crippen, disabled UK cartoonist.  So much that happens to us is funny, sometimes only in hindsight, admittedly, but developing a robust and “out there” sense of humour can help enormously when the going gets tough. Mocking prejudice can be fun! Disability humour is part of disability culture.

2.  Be loud proud and passionate


Being “out” and proud as a disabled person is powerful. And when a bit of action is required there’s nothing like some good old fashioned activism with other like-minded people. There’s safety in numbers and solidarity with other disabled people is personally powerful and takes away the feeling that everything bad is centred on me. Every little thing contributes to change, and taking action is very satisfying, and can be fun. Social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs are useful tools. Know your rights, use them and learn from each other’s experience, A man who inspires me was brought up in an institution and began by leading action for better pay in a sheltered workshop. Now he is an international leader and has spoken at the UN.

3. Form strong alliances

Finding others who may not be disabled but who may share similar world views can be rewarding. Supporting each other on issues of mutual interest, forging strong and respectful relationships to create change may be hard work, but the results can really make a difference. Disabled people and the gay community teamed up in the early 90’s to make sure sexual orientation and disability in its widest sense were both included in the New Zealand Human Rights Act. Our hard work paid off and the new Act  was inclusive.

Call me Pollyanna, although I prefer a “cock-eyed optimist” as the song says – sorry about the pun, but if we don’t tackle disableism from a glass half full perspective it will just be too overwhelmingly hard.

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Filed under Disability Issues, Disability Rights, Inclusion

by | April 23, 2012 · 10:28 pm

Disaster and disability: Seven preparation points

Natural disasters are always inclusive.
Often the response is not.

It was clear from the Christchurch earthquakes that disability support providers, particularly small local rather than national providers, have the same difficulties as other organisations and businesses when there is a major disaster. Access to premises and records, the availability of staff and so on are among them. People may not have access to their regular assistance. So disaster preparedness for the general population must take account of the needs of disabled people, and not silo them off into a separate process, or simply forget about them.

The other day (April 15th) I was listening to Te Ahi Kaa  on Radio New Zealand. The programme described setting up the Wainuiomata marae as a welfare centre. They sounded very well organised.

In thinking about their task I reflected on what they could do to set up a really inclusive welfare centre. Of course they might already have thought of these things, or they might already be on the prescribed comprehensive list.

Some of my top of mind considerations:

  1. Access – Is the building which will house the welfare centre accessible to everyone? Does it meet or exceed NZ Standard for access 4121?
  2. Reception – Do those who will be the first contact at the centre have disability training so they can recognize and welcome all kinds of disabled people?
  3. Interpreters – Will each centre have access to New Zealand Sign Language interpreters, or at least people with some grasp of NZ Sign Language? Accessible information will be critical for a number of disabled and other people.
  4. Accommodations – Will the centre accept and provide water and toileting areas for service dogs?
  5. Know how – Will those staffing the centre know how to interact with a hard of hearing person? Will they be able to guide and orient a blind person, to assist in a way that preserves the dignity of people with physical impairments who need help with feeding and toileting?
  6. Be prepared – Will there be emergency supplies for frail elder and those disabled people who may need incontinence products, drinking straws or particular foods?
  7. Housing – Will those allocating housing and alternative accommodation have some understanding of accessibility?

Of course many disabled people can take some responsibility for preparing for disasters ourselves. Cover of Disaster Preparedness for People with Disabilities

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Filed under Disability Issues, Inclusion