10. Work to eliminate ableism. These
recommendations also reflect the
recommendations made by Women with
Disabilities to the Australian government.
c. Develop systems to ensure that tāngata
whaikaha Māori and disabled people can
fully participate in political processes on
an equal basis with others.
a. Recognise ableism and intersecting
forms of inequality and discrimination
as the drivers of violence, abuse, neglect
and exploitation of people with disability.
d. Develop systems to ensure that tāngata
whaikaha Māori and disabled people can
fully participate in leisure and cultural
activities with others of their choice.
b. Strongly reinforce that segregation of
people with disability is discrimination
and facilitates violence, abuse, neglect
and exploitation.
e. Develop processes to support decisionmaking, rather than substitute it, if
people are unable to make autonomous
decisions.
c. Examine how ableism and intersecting
forms of inequality and discrimination
operate within the country’s legal, policy
and practice frameworks and through
community attitudes, and how they
underpin violence, abuse, neglect and
exploitation.
f.
d. Address the root causes of violence,
abuse, neglect and exploitation and
facilitate large scale responses and social
transformation.
e. Identify ableism as a driver of violence
against women and girls with disability.
11. Address tāngata whaikaha Māori and
disabled people’s lack of access to the
determinants of health and wellbeing.
This recommendation has a range of subrecommendations.
a. Strengthen legislation and policies in
relation to reasonable accommodation
and accessibility.
b. Address discrimination in hiring practices
and changing societal knowledge about,
and attitudes to, disabled people.
Shift decision-making about disabilityrelated issues to within the disability
community, and provide resources to
build capability and capacity within that
community.
g. Resource and support whānau and
families of tāngata whaikaha Māori to
support their disabled family member(s).
12. Enhance disabled people’s access to justice.
a. Include the justice sector and police,
in consultation with tāngata whaikaha
Māori and disabled people, in all
upskilling, policy development and other
processes to develop safe, intersectional
police and justice sector responses to
violence and abuse.
b. Help to change attitudes and develop
justice sector understanding of legal
capacity, supported decision-making
versus substituted decision-making and
tāngata whaikaha Māori and disabled
people’s right to be recognised as
competent, legitimate witnesses.
Acting now for a violence and abuse free future
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