Official messages keep changing, causing confusion Official messages are changing rapidly, as are restriction levels during the Omicron outbreak. This has made most of the communication issues for many disabled people and their whānau worse: “We get Omicron’s changing by the week but we have members that are multiimpaired so they might also have an intellectual disability as well and they find it difficult to actually process the first lot of information and the next minute you get a whole lot of new information that comes through afterwards like a week later.” (Māori submission) Rapidly changing information and advice, for example, on different Traffic Light settings, means that disabled people and their whānau, and community groups, networks, organisations or rōpū often hear about changes from media before they hear about it from any official source. This adds to confusion about what the rules are, what advice to follow, and how to get support: “At times we have accessed information from our members or journalists before receiving it from government agencies.” (Māori submission) While there is a tension for any government trying to make sure their citizens have the most up to date advice, the submissions highlighted that if participatory approaches that ensured disabled people were part of the decision-making and design, these changes would be implemented and communicated in more appropriate ways. Disabled people and their whānau have plugged information gaps themselves Across the submissions to the first stage of this Inquiry, there were numerous examples of how the gaps created by inaccurate, confusing, and slow official information for disabled people were being plugged by disabled people and their whānau themselves. Examples include: • Supplementing official Ministry of Health information with additional research. • Using different group’s websites and social media to disseminate information more quickly. • Producing accessible formats/versions of official advice or information so it is appropriate for disabled people. • Running online forum or discussions, including with health professionals, to get accurate clinical information out to disabled people and their whānau. • Running targeted discussions for, Pasifika disabled people and their whānau access the information they need during Omicron. “We have had to source information from outside the Ministry of Health as they could only provide generic information and even this was very delayed.” (Submission) 22 Inquiry into the Support of Disabled People and Whānau During Omicron