and engagement with disabled people and their whānau, and a lack of transparency in government decision-making. Concerns were also raised in submissions about the need for stronger commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi by government agencies, in a way that creates conditions for tāngata whaikaha Māori and their whānau to express mana motuhake, and to ensure that government services and funding meet their aspirations and needs. Summary of themes The aspirations and needs of disabled people and their whānau do not appear to have been given prominence in government policy and decision making throughout the pandemic. This has been amplified during the Omicron outbreak. The pre-Omicron experiences of disabled people and their whanau have also reduced their level of trust and engagement during the Omicron phase. Many submissions shared experiences of their attempts to be heard during the earlier stages of Aotearoa’s COVID-19 response. Some organisations talked of being involved on disability advisory groups, but this did not guarantee that the views and concerns of disabled people and their whānau were listened to or acted upon. Submissions also emphasise the worry and stress that came with the shift from ‘Alert Levels’, to the introduction of the COVID-19 Protection Framework (also known as the Traffic Light System), and that many of the issues disabled people identified in the first two years of the COVID-19 response have worsened, while at the same time COVID-19 restrictions (and the protections they offered disabled people and their whānau, and communities) have lessened. Across the submissions made to the first phase of the Inquiry, six main areas of concern are apparent, and point to disability appearing to be an afterthought in the government’s Omicron response. Significant concerns with communications While many disabled people, their whānau, and organisations have worked extremely hard to find and disseminate accessible information about Omicron and COVID-19, official communications have been considerably lacking, particularly since the start of 2022. • Specific concerns about communications raised involve: • Accurate and timely disability-specific information has been hard to find. • Information has not been available in a full range of accessible formats. • 0800 lines and websites don’t work for everyone. • Official messages keep changing, causing confusion, without an effective strategy to remedy this confusion. While disabled people, their whānau, and organisations have plugged many of these information gaps themselves, concerns remain that critical information is not being shared in accessible ways with people who need it to make informed choices about how to stay safe and supported during Omicron. There was a sense that participatory approaches involving disabled people and their whānau as part of decision-making and design, if widely used, would ensure that key messages would be better implemented and communicated in more appropriate ways. 6 Inquiry into the Support of Disabled People and Whānau During Omicron