Commissioner: disabled job figures 'simply unacceptable'

It is ''simply unacceptable'' the employment rate for disabled New Zealanders is only a third of that of non-disabled people, the disability rights commissioner says.

Paula Tesoriero was speaking at the ''Disability Matters'' conference, in Dunedin yesterday.

Ms Tesoriero said a recent survey showed that 25% of disabled people participated in the workforce, compared with 73% of non-disabled people.

''This is simply unacceptable in a country like ours.''

It was ''essential we close this gap to ensure financial and economic security for disabled people,'' she said.

Almost four months into her role as commissioner, education and employment were her ''two top policy priorities''.

New Zealand's education system was ''not as inclusive as it needs to be'', and 42% of young disabled Kiwis aged 15-24 were not in education, employment or training.

A former gold medal-winning Paralympic cyclist, Ms Tesoriero took up her new job in July, and acknowledged she was regarded as ''bright-eyed and bushy tailed'' in enthusiasm for her work.

She wanted the national conversation to shift from ''it's nice to have some disabled people in the workforce, and it's the right thing to do''.

Her preferred outcome was: ''this is about New Zealand's economic and social progress as a nation and a strong performing economy relies on disabled people being in the workforce''.

There had clearly been improvements, the commissioner said, but disabled New Zealanders were behind in several ''key wellbeing indicators''.

Some attitudes towards disabled people remained ''indifferent'' and ''at worst discriminatory''.

But she saw a positive potential to promote change through creative engagement with social media.

And the upcoming process of a UN committee's examination of New Zealand's performance over its responsibilities under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities also offered positive opportunities.

john.gibb@odt.co.nz