But those affected by this, and who are not suffering this affliction, remember only too well what happened two years ago.
Poorly explained changes to the rules for disability support funding which were to apply forthwith were dumped on the Waikaha/Ministry of Disabled People website without any consultation with those who would be affected.
The changes restricted how disabled people and their carers could spend allocated budget.
The excuse given was that the ministry was within days of reaching its funding limits, something it had apparently advised then Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds could happen, months before.
She seemed not to understand what would and would not be funded and, without providing any details, suggested carers had been taking advantage of looseness of rules around the funding to spend it on massages, overseas travel, pedicures, and haircuts for themselves.
If the idea was to get the public supportive of the action by painting carers as self-serving wasters of precious public funds, it backfired.
There was considerable public protest and, a little more than a month later, Ms Simmonds lost the portfolio, replaced by Louise Upston.
In 2024 when the sudden changes were foisted on those who accessed the funding, the situation was described as a pause, necessary to stabilise the disability support system and, since costs were escalating, make it more sustainable.
Those in the disability sector might equally argue the escalating costs were the chickens coming home to roost after far too many years of underfunding where the disabled and their carers had little input or control around funding.
However, while there was eventually consultation with those in the disability community, their views were not considered in that initial decision-making.
This was a real slap in the face for the community which has spent decades trying to make successive governments grasp the need for a ‘‘nothing about us without us’’ approach in this area.
The 2024 Independent Review which followed the rule changes found disability support services had unsustainable spending increases, unclear criteria for access to flexible funding, and an unfair postcode lottery for disabled people around the country
Ms Upston says since then there has been real progress in stabilising services with strengthened financial controls and oversight.
But two years has been much more than a pause for those affected by the rule changes.
Those in the disability community say the changes have been traumatic, with burnout, anxiety, and loss of dignity among the impacts.
There have been reports of some women having to leave the workforce because they no longer had adequate support, children with autism unable to attend schools, people being isolated because the cuts restricted their activities, and some saying they could not pay for basic services such as personal care or house cleaning.
From April, the 2024 purchasing rules will no longer apply, and the Disability Support Service insists the new way the funding works will provide certainty.
It says the new system is able to forecast costs much better and anticipate where growth may occur and allocate funding accordingly.
Its transformation general manager Alastair Hill told RNZ there is more money, and that the annual operating budget was around $500 million more than it was two years ago.
While he acknowledged the past two years had been really difficult, he, and Ms Upston have not seen fit to apologise for the fallout caused by the way these changes were made.
That will have left a sour taste in the mouths of many of the thousands affected in the last two years.
An apology with an undertaking that, if there are to be any future changes, these will not suddenly appear overnight without any involvement or consultation with those likely impacted might have gone some way to restore trust.
Without that, it may be hard for those scarred from the 2024 changes to be confident much has been learned.
