Disability innovations

100 per cent accessible Auckland

Creating a fully inclusive society!

The Disability Advisor and a council officer showing the safety
barriers at the Glen Innes railway station. The yellow tape makes
this fence more visible and the crossing more accessible.

Breaking down the barriers

To create a fully inclusive Auckland, both physical and social barriers to community and civic participation must first be removed. In other words, this is about creating a truly accessible environment for ALL disabled people so that they are treated with respect and can participate fully in all areas of life.

To make this happen we must move beyond the notion that "accessibility" is simply about building ramps and bigger toilets for wheelchair users. For although these features are essential they only address a tiny fraction of the diverse needs of our disabled population.

In order to create a barrier free environment we need to challenge traditional ideas on what "disability" is and who we think of as "disabled" people.

This involves thinking about the whole range of impairment groups, such as physical, sensory, intellectual, psychiatric, and neurological, and then addressing their particular access needs. Access means different things for different people, for example:

for people who have experienced mental illness, the biggest barrier to community participation and employment is other people's attitudes towards them and their illness. The access issue here is negative stereotypes.
for someone who has a vision impairment, and wants to travel independently the access issue here is not being able to read small print on timetables and bus route numbers.

According to the New Zealand Disability Strategy, New Zealand will be inclusive when people with impairments can say that they live in:

"A society that highly values our lives and continually enhances our full participation."

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