Why Whaikaha Matters

The Ministry for Disabilities is lifesaving. It is life changing. And it is leagues better than any other system or organisation set up to provide social supports, except perhaps for ACC. Let’s look at why it’s important.

Whaikaha was created in response to disabled people requesting a ministry that focussed on improving the lives of disabled people. A new organisation was necessary because — and you may have noticed this by now — social supports can actually be quite hostile to the people who are seeking them. In the same way that changing CYFS to Oranga Tamariki did not in any way change the culture or continuance of the organisation, any “spin off” programme under an existing Ministry (be that Health, MSD, or something else) comes laden with baggage. Many disabled people have been abused, neglected, degraded, threatened, and just generally mistreated by parts of the system, from OT care all the way to elder care, from financial supports to physical and sexual abuse caused by carers or health practitioners.

Whaikaha cuts cleanly through all that by not being them. It is a system for disabled people, designed and requested by disabled people, and widely praised for the benefits it has produced for the disabled community and the wellbeing it facilitates. It is a partnership, and that partnership concept is keystone to the relationship between disabled people and the State. For decades, disabled people have been institutionalised and sidelined and shoved into wherever the Government thinks we should go, to be treated however they want to treat us. Whaikaha was the ending of that, because it gave agency back to disabled people, and yes it’s important that it came with the money. Because at the end of the day this is all about the money; making the money accessible to the people who need it, making sure it goes to the right places, making sure disabled people aren’t having an unnecessarily terrible time attempting to access it.

There are people who work at MSD who hate the unemployed. There are people who work in mental health who hate the mentally ill. God knows why they’re there — a convenient job vacancy I suppose — but they are, and dealing with the difficult cogs in the system when your life relies on it is pure hell. Now Whaikaha isn’t perfect, but the culture, the creation of a service for disabled people that improves our lives, was leagues above any other system NZ has attempted.

Whaikaha understood deeply and intimately the needs of disabled people. They bent over backwards to make sure those needs were met, especially when they were unusual or challenging. They treated disabled people with respect and empathy. They are the only government institution I’ve dealt with while suicidal that hasn’t at any point made me want to kill myself more. And that includes the mental health units.

Whaikaha was created to help the disabled, and that makes all the difference. No other system will fill that role.

For me, Whaikaha was a haven from a hostile system. Now Whaikaha’s functions will be taken up by MSD. And we already know how recipients of MSD money feel about MSD.

It’s not positive.