It’s a cloudy summer day as I write this column sitting outside at a friend’s home in the Netherlands. One of those days that you wonder if it will clear and fry everything in sight, or more cloud will roll in and spoil the chances of a late afternoon beer in the sun. I’m here because I am recovering from the examination of NZ’s progress on the UNCRPD (Disability Rights Convention), and the associated meetings, both formal and informal.

As a lactose intolerant person, I often say something like “hold the cheese”, but last week was full of camera-wielders asking people to say cheese and hold it while group photos were taken. It’s fascinating, to me at least, how many languages I need to learn to say “I cannot eat cheese” in, while practically everyone the world over says “cheese” for the camera.

New Zealand was sandwiched in between Japan and South Korea; their delegations were considerably larger than ours so there was plenty of opportunity to interact with disabled people in the UN during the day, and at our hotel over breakfast and into the evening. I have to admit that my ability to interact with Japanese people has an advantage courtesy of learning the language at high school (OK not the whole language) and a number of trips to Japan since that have kept my skill level above an embarrassing level.

Having a common language is useful, but having a common topic of interest created much greater keenness to understand each other. So, while I was being stretched using Godfrey translate, my DPO Coalition colleagues were using a mix of sign language (tourist sign, not NZSL), drawings, and Google Translate. The messages we shared were pretty clear though; disabled people around the world want equal rights and equity of outcomes (my choice of words).

My choice of words included two formal speeches as Chair of NZ’s Independent Monitoring Mechanism (IMM), and being involved in the five presentations made by the DPO Coalition during the private briefing with the UN Committee. Involvement of DPOs in an IMM process is so uncommon internationally, that we had to explain how we are treated as equal partners and that we are actually independent of our partners and independent of Government. I do believe that we also proved that independence in the speech I gave about the Access for New Zealanders bill that has just had its first reading in Parliament.

In my speech I observed that the new bill places no compulsion on anyone to do anything. It creates an advisory committee that will report to the Minister for Disability Issues, and it is the Minister that then has the control, not disabled people. It is true that this new committee can decide what is discrimination or an access problem affecting disabled people, but their opinion is just that, an opinion. It is true that the new committee can discuss issues arising in local government and the private sector, but once they tell the Minister what is wrong, the Minister is then only able to discuss the issue with the relevant parties. In fact, the Minister’s direct control is limited to her own portfolios, and so issues of discrimination or access barriers of any kinds occurring in health, transport, education, justice, and many other agencies across Government are beyond her control; she will need support from another Minister to get anything done in those crucial areas that affect our lives.

Sure, the Minister for Disability Issues, on the advice of a selected group of disabled people and whānau, will be able to ask that standards and regulations are developed. Yes, she will be able to make statements about what the private sector must do for disabled people.

But her chances of making sure a major supermarket chain or hardware store actually does have an accessible website are zero.

The chances that we will see more audio-described content on TV are

good, but this will come because we continue to see development without new legislation.

The already-existing Disability Action Plan is a tool to help Government agencies make progress for disabled people using their services. They can make progress without the new committee, and the existence of the new committee won’t raise the pace either. Blind Citizens NZ and the DPO Coalition are working with agencies on implementing this action plan. I can’t yet see how going the long way around via a committee and a Minister or two will help us do our work.

Your ability to get help to resolve a personal issue where you are being discriminated against will not improve by way of this legislation. You will still need to make a complaint through the Human Rights Commission or another similar entity. You will not see your effort in raising an issue with the new committee being rewarded unless it is important enough to the committee to take further.

So what changes might make the legislation do enough for disabled people to make disabled people believe their lives will be improved? Well, I think it comes down to a very small list of big changes.

The bill doesn’t guarantee that it will remedy failings of the private sector or local government; disabled people need improvements in access to be a comprehensive solution being worked on by everyone.

The bill doesn’t actually state what access standards there will be, or that regulations must be created We need to know that solutions will actually be created if they aren’t in the bill. The Minister for Disability Issues can’t give us this certainty.

The bill makes a committee of disabled people responsible for telling a Minister what needs to change. We need changes on the issues to actually be determined as a list of issues that must be addressed.

The only powers the committee has are to advise a Minister. The committee can’t decide anything that isn’t then subject to Ministerial oversight.

Why should disabled people have to convince a Minister that the issues are worthy of action? This makes disabled people second class citizens who must appeal to a committee of disabled people who must then appeal to a Minister. We know what many of the issues facing disabled people are; DPOs have been bringing such issues forwards for decades.

The bill doesn’t stop anyone from carrying on as if the bill didn’t exist. There is no enforcement even if an issue is found to be an access barrier. It doesn’t offer any resolution services which improve on the options available to us under the Human Rights Act.

So, what will the proposed regime provide? Unfortunately, I suspect it will either fail to bring issues affecting disabled people forwards because we don’t see the regime as worthy of our engagement, or it will bring so many issues forward that the Minister can’t handle the workload.

The only way to get change will be for the committee to be upgraded to something more like a commission. Having a Commission that can make public decrees which must be actioned by the person or agency that is responsible for creating an access barrier. If the people who are currently creating access barriers don’t get forced into removing the problems they made, the barriers will remain.

So, I am left asking if any disabled people are smiling about this new legislation. We certainly will not be saying “cheese” if the bill is not seriously improved so that it will matter to disabled people. If it does not, it could actually entrench the problems we have now and make it harder to make progress.

While Blind Citizens NZ will make a submission, the Select Committee needs to hear from as many of you as possible.

Making a submission is fairly easy, whether you do it online or using a hand-written letter. We all need to contribute if we don’t want to be given an Inaccessibility for some New Zealanders Act.