The End of Life Choice Act, which legalised euthanasia in 2019, has insufficient safeguards, Te Pati says.

It wants to amend the Act to ensure disabled people are not targeted.

The moves are part of Te Pati's new wide-ranging "disability policy".

Te Pati's co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, says the policy responds to systemic racism and the country's inequitable treatment of disabled people.

"We are committed to being a movement that leaves nobody behind and being a voice for those who are constantly being marginalised in Aotearoa."

Te Pati Maori is committed to ensuring disabled people are treated with dignity and respect, with their rights upheld, she says.

It also intends to establish a Mana Haua (Disability Rights) Authority to direct 25 percent of all disability funding.

In addition, the new policy package aims to ensure Maori disability groups are included when all disability-related policy and legislation is being developed.

Addressing the unequal support disabled people receive from the ACC and the Ministry of Health is another policy feature.

Currently, people born with disabilities receive less support from the Ministry of Health than people with accident-related disabilities whom the ACC supports and building standard reform is on the agenda to ensure they are fully accessible.

Currently, only commercial buildings need to provide accessibility for disabled people. Residential builds do not.

Te Pati's policy proposes retrofitting existing State homes to meet universal design standards to ensure they are wheelchair-accessible.

Finally, income support abatement rates for disabled people earning an income would be abolished. So would reductions in income support when disabled people enter relationships.

Source

• Stuff

But the Catholic Church teamed up with sports celebrity Tim Tebow on Tuesday night (Feb. 4) and set formalities aside to give people with special needs a night to remember.

"I don't think God gives us strength so we can lift things; I think he gives us strength so we can lift other people," said Tebow, the 6-foot, 3-inch, 200-pound former NFL quarterback, in an interview with Religion News Service.

"That's what we want to do. We want to lift other people and share the love of Jesus with them."

The sixth installment of the event, called Night to Shine, took place for the first time in the Eternal City with the patronage of the Pontifical Academy for Life, a Vatican think tank aimed at promoting discussion and research on questions surrounding human life. Read more

The event runs from noon to 1 pm in the Connolly Hall, 10 Guildford Terrace, Thorndon, and marks the 2019 International Day of Persons with Disabilities, with the theme being The Future is Accessible.

Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni will address the gathering.

The day and the event present a special opportunity to let go of out-dated thinking around people with disabilities, says Nathaniel Centre director Dr John Kleinsman.

"People with disabilities can make a valued contribution to our families, our schools, our parishes, our communities and our neighbourhoods," Dr Kleinsman says. "More importantly, they provide us with the opportunity to look ahead and reimagine how our families, schools, communities, churches and neighbourhoods can be made into more accessible places for people with disabilities."

The International Day of Persons with Disability has become an annual celebration on 3 December for communities around the world. It was established by the United Nations in 1992 to promote the dignity and rights of people living with disabilities.

Light refreshments will be served. NZ Sign Language Interpretation provided. Accessible parking will be available in the grounds of Sacred Heart Cathedral School.

Supplied

The filmmakers interview some of the people who spent much of their young lives in psychopaedic institutions in New Zealand.

These were situated at Templeton, Braemar, near Nelson, Kimberley, near Levin, and Mangere in Auckland.

In the documentary, Dr Hilary Stace, a Victoria University disability researcher, says it wasn't uncommon in the early to mid-1900s for authorities to pressure parents into handing their wayward children over to the State where they would be "looked after".

These actions were supported by government policy at the time and a burgeoning eugenics movement.

"Eugenics is the science of selective breeding, basically that took ideas from Darwin's survival of the fittest and genetics and applied it to humans," Stace says.

"There were regulations and laws passed over the decades from about 1911 where children, but also adults, were labelled with various types of impairments which led them to be seen as undesirables."

The policy of breeding out "undesirables" led to the establishment of psychopaedic colonies in New Zealand. These were situated at the locations sited above.

When these centres eventually closed late last century, most residents moved into the community.

Until recently, the conventional view was that eugenics fell on stony ground in New Zealand.

However, a law authorising eugenic sterilisation was almost passed by the New Zealand Parliament 90 years ago.

The "eugenic sterilisation law had broad support among New Zealand politicians, medics, the judiciary, several women's organisations and academics," writes Dr Hamish Spencer in a 2018 book on the subject.

"This support would have been sufficient to gain parliamentary approval had the government pushed."

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• palgrave.com
• Image: stuff.co.nz

The 27-year-old belongs to the Christian Fellowship For Disabled in Auckland.

Manuele has been involved in many national camps.

Last year he was a volunteer at the Centre and is now a member of the Christian Disability Trust.

Manuele has cerebral palsy.

Even as a child John 10:10 became his motivation, "live life to the fullest" or "abundantly."

He took it to mean he got to give things a go; do exciting things and not live an ordinary "disabled" life.

It was an invitation to him to push through barriers.

He never said that he was capable of doing anything, but it has been a motivation not to let his disability limit or prevent him from enjoying the best life possible.

John 10:10 instilled in him a "can do" attitude because he believes that Jesus will give him the strength to do the things God has in store for him.

He interpreted the verse as a command to live extraordinarily and to strive for the best.

As he got older and read the Bible more, the motivation to live life to the fullest that John 10:10 triggered in him did not diminish.

He believes that he can make the most of life no matter what the circumstances he finds himself in.

Driving around in a wheelchair doesn't allow him to access some places.

Having a speech impediment frustrates him when he can't talk to someone because they don't understand him.

However, he can choose not to let his troubles bog him down, but to let go and allow Jesus to bring out the best in every situation.

Supplied: Peter Mulvany

He told reporters he wanted to express his gratitude for his witness.

"Simply put, I want to thank him and thank God for having given us this man with such a great witness," the pope said.

Jean Vanier, whose charity work helped improve conditions for developmentally disabled people all over the world, died on Tuesday aged 90.

He founded the L'Arche communities for intellectually disabled people and also co-founded the Faith and Light communities for people with intellectual disabilities, their families and friends.

A visit to a psychiatric hospital prompted the former Canadian navy officer and professor to turn to charity work.

There he met institutionalised men with intellectual disabilities who were brutalised and neglected.

One of these men asked Vanier, "Will you be my friend?"

From that moment in 1964, the international L'Arche movement of communities dedicated to people with intellectual disabilities began.

He founded L'Arche as an alternative living environment where those with developmental disabilities could fully participate in society instead of as patients.

With Raphael Simi and Philippe Seux, two formerly institutionalised men, Vanier established the first L'Arche ("The Ark") community in an unheated, tumbledown stone house at Trosly-Breuil, north of Paris.

L'Arche now has communities in 38 countries that are home to thousands of people both with and without disabilities.

"He saw people locked up and he decided to make a gesture, inspired by the Bible," said Pierre Jacquand, who leads L'Arche's facilities in France. "He felt a calling to defend the most marginalised.

"He gave them a voice," Jacquand said.

He added that, over time, Vanier's work helped inspire broader change in how France addresses the needs of those with developmental disorders, including Down syndrome and autism spectrum disorders.

Vanier also traveled the world to encourage dialogue across religions.

He was awarded the 2015 Templeton Prize for spiritual work, as well as France's Legion of Honor.

He was also the subject of a documentary shown at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival called "Jean Vanier, the Sacrament of Tenderness."

Pope Francis, who had made a point of thanking Vanier for his work, was informed of his death.

Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti says Francis is praying for him and the community.

Source

• National Catholic Reporter
• National Catholic Reporter
• Religion News Service
• Washington Post