Submission on the draft Auckland Plan

Auckland Council asked for feedback on the Auckland Plan, its long-term vision for Auckland over the next 30 years. The RNZFB submission commended the general goals and objectives of the Auckland Plan, but asked for more specific representation of disability issues.

Introduction

This is the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind (RNZFB)’s submission on the draft Auckland Plan. The RNZFB appreciates the opportunity to comment on this draft Plan, and would further welcome an opportunity to speak to this submission at a hearing by Council.

The RNZFB welcomes the Plan's vision of creating the world's most liveable city, and congratulates Auckland Council on the work it has already begun to include disabled people in this vision, through establishment of the Disability Strategic Advisory Group and other initiatives.

In general, the RNZFB agrees with points made by the Association of Blind Citizens of New Zealand (Auckland Branch) in their submission on this draft Plan.

Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind

The Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind (the RNZFB) is New Zealand’s main provider of sight loss services to blind and partially sighted people. The RNZFB's vision is empowering and supporting blind and partially sighted New Zealanders to ensure that they have the same opportunities and choices as everyone else.

The RNZFB advises government, business and the community on inclusive standards to ensure that blind and partially sighted people can participate and contribute equitably. The RNZFB also provides its members with the adaptive skills they need to lead independent lives.

The RNZFB has more than 3,000 blind and partially sighted members living in the Auckland region, and more than 11,500 nationwide, including many who are deafblind.

Besides the direct benefit to the RNZFB's membership, building an inclusive, accessible city for blind and partially sighted people will benefit a much wider population. VISION 2020 NZ's recent Clear Focus estimated that in 2009, almost 125,000 New Zealanders aged 40 years or over had vision loss, including around 12,000 who were blind. This is estimated to increase to 174,000 people with vision loss by 2020, including 18,300 blind people.

With the increase in visitors as Auckland becomes a key international destination, accessible facilities for tourists will increase in importance. Globally, the World Health Organization estimates that 285 million people have significant vision impairment. Of these, 39 million are blind and 246 million have low vision.

Comments on the draft Auckland Plan

The RNZFB supports the overall vision of the draft Plan, and its aspirations to improve the city for all Aucklanders. This submission highlights recommendations to ensure that initiatives and policies include disabled Aucklanders, particularly those who are blind and partially sighted.

The profile of disability issues in the Plan

Inclusion of disabled people is a significant strategic issue, and should be recognised as such in the Plan. As noted on page 41 of the draft Plan, one in five Aucklanders has an impairment, and this will increase with an ageing population. If the Plan is read from a disability perspective, many of the top-level statements and goals are very worthwhile. For example, "Create a strong, inclusive and equitable society that ensures opportunities for all Aucklanders" implicitly includes disabled Aucklanders. However, without specific explicit consideration of disability in policies, targets and measures, true inclusion is not inevitable.

Disabled people are considered specifically in Chapter 1: Auckland's People, and the barriers noted in this Chapter are well considered. However, accommodating disability is not just about people and social attitudes. New Zealand's Disability Strategy defines disability in terms of a social model:

Disability is not something individuals have. What individuals have are impairments. They may be physical, sensory, neurological, psychiatric, intellectual or other impairments.

Disability is the process which happens when one group of people create barriers by designing a world only for their way of living, taking no account of the impairments other people have. Our society is built in a way that assumes that we can all move quickly from one side of the road to the other; that we can all see signs, read directions, hear announcements, reach buttons, have the strength to open heavy doors and have stable moods and perceptions.

The Plan should aim to build an Auckland that actively accommodates difference. This includes changing social attitudes towards disabled people, but it also includes rethinking the way that Council builds infrastructure and provides services so that everyone is included.

Inclusion of disabled people is in line with the Auckland Plan's objectives, particularly the principle "Act Fairly" ("Consider the needs of all groups in the community to ensure that all Aucklanders can participate equally"). However, unless disability is specifically mentioned throughout the plan, it is likely not to be prioritised.

Recommendation 1: Include statements on disability in Section B

Designing Auckland's environments, communities and processes to be fully inclusive and accessible to disabled people would help the city to meet several of the key challenges outlined in Section B. Recognising the importance of disability issues, this section should include an analysis of how disabled people form part of Auckland's current context, and how disability issues factor into future challenges and opportunities for the city. For example:

• Part of population growth and demographic change is the ageing population, which will see an increase in the number of New Zealanders with age-related impairments. For example, VISION 2020 NZ's recent Clear Focus research identified that without a focused effort on preventing sight loss, the number of New Zealanders over 40 who have vision loss is projected to rise from 125,000 to 174,000 by 2020.
• Inclusive employment would increase international competitiveness (C) by making Auckland a more attractive place to work for disabled people.
• Disabled people are disproportionately unemployed and face extra costs of living due to their impairment. The disabled population faces social and economic inequalities (D)
• Ageing or insufficient infrastructure (F) presents an opportunity for Auckland to rebuild its infrastructure in consideration of disabled people. For example, ageing footpaths can be replaced with accessible pedestrian environments that are designed considering the needs of blind and partially sighted pedestrians.

Recommendation 2: Include statements of aspiration specific to disability in Section C

"A well connected and accessible Auckland" is a commendable outcome, however the explanatory text on p25 uses "accessible" in its broadest sense. To ensure this ambition includes disabled Aucklanders, the RNZFB recommends including a statement about universal design to ensure that Auckland is built with disabled people in mind.

"Substantially raise living standards for all Aucklanders and focus on those most in need" could also include an aspirational statement related to the living standards of disabled people. Disabled people are disproportionately unemployed, and face additional disability-related costs of living. They are one of the groups "most in need", however, the explanatory text related to this outcome (p28) relates mainly to geographic regions.

Recommendation 3: Include commitments to work with disabled people in section D, part IV

Part IV of Section D outlines key stakeholders and partners in Auckland Council's work. Alongside iwi, ethnic communities and the private sector, the disability sector is a key stakeholder with specific interests that should be included in this section.

The RNZFB commends the establishment of the Disability Strategic Advisory Group. In support of their work, the importance of disability issues needs to be recognised at a high level in the plan to enable this group to have significant influence.

Recommendation 4: Include specific disability-related targets

1. Inclusive Education

Chapter 1: People aims to produce better educational outcomes for all. Including Students with High Needs, a 2010 Education Review Office report, found that 50% of New Zealand's schools did not demonstrate inclusive practice for students with high needs.

In order to achieve the Auckland Plan's targets of all school leavers achieving NCEA Level 2 by 2030 and all young adults completing a post-secondary qualification by 2040, Auckland's schools and tertiary institutions must improve their ability to accommodate and fully include disabled students.

The RNZFB suggests an additional target of ensuring that by 2020, all schools and tertiary institutions in Auckland demonstrate inclusive practice for disabled students.

2. Accessible entertainment

Chapter 3: Auckland's Arts, Culture, Heritage and Lifestyle should include targets to include disabled people, particularly those with sensory disabilities, in cultural life.

Blind and partially sighted people face significant barriers to accessing public library services, theatre, and other cultural institutions. Examples of good practice exist in Auckland, for example The Edge's new SIGNAL programme that provides audio-described and captioned live theatre, and initiatives by Auckland's libraries to improve access to their collections and services. Such examples of inclusive entertainment need to be supported and built on. An additional target could aim to ensure that the proportion of publically-funded entertainment which is accessible to blind and partially sighted people increases significantly.

3. Inclusive employment

Chapter 4: Auckland's Economy should include an aspiration about making the employment environment in Auckland disability-friendly. As a significant employer, Auckland Council can aim to be an inclusive employer, including by creating a disability-aware culture, by ensuring its internal technology systems are accessible, and by advertising its employment opportunities specifically to disabled people.

It can also provide leadership, empowering Auckland's employers to become aware of disability issues and develop inclusive practice by continuing Manukau City Council's early involvement in the national Employer's Disability Network.

Priority 4, "Enhance Investment in People to Grow Skills and a Local Workforce" should include an aspiration about developing employment opportunities for disabled people alongside the aspirations related to Māori and Pacific people.

4. Accessible urban design

Chapter 8: Urban Auckland aims to "realise a quality compact city". One measure of quality and 'good design' (Priority 3) should be accessibility for disabled people (just as good design incorporates a commitment to environmental sustainability - para 528 and Directive 8.7). Accessible development could be measured through consultation with disabled people and through successful incorporation of relevant accessibility standards across the Council's planning policies and practices. Examples of relevant standards include NZS4121:2001: Design for access and mobility: buildings and associated facilities, RTS 14 Guidelines for facilities for blind and vision-impaired pedestrians and the RNZFB Accessible Signage Guidelines.

The RNZFB recommends including a target statement on commitment to universal, accessible design.

5. Accessible housing

Chapter 9: Auckland's Housing should include commitment to ensuring that disabled people can achieve accessible housing that meets their needs, just as Council aims to support Māori, Pacific and ethnic communities in need to achieve safe, affordable, healthy and sustainable housing (Directives 9.6 and 9.7, p141).

The RNZFB would welcome specific reference to 'lifetime design' and 'universal design' in relation to housing. For example, these could be added to para 578 as further examples of positive achievements which should be incentivised.

6. Universal design of infrastructure

Chapter 10: Auckland's Physical and Social Infrastructure should include aspirations to ensure infrastructure is universally designed and accessible to disabled people, so that they have "fair access to services" (para 663). "Access" seems to be used in this chapter in the sense of services and infrastructure being available and approachable, rather than universally usable. For example, para 656 aims to ensure that 'accessible' social services are provided to local communities, in the sense of being available and appropriate to the community. This does not inevitably imply that such services will be disability-aware,

The RNZFB recommends including a specific statement and target on accessible, universal design of infrastructure and services.

7. Accessible public transport

Chapter 11: Auckland's Transport should include an aspiration to develop a fully accessible public transport system.

Positive work in this area is ongoing through Auckland Transport and its Accessibility Advisory Group. For example, recent introduction of braille bus stop signs and audio real-time announcements on Auckland's train network are two initiatives which have improved access to public transport for blind and partially sighted Aucklanders.

This work should be supported and strengthened through the Auckland Plan by specifically including a target statement on accessible public transport.

Recommendation 5: Produce documents in accessible formats

One of the most significant barriers that blind and partially sighted Aucklanders face is limited access to information. The prevalence of information only available in print and in inaccessible digital formats limits access to participation in education, employment and political and social life.

As ratepayers and residents of Auckland, as tourists and as workers, blind and partially sighted people have the same need to access the information produced by Auckland Council and Council Controlled Organisations as anyone else. This includes a huge range of information: rates bills. consultation documents, tourist information websites, event guides and programmes, rubbish and recycling calendars, meeting minutes, future plans and daily news.

Across Auckland Council, some individual positive examples of good practice in providing accessible information exist.

• OurAuckland magazine is regularly produced in audio as a podcast from the Auckland Council website and included on the RNZFB Telephone Information System.
• Waitakere Local Board produced their draft Local Board plan in large print, and Waitemata Local Board circulated theirs in accessible electronic text by email.

However, the draft Auckland Plan has been provided through public channels only in print and inaccessible PDF formats. A summary was produced in large print, which provides greater access to the main points in the plan for some people with sight loss, but there was no way for a blind member of the public to independently access and consider the entire Auckland Plan to give informed feedback. The RNZFB is aware that an accessible Word version of the Plan was provided to some individuals within the Disability Strategic Advisory Group, but it appears not to have been made available through the Auckland Council website.

To include blind and partially sighted people in consultation processes and to provide equitable service across the range of Auckland Council's areas of business, it will be essential to develop a high-level accessible information and communications plan that ensures all documents provided by the Council and Council Controlled Organisations are available in formats that blind and partially sighted people can read. This can include braille, audio, large print and accessible electronic formats, which may include email, accessible websites or text messages.