Napier Disability Strategy 2019 - 2023
What will you find in here? Page number: What does the Napier City Council do?...................................4
What is disability?..........................6
People with disabilities in Napier...........................................9
What is the Napier Disability Strategy?.....................................14
The values of the Napier Disability Strategy..……………...17 1
Page number: Focus area 1: Getting around Goal 1: Everyone can go where they want to……………….19
Focus area 2: Getting involved Goal 2: Giving everyone a chance to get involved……..…....24
Focus area 3: Being included Goal 3: Services / information is accessible for everyone………29
Focus area 4: Having fun Goal 4: Something fun for everyone…………………………..32
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Page number: Focus area 5: Being safe Goal 5: Everyone is safe………..36
Focus area 6: Having work Goal 6: A workplace where everyone can be their best self…………………………...41
How will we know how we are doing?...................................43
Where to find more information about the Napier City Council………………….…………45
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What does the Napier City Council do?
Napier is a city in the North Island of New Zealand.
The Napier City Council looks after the services that make Napier a great place for everyone to live.
The services the Council looks after are: local roads and footpaths
water
sewerage (what happens after we flush the toilet)
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rubbish and recycling
outdoor spaces like: o playgrounds o parks o sports fields
libraries
swimming pools
dog registration (money that is paid by owners to the Council)
Civil Defence (for example being ready if we have an earthquake).
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What is disability?
The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that disabled people are those who live for a long time with: physical impairment intellectual impairment experience of mental illness sensory impairment like being deaf or blind.
The UN also says that barriers stop people with disabilities from being able to be part of their community.
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Barriers are things that can make it hard for people with disabilities to do the things they want.
Some example of barriers are: physical barriers – such as steps into buildings attitude barriers – how people treat people with disabilities communication barriers – being able to understand what has been said or written.
People with disabilities call themselves lots of different things.
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The Napier City Council asked people what they wanted to be called and they said people with disabilities.
So in this this guide we use the term people with disabilities.
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People with disabilities in Napier
1 in every 5 people in New Zealand has a disability.
Of this group of people 26 percent are Māori 19 percent are Pasifika 16 percent are Asian. Maori
Pasifika
Asian
Other
In Napier 27 percent of people have a disability.
People have a disabillity People do not have a disability
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Of this 27 percent: 55 percent of this group are over 55 years old 36 percent of this group are over Over 55 years old
65 years old.
Over 65 years old Other
The 4 main kinds of disabilities in Napier are: 1. Physical 9 thousand 7 hundred forty 7 people (9747 people) 50 percent are over 65 years old. Over 65 years old Under 65 years old
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2. Hearing: 5 thousand 6 hundred and forty 5 people (5645 people) 50% are over 65 years old. Over 65 years old Under 65 years old
3. Mental health 3 thousand 2 hundred forty 9 people (3249 people) Most people are: o 10 – 14 years old or o 40 – 55 years old.
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4. Vision  2 thousand 2 hundred and eighty 9 people. (2289 people)  just under half these people are over 65 years old. Over 65 years old Under 65 years old
Napier has an aging population.
Aging population means there are more older people living in our community.
This because people are living longer than they have in the past.
By the year 2031 we think that 1 out of every 4 people in Napier will be over 65 years old. 12
This means there will be more people with disabilities living in Napier.
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What is the Napier Disability Strategy?
The Napier City Council Disability Strategy is a plan about how to make things better for people with disabilities who live in Napier.
It is a 5-year plan that will start in
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2019 and end in 2023.
There were 4 groups of people that the Napier City Council talked to before we wrote this plan.
1. Napier Disability Advisory Group This is a group of people who work for disability service providers.
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2. Napier Ability Plus This a group of: people who have a disability family / carers of people with disabilities.
3. Napier’s disability community. We held meetings for: people with disabilities disability service providers people from the Deaf community.
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4. Māori Piri Prentice is the Napier City Council Kaumātua.
Kaumātua are respected Māori elders who have been involved within their community for a number of years.
Piri gave advice on behalf of Māori to the Council about the things in this strategy.
Māori are represented on the Advisory Group.
We will keep working with Māori as we put in place the things in this strategy.
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The values of the Napier Disability Strategy
Values are ideas that we have about the things that are important to our way of life.
The Napier Disability Strategy has 3 important values. 1. We value people with disabilities We want people with disabilities to live happily in our community.
2. Our community is caring and inclusive We want Napier to be a place where people with disabilities are part of our community.
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3. Our places and spaces are accessible.
Accessible means places and information that are easy for people with disabilities to get to and use. There are lots of examples of what being accessible means in the rest of this strategy.
We want everyone to be able to use our places and spaces in Napier.
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Focus Area 1: Getting around Goal 1: Everyone can go where they want to go
Napier City Council wants to: have enough mobility carparks in the right places
make all footpaths easy to use
make all road crossings safe
have Council buildings that are everyone can use
make sure our outside parks and spaces are accessible for all.
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What are the next steps?
1. We need to look at our buildings to see if they are accessible for people with disabilities.
Accessible means places and information that are easy for people with disabilities to get to and use.
This is called doing a Barrier Free Assessment.
2. We also need to make sure that any new buildings being built are accessible.
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3. We need to use language people can understand in our accessibility signs.
4. We need to have Council staff that can support people with disabilities to use our services.
5. We need to look at the number of mobility car parks in the Napier area.
6. We want to help the community understand what service dogs do like: 
Guide Dogs

Hearing Dogs for the Deaf.
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7. We need to look at the use of:
Bollard
bollards
alleyway staples.
Alleyway staple
These things can make it hard for people with mobility scooters or wheelchairs to get around.
8. We need to look at making sure our walkways are accessible for people with disabilities.
Walkways are things like:
footpaths
paths in places like parks or beside the sea. 22
9. We need to look at our street signs to make sure they are clear so people can read them.
10. We need to tell other people when we have done things in a way that will be more accessible.
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Focus Area 2: Getting involved Goal 2: Giving everyone a chance to get involved
Napier City Council wants to: have different communication tools so everyone can have a say support people with disabilities to be involved in Council activities make sure people with disabilities can take part in all parts of civic life like o voting o decision making at the Council.
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What are the next steps?
1. We need to have the Napier Ability Plus group as an ongoing group who can help the Council with planning their activities.
2. We need to get people with disabilities involved in Council activities.
3. We also need to have New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) interpreters at: o Council meetings o committee meetings.
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4. We need to have information from the Council in accessible formats like Easy Read.
5. We need to have hearing loops in Council meeting rooms.
Hearing loops can make it easier for people who are Hard of Hearing to hear what is being said.
6. We need to look at online voting which may make it easier for people with disabilities to vote in their local elections.
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7. We need to share information about Council activities with community disability groups that are already meeting like: Deaf Club Napier Disability Advisory Group.
8. We also need to look at the things we use to communicate to make them easier for people to use like: text messages to mobile phones to remind people about meetings making sure that information on the Council website is written in a way that is easy to read.
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We also need to make sure that information on social media accounts (like Facebook) are easy to read.
9. We need to help people understand that involving people with disabilities in our community is important.
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Focus Area 3: Being included Goal 3: Services / information is accessible for everyone
The Napier City Council wants to have lots of ways that people with disabilities can get information about Council services.
What are the next steps? 1. We need to give our customer services staff training about the needs of people with disabilities.
Customer services is the help given to people who may have questions about using Council services.
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Customer service can be: face to face in a Council office by telephone by email.
2. We also need to have disability awareness training as part of Council staff induction.
Staff induction is about teaching new workers the things they need to know to do their job.
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3. We need to look at the information on the Council website to make sure it is written in a way that can be used by everyone.
4. We also need to use the Council’s Facebook page to talk about disability in a positive way.
5. We need to help Council staff to learn New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL).
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Focus Area 4: Having fun Goal 4: Something fun for everyone
Napier City Council wants to: have accessible community events make sure our places are accessible like: o swimming pools o libraries o playgrounds have accessible fun things to do like: o sports o concerts.
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What are the next steps?
1. We need to make an accessible event toolkit.
A toolkit is like a checklist.
The toolkit would have information about the things needed by people with disabilities at events.
For example things like: accessible parking NZSL interpreters accessible toilets.
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The toolkit would also have information about: how to make accessbiliy maps that show where the important disability accessible things are at the event the need for quiet spaces in noisy places how to keep everyone safe at the event.
2. We also need to have grant money that we can give to people who are having events to make sure they are accessible.
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3. We need to complete Barrier Free Assessments of the fun places in the community such as playgrounds.
You can go to page 20 of this guide for more information about Barrier Free Assessments.
4. We need to put in accessible fun things at playgrounds.
Everyone welcome
5. Make sure our signs use positive disability language.
6. We also need to make a map that shows the accessible places in Napier.
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Focus Area 5: Being safe Goal 5: Everyone is safe
Napier City Council wants: people to know how to keep themselves safe people to feel safe in all places in Napier have our communities working together to help each other.
The Napier City Council also wants people to know how to keep safe if we have a Civil Defence emergency.
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A Civil Defence emergency can be things like: earthquakes flooding bush fires.
What are the next steps?
1. We need to do more training with Council staff on how to help the community to feel safe.
2. The Napier City Council already has a booklet on their website called Get ready: Get thru. It has information about how to be ready if we have a Civil Defence emergency. 37
The Get ready: Get thru booklet can be found on the Napier City Council website: www.napier.govt.nz/assets/Document-Library/Other/cdemergency-checklist.pdf#search=%22Get ready Get Thru%22
3. We need to make a video using New Zealand Sign Language about how to be ready in a Civil Defence emergency.
4. We need to have a place where people with disabilities can put down their name if they need extra help during a Civil Defence emergency.
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5. We need to do more about letting people with disabilities know about the text alert system.
Emergency
The text alert system sends information about things people will need to know in an emergency.
6. We need to also work with people who live in assisted living to be ready for a Civil Defence emergency. Assisted living means places like:  rest homes / retirement villages  supported living places.
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7. We also need to let people know about 2 Facebook pages where you can keep up to date about Civil Defence:  Napier City Council Facebook page  Civil Defence Facebook page.
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Focus Area 6: Having work Goal 6: A work place where everyone can be their best self
The Napier City Council wants to:  support people of all abilities to apply for work at the Council  help Council staff be able to do good work.
What are the next steps?
1. We need to look at the steps the Council follows when people apply for jobs.
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2. We also need to look at the training given to people who are starting work at the Council.
3. We need to give people work experience. Work experience is unpaid work where you get to learn new skills.
4. We need to do disability awareness training with Managers at the Council.
5. We also need to share our stories of when we have good things happen in our workplace.
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How will we know how we are doing?
1. The Napier Disability Advisory Group will keep checking how we are doing with meeting these goals. The Napier Disability Advisory Group is a group of people who work for disability service providers.
2. The Napier Ability Plus group will help the Council work out what are the most important actions to work on first. This a group of: people who have disabilities whānau or carers of people with disabilities.
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3. The Napier Disability Strategy is reviewed every 5 years.
A review means looking at: what we have done what we still need to do anything new that we need to do.
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This Plan will start in 2019 and end in 2023.
A new Napier Disability Strategic
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Plan will be written in 2024.
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Where to find more information about the Napier City Council:
Website: www.napier.govt.nz
Email: info@napier.govt.nz
Phone: 06 835 7579
Facebook: Napier City Council www.facebook.com/NapierCityCouncil
Office: 215 Hastings Street Napier
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This information has been translated into Easy Read by the Make It Easy service of People First New Zealand Inc. Ngā Tāngata Tuatahi.
The ideas in this document are not the ideas of People First New Zealand Ngā Tāngata Tuatahi.
Make It Easy uses images from: Changepeople.org.nz
Photosymbols.com
Sam Corliss
Steve Bolton
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