Human Rights Commission

Today, the 26 September, is an important date for New Zealanders to remember, but especially those with a disability. On this day in 2008, New Zealand ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

And that’s why Paul Gibson, chose this day to take up his position as Commissioner with responsibilities for disability issues. “I’d hope that in the years to come more people realise the significance of this day. It’s the day we accepted that the one in five New Zealanders with a disability have a voice backed by international law that says they are part of the mainstream and should expect to share the same rights and responsibilities as any New Zealander.”

At a powhiri at Parliament today hosted by the Minister of Disability Issues, the Hon Tariana Turia, Gibson, a disability advocate, with degrees in physics and public policy from Victoria University said he wanted to people to recall what was happening 30 years ago to gauge the present. “New Zealanders were immersed in the discontent of the Springbok tour, our headlines were about Prince Charles and his new wife Diana and the biggest nationwide telethon ever was held in support of the first International Year of Disabled Persons.

“Today, New Zealanders are immersed in the Rugby World Cup, the Royal story of the year was the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton and for people with disabilities there’s a sense of a new beginning that sees people with disabilities asserting their rights and responsibilities. People with disabilities are born free and equal and they no longer want to be seen as charity cases.”

He said much could be achieved if the passion and commitment that a generation of New Zealanders drew on to protest apartheid in South Africa in 1981 was focussed on ensuring a fair go for New Zealanders with disabilities today.

Paul Gibson did not set out to be involved in human rights. As a young man with impaired vision, brought up on a Taranaki dairy farm, he completed a physics degree at Victoria University in Wellington, but became involved in student and disability politics. On the way to completing a masters in public policy, he was student association president and helped drive a disability ginger group on campus that led to the university to examine ways to make its buildings and courses more accessible to all students.

He is a former president of the Disabled People’s Assembly and was involved in the work of international NGOs advocating for the United Nations to adopt a Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.

In his new role, he is charged with advocating for the rights of disabled people. “If we are measuring change, then there have been significant steps. The work of the 90s has resulted in a national disability strategy. There’s new impetus, driven by the Disability Convention, to make sure New Zealanders with disabilities have equal opportunity to take part in all aspects of life and society.”

However he noted that complaints to the Human Rights Commission on the grounds of disability, continued to be the largest single ground of complaint. “That’s not good enough,” he said, “It shows that for far too many people, there remain hurdles that exclude them from the lives they should be leading.”

He said it would be a privilege and a responsibility to take on the role of Commissioner with responsibilities for disability issues, and he hoped that in another 30 years, the work he and the Commission would do would be gauged as having made a difference in the lives of 20 per cent of New Zealanders.