Social Work Now, Issue 46, pages 25-28.
Article 23 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which New Zealand became a signatory in 2007, specifies that:
- “States Parties shall take effective and appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against persons with disabilities in all matters relating to marriage, family, parenthood and relationships, on an equal basis with others, so as to ensure that:
- (a) The right of all persons with disabilities who are of marriageable age to marry and to found a family on the basis of free and full consent of the intending spouses is recognized”
The Article goes on to say that “State Parties shall render appropriate assistance to persons with disabilities in the performance of their childrearing responsibilities” and that “in no case shall a child be separated from parents on the basis of a disability of either ... one or both of the parents”.
The former Minister of Health, the Honourable Pete Hodgson, in a speech at Parliament on 14 November 2006 entitled “The End of Institutionalisation” celebrating the closure of the Kimberley Centre, reiterated the focus of the New Zealand Disability Strategy (2001) that isabled people should have an “ordinary life”. This view was reinforced by the publication of the report To Have An Ordinary Life Kia Whai Oranga ‘Noa’, from the National Advisory Committee on Disability. Currently, the New Zealand Disability Strategy promotes people with an intellectual disability doing all the day-to-day things other citizens take for granted. For many, this includes falling in love, having a sexual elationship and having children.