Mäori directly or indirectly experience disability at a higher rate than any other population group in Aotearoa New Zealand. Despite one in three Mäori having some form of disability, Mäori have less access to support and health and disability services. Currently, gaps exist in knowledge related to Mäori and disability, and this is not helped by disabled Mäori being excluded from health and disability policy and service planning forums. With regard to disability frameworks, the medical model and the social model are the predominant northern hemisphere approaches to working with disabled persons. These models view disability in an individualised manner that is not relevant for many Indigenous disabled persons whose worldview is holistic, relational and collective in nature. In this paper, we critically examine current approaches to working with disabled Mäori and their experiences as Indigenous disabled persons before presenting Whänau Hauä as an alternative Indigenous approach to disability.

No abstract

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has had significant health, social and economic impacts around the world. We established a national, population-based longitudinal cohort to investigate the immediate and longer-term physical, psychological and economic impacts of COVID-19 on affected people in Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa), with the resulting evidence to assist in designing appropriate health and well-being services for people with COVID-19.ParticipantsAll people residing in Aotearoa aged 16 years or over, who had a confirmed or probable diagnosis of COVID-19 prior to December 2021, were invited to participate. Those living in dementia units were excluded. Participation involved taking part in one or more of four online surveys and/or in-depth interviews. The first wave of data collection took place from February to June 2022.Findings to dateBy 30 November 2021, of 8735 people in Aotearoa aged 16+ who had COVID-19, 8712 were eligible for the study and 8012 had valid addresses so were able to be contacted to take part. A total of 990 people, including 161 Tāngata Whenua (Māori, Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa) completed one or more surveys; in addition, 62 took part in in-depth interviews. Two hundred and seventeen people (20%) reported symptoms consistent with long COVID. Key areas of adverse impacts were experiences of stigma, mental distress, poor experiences of health services and barriers to healthcare, each being significantly more pronounced among disabled people and/or those with long COVID.Future plansFurther data collection is planned to follow-up cohort participants. This cohort will be supplemented by the inclusion of a cohort of people with long COVID following Omicron infection. Future follow-ups will assess longitudinal changes to health and well-being impacts, including mental health, social, workplace/education and economic impacts of COVID-19.

No abstract

People with lived experience of disability have poorer health and socioeconomic outcomes than people without it. However, within this population, certain social groups are more likely to experience poorer outcomes due to the impacts of multiple intersecting forms of oppression including colonisation, coloniality and racism. This paper describes the multidimensional impacts of inequities for Indigenous tāngata whaikaha Māori (Māori with lived experience of disability). Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 28 tāngata whaikaha Māori and their whānau (extended family) using a kaupapa Māori Research methodology. An equity framework was used to analyse the data. The results describe: (1) inequitable access to the determinants of health and well-being; (2) inequitable access to and through health and disability care; (3) differential quality of health and disability care received; and (4) Indigenous Māori-driven solutions. These data confirm that tāngata whaikaha Māori in the nation-state known as New Zealand experience racism, ableism and disablism, compounded by the intersection between these types of discrimination. Recommendations from the data support the inclusion of tāngata whaikaha Māori in decision-making structures, including all policies and practices, along with equal partnership rights when it comes to designing health and disability systems and services.