I am horrified that the Ministry of Health’s mobile dental clinics won’t be wheelchair accessible.  If the vision is to take health out to the people then access is a fundamental issue. 

The excuse that a ramp would cost $70,000 must be examined.  What has happened to the DIY approach to practical problems like building a ramp?”

The Green Party and Disabled Persons Assembly both refuse to believe you cannot buy or a build a suitable ramp for less than $70,000. In fact when I was working in the Auckland Green Party office we bought a mobile ramp for under $3000.   The Ministry of Health needs to look at the access issue with some common sense

Clause 25 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities affirms the right to the highest standards of health care. Our Government has signed up to this Convention but the dental clinic debacle indicates that it is not being implemented.

That is why I have a Bill in the Members Ballot to create a full time Disability commissioner in the Human Rights Commission whose job it would be to make sure the United Nations Convention was implemented with some teeth. 

I make no apology for the bad pun. We badly need a structural issues watchdog to advance the collective rights of people with disabilities. The disability sector has identified this need and would like a proper Commission with this mandate.

In tough economic times a new Commission is unlikely but I have received favourable initial comments from the Minister for Disabilities and the Minister of Justice. Meanwhile we need the Ministry of Health to get some ramps for their dental units. Anything less is plain and simple discrimination and a breach of our commitments in the Convention.