Who we are
The Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha became a standalone ministry on 1 December 2024.
Our aim is to improve the lives of disabled people, tāngata whaikaha Māori, and their whānau and families. We do this by working with the disabled community, iwi and hāpū Māori, business, the wider community and local and central government.
Disability Support Services, a business group in the Ministry of Social Development, coordinates and funds disability support.
Our vision and purpose
Our vision is ‘Disabled people thriving in New Zealand.’
Our purpose is ‘Driving real and meaningful change with disabled people tāngata whaikaha Māori and their whānau.’
Our foundations
Three important things guide our work:
- Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi)
- Enabling Good Lives approach and principles
- the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
Our role
Whaikaha is the ‘steward’ for disability issues. This means we work across government and outside government to improve outcomes for disabled people.
Whaikaha does this by:
- helping government agencies make their services work better for disabled people
- giving strategic policy advice across government about issues that affect disabled people, such as health and education
- tracking how disabled people are doing to understand if their lives are improving and if government services are making a positive difference
- providing information and advice about disability
- supporting disabled people and government to work together.
Our areas of strategic focus
Whaikaha is working to improve the lives of disabled people through six strategic focus areas: accessibility, education, employment, health, housing and justice.
The work programmes below show how we are putting these into action.
- Implementation of the New Zealand Disability Strategy which has 34 actions across many government agencies in the priority areas of education, employment, health, housing and justice.
New Zealand Disability Strategy 2026-2030
- Implementation of the New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Strategy to promote and maintain NZSL as a strong and vibrant language.
New Zealand Sign Language Strategy 2026-2036 external URL
- Implementation of Atoatoali’o National Pacific Disability Approach to improve the health and well-being of disabled Pacific peoples.
Atoatoali'o National Pacific Disability Approach
- Accessibility programme to work with the disability community to remove barriers stopping disabled people participating in their communities. This includes our Access Activator programme funding innovative solutions from the disabled community to improve access.
- Employment pathways programme to increase and improve employment opportunities for disabled people. This includes annual paid internships for disabled university graduates and the OneInSix.nz website to support employers to successfully hire disabled people.
- Governance nominations database to encourage and support disabled people to apply for governance roles in the public sector.
Governance nominations database
- Community capability development grants to support the disabled community to build their leadership and governance skills, and connect with government.
- Collection and publication of high-quality data on disability in New Zealand as a resource for the disability community and government.
Disability data and evidence resources
- Co-ordinating the all-of-government response to the UNCRPD Committee's recommendations on how to better put the disability convention into action.
Reporting on the implementation of the UNCRPD in New Zealand
Learn more about our work and future direction in Strategic Intentions Tauākī Whakamaunga Atu 2026-2028.
Our whakatauākī
Our whakatauākī (Māori proverb) was gifted by Tim Worrall of Ngāi Tūhoe. It uses visual language to describe the vision of Whaikaha – thriving futures for all disabled communities.
"Me he aka rātā ka tipu tahi, ka puāwai tahi kia tū kaha i ngā hihi ō Tamanuiterā”