The Disability Rights Commissioner is using powers under the Human Rights Act to launch an Inquiry into the support of disabled people during the Omicron outbreak.

There will be two phases to the inquiry:

Phase one will gather information from organisations about what they understand to be the current experiences of disabled people, and their whānau, with a report and recommendations released in April. During this stage if any key changes are identified that could bring immediate benefit, the Commission will provide recommendations as information comes forward in advance of the final report

Phase two will consider how the needs of disabled people have been responded to during the whole Covid 19 response.

DPA has heard from many in the community about their experiences during the outbreak and will feed what we have been hearing into the inquiry.