8. During the Inquiry period, societal attitudes towards disability in Aotearoa New Zealand were influenced by arrival of European settlers and the adoption of Christianity as the predominant religious faith. New Zealanders were expected to fit in and conform to a narrow definition of what was considered ‘normal’. People with physical and / or mental impairments were ‘abnormal’ and were seen as less valuable than others.

9. Many disabled people were placed in large, State-run psychopaedic and psychiatric institutions and separated from their families and society. Disabled children and young people were also placed in special residential schools rather than attending mainstream schools. Others were placed in sheltered workshops. While few faith-based institutions catered for disabled adults, some private and church-based organisations opened residential homes for disabled people.

10. The State’s policy of institutionalisation of disabled people, which was influenced by the eugenics movement and societal attitudes that saw people with impairments as ‘abnormal’, created a pathway into State-run institutions and special schools. Many families believed they were doing the right thing by placing their loved ones into disability settings, as they were acting on the advice of medical professionals or trusted religious figures. The lack of alternative supports for the parents and caregivers of disabled people was another pathway into care settings.

11. Disabled people disproportionately entered care, and disproportionately experienced abuse and neglect while there. While all forms of abuse were experienced by survivors in disability settings, the most pervasive form of abuse the Inquiry heard about was extreme neglect. Almost all survivors described abuse and neglect that stripped them of their personhood, identity, dignity and autonomy. They were also denied affection and the nurturing and stimulating environment needed for normal growth and healthy psychological development.

12. Disabled survivors said that abuse and neglect caused them to lose their sense of self, their personhood – the ‘essence of being human’ – and connections to their families, communities, cultures and language. This impact was especially profound for tāngata whaikaha Māori and disabled Pacific survivors.

13. At the heart of the factors that caused and contributed to disabled people being abused and neglect in care was that they were not seen as valuable members of society. They were placed ‘out of sight, out of mind’ and not considered worthy of being kept safe from harm. Even when abuse and neglect was detected, the people who were responsible for holding abusers to account – senior leaders in charge of institutions, senior public servants and government Ministers – failed to do so.

14. At the Inquiry’s Ūhia te Māramatanga Disability, Deaf and Mental Health Institutional Care Hearing, the Crown thanked survivors who had spoken out, acknowledging that they had “each outlined and coloured in a shameful picture of inhumanity”. This is an apt description of what disabled survivors experienced.[1]

Footnotes

[1] Transcript of evidence of the closing statement by the Crown at the Inquiry’s Ūhia te Māramatanga Disability, Deaf and Mental Health Institutional Care Hearing (Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, 20 July 2022, page 699).