Donald Beasley Institute and He Tāngata Tuatahi | People First New Zealand

Why are we doing this research?:

Managing and making decisions about our health, and staying well, can be hard.  This can be even harder if we have long-term health problems, or more than one health problem. 

We don’t all get the services and supports we need to manage and make decisions about our health.  When we don’t get the support that is right for us, it can cause more problems with our health.  In Aotearoa New Zealand, this is a problem for many people with a learning disability.  We want to find ways to make it easier for people with a learning disability to manage and make their own decisions about their health.

What do we hope to do in our project?:

We are going to talk with a lot of people with learning disabilities to find what would help them with their health.  We will also talk to some health professionals (like doctors or nurses, or hospital staff), whānau, and supporters.  Once we know what the best ideas are, we will try out the ideas, and find out how well each idea works. 

We will give updates about the research as we go.  We hope that what we learn will be helpful to a lot of people with a learning disability.

Our team:

Our team from the Donald Beasley Institute is leading the project with people with learning disabilities.  We are based in Ōtepoti Dunedin.  We are working with People First New Zealand | Ngā Tāngata Tuatahi as our community partner.   They are the Disabled Person’s Organisation (DPO) for people with a learning disability in Aotearoa New Zealand.  They work with people with learning disabilities to help them speak up about what matters in their lives.

You can find out more about our team here