One In Five for Sunday 3 August 2008

Making sports clubs' facilities and activities more accessible to disabled people. That's the aim of Sport Access. Sport Access is a 'how to' package deal put together with money from the ASB trust. Developed and delivered by the Halberg Trust, clubs that go through the Sport Access process can receive a bronze, silver or gold award. Last month it was the turn of the Waitakere Cricket Club. Their efforts to make it easier for disabled people to come and play cricket earned Waitakere the gold.

Well Australia have pipped us at the post by ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. New Zealand signed the Convention in March last year, to great fanfare. But the Convention doesn't apply to New Zealand until this country ratifies it. And if ratification isn't completed by the end of September, we can't be active in the first conference of states parties in early November.

As the first human rights treaty of the twenty first century, disability rights advocates say they can't wait for New Zealand to ratify and start to implement the raft of provisions that deal with everything fom legal status and equality, health, education to employment. And they're pinning their hopes on the Justice and electoral select committee to allow the government to do the deed before the end of September. Australia ratified the Convention last month. Which makes it one of the first western countries to do so. Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes is joined by New Zealand Human Rights Commissioner, Robyn Hunt.