About the project

Approximately 11% of young people in New Zealand have a disability. Disabled people are more likely to experience disadvantage across a range of outcomes including health and wellbeing, housing, education and economic security (GUiNZ disability report 2023). Disabled children are more likely than their non-disabled counterparts to report poorer health and wellbeing, feel less engaged in their school and neighborhood, with families with disability having inequitable annual incomes and greater material hardship over time (GUiNZ study 2023).  

Two recent disasters, the Covid-19 pandemic and the extreme weather events of early 2023 (the Auckland Anniversary Weekend Flooding and cyclone Gabrielle) are identified as significant events which have placed further negative consequences for mental and physical health of disabled children.

The Growing Up in New Zealand (GUINZ) study provides an opportunity to analyse the lived experiences and drivers of inequitable outcomes of children with disability and their whānau. Using the data collected after these two adverse events allows examination of whether these nationwide disasters increase the inequities experienced by disabled young people and their whānau. Further, as Māori and Pacific tamariki are more likely to self-identify as having a disability, this work acknowledges the need for improved depth of understanding regarding the lived experience of Māori and Pacific tamariki in order to have a significant effect on ethnic-based inequities during disaster events.

This study aims to examine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the adverse weather events of 2023 on disabled children in Aotearoa by analysing data from the Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal study. GUiNZ have collected information from a subsample of their cohort during the COVID-19 pandemic and during the adverse weather events in Aotearoa New Zealand in early 2023. These data collected, alongside the information collected across time by GUiNZ on disability, and social determinants of health and education will be explored to determine the impacts of disasters on disabled children/young people. Self-reported data from the children and mother-proxy data will be used to examine how variables such as ethnicity, disability, type of disaster, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality affect their experiences of these nationwide disasters, including access to health and education. This study will help identify facilitators and barriers for disabled children and their whānau during these nationwide disasters.

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Start date: 5/02/2025