#15: Dr Rebekah Graham: The RSB, Disability, and the Politics of Exclusion

Video episode available on my Substack.   

In this wide-ranging and deeply grounded conversation, I speak with Dr Rebekah Graham — community psychologist, writer, and advocate for disability rights — about the hidden but sweeping risks the Regulatory Standards Bill (RSB) poses for disabled communities, and for the future of equity and inclusion in New Zealand.

Dr Graham draws on her work with Parents of Vision Impaired and her long-standing research on material hardship and food insecurity to expose how the RSB could entrench colonial ableism and make basic accessibility measures harder to introduce — or defend. From signalised pedestrian crossings to braille on medication, from inclusive education to accessible banking and housing, she explains how the Bill’s libertarian principles would undermine everyday rights and protections, while entrenching systemic disparities.

We discuss:

• How the RSB’s emphasis on property rights, cost-efficiency, and formal equality contradicts both the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)
• The chilling effect the Bill could have on accessibility legislation, including universal design, equitable resourcing in schools, and inclusive infrastructure
• How charter schools, under the RSB, could become inaccessible and unaccountable — while being harder to reverse
• The risks of shifting from collectivist, whānau-centred approaches to a narrow, individualised model of rights and value
• The real-world consequences of colonial ableism, and why disabled children and their families are already navigating structural exclusion

Dr Graham also explains why this Bill is not a dry, technical fix — but a sweeping constitutional move that threatens to redefine what “good lawmaking” means in New Zealand. And she makes a powerful call to action: for people to contact their MPs, especially in National and New Zealand First, to reject the RSB and protect the social good.

Follow Dr Bex on Substack for more of her insightful analysis of social issues in Aotearoa.

Resources: 

Sector Specific RSB Tool: https://tinyurl.com/RSBTool

Linktree with a wide range of historic and contemporary information on the RSB, including submission guides and builders.

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This is part of a series of in-depth conversations with experts across sectors on the real-world impacts of the Regulatory Standards Bill. If you value independent political analysis, subscribe to my Substack for more interviews, writing, and updates. Free subscribers get regular content. Paid subscriptions really help keep this work going.