Sacha O'Dea

Sacha oversaw work on Enabling Good Lives and the two demonstrations in Christchurch and the Waikato as a General Manager in the Ministry of Social Development.

In 2014, Sacha led the government delegation for New Zealand's first examination of its progress in implementing the United Nations Convention for Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and in March 2017, she moved to the Ministry of Health to lead the three month co-design process with the disability sector to begin a nationwide transformation of the disability support system.

Sacha says she wants to contribute to building a new system for disability support that provides disabled people and their families or whānau in New Zealand with more choices and opportunities and increased control over their support and their lives.

She plans to create the space for disabled people and families to contribute to designing the system, to balance the views of all stakeholders, and to provide high quality advice to the Ministers who will make the decisions on the new system.

As Programme Lead, Sacha wants disabled people to have the same choices and opportunities that she takes for granted. She thinks there will be social and economic benefits for New Zealand if disabled people are able to have dreams and contribute to their families, communities and the economy.