Kia ora,
I’m making this Official Information Act request as part of ADHDInquiryNZ, a grassroots, unfunded, and non-partisan volunteer initiative supporting a public petition calling for a Parliamentary inquiry into systemic harm to people with ADHD in Aotearoa. This request focuses on information held by your agency to help identify how ADHD is currently recognised within existing systems. The information gathered from this and related requests will help identify patterns across agencies and contribute to evidence provided to the Petitions Committee when the petition period closes. I appreciate the time involved in OIA responses.

Please treat this as a request for official information under the OIA. I am requesting the specific information listed below. I understand the Commission’s obligation to assist under s 13 and that a decision should be made within 20 working days of receipt (or transfer within 10 working days). If any part of this request requires clarification, please let me know no later than 5 working days from receipt. If an extension under s 15A is needed, please state the reason and duration. I request release in machine-readable format where available. This request is confined to information held by the Human Rights Commission; please do not transfer for commentary.

Time period: 1 January 2015 to the date this request is received.

Scope clarification: I am not seeking internal email chains or drafts unless they are the only record of the substantive information described.

Please provide:

1. Recognition and Scope
Any documents identifying whether ADHD is recognised within the Commission’s work on:
-disability rights
-health or mental-health discrimination
-education rights
-employment rights
-policy or guidance relating to unlawful discrimination

Please include any internal definitions or categorisation frameworks showing how ADHD-related matters are classified.

2. Monitoring, Complaints, and Findings (2015–present)
Any:
-complaints or enquiries
-systemic reviews or thematic investigations
-research or monitoring reports
-submissions to Government
-published or internal findings

that refer to ADHD or identify systemic discrimination affecting people with ADHD.

If ADHD is grouped under broader categories (e.g., disability, mental health, neurodiversity), please specify which.

3. Projects, Engagement, or Resourcing
Any work programmes, projects, engagements, or resourcing since 2015 that explicitly include ADHD or neurodevelopmental disabilities within scope.

4. International Human Rights Reporting
Any material referring to ADHD or related neurodevelopmental conditions in New Zealand that has been:
-submitted by HRC to UN treaty bodies
-received from UN bodies
-referenced in UNCRPD monitoring, shadow reports, or independent submissions

5. Legislative and Rights Analysis
Any assessments or advice addressing ADHD in relation to:
-Human Rights Act 1993 (disability discrimination)
-New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (s 19 – freedom from discrimination)
-UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)

If no ADHD-specific material exists, please confirm.

Formats: Where datasets, tables, or structured information are released, please provide machine-readable formats (CSV or original spreadsheet file) with accompanying data dictionaries or definitions.

If information is not held
If the Commission does not hold some or all of the information requested, that absence itself helps clarify how ADHD is currently tracked and managed across the system. Identifying such gaps is part of building the evidence base for an informed, coordinated response.

Please confirm if the information is not held and include any documents recording:
decisions not to collect or monitor ADHD-related information; or
decisions to categorise ADHD under another label (e.g., disability, mental health, neurodiversity).

Ngā mihi,
Elspeth Baker-Vevers