Abstract
According to the organisations interviewed, a good place to start improving access for Maori was to build relationships with the Maori community: "She told us that we need to form a relationship first, and she said you know find out about the person and get them to, tell them a little bit about themselves then tell them about yourself..." The most frequently cited suggestion by people interviewed was that service organisations should market what they offered to both the Maori community and Maori health providers: I don't know whether it would be um, more awareness around our services. Because a lot of people think you know if you go to any of the societies not just [Name] but all those ones that it is all about support groups and we need to get away from the image because that is just, you know a sideline of what we do. Because a number of our whanau who say they have a disability usually want more of our time than, I mean there is no way we would do 15 minute time slots on anything.they require more of our time and listening ear which is fine. To their credit, all organisations expressed interest in our study findings so they could learn how to better meet the needs of haua Maori clients. [...]it is possible that the process of this research itself sparked increased cultural awareness and a renewed interest in access issues among those surveyed and interviewed.