Access: How many agencies does it take to change a light bulb?
160 Responses
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linger, in reply to
Surely for water heating you'd choose a solar heat exchanger rather than converting solar into electricity first?
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Rich of Observationz, in reply to
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Yes, you probably would. Although it's possible that in the future the total cost and depreciation of a solar PV system might be such that it's cheaper than the direct method.
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Hilary Stace, in reply to
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Good work
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Angela Hart, in reply to
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thanks Hilary, it feels like wading through mud
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Do they vent the oxygen to atmosphere?
I see from the reading that the project didn't require any special permits, so yes. All the big problems happen when you start trying to compress it into tanks.
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Email
Coincidentally, we received a 'planned power outage' notification from Genesis this morning.
So I gave the 0800 number a ring and passed on the concerns discussed in this thread.
The usual suggestions....all of which would attract a cost to the consumer...
My suggestion was that the power company keep a stock of small, portable generators to lend to medically vulnerable clients in the event of a planned power outage. At no cost. A goodwill exercise.
The lady said that St John's would pick up a person and transport them to hospital in the event of a planned or un planned power outage....again, I would imagine there would be a cost for this. Again...perhaps the power company could pay for the ambulance. Goodwill, which they could probably claim back on their taxes.
I also passed on that there are an increasing number of medically vulnerable people living in the community. This is a cheap option for the state....cheaper than hospital. The costs, however are passed onto the individual and their families.
It would not hurt for the power companies....(SOEs) and the Ministry of Health to get together on this.
I suggested that someone from Genesis come here and read the post and the comments.
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Moz, in reply to
Surely for water heating you'd choose a solar heat exchanger rather than converting solar into electricity first?
Sometimes. For us in Sydney it's cheaper and easier to buy extra PV than go to the hassle and expense of either a heat pump system or "simple" heat exchanger. The problem with heat exchangers is that you have to run plumbing up onto the roof and service it there, and often you need a pump too. Extra holes in the roof are never a good thing, and putting a couple of hundred kilos of water up there is not great, and pumps.... pumps are unreliable and noisy.
Purely from a cost point of view, we use about 2-3kWh/day each for hot water heating using a cheap resistive hot water tank. In Sydney there are very few days when we get less than 3kWh for each kW of panels on the roof, so we need about 1kW of PV each for hot water. With a smaller, better insulated tank I expect it would be under 2kWh each. The hot water heater is under $1000. That's a bit over $1000 each for 20 years of hot water.
Going from that cheap water heater to a heat pump one is about $2000, but it only quarters the amount of electricity required and the warranty is 10 years not 20. So we need $750 less PV per person... and there are only two of us.
If we went with evacuated tubes (heat exchangers) it's more complex, because we have to move the hot water cylinder, punch extra holes in the roof and again, the warranty is only 10 years. I'm using warranty as a measure of expected service life, so I'm mentally budgeting that we'll need to buy twice as many of them if the warranty is half as long.
One minor factor is that we can't use the extra hot water from the heat exchanger, but we can put the extra electricity back into the grid. I prefer to do that rather than waste it, even though it costs us money to do that (we pay $1/day for the grid connection and get 5c/kWh, so we need to sell 20kWh of electricity every single day just to cover the cost of the connection. Or we could buy a $10,000 battery system (about 30 years of grid connection charge) and not have the connection.
The grid question is complex because our granny flat uses the connection from the house, but if we want to feed more than 5kW of PV back into the grid we need to pay $2500 for an independent grid connection for the granny flat. So effectively the current connection is "free", but feeding power in costs money. We will probably have a 5kW inverter in the granny flat for that reason (but might still have 6kW of panels, so we get more power in the winter)
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Angela Hart, in reply to
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I suggested that someone from Genesis come here and read the post and the comments.
Good on ya Rosemary!
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Angela Hart, in reply to
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Surely for water heating you’d choose a solar heat exchanger rather than converting solar into electricity first?
We have a panel type heat exchanger on the roof. We didn't need to move the cylinder and the pump is small and silent. Since we installed it several years ago there has been a huge reduction in our power bills. It has been trouble free and long may that last.
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Rosemary McDonald, in reply to
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I phoned as a client, our phone number is on their database so it triggered a client specific response. I was asked 'security' questions to verify my ID...and was told we were NOT on their database of medically vulnerable. THIS...is a good system.
Well done Genesis...I am hoping this means that a call from a number keyed to a vulnerable person triggers an immediate response.
(We are not at the medically vulnerable stage...flat wheelchair batteries and an unusable medical bed not really crisis material. However...having to fill up buckets with water so we can flush the toilet, have washing water...bit of an inconvenience. We have in ground water tanks, a pump to get the water from the tanks into the house....and more importantly to the hot water cylinder.... In the winter , when the fire is lit and the water is going through the wetback....issues. A small, 'no brand' generator is on our wish list. Just enough to run the pump and keep the deep freeze running.)
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Email
The Be. outfit is taking a fresh approach to accessibility
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/73743062/help-make-new-zealand-more-accessibleI had no idea Tariana had a tetraplegic brother, it explains a lot, you really can't appreciate people’s experiences of disability unless you get to know them well
“For too long, the disability community in particular have been denied their right to be,” former Minister of Disability Issues Tariana Turia said. In a speech at the time Turia, whose brother was a tetraplegic, said “accessibility is all about attitude”.
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Email
Physical access to facilities is a major issue. A friend turned up yesterday to chew the fat (yes I've been reading the obesity thread :-) and it turned out she's been fighting for access to the local Auckland Council run pool for two years now.
Unbelievable!
A lovely person who has been dealing with someone who either has zero comprehension of the scale and impact of the problem in spite of it being pointed out to him, or who simply doesn't give a damn. We are putting our heads together because exercising in the water is what works for her and her rights are being trampled on- along with those of many others who would be using the pool if they could get in and out of it safely.
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Email
Seems to be topical today, here's another fresh approach to an access/egress problem which is widespread across New Zealand
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11541288 -
Rosemary McDonald, in reply to
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"The Ministry of Health are only legally obligated to supply one wheelchair ramp, but the Fire Service always recommends at least two exits," Mr Knighton said.
The Miserly of Health.
I'd actually like to see that in print on an MOH document. The "legally obligated" bit.
Because...although one might be "eligible"....that doesn't necessarily mean "entitled".
http://www.health.govt.nz/new-zealand-health-system/eligibility-publicly-funded-health-services
Being eligible gives a person a right to be considered for publicly funded health or disability services (ie, free or subsidised). It is not an entitlement to receive any particular service. Individuals need to meet certain clinical and other assessment criteria to receive many services.
Bold mine.
I have been aware for some time now that in actual fact there is no entitlement to anything under the PHDAct.
At any point, policy could change, and one could get the bill for say...having your child's rotten teeth removed under general anaesthetic when the cause of the decay has been ascertained to be putting tooth - rot in the baby's bottle.
Could be the reason that some of us try to be preventative...because we have been told already that "you're not entitled"...pay for it yourself.
Very good initiative by the Waiarapa students. -
Angela Hart, in reply to
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Because…although one might be “eligible"….that doesn’t necessarily mean “entitled”.
I started a response but I can't seem to do it without ranting, because the Ministry's refusal to accept that anyone is entitled makes me so cross. They just like to see all the begging bowls lined up. Must make them feel good.
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Email
the punishment is the symptom...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/73808611/corrections-cuts-community-work-supervisors-hours-as-offenders-fail-to-showCorrections is cutting Canterbury community work supervisors' weekly hours as offenders consistently fail to show up.
Their union says the move is the result of Corrections failing to make offenders comply with their sentences.
Offenders in the region turned up for community work 29 per cent of the time on average. That is below the national rate of 36 per cent, according to Corrections figures, the union said.May as well not bother sentencing them in the first place then...
These systems should mesh together, consistently from start to finish, cohesive and coherent - having a point and balance isn't too much to ask for...
...is it? -
Email
Going back to agencies, Needs Assessment and Service Co-ordination Agencies are contracted to the Ministry of Health to assess what supports people with disabilities may need and co-ordinate the provision of those unmet needs.
We had a meeting at Taikura Trust's (our NASC) premises today, and blow me down THEY ARE NOT ACCESSIBLE.
Well, they are sort of. To gain access to the first floor, which is where Taikura Trust lives, you have to go up in a lift. The button to call the lift is low enough for a person seated in a wheelchair to push, but it doesn't bring the lift. High above, at standing height, is an intercom with a button. No sign or anything, but an intercom with a button. Push the intercom button and you come up on a screen in Taikura's reception area, and they can send the lift down to you. But if you're in a wheelchair you can't reach the button. So, the building is inaccessible unless you have help. This is a NASC. Can you believe it?????? -
Rosemary McDonald, in reply to
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This is a NASC. Can you believe it??????
Sadly, yes.
The very last thing the NASCs want is for actual disabled people to turn up at the office.
Goodness gracious me...we can't have that.
The NASC in Hamilton, Disability Support Link is...
Upstairs? Yes
Small lift? Yes
Mobility Parking? one park, up a narrow side alley, on a sideways slope
The last time we went to DSL....some years ago now (because we want nothing to do with them since they seem to think residential care would be appropriate for Peter) they shared a floor with a Probation Office. DSL's office was not wheelchair welcoming, and one had to wend one's way around desks in an open plan office to get to the private meeting room.There is a message being sent here.
Maybe we could compile a pictorial record of these examples of state funded disability providers failing to provide adequate access.
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Rosemary McDonald, in reply to
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Push the intercom button and you come up on a screen in Taikura’s reception
Hang on a minute….is that a camera I spy in your pic? On the intercom panel?
Please tell me it isn’t so…
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Angela Hart, in reply to
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.is that a camera I spy in your pic? On the intercom panel?
yup, if you can't be seen, you probably don't get in. Secure access, even for the stairwell. We're a scary lot, must be.
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Angela Hart, in reply to
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Maybe we could compile a pictorial record of these examples of state funded disability providers failing to provide adequate access.
Something like Steal Magnolia, maybe Access Denied? Russell?
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Gillian Hart, in reply to
Yeah. They tried to assure us that they’d see me on the screen if I needed to come in, but the screen only comes awake in reception when the button is pressed–I saw it happen while we were up there. I only caught a glimpse of the standing person’s top half, so I imagine I would have been completely invisible even if I’d BEEN able to, IDK, throw a rock at the intercom button, or beg a passing seagull to peck it for me. The angle of the photo is a little misleading–that intercom panel is MILES over my head.
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Rosemary McDonald, in reply to
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Is there perhaps a money exchange in the building? A pharmacy?
A diamond dealer?
WTFF?
We’re a scary lot
I can see that. That hand moving towards the button!
Questions Need To Be Asked.
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Rosemary McDonald, in reply to
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throw a rock at
See! Scary.
or beg a passing seagull
We will not beg.
(but you could pay a seagull, bread maybe?)
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Gillian Hart, in reply to
(because we want nothing to do with them since they seem to think residential care would be appropriate for Peter)
Residential care is appropriate for Peter like execution is appropriate punishment for farting in public.
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