Posts by Rosemary McDonald
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Hard News: On seclusion rooms, in reply to Hilary Stace,
A seclusion room is not a safe, quiet time out space.
That's why I put 'seclusion' in inverted commas!
A "quiet time out space", not locked, with close supervision/support....fine.
Sometimes, the world is too much with us...how much harder to cope with the world if it is difficult, if not impossible, to filter out the 'noise'?
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...the ministry and its minister are in danger of erring in the the other direction.
Baby out with the bathwater...again?
Thanks Russell...listening to this story unfold (via Natrad, whilst out in the wilderness) Peter and I were concerned we may be the only ones who thought that 'seclusion rooms', properly used, were not the hideous torture chambers they were being made out to be.
For all the reasons respondents have listed....
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People with spina bifida and hydrocephalus are often not very good at maths, so that is a subject we concentrated on. We tend to be a lot better at things like reading, creative writing and spelling,
Reminds me of a young friend who also had hydrocephalus ( associated with spina bifida).
In her case, when her shunt was put in, some fwit put the drainage bag practically on the floor...resulting in too much fluid being drained and the wiping out of a few thousand brain cells. She had also had a number of serious blockages in her shunt that where getting increasingly difficult to manage. This lass had a moderate learning impairment, maths was a complete mystery and reading and writing were a challenge.
Where she did excel was in the area of interpersonal relationships. She was sensitive to the feelings of others...even if she struggled sometimes to understand the thoughts behind the feelings.
Thank you Chelle for this post...it shines light into a murky area of a factor that is so often overlooked when speaking about spina bifida.
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Well done all involved in this action...about time!
We should talk about the money...
What struck me as ironic was that Rachel Noble was at the forefront of this action.
“And what is historic about the Rally is that it is the education sector and the disability community coming together and agreeing that we have to take action.”
The same Rachel Noble who said a few years back the the time for activism had passed...that disabled people were partners with the Government and sat as equals around the table for the better of all.
This was during the time that the government knifed disabled New Zealanders and their chosen family carers in the back, when disabled New Zealanders were being neglected and abused and killed by MOH Contracted providers.
(I try (and fail) not to take personally being ejected from the DPA NZ facebook page for demanding action from the 'establishment' on discrimination, abuse and neglect of disabled New Zealanders and their families.
I still remember Rachel and other leading lights of the Disability Advocacy community snubbing Peter and I when we conducted our lonely protest at the 2014 Health and Disability conference...we were demanding that deaths of disabled people in residential care were treated as crimes.)
I wonder what has triggered this change of heart?
She kinda explains her reluctance (almost refusal) to speak out strongly against government when she was CEO of DPA NZ Inc...
“In the current climate it is not easy for any organisation that is funded by government to speak out,” says Rachel Noble, a member of the collaborative.
Well, Rachel...I call bullshit on that.
It is not hard if you follow your conscience rather than the $$$ and the kudos.
I sincerely hope that this action heralds the revival of disability activism in New Zealand...I really, really do..
But the realist and cynic in me says that no organisation receiving government funding can be trusted to do the kind of advocacy that is needed at this present point in time.
I now return to the wilderness....
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The very best swear words are the ones that conjure an image....
"Brown nose".....which is what you get when you've been....
....."buttsnorkelling."
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Access: Patients X, Y and Z, in reply to Angela Hart,
in her closing submissions in the High Court in Wellington this morning, the Attorney-General’s lawyer, Martha Coleman, insisted there was no medical malpractice and psychiatrists often consulted with the men.
“There’s no suggestion of any systemic failure,” she told the court.
“[The men] have been treated with the utmost respect and dignity.”
Damn near ran the Bus off the road to Taputaputa when that particular wee gem was broadcast. Dearie me, ain't the Law (and all who sail in her) an ass?
I know lawyers are paid to to argue for their client regardless of the actual truth, but it concerns me that some lawyers seem to be able to defend the indefensible with such genuine enthusiasm.
Perhaps, some might benefit by a little actual experience of what the plaintiffs endured....a couple of weeks in seclusion would do it....pissing into a bucket and sleeping on the floor...forced medication...?
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Polity: Hekia's waynebrave, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
they just need to receive and act on a range of sensible advice.
....from similarly experienced and qualified advisers like...
Dr. Andrea Schollum, who signed off on the Regulatory Impact Statement for this COOL initiative.
Dr. Schollum has extensive experience in...
..tourism geography. She emigrated to New Zealand from Germany in 1990, so she also holds a number of German qualifications in the area of business management and administration, and she worked in the private sector in Germany.
Helpfully, the Ministry's website gives us access to many documents and publications including RISs.
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The Ministry of Health has posted a Request for Information- Independent evaluation of funded disability supports and services.
Overview
The Ministry of Health conducts regular evaluations of the disability supports and services we fund.We are interested in receiving information about how we can expand our evaluation teams and improve this service.
In particular, we are looking to:
• Identify organisations or individuals who may be interested in delivering these services, understand their experience and capability, understand any barriers to their participation;
• Identify support that can be provided to enable disabled people with personal experience of disability support services or experience as a disabled person’s family/whānau member to be part of an evaluation team;
• Identify what type of support could be provided by the Ministry to interested parties to work together to build new evaluation teams;
• Understand any quality improvements that we should consider to enhance evaluation quality and consistency such as review, oversight, internal or external monitoring processes or third party accreditation;
• Understand any other matter that is relevant to evaluation services.
Responses are due back to us by midday 16 September 2016.There may be an opportunity for some input from those with lived experience of disability here….
…..if only they’d actually listen.
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Polity: Hekia's waynebrave, in reply to Matthew Hooton,
I would not make any claim about competence, but I am sure her intention is precisely to make the system better for everyone,
Hmmm...according to the Font of All Knowledge, Parata has no teaching experience nor hands on experience in education administration.
In fact, the only reference to "Education" in her Wikibio is regarding her sister Apryll (?) being appointed...
as deputy secretary at the Ministry of Education.[16] Apryll's role makes her responsible for "performance and change", and gives her responsibility for making key decisions within the ministry. Post Primary Teachers Association president Robin Duff said the promotion "would have seemed more legitimate if the role had already existed".[17]
Hmmm....I am not confident in her competence at all....and I question her intentions.
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Polity: Hekia's waynebrave, in reply to Moz,
It’s quite possible that large numbers of parents will regard the Paratonline option as better than the current model, and both as vastly inferior to the traditional model.
I make my daily obeisance to the deity who decreed my offspring were well and truly educated in more simple times and have, as yet, failed to reproduce themselves....this discussion is interesting...but mercifully remote.
However, I did have a friend who was very active in the PPTA and also involved with the Labour Party. This was three decades ago, and even then such 'initiatives' by the ruling party were viewed with extreme suspicion.
Nothing is as it seems.
These two announcements....Parataonline and ECE Learning Support (at the expense of older Learning Challenged kids) coming so close together with the anticipated flurry of reaction from the sector can only mean one thing....
Distraction.
There is Something Else in the Government Pipeline....