Posts by Rosemary McDonald
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Access: Fighting seclusion with…, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Mental Health Act and IDCC&R Act.
Hilary, can you make any observations on the demeanor (for want of a better word) of the Crown Lawyers in this case?
We found the Crown Lawyers in the High Court for Atkinson to be almost aggressive. We hear that at the Tribunal hearings they were less than respectful of the Plaintiffs.
In the Appeal Court for Atkinson (the second week), Crown Law had kinda lost the plot a bit...arguing their case with so little conviction that one of the Judges leaned forward and asked if they actually had any grounds for an Appeal!
At the Appeal Court for Spencer...the Crown Lawyer (Heron) was in a hurry to get over to London for the Privy Council hearing for Pora so I suppose I should forgive his somewhat flippant "I won't bore you with BORA." comment.
I wonder now if he had a premonition that he had two losses in the pipeline and it was merely gallows humour.
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Access: Disability as a wicked policy problem, in reply to Hilary Stace,
it looks like a provider group.
I did find it on the NZDSN site....a brand spanking new site by the way!
IMHO, not half as 'professional' as the previous site, those moving graphics make my eyes go wonky....a bit gimmicky.
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Access: Disability as a wicked policy problem, in reply to Angela Hart,
Some good people there
One of those "good people" dismissed Himself's and my attempt to have the Family Carers/PHDAct (4) brought into the Disability Strategy 'conversation' in Hamilton a few months ago.
So very almost contemptuous, that no amount of spousal coaxing could get Himself out of the Bus and into the follow up 'lets converse about the Draft Revised Strategy' do on Wednesday in Hamilton.
"Not up to being humiliated again today." he said.
(A usually easy going and accommodating person, the steel that has got him through the past 45 1/2 years in an increasingly hostile environment came to the fore.)
Interesting thing though...I had a bit of a "look how this process has excluded my man" rant at poor Megan McCoy... before anyone else turned up...(well, she's getting paid the $$$ to deal with that.)
She talked about the timeline for producing the next Disability Action Plan, after I pointed out that unlike the current Strategy, the Draft has no clear Objectives.
I foolishly asked her if she'd read the last Disability Action Plan....and no, she hadn't.
I asked her to to get a show of hands from the assembled of who was working for/representing an organisation receiving government funding....slight look of horror at the thought.
She simply did not get it that these people do not necessarily represent the majority.
My parting sally was that if there was no one sitting around the table with an physical impairment of the degree Himself lives with (and NOT under ACC), then she was not getting a complete representation of disability in NZ.
Angry, yep.
How dare they silence the voice of a person with a significant physical impairment who has ticked all their aspirational boxes in the past 46 years?
A veteran, who can attest to the fact that the future for those with similar support needs has never looked so insecure?
An activist, who can remember a time when things were actually looking up, and fears for a system where so called 'advocates' fail to rage at the deaths of the most vulnerable in state funded residential care.
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What does every/anyone know about this...disAbility Caucus”?
How? Where? Why?
And what is this 'sector transformation' they're on about?
Why do I feel a worm of unease squirming in the back of my brain?
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Hard News: On the Clark candidacy, in reply to Hilary Stace,
....mediocre...
Excellent description.
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Hard News: On the Clark candidacy, in reply to Bart Janssen,
came from a political party that would like to be seen as representing ALL Maori.
Indeedy.
I was chatting with someone in the Far North a few months ago about a hui held at a local marae. This person was there as a member of the iwi.
The overwhelming narrative , actually better described as instruction, was for local Maori to vote only for Maori parties.
This was before Harawira began his cuddle up with the Maori Party.
And before Morgan became President.
Politics.... eh?
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Access: Disability as a wicked policy problem, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Where there many observers Hilary?
(Few and far between for the Atkinson and Spencer hearings.)
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Access: Disability as a wicked policy problem, in reply to Hilary Stace,
arcane world of law
Have you noticed the little pocket/purse dangling off the back of the lawyers black robes?
I'm told in days of old these were for the lawyers' clients to put coins into during proceedings to make the lawyers work harder!
and here is the official explantion.
Theatre.
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Hard News: On the Clark candidacy, in reply to Russell Brown,
but it still seems rather strange. I wonder what happened?
This is politics Russell, of course it is strange.
Stop wondering...it'll do yer head in.
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Hard News: On the Clark candidacy, in reply to Hilary Stace,
I’ve had a bit of a moan today about the Maori Party’s active role in the removal of disability rights in the 2013 NZ Public Health and Disability Amendment Act No 2.
The basis of my rant on The Standard.
"By the way the current Maori Party are allies in seeking disability rights."
Do you remember Turia's support for the payment of family carers? Her initiative to have some Maori family carers paid? Her talking about her own family's experience with disabled family members?
Yet when push came to shove....all that went out the window for a $1.2 billion commitment from the 2013 Budget for Maori Initiatives.
And then she and Flavell denied having voted with the Government on the Part 4 amendment.
The MP were supposed to be allies back then too.
I don't think any Party can be properly described as being allies...
Heavy sigh....