Posts by Joe Wylie
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Meanwhile a chunk of NZ's - and Austalia's - cultural heritage is being frittered away on eBay.
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Access: Some aspects of New Zealand’s…, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Thank you.
The end of sheltered workshops and new employment rights for disabled workers
My experience is only with the last years of the Auckland Sheltered Workshop and Training Trust. While it’s since been incorporated into a whole new entity I’m glad that the Mangere facility still exists, as it provided an invaluable post-school transition to the wider world back in the day.
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Hard News: About Campbell Live, in reply to Kumara Republic,
The Clark Govt had some sound ideas for public broadcasting. Unfortunately they were ultimately let down by cold feet…
I did watch just one episode of Brian Edwards’ 2003 talk show (“He’s back! The Irish lilt!”). Solidly-enough researched fluff, with a recently deceased villain from Coro Street dropping in, and a disconcertingly creepy interview with Lucy Lawless.
…
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Hard News: About Campbell Live, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
I don’t see Clinton offering much more than ‘hope’, which is free to give and take and crushable – as Obama has shown.
I think they’re all all about the base-line.True dat (flashback image by Danny Hellman).
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Because I was experiencing a similar problem at the time, I once took the trouble to delve through a lengthy email exchange that had been posted online by a US teenager seeking redress from Apple over what he insisted was a faulty product.
The guy started out by explaining that his efforts were on behalf of a family member who happened to be a “special” person. Sadly the lengthy and fruitless exchange with Apple eventually eroded his delicacy of language to the point where he was hitting the caps key to declare “I AM NOT A RETARD!”
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Access: Here's to them, in reply to Sacha,
There is nothing special about what disabled students need to support their study and involvement in school life.
It’s a nice statement of intent, and one I’ve encountered many times over the years. Again IMHE it comes down to how it’s implemented. Where I’ve seen it go wrong is when it’s applied in a faith-based fashion, with little attention paid to how well a method works in practice.
A woman I know who works as a teachers aide was assigned to playground monitoring a single ten-year-old. The girl was diagnosed with an intellectual disability. She was big for her age, and had taken to physically intimidating other kids. While she may not have shone academically she was very astute about having an adult shadowing her, no matter how discreet they attempted to be.
For someone who’d raised an intellectually disabled son herself the situation was pointless and demeaning. As her superiors weren’t interested in anything other than the blind application of theory her only recourse was to have herself transferred to what she felt were more productive duties.
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Access: Here's to them, in reply to Sacha,
I think I follow that. IMHE it was the word handicapped that freaked out those it was supposed to define.
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Access: Here's to them, in reply to Sacha,
And can we please ban the word ‘special’?
Back in the day I was grateful for the “special class” teacher’s policy of letting the “specials” out 15 minutes early so they wouldn’t be rolled by the regular kids for their bus fare to feed the spacies machines. Of course that last bit gives an indication of how out of date my experience is.
What I appreciated about the best “special” teachers was their BS-free first-hand understanding of what kids actually got up to. Having a Lady Bountiful expert drop by to encourage the “specials” to approach someone in authority if they were picked on was all very nice until a victim tried it, at which point they were introduced to the delightful kiwi custom of “bogwashing” for being a snitch. No joy in taking the issue up with the school, as didn’t I know they’d had a visiting specialist in to empower the “specials” against such practices.
Perhaps a name change might help, good luck with it.
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Hard News: About Campbell Live, in reply to Cecelia,
Hmmmm. Sort of see where you’re coming from but “risible”, “dreck” and “dotage” seem a bit OTT.
Whereas starry starry knight Holmes's serial unrepentant racism was just another of the engaging quirks that poor old Edwards was more than happy to gloss over.
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Hard News: About Campbell Live, in reply to Cecelia,
Brian Edwards has just written a really good post on John Campbell. When he and Ian Fraser were around on TV we had primetime current affairs and serious interviews.
Right, any assessment would be incomplete without Fraser. But really, what value can be put on anything from someone who produces this risible dreck? That John Campbell should ever decline to that kind of dotage hardly bears thinking about.
You’re right about the regional programs, though even Australia’s ABC has drastically cut back its regional coverage over the past couple of decades.