Posts by Rosemary McDonald
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Access: Disability as a wicked policy problem, in reply to Sacha,
in case people want to use the fancy indented quotes, all you need to do is type this minus all the spaces:
< q > text you are quoting < / q >
Well done, Sacha. Old dogs and all that...
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Access: Disability as a wicked policy problem, in reply to Sacha,
(though I know you don’t like them, Rosemary) and includes related points.
Chortle, chortle...
Add on the other two members of the triumvirate....
http://www.productivity.govt.nz/sites/default/files/sub-social-services-71-carers-nz-167Kb.pdf...who also presume to speak on behalf of us all, and their 'should be mates but not' ....
and we have a quorum.
NZDSN....some years ago they put up on their website a letter they were sending to MOH:DSS basically telling them what to do with the latest contract....guess it didn't go down that well.
Carers NZ...many years ago their Family Care magazine was about 30% advertising, now it is well over 50% (don't quote me on that...they no longer send me the mag). I had been trying to prod Carers NZ to give more support to the Atkinson case....they were very quiet...then I checked back issues for ads, and most of their advertisers would be potentially impacted by a non-discriminatory family care policy. Carers NZ perpetuate the whole shitty 'sacrifice and burden' narrative...and should have long ago formed an alliance with...
DPA NZ....but they don't seem to want to play nice either...preferring to align with the NZDSN. Having said that, FWIW, the DPA NZ submission was very good.
Carers NZ's response to Q18 I thought was interesting...
Q18 How could the views of clients and their families be better included in the design and delivery
of social services?They
seem to be suggesting that a mediated view through advocacy organisations or service
providers may not be as reliable as direct ‘client’ information (page 43).And that is why I was delighted that not only these guys...
submitted, but that their paper, "Fears, constraints and contracts" was cited by a number of other submitters..
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Access: Disability as a wicked policy problem, in reply to Sacha,
which has moi totally flummoxed.
Methinks there is a deliberate plan to confuse and obfuscate....now, who said that?
Or am I ascribing to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity?
A muddle, not a meddle?
I give up. More gloom for us on Thursday.
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Access: Disability as a wicked policy problem, in reply to Martin,
And guess who the ultimate losers will be as the bottom of the barrel is scraped for attendant carers, home support workers who will do an often difficult job for peanuts.
And the PSA sees this as the key issue….attaching this to their submission…
“Still working for love?
Recognising skills and responsibilities of
home-based care workers ”The Human Rights Commission’s submission…. http://www.productivity.govt.nz/sites/default/files/sub-social-services-101-the-human-rights-commission-74Kb.pdf
”In 2005 a paper by the Working Group which promoted the idea that family members could be contracted to care for disabled people within their families if that was the wish to the disabled person, was dismissed by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet as “too human rights oriented”.
The Commission questions how this could ever be the case, particularly in light of New Zealand’s commitment to the various international human rights treaties.”
I may be mistaken….but isn’t the former Prime Minister of NZ (in 2005) now fairly high up in the UN…which supposedly monitors international human rights ?
The Government could, if it really wanted to save money…be fiscally sustainable, refuse to fund ANY home based supports for people with disabilities who live as part of a family unit. The PHDAct(2) essentially facilitates this, and the glaring inconsistency of the system that led to the Atkinson Case is that those who fulfill their ‘responsibilities’ and provide care for their disabled loved ones are financially penalised while those who abdicate that ‘responsibility’ (for what ever reason) are not. This is still the case.
It is also the case that no one seems to be stating that non ACC disabled are actually entitled to care and supports. I would love to see the government document that states…."this disabled person is ENTITLED to ….”
There is supposedly no means and asset testing for home based care….although the ‘human resources’ (family) are already factored in….this could be taken further.
http://www.treasury.govt.nz/government/longterm/externalpanel/pdfs/ltfep-s4-02.pdf
This Treasury doc floats the idea. ” An alternative approach would be to extend asset testing to all users of long-term care regardless of age, ”
This 2012 document is certainly more meaningful today.
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” The Ministry of Health estimated in 2012 that 29,000 eligible people
with high and complex needs did not currently access government funded disability services and were assumed to be cared for by family members.”It would appear that the Ministry of Social Development statistics are at odds with that figure of “29000 high and complex needs clients being cared for by unpaid family."…assuming the need for care is so high the family member is unable to work outside the home…and the family carer is claiming SLP (Caring).
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"Mixed feelings about private providers
.....Other members stated categorically that there is no room for profit-making from
our most needy and vulnerable citizens.A case in point is the rest-home industry, where some private providers pay shareholders but offer low wages to workers and sometimes bare minimum care for residents. Members felt that any Government subsidy should be ring-fenced to benefit workers and residents, and not shareholders."
"a stronger focus on the needs of real people rather than the balance sheet, and a revisit of our less than progressive tax system so that the most well-off pay their fair share to fund improved services."
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Hard News: Synthetic cannabis: it just…, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
And....
A school comprising of children from some 28 families realised that their appalling record for 'learning outcomes' was largely due to the parents/caregivers use of alchohol, dope and other more harmful drugs.
They asked all families to sign a "drug and alchohol free' contract....for the sake of their children. Supports via the local Iwi were available to help families make the change.
4 out of 28 families made that commitment.
At least 2 of the 4 signees felt their only option was to remove their children from the school.
And so it goes.
There was a tangi for a young local woman who had died...yes...drugs were a siginificant part of her life.
As her coffin was being carried from the Marae to the Urupa along the highway, 'mourners' were standing around drinking beer and smoking dope,
Respect. Not.
These people do not give a shit if its legal or not.
Moral failure....right there.
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Hard News: Synthetic cannabis: it just…, in reply to linger,
No, dealing, with the splatter.
I understand it is unfashionable to resist decriminalisation of anything.
I have had "Prohibition of alchohol didn't work!!!!" screamed in my face by an Alliance Party member promoting legalising cannabis.
He wasn't having to see on a daily basis the lives interrupted by alchohol and drug abuse.
Generations.
If decriminalisation, legalisation (and resulting control and regulation) and taxation will contribute towards better control of supply, education and mitigation of negative effects....why do we have such a HUGE problem with booze?
"Moral failure"....hmmm....New Zealanders are fucking miserable folk when you look at our statisitics for child neglect, abuse and murder, drug and alchohol associated harm (from actual use...not any legal considerations), suicide in all age groups....but our young people especially.
Why?
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Yep, they certainly went to great pains to explain the key/juggling hats thing.
In case we got it wrong....
http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/files/2013/11/Juggling-Hats.jpgThis has gone from funny, to not funny at all, back to funny again.
From the ridiculous to the sublime.