We SO need a +Like+ button

Didn't think it would. The Herald stable is full of ironies that don't even make a break for it. Instead, they follow you home and refuse to leave.

the irony didn't escape

That one has been the elephant in the room for ages. Every child in NZ by law has a right to attend a local school – except disabled children in practice. And yet no one in the education system…

I popped some shots of it on the roamin' thread if you would like a glimpse of the charitable event. I suggest if one goes next year, take your walking shoes and only some places will let you wee as a note to…

No, exactly the right one. Faabulous! :)

Ah yes, Willie Jackson’s such a “gracious” chap – especially when he gave Clint Rickards a free and uncritical run to trash Louise Nicholas as a mentally-unstable liar. I guess when it comes…

Ok and I knew that. :)

strait-jackets please

but I so agree with you about the old rich white males still controlling stuff…

there is a wonderful opinion piece by a youngish Kai Tahu man in the SST – which I…

Understood but perhaps I should have said," back at ya, that's how absurd it is. Kinda, what's wrong with this picture?"
My impression about such political cartoonists is that they tend to jump straight in the deep end to portray the ridiculousness of the character they refer…

how 'normal' they are

That presumes a degree of technical competence on my part, but thanks for making it unnecessary Linger. :)

Er, Isn’t that his point? Back at them, see how it feels? Maybe too subtle for some.

Yeah… but, nah. Perhaps cartoonists…

Er, Isn't that his point? Back at them, see how…

Still when bitching Paul Homes for being a lazy, bigoted ignoramus of a columnist it would help if Scott himself didn’t indulge in a bit of…

Does happen – I don't think I'm the only person around here who finds John Roughan something of an unlucky dip. Never know if you're going to get something well-argued and humane or stupid as a sack of…

Bran. And warm soapy water. Best-

Never mind the child stats, never mind the national truancy stats, never mind the hopeless failure of Maori to educate their children and stop them bashing their babies. No, it's all the Pakeha's fault. It's all about hating whitey. Believe me, that's what it looked like the other day.…

Because his erstwhile wife & he dont get along?
Or, just simply, he's an age-ing publicity-seeking racist who is losing his media cred?
(Ouch, Laws is in front again- must do worse...)

Very limited, and abnegated by his other fucktard remarks- cease with the petrol Chris!

their idea of 'objectivity'.

(and a really nice Serra. Which is real nice.)

The sentence on that Wikipedia article that poleaxed me was:

For example, between 1935 and 1975, 63,000 people were sterilised on eugenic grounds in Sweden

1975. In Sweden? Wow. I mean, just....wow.

Has an interesting angle re autism too. In the early 1940s Asperger was working with a group of children in Vienna and desribed a strength based condition emphasising abilities, probably because he was…

This German poster shows a disabled person and a clinician and reads

‘This person suffering from…

Sullivan, M (2000) 'Does it say what we mean, do we mean what it says, do we know what we are saying? Problematising the way disability is conceptualised, written and…

..and birdstrike produces flames
#handymetaphor

I was tempted to ask what Fringe-verse version of PAS he’d been hanging around recently. Thought better of it. :)

I think we’ve already…

I think we've already got your number, Craig :-D

snort – you have actually met most of us so you should know we are a bunch of cantankerous farts who live for a good argument.

But you are right of course

I was taught 'oralism' i.e. being taught how to speak. Fortunately my hearing ability is…

I'm all for level playing fields – but it's somewhat off-putting when you show up with your stick for a jolly game of…

Rather than being facetious, I’m raising the question about the so-called “level playing field”. I submit…

-what planet is this test being conducted on?

(Oh, and Daleks don't need to climb stairs {even if they can – "El-e-vate!" as one said} – they just level the building).

@Craig, I didn't use the term.

@Russell, yes, my apologies for any part in lowering the tone.

Did anyone get the Dark City reference? :)

So unfair..

(note: no source for pic, not mine, no rights asserted)

Kracklite: You know he’s not really real, and yet he tries so hard to show that he is

*sigh* I stand corrected.

And, you see, that’s kind of the problem right there. That (entirely understandable) assumption that “my own assumptions about interpreting behaviour are correct, because they’ve always worked for me so far” – which doesn’t…

Hear hear Russell. Thank you.

Now I'm really confused. Both would seem to be no-brainers to me. But yes, there's that pressure to cut costs, apparently getting to…

Please do not lecture Ben about disability issues.

Some of the arguments…

To be fair to Lockwood, he has said he's willing to fund NZSL interpreters – but notetaking in English is beyond the way…

This. I had a similar conversation today with a Treaty of Waitangi claim negotiator.

One 'side' has worked constructively and in good faith for a couple of months and has reacted to…

lycra can be a tad too revealing

quite

as long as they're not American. :)

Quite. Though it wasn't the best answer, I have to salute Winston for coming out so promptly and practically in support. Has current government Disability Minister Tariana…

Yes, some of our colleagues need to be better with the basics. Impairments *are* the same as "disabilities".

Backwards Americanisms…

There are similar problems in workplaces, yes. Has anyone been drawing those links while I've been offline?

OK, thanks. Just try and find a slightly less distasteful term than "emotionally retarded" for people whose affect display makes you feel all icky in your water, m'kay? At…

Excellent. Not so private if there are other NZSL users in the room, but. :)

I understand that Mojo and colleagues negotiated with PSC and the…

Actually, we have. Peter Tapsell was the last in the 1990's, and there have been a couple of others,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_of_the_New_Zealand_House_of_Representatives#Holders_of_the_office

Correct. The speaker is elected by parliament.

The means of that, however, is a difference between the UK and NZ systems.

The UK Speaker is elected by an exhaustive secret ballot and expected to command some cross-party support (being secret, the…

Cheers. I'll give that the 25 seconds I think it's worth...

Done. Hmmm, no I'm…

And now the moderator has spoken!
I've just hidden a whole lot of posts.

If you don't like where this thread is going, feel free to throw your two cents in – that's why it's called a discussion board.

Posting that you're leaving the discussion adds…

Cuts both ways, really.…

Not my worldview, acutally, and that was exactly my point. Islander won the chocolate fish, because that was something a very good friend of mine had to get a handle on very quickly…

It so is.

My 2 midwife sisters would insist that, by the time the foetus (they wouldnt say that!*) developes a functioning brain, it is picking up louder sounds (including songs,
loud religious chants, as well as explosions et al…)

*pepe/baby/bub/little one…

Good point.

That's really, really disappointing.

Love that term! I loathe terms like "native language" and "native speaker" (though I do use them out of pragmatism) because 'native' implies 'birth' and no one (except, perhaps, Laozi, if you believe some of the wilder legends about him) is born speaking. All languages are learnt,…

Actually, I'd immediately think they might be autistic, rather than dishonest. Not everyone has your worldview, Craig.

Not quite, Ben. When my Father and foster-Mother died, I really…

To be fair, it can be worse than that.

The Cameron government's horrible decision to use people on disability benefits as a wedge issue wound up with this deeply alarming story earlier this month:

The…

United Nations Convention on the…

I…

This kind of sums up the injustice. She is doing what she can to make the conversation possible, but there are some things that are impossible for her.

The Speaker…

**No-one has suggested that Mathers must find the…

Yep. And just how such a small step she and the Greens are asking us to make to meet her part way.

Once again, some people really need to move their cars out of the disability spaces. Unless they want to be granted a disability permit on the…

And yesterday she did radio interviews in which she sat opposite the interviewer, lip read the…

Oh, I don't know. I live on the 6th floor of a building that has no ramps or lifts. Nothing stops me getting up and down the stairs. I work in buildings that have ramps to their 1st/Ground…

On a deeper reading of what you're saying here, I sense an unfair equivocation. It would be an unfortunate line of attack if Lockwood Smith were disabled, and I was mocking him on account of some aspect…

I would extend that to most people going about their daily toil. It is the nature of government and the society we have created since the mid 1980s.

My thoughts are the…

http://static.stuff.co.nz/1329307487/843/6426843.jpg

Wow. Really, just… I’ve got nothing. I’m going to walk the fuck away from that for everyone’s sake, but in the context of bitching Smith for being tin-eared…

it’s wrong.
Attitudes must change.

What Angela and Sacha said.

Lockwood Smith's pompous and undemocratic pronouncements would have attracted considerably more heat in Canada.

The idea that if someone with a disability wishes to participate in the life the rest of us can take for granted, they'd better find the…

Seconded. Like I've said, the issue is far bigger than just Lockjaw Smith. The issue is a society that sees fit to park in disabled spaces…

Dear Trevor,
It's a type of trouser.

It was just the latest in a long line of media and social media…

Um, yes, and I’d be inclined to put it in the beat-up/trivia basket if Mr. Mallard hadn’t been part of a Government that took a less laissez-faire view of the practice.

Also, someone needs to…

It's nice to see such charming optimism in an ER. Seriously, I admire the ability to avoid becoming a tired…

http://www.gaynz.com/blogs/redqueen/?p=503

Parliamentary email, apparently. So it may not matter.

Physical copies, I think. I believe there is one fewer printed version of Hansard as a result of the changes.

I did read the story.

Mostly, this matter annoys me because almost all the coverage of it everywhere has been wrong. People who want to understand what has happened…

Surely Parliament still won't deny MPs the opportunity to "correct" the first draft. So where is…

I try to do it this way when transcribing audio-recordings of interviews and conferences; I can…

No you didn’t, and apologies for the lack of clarity on my part. I didn’t think you quite understood what I was saying in the first instance, but didn't really help matters by not getting a firm grasp on…

I also said Natslooked bad for saying nowt.

Facts straight!

As the story indicates in the sentence you paraphrase ….

The Government signed up to…

Appearances may be deceiving you. ;-)

What I said was “Ministers are chosen by…

O goodness, +++++!

Well, yes, but one key is getting them while they're young. My family has a rule – I speak only English (sprinkled with what little of Te Reo I can remember) to our daughter, my…

Abiding respect for the Bill of Rights 1688?

:-)

Language usage – of disabled person (meaning by society), people with disability…

Which I saw after you linked to the video.

I note however, that the article quotes someone pointing out that the Government has promised that disabled people will be able top…

Which is an entirely separate point from insinuating that the Speaker of the House acted out of partisan malice…

You appear to be under the impression that the Prime Minister could not ask the Governor-General to appoint someone else as the Minister responsible for Vote: Parliamentary Service. I am intrigued from where this impression arises.

If English is not…

Nothing wrong with watching the pennies, but there's such a thing as "penny wise and pound foolish". Perhaps I'm too simple for Wellywood, but it seems a no-brainer that when you give someone a job (and a raft of statutory obligations)…

This is the first two paragraphs of the accompanying story, which is based on the script for the report:

New Zealand's first deaf MP, Mojo…

Funny how many people in Europe and Asia manage it as a matter of necessity. When at high school I was drop-dead impressed by an exchange student who was Italian, but her mother was Franco-German. Since neither set of grandparents spoke a word of Italian…

The three news article headlined "Speaker staunch on deaf MP’s technology funding"? I saw the link somewhere else, and ignored it. An article whose headline is so misleading (the Speaker has said…

One Paragraph after pointing out that individuals have impairments and not disabilities, is probably not the best time to point out that we've confirmed the rights…

Now that would be awesome!

Absolutely. He's chair of the PSC, and so calls the meetings. Arguably, given Parliament's failure to appoint new members to the PSC, he's the only person who can call meetings (or maybe not – see schedule 2.1(2) of the Parliamentary…

Yes, I do get that Russell. One might also think when you're a member of body whose sole function is to advise you'd not only do so but be proactive about identifying issues that lie outside your able-bodied…

I've seen two hearing-able people use sign…

I do not doubt you. But I did actually check the parliament.nz website before I typed that:

The Departmental Forecast Report sets out the financial statements…