Posts by Rosemary McDonald
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Mana's policy statement on Disability
http://mana.net.nz/policy/policy-disability-issues/
Excellent.
Well done.
Shows a real understanding of many of the more significant issues.
Would get my vote...if I had one.
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Hard News: The silence of the public square, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
I believe some of you have decided way before the Internet Mana arrangement that You didn’t like him
No, some people don't like him. That is our right.
This dislike is nothing to do with him being German...it is to do with him being an egomaniacal spoilt teenager....with shit loads of money....hence power and influence over the gullible.
Some of us dislike Key with equal intensity. That is our right.
This dislike is nothing to do with Key being Jewish, more because he is a banker and an egocentric, shallow person....with shit loads of money....hence power and influence over the gullible.
Neither is really a Kiwi. And perhaps a discussion should be had one day about what it means to be a New Zealander.
But neither Key nor Kim qualifies.
So why does it have to be a showdown between the twain?
Can't we PLEASE just ignore the pair of them?
Better still, lock the pair in a cage and let 'em fight it out bare-knuckled.
Give some of the other candidates a hearing.....
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Access: Respect, please, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Has Hollywood ever made a movie where an ableist jerk is left crippled in an accident, and is utterly ill-equipped to deal with the world he dumped upon? If not, it’d be the perfect Sundance/Cannes pitch.
One movie comes to mind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doctor_%281991_film%29
Not disability per se, but puts the shoe on the other foot with reasonable success.
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Hard News: The silence of the public square, in reply to Pete George,
Despite claims at various times that he would leave the politicians to run his party he remains the centre of attraction in the promotion of a political party he owns.
InternetMana is Mr. Dotcom's (what a silly moniker!) pantomime.
HE writes the script, sets the stage and runs the show.
He is the producer, the director AND the star.
How anyone can take him seriously is beyond me. Can't y'all see he's just toying with an election in a tiny country that means NOTHING to him?
He'll have his fun....then move on.
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I suspect their brief is to present disability in a good light….positive and happy clappy inspirational (although there’s nothing wrong with inspirational…
http://attitudelive.com/blog/red-nicholson/opinion-be-or-not-be-inspiring
stuff to show that all is well in the disability sector. That just by being positive, and putting in the effort, good will rain down upon us.
I kind of get that with Attitude…they present as slick and sophisticated visually…with wheelchair using presenters sitting on couches in the studio and all that…and I suppose it would be incongruous if they then did a hard hitting piece about shit care from contracted providers…you know, fifteen year olds being left to drown in the bath, etc.
I am really disappointed with One In Five.
Natrad did some really good work on the family carers case and tied that nicely with the reports of hideous torture and abuse at Parklands and Te Roopu Taurima. They did some very in depth work on the terrible case from Nelson….
http://www.hdc.org.nz/decisions–case-notes/commissioner%27s-decisions/2013/11hdc00877
highlighting the shocking dodgeing by the DHB…that compounded the horror of the abuse that the young man was subjected to.
Then they air One in Five….week after week of what is becoming quite tedious pap.
And yet Peter and I still listen to it, ( ardent Natrad listeners we are when on the road) forever hopeful that one day…..
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Access: Respect, please, in reply to Angela Hart,
Attitude avoids politics and controversy. It didn’t used to but ….
Thou shall not bite the hand that feeds you?
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Access: Respect, please, in reply to Brendon Murray,
the problem is what you experienced on you day in the chair was the solution to the disability not the disability itself if you have tetraplegia or muscular/skeletal impairment the pain the lack of respect people speaking above you, the hours of preparation getting ready to get to the chair before you can start your day it forgets the frustration of day in day out being a prisoner to the environment to the fact that no matter how independent you are you still need support to sometimes even do pass your bodily functions, the chair is just a an appliance that aids your mobility.
And somewhere in there Brendon is the discussion that got me thrown off the DPA NZ facebook page.
I had the audacity to say what Cheryl Marie Wade said in her brilliant piece in Ragged Edge, "It Ain't Exactly Sexy", featured here http://regator.com/p/245866886/bowel_bonanza_a_week_long_exploration_of_bowels/
It appeard that some in the DPA NZ community were very uncomfortable with the "yucky" aspects of managing a high spinal cord injury. Strange indeed since the discussion was centrered around an Attitude programme about an ACC funded tetraplegic and how inspirationally wonderful her life was becomming as she adjusted to life in a wheelchair.
I was trying to bring to the fore the significant disparity in supports between ACC and MOH for those with spinal cord impairments.
ACC acknowledges that managing bowel and bladder dysfunction requires time and expertise, and also acknowledges that mishandling of bowel and bladder issues can lead to serious medical problems....even death.
Not to mention completely shitting up your day.
The MOH does not.
I have tried, and given up, trying to get our two NZ on Air funded disability programmes (Attitude and One In Five) to do a comparison and/or a "walk a mile in my shoes" programme on tetraplegia under ACC compared with tetraplegia under MOH.
Forget it.
Why?
Seems that ACC funded tetraplegics would not be willing to front up and declare what exactly they were getting in the way of supports.
SO....if we cannot acheive any sort of fellow feeling, " do as you would be done by"/ "sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander" narrative within the disabled community...how the hell can we expect the non disabled community to ever hope to get a true picture of our lives?
And by " our" I mean disabled people AND the families who share their everyday lives.
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Another pair of pigeons....surreal normality on what was an unreal day...22/02/2011
Taken in Haast.
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Speaker: A true commitment, in reply to Brent Jackson,
Conflict resolution should so be an NCEA subject !
Excellent idea.
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I understand where the naysayers for paying family carers are coming from, and when you have struggled long and hard to have your voice heard, any issue that seems to undermine your autonomy could be perceived as being a threat.
What really gets me is that it is family carers that are being sidelined…like we are the ones that are somehow keeping our disabled loved ones back.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
You are right Angela, Labour could have sorted the family carers issue….and I still have not seen anything in print, any definitive statement from either Labour or the Greens that they will repeal PHDAct 2, AND, have the redacted sections of the Regulatory Impact Statement revealed.
Democracy is all very well…but it MUST be in good faith….must be completely transparent.
All we all become blind.
