Posts by Hilary Stace
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
All I know is that since I became involved in disability advocacy, research and ethics, everything has become much more complicated.
-
Up Front: Dropping the A-Bomb, in reply to Danielle,
I guess it is about how people make decisions. So it is not about one foetus and one woman - it is about the how society, and various members of it, forms opinions about what is valued. And comes down again to society not valuing disabled people. That society could be personified in someone like Michael Laws saying, as happened earlier this year, that parents of children with Downs are as flawed as their children (for not aborting them).
-
Great discussion. Don't really have time to engage at the moment. But I tried to explain my attitude at an ethics conference a couple of years ago in a session run by some people from Victoria where you can now legally have pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and choose a female embryo if you are worried about autism because females are statistically less likely than males to have autism (which is another story). Is the consequence of that attitude routine termination for minor impairments such as cleft palate?
So, I'm 100% pro-choice for women unless the foetus has an impairment, when it gets more complicated, because at that point the foetus needs a little advocacy.
On the other hand I'm fascinated - and heartened - by the time,expertise and resources put into keeping tiny prem babies alive. Having a teeny fragile member of the whanau, born before 24 weeks gestation, in NICU - as we do at the moment - can change your perspective on these things.
-
This is often a difficult topic for the disability community because of their concern that society/the medical profession etc has an entrenched view that termination is the only rational option when there is any diagnosis of an impairment. And I guess this becomes a bigger issue the earlier testing is available, and how strong is the neoliberal assumption of individual self-actualisation, rather than an acceptance that it is the responsibility of us all collectively to raise a diverse group of children.
Many parents of disabled children such as those with Down Syndrome, feel strongly that making it any easier to get testing and a resulting termination will therefore be eugenic. So there is currently a grossly misrepresentative version of the Greens policy going around claiming this as an anti-disability policy, when the policy actually calls for better disability support.
So as a long time pro-choicer, I would also like better public support of disabled children generally, and therefore better support and information for those women who find their foetus has an impairment - so they can make an informed choice for themselves about what to do.
-
http://www.frankfilm.co.nz/out-of-sight-out-of-mind.html Christchurch filmmaker Gerard Smythe made this one and it screened on TV just before Christmas in 2004. Made a big impression on me. Those old people with no idea why they had been sent to Templeton as children.
-
Access: Your Relationship With Disability, in reply to Angela Hart,
That is the biggest disability-related list I have ever seen in an honours list. Good people too. The sector must be getting itself organised about using the nominations process (and a nomination takes about 6 months to go through the system). Anyone can nominate anyone - just need a couple of letters of support.
-
Access: Cool asylum: Porirua Hospital Museum, in reply to Campbell Walker,
Thank you Campbell. I will track it down. Found this review from 2010 film festival. Two other good NZ documentaries about institutions are Mental Notes (survivor stories) and Out of Sight, out of mind (about the de-institutionalisation of Templeton).
-
Access: Your Relationship With Disability, in reply to Erin,
Erin, have you seen the latest Disability Action Plan from the Office for Disability Issues? Directly responding to the CRPD obligations.
We have little Maori/disability research but there is a link to some rare recent research in Southland in this latest May issue of the IHC e-news Hot Issues
There is a collaborative research group based in the DHB doing medical model disability/health research on the impact of the earthquake. Probably not interested in the CRPD but might be worthwhile finding out what data the RHISE group has (Research on health impacts of seismic events).
There are some Christchurch-related Enabling Good Lives disability activists mentioned in the Honours list today - in fact more honours for 'services to disability' than ever before in one list - does that have significance for implementation of CRPD.
-
Access: Your Relationship With Disability, in reply to Erin,
Yes implementation is quite different. The 2008 ASD Guideline with its 300+ recommendations is a great document for its time, but implementation has been very limited due to: lack of agreement on priority, different interpretations of what the recommendations mean, lack of resources, lack of data and information, and numerous other problems.
Actually treaties aren't always easy to ratify either. The US still hasn't ratified CRPD despite Obama's strong support. They haven't even ratified the Convention on the Rights of Children!
-
Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to Bodmin,
Thanks but I drive past Karori library several times a week so could easily stop there and look at the book myself. But does it mention any more about the Alington for whom Alington Road is named? Fanny Irvine-Smith (mentioned above) says he was an early school teacher. I wonder whether that Alington is linked to the Alington in the title of this post and Bill who must be his descendant (grandson? or close relative) because they are both Hildebrand Alington.