Posts by Angela Hart
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Access: Disability as a wicked policy problem, in reply to Hilary Stace,
I think that cultural change section is pointed at government departments and agencies, and in that context as AS says, maybe it's not so awful. After all, we are not going to achieve a sea change like this if it can be nobbled by people who can't accept the basic premise that disabled people should be in control of their own lives, as much as possible.
The vulnerable people at the bottom of the heap have little choice at the moment but to accept the scraps thrown at them or bite the hand that feeds them.
I for one have encountered people whose job it was to sort out government provided support who made every person they dealt with feel like utter rubbish. Those people must change or go. -
Access: Disability as a wicked policy problem, in reply to Sacha,
Yup, the devil is in the implementation, and the report Hilary linked to recognises that agency and ministry people need attitudinal shift or to be moved out. There is merit in repurposing existing spend, there is much waste because of the way the system is set up and limited, and a great deal of money goes to able bodied people administering funds, rather than directly assisting the people it is supposed to support.
I would be hopeful if only I wasn't aware of the twisted travesties achieved already, such as Funded Family Care, and the monopoly but inefficient and dysfunctional NASC I have to work with. -
Access: Some aspects of New Zealand’s…, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
Rosemary, the police have laid a manslaughter charge for Nathan Booker's death.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/68359014/woman-arrested-following-death-of-palmerston-north-teen-in-respite-care -
I'm still confused. Apart from getting legal advice, there's no clear way forward. Legal advice for people on low incomes is not simple.
-
Thanks Rosemary, it certainly wasn't clear from the article that "benefit" meant support payments from MOH, whose disability support system is predicated on the belief that no-one has entitlement to support.
The implication then becomes that MOH withdrew whatever support was in place to pay other caregivers (not mum) when Spencer was in receipt of Funded Family Care. As if the son's care needs or arrangements had changed when in fact nothing had except that she started to be paid minimum wage for a small proportion of the many hours of skilled care she provides. So the price of a slightly higher family income is even more pressure on Margaret Spencer because it's less likely that she can take time out from unrelenting responsibility.
This sort of thing is the reason it's so difficult to swallow the rhetoric, the nice words in disability and carers plans. If the MOH really had the needs of the disabled person foremost these behaviours would be unthinkable.
-
and here's a piece which shows how nasty some government departments can be in these cases, by way of e-mail read in court
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/68267835/mum-wins-latest-round-in-care-payment-fightThe likelihood is that Spencer lost the right to a benefit because she became eligible for 29.5 hours at minimum wage weekly under funded family care. There's a certain determination to keep us poor and in our place.
-
Access: It’s just a bout of Chronic Sorrow, in reply to Sacha,
disability support system is so misaligned I can't dismiss the potential value.
Absolutely. And the EGL model certainly has the potential to improve things. The trouble is this government has an established pattern of twisting what it does to fit goals of cost reduction and reduced government involvement rather than putting people first. It's difficult to trust that anything they do will be genuinely set up to be helpful primarily rather than primarily cut costs and devolve responsibility. They've really earned that loss of trust.
-
There's a human rights issue here in that government agencies have accepted adult residential facilities as being approved for minors. They are not.
-
Access: Some aspects of New Zealand’s…, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
Informal discussions with staff from MOH and CYF indicate that children are entering care under section 142 care agreements so that they can be placed in adult residential placements, because of a lack of placement options in the community.
That is disgusting, I am horrified. There is no way in the world that rest home type facilities can adequately meet the needs of children, especially those with a disability. This is totally wrong.
-
Access: Some aspects of New Zealand’s…, in reply to Hilary Stace,
MSD is reviewing children in aged care - but not younger adults
Surely they're not in aged care but housed with families not their own, foster care or youth facilities?