Posts by Angela Hart
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Hard News: Circumstance and coincidence, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
Oh ok I've just always despised the weasel and his proven to be weasely ways. The Party he is in and the systematic stripping of our Countries assets,our people's rights and general discrimination of the less fortunate in NZ. Plus, I just don't like him.
Hear, hear. Weasels are a pest inNew Zealand and should be treated accordingly.
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Hard News: Circumstance and coincidence, in reply to Steve Barnes,
"Well, I can't tell you about that because I don't know but I will tell you this.... [insert bullshit blaming everything on Labour here]
The question is will this story result in any real change?
From the posts here it would seem that many of us neither believe nor trust our affable PM. Is that enough to force change? -
Hard News: Circumstance and coincidence, in reply to Steve Barnes,
He actually does some good work, that Campbell.
once in a while
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Access: Your Relationship With Disability, in reply to Sacha,
Interesting how many of us have learned a lot informally rather than formally. Is that also how we picked up our broader notions of what disability is about, do you think?
Good question. How many people actually do formal study on disability, I wonder?
Not many, I suspect. -
Access: Your Relationship With Disability, in reply to Robert Harvey,
thinking of all people as variously disabled rather than creating a ghetto of ‘the disabled’ seems to me a better approach to organising a community.
nicely put Robert, that's the way I see it too.
A I have minor impairments which do not usually cause disability so, no I'm not disabled in the sense Sacha intends.
B My adult daughter has a physical disability.
C Several friends are disabled and a few neighbours.
D When I worked in the wider world I had colleagues with disabilities from time to time.
E Like Rosemary I choose to support a family member who needs significant care because it's the best and safest option for us. These days I'm paid under Funded Family Care but it stinks that Rosemary isn't. Similar need, similar circumstances, legalised discrimination against spouses and partners. UNFAIR!
F I haven't formally studied disability but I've learned a lot from experience and continue to do my own research.
G There's a lot I don't know about everything including disability, but learning is rewarding.
How does my relationship with disability shape my thinking?
I try not to make assumptions.
I recognise the planning, thinking, time and effort that goes into making the most of each day.
I try to be observant.
I understand that small actions/obstacles can make huge problems that there's no need for.
I feel part of a disenfranchised but large and potentially powerful minority. -
OnPoint: Budget 2014: Yeah okay., in reply to Sacha,
You're really not convincing me you understand how social change and politics works. Perhaps we can pick this up in a different conversation, though. This one is meant to be about the Budget, after all.
I'm not at all sure I understand how social change and politics works. I've seen social change. I follow politics. I'm not sure there's any ability at all for individuals who are not and will never be in positions of power or influence to have much effect on either. In the past we relied on organisations to represent our interests but that doesn't seem to work anymore. And when you go through a legal process and the consequence is Government using urgency to pass legislation to tightly restrict the effects of the Court's decision, can you really continue to believe that we live in a democracy? Anyway, as you said, this is a conversation to be had elsewhere.
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OnPoint: Budget 2014: Yeah okay., in reply to Sacha,
You seem to mean MoH-funded personal support services? Most disabled people never need to use those, though I appreciate how crucial and poorly-designed the current system for them is.The practicalities of disability though are broader, hence having to look in many places in the Budget to find the expenditures.
Yes, the MOH and ACC personal support services are not relevant to the majority of people with disabilities. But to those who need them these services are vital. Without them these disabled people are either condemned to the institutions Rosemary has mentioned, well known for their neglect and abuse of the most vulnerable, or must rely on the loving care of their families, at the price of financial security.
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Returning to the original post. I've just read an academic study which puts a different cast on DPOs, Service Providers, Agencies and even Disability Change Movements in New Zealand.
http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sacs/pdf-files/Fears-constraints-and-contracts-Grey-and-Sedgwick-2014.pdfThe impact of the way our governments deal with these organisations is to hush our voice.
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The NZ disability strategy is here:
http://www.odi.govt.nz/documents/publications/nz-disability-strategy.pdf
To quote, it says:"Disability is not something individuals have. What individuals have are impairments. They may be physical, sensory, neurological, psychiatric, intellectual or other impairments.
Disability is the process which happens when one group of people create barriers by designing a world only for their way of living, taking no account of the impairments other people have. "
Using the words "disability" and"impairment" in the sense defined here would help focus society on the fact that the problem lies not with the individual but with society and its failure to accept and include (in the built environment and more generally in recognising and catering for people's needs).
However, the Strategy was published in 2001 and I haven't seen much progress in general society in the use of these terms. We have little recognition, understanding or respect, evidenced by the fact of Maurice Williamson's bill
http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/debates/debates/50HansD_20140220_00000036/building-earthquake-prone-buildings-amendment-bill-
which would increase disability around the country without affecting impairment. The thrust of it is that saving building owners a relatively tiny proportion of the cost of their earthquake strengthening upgrade is worth the enormous impact it would have on public access to public buildings. What it says to me is that people with mobility impairments don't matter. Grrrrrr... -
I take your point about some offense being more about the person perceiving it than the person allegedly causing it. A lot of the time I'm not offended when others think I should be, their problem not mine. What does offend/anger/upset me is when people set out to hurt; if no harm is intended, its easy to put things right with plain speech.
One further comment on this. I had a manager once who made inappropriate remarks but claimed that how people felt about them was their own fault. I don't think that's true, we can't readily control our emotions. We can control our reactions, but not how something triggers our feelings.
I understand all the language re impairment, disability, differently abled ad nauseum. It might be nice if society talked about impairment and understood the difference between that and disability. Fact is most people don't, and to have a conversation you have to begin with words people hold similar meanings for.