Posts by Angela Hart
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The best and the worst is drawn out in those who care or are responsible for our most vulnerable. And Tokenui is still happening, just in other facilities, and less obviously. We can't tolerate these situations, if we know or suspect we really must speak out or we're condoning it.
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Access: Words and Disability - The…, in reply to Ross Mason,
Bound to a wheelchair seems to always invoke S&M visions……
It's not as bad as "confined"
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Access: Words and Disability - The…, in reply to Ross Mason,
Although people can cause offense unintentionally because they use the wrong words or don't know how to behave, the important thing has to be the clear dialogue. We don't want to be talking past each other, whatever the words we're using.
Deliberate insult or offence is (hopefully) not such a common occurrence.
When we have the energy/patience/time/will its worth continuing our extra curricular educational role. Most folks mean well..... -
Miles away and without direct experience of the events in Christchurch I feel for those still hanging on. I know some are tied by not being able to sell their property. I'm sure that if I had been living in Christchurch, I would be well gone by now.
The properties that are being repeatedly flooded are unliveable and those people need a workable immediate solution to their accommodation needs.
Government and Council are slow to act for various (some valid) reasons but supporting the people now dispossessed must be imperative. Is there anything the luckier rest of us can do to help? -
Access: What disability is, in reply to Sacha,
It's an impaired thread :)
Beautiful!
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Ah, I had a look at this site. It lists all the recipients of funding since establishment and gives details of the schemes. Apart from the courses aimed at encouraging people with disabilities to interact with the media, I didn't notice much emphasis on that particular goal- getting disabled people better represented in the media. It seems more about inclusion and promoting activities which have the potential to get media coverage. However, I need to look at the site in more depth, this is just a first impression.
Personally I've tried to get media coverage about one scheme which affects people with disabilities, because it is an election year and therefore an opportunity to encourage more rapid improvement then would otherwise be the case. I've had some success but probably cannot keep the issue in the public mind for very long, which is what is needed. That's partly because my family would be negatively impacted if I personally went public, so the human interest can't be provided by me. If you don't want to publicise your own predicament or put family or friends in the spotlight, it's much more difficult to get your issue into the media.
I'd really like to see a brickbats and bouquets type column in the Herald, featuring the good things happening and the problems cropping up for the disabled community. Such a column might have featured the problems with the Morningside railway crossing before the serious accident occurred, it might tell the Council which pathways need attention most urgently, it might highlight the positives such as free entry for wheelchair users and their carers to selected rugby matches at Eden Park. It might sell more copies of the paper as there would be an expectation of something of special interest to this sector of the community. -
Access: Who Are Disabled New Zealanders?, in reply to ,
Yes, I too think the Greens have the right approach and their values have not been subjugated by expediency (yet). They fight hard for their policies, and they haven't done badly while waiting in the wings. Although the Government of the day takes credit, schemes like the home insulation and heat pump subsidies came from the Greens.
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Access: Who Are Disabled New Zealanders?, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Yes, the Problem Gambling Foundation is a prime example of what can happen when you're dependent on Government funding and you displease the Government. The current climate is not that of a functional democracy.
Similarly, I believe, the various media have been obliged to become very careful and selective with their stories. -
Not a direct response folks, sorry. But I just have to vent my frustration, anger and concern at the news that no-one at the respite facility which left a 15 year old to drown in the bath is to be charged for the negligence which caused his death.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9981142/Anger-over-lack-of-charges/
I know we don't have the whole story, but if there's some justification for this you'd think it would have been provided. If a 15 year old boy being treated in hospital had been left in a bath and drowned there would be serious consequences and a public outcry. I can't help feeling that the authorities have made a value judgement on the basis that this child was disabled. -
Access: Who Are Disabled New Zealanders?, in reply to Sacha,
umm, yes, I've been wondering for a while whether it's worth putting effort into some of the existing structures. It seems to me that some of them operate more as a dampener for outrage/anger/complaint than as a means to effect change. What I mean is that while groups partner or develop relationships with Government bodies for the best of reasons, the effect of that over time seems to be to absorb the passion without producing much in the way of short to medium term change. A cynic ( I think I've become one) would say that partnering with these groups is an effective strategy for a Government which fully intends to do its own thing in its own time. It takes the heat out of the situation without much cost or effort and there is a superficial appearance of action.