Posts by Sacha
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Tanya, thank you and I'm sad to have missed the event. Maybe next year.
Everything helps and I appreciate your efforts and your successes at creating an atmosphere of celebration. All I'm saying is that focusing on individual achievement is not going to be enough and the attitudes that need to change are not mainly those of disabled people.
Certain approaches fit right in with most people's individualised and medicalised understandings about disability. Others go broader, and that's where I'd like to see you all stretch yourselves this coming year.
As a matter of interest, where did your unemployment figure come from?
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And I should add that all those figures are for "adults" aged 15 years old and over.
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Although if Sam were sleeping with an editorial writer we might have more reason to suspect the common origin of any talking points (in this century)..
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Doh. I meant, "like some of those on benefits".
And the last para should start more boldly thus:
The bottom line is that 60% of disabled people are not in work. -
Heh.
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Thanks, Russell - and yes, celebration is important. Building a sense of community is great.
About the unemployment rate, I was concerned when they got it wrong on air and even moreso if that was bandied around during the awards. I have been doing quite a bit of demographic work this year.
According to the most recent released figures (2001 post-census disability survey, would you believe), only 40% of disabled New Zealanders were employed, compared with 66% of non-disabled New Zealanders.
The official "unemployment" figures were identical at 4%, but 56% of disabled Kiwis were not "in the labour force" (cf 24% non-disabled) - that is, they were not able to work (like those on benefits, not the majority) or "discouraged" from job-seeking - which goes back to the reasons why that might be.
Out of that 40% of employed disabled Kiwis, 54% were employees and that figure has in isolation been described as increasing slightly in the unpublished 2006 survey. I think that may be the number that Attitude have latched onto and assumed that if about 60% of disabled people are "employed" then 40% are unemployed. Actually, it means that 21% of disabled people are employees, 3% are sole self-employed and 4% employ others.
The bottom line is that 60% of disabled people are not in work, and many of those could be contributing if our government employment and economic development agencies put half the effort into them as we do into ex-prisoners or resourceful recent migrants.
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'boof-head'
And even more generous - affectionate, even.
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My mum will be dead proud. :)
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Gosh, where to start. I’m glad the awards went well and I’ve had reason to feel grateful for Mark Gosche’s support for the cause over the last few years.
Curtis explained on air last Sunday that his motivation for establishing the awards was somehow creating more opportunities for young disabled people to get paid work. While he’s a nice man, that’s just not very well-informed.
An awards show – and their tv show in general – will change some people’s expectations about what disabled people can do, which is great. Celebrating achievement is fine, and the sporting community where the show has its roots is good at that.
However, promoting a view of disability as a resolutely individual “problem” to be bravely overcome is not going to work any more than it has done up until now. No matter how positive disabled job-seekers may be, it is employers’ attitudes that need to change to make the difference. There are also very real basic barriers in transport, services, communication and built environments that must be removed. Fundamentally, we all need to expect that disabled people can and do contribute in all areas of life – just as we expect from migrants, older people and other significant social groups.
That does require a bigger view of social change than the “inspiring” personality-driven stories that Attitude specialises in. Change demands a broader understanding of disability beyond the experience of the sports-playing wheelchair users with ACC-funded spinal injuries who dominate the show’s team. They at least seem to be moving on from thinking that the next adventure sports expedition or overseas holiday is the biggest issue for many disabled New Zealanders.
Non-ACC funded disabled people have a very different experience of life – as some PAS regulars can attest - and then more than half of disabled New Zealanders do not use services at all. What often counts are the day-to-day details like wonky footpaths, tiny print in official documents and awkward, disrespectful service from counter staff who don’t understand diversity because they no longer live with their grandparents like we all used to.
Improving public understanding about disability needs funding for more than one tv show tucked away on a Sunday morning, with more than one perspective on offer. One in Five does a broader job. However, a large-scale ongoing awareness campaign like Like Minds is sorely overdue, and hopefully the new government may be more receptive than the last one about that.
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"rofflenui" sounds somehow meatier, like a laugh you could really wrap your mouth around.
Yep, it's more oral rather than on-screen. I don't really mind.
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