Posts by Angela Hart
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Access: Disability as a wicked policy problem, in reply to Sacha,
the word aspie was not around when I was young, but ‘gifted’ was even though there were no programmes available to me.
Gifted and talented kids drew from the same pool of funding as those with educational challenges. Many schools considered that G&T kids didn't really need any help so they were often not identified. Boredom can produce disruptive behaviour and dropping out of the system of people with much needed talents. What a waste! On the other hand the more the schools put into their bright kids the less they had left for the other special needs children.
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Access: Disability as a wicked policy problem, in reply to Sacha,
yeah, well my experience is old. But the system created an expectation that those with high support needs would stay on at school longer, that is possibly until age 21. This meant that perfectly capable kids were not pushed or challenged to achieve their potential. Their teachers anticipated having them for an extra two or three years, and paced the teaching programme accordingly.
There was also the problem that an academically able disabled child was funded to remain in high school to age 21 but could not access government funded support to go to University until they were , I think, 18. So Gifted and Talented kids with a disability could not go to University early unless their parents were wealthy. They were held back. They got bored and turned off education. If and when they did go there were enormous problems with support just to get around a supposedly accessible campus and into rooms with difficult doors, but I digress.The obvious results of this planned shift of funding are a reduction in support for the cohort currently qualifying for ORS beyond age 18, and less funding at transitions between schools. In theory this is sensible because we should not be expecting our special needs/learning support/ whatever we’re calling them today kids to automatically be three years behind their peers, nor should we be permitting the continuance of the disruption that currently occurs when children transition from one school to the next in the normal course of education. (primary to intermediate, intermediate to high school).
Early intervention definitely works. In our case “special education” meant a reduction in kindergarten time compared with peers. That is not a good thing and it is discrimination. Stopping this type of discrimination and substituting an intensive child centred approach at an early age could and should be beneficial.
In practice, of course, well the proof of the pudding and all that. -
Access: Disability as a wicked policy problem, in reply to Sacha,
Govt takes funds for supporting current disabled students to pay for younger disabled students.
Once upon a time the term "special needs" meant any student with educational needs beyond the average. It encompassed Gifted and Talented children as well as those with behavioural or developmental challenges.
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Access: Patients X, Y and Z, in reply to Hilary Stace,
The new NZ Disability Strategy, which is currently being rewritten, quite blatantly has Cabinet as the main target for pleasing. Disabled people and families are 6th in the hierarchy. So the system itself is disabling and punitive Agents of the system have a tough time fighting that and keeping their jobs.
You have put your finger on it, this does seem to be the situation. It means people disengage because they see how nearly impossible it is to get change for the better.
We provided submissions for the draft disability strategy and went to one of the meetings. We see how the meeting feedback has been ignored in the draft and think what is the point of giving further credence to the process by submitting again on the draft. Consultation? It is NOT consultation, it’s a sham.
Whatever integrity and honesty might once have been in the system is gone as people do what is required to keep their government (taxpayer) funded jobs.
Ultimately there comes a point when so many are disenfranchised that a revolt occurs. Cynical me whispers that there is the reason for so much money now being allocated to the armed forces.
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Thanks Rosemary , those lines are my new e-mail sig for all correspondence with the Ministry of Health and its contracted organisations.
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Access: Patients X, Y and Z, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
And the Decision…actually did use the word ‘entitled’ in respect to funding for care.
but it wasn't followed up in law, quite the contrary
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One worrisome aspect of this particular case is the implication in the article that had the power company known of the medical dependency, they would have done something. In my experience the power company considers it has no responsibility in this regard because it cannot and does not promise to supply uninterrupted electricity.
Battery back-up is another matter. Especially since this lady had only recently been discharged from hospital with the ventilator, she was clearly dependent on the machine for her life. The DHB should shoulder some responsibility here as it did not provide any back-up, if it had she would not have died at this time.
Only a small number of people are in this precarious situation, it is hard to understand why DHBs do not address the problem, as it would not be terribly costly.
Of course, it's cheaper still to just let people die. -
Hard News: The Unitary Plan and grown-up…, in reply to Christopher Dempsey,
this article is about the problems mobility impaired people have finding housing which is safe for them
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/82528058/no-houses-available-for-disabled-new-zealanders
Universal design is a no brainer but the uptake is terribly slow. -
Some good people there. But it's remarkable how an entity like this can be established without interested people in the sector, such as ourselves, being informed about the proposal. Once again, the aims sound great but the devil is in the detail. Oh, and how is the "non-aligned self funding " achieved?
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and how separated it is from actual justice....