Posts by Hilary Stace
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Access: Disability as a wicked policy problem, in reply to Marc C,
I hear Professor Sir Mansel Aylward is visiting New Zealand later this year.
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Teina Pora's case can also be seen as another of disability abuse. Framed and imprisoned for years although his Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and related ID would have been obvious to many of those involved in the processes, even though they might not have known exactly what it was.
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By the way they play nice New Zealand music while you wait for hours for a Work and Income person to answer the phone. Not sure that is a good idea. You need angry, grumpy music to match your mood.
Just had another long talk to another W&I person who had different information including no official notification that I was my son's agent (which I have been for years). She explained that this is all happening because they are updating, standardising and centralising all their processes in one place (in Auckland) and when they find inevitable gaps - because who knows what bits of papers have got mislaid over the years? - they go back to the clients to ask for it. So it appears that they are asking a lot of impossible and often unrelated questions (eg pay slips from various odd years ago). But from their point of view they want to know that all is in order because - wait for it - they are finding underpayments and clients are owed money!
We have an appointment next week with a real person and will take all our bits of paper and sort it all out once and for all. Meanwhile how many others have given up and dropped out of the system?
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Kirsty keeps exposing disability injustice. Today the news that Nelson parents are being forced to send their autistic son to a residential school in Christchurch. This is against the Education Act and the legal right to attend your local school, and harks back to the years of institutions. But children are only ever allowed to attend a residential school for a maximum of two years so it is only delaying a local solution. Makes no sense.
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I need to have another rant about Work and Income. My son has just had his Supported Living Benefit cut off (from next week) even though I have just provided yet another lot of information about his tiny income for the year ended June 2016. Apparently, I (as his agent) apparently haven't provided sufficient income information for the year Jan 2013 to Jan 2014. A far as I know I have provided everything they have ever asked for - every January since he went on the benefit I have completed the paperwork provided.
I did have a letter about that 2013 year at the beginning of May but rang to ask them why they needed that when I had provided it back in 2014 and was told someone would ring me back. They didn't, but an income form for the year to June 2016 turned up instead, which I completed and sent back. Turns out these are two completely unrelated processes, although they go to the same address in Auckland! The man on the end of the phone was helpful enough but could only send a note to ...someone, whoever (God?) to ask for an extension to the cut off date!
The lesson is always photocopy and date every piece of information you ever give Work and Income.
Bring on the UBI and stop these inefficient, expensive and punitive processes.
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Access: Social media, disability…, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
It was a vocal gathering and good that Radio NZ came along to find out what it was all about. Esther recently joined DPA bringing some fresh activism energy to that organisation.
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Even got the briefest of government notices of motion in Parliament today. The National MPs behind Anne Tolley have no idea who he is http://www.inthehouse.co.nz/video/43955
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To be fair, since I wrote this post this morning, there have been some media articles. Radio NZ, the Herald, Newshub (TV3) and even TVNZ have reported his win. But media usually loves to report a competition where a New Zealander has a chance on the world stage, so it was a pity there wasn't any coverage up till now.
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Access: Fighting seclusion with…, in reply to Sacha,
That's not bad coverage. Not quite what Steven Adams got (and they left NZ at about the same time) but this is disability, politics, international human rights, so not as significant for the MSM as sport..
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Yay Robert won. This is so much bigger than a win in sport. Let's wait for the tsunami of media coverage (not).