Posts by Hilary Stace
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Kirsty Johnston finds another case of institutional abuse this time in the Waikato
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Paul Gibson reports from the Human Rights Commission https://www.hrc.co.nz/news/paul-gibson-supporting-disability-advocate-robert-martin-bid-un/
Robert and his People First colleagues have also been following Ashley's story from New York.
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Ashley represents modern institutionalisation. Meanwhile Robert Martin, who grew up in the old institutions, is now at the other end of the disability spectrum at the United Nations in New York where he is our candidate for the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This is a huge deal, but have not seen it covered anywhere in the NZ media. Even TVNZ which has a reporter based in New York hasn't mentioned it as far as I know.
Here is the report from the Office for Disability Issues newsletter and a little clip from Attitude TV.
Robert Martin’s United Nations campaign reaching climax
The campaign for New Zealand disability rights advocate Robert Martin to gain a seat on the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is reaching its climax.
The election is being held on 14 to 16 June at the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in New York. If his campaign is successful, Robert will be the first New Zealander and the first person with a learning disability elected to the Committee.
The New Zealand Government nominated Robert for the Committee following consultation with the disability sector and the Human Rights Commission. His campaign has been supported by the Office for Disability Issues and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Minister for Disability Issues Nicky Wagner is attending the Conference of States Parties to support Robert’s candidacy.
To learn more about Robert visit the Attitude Live website
http://attitudelive.com/documentary/robert-martin -
Access: Disability as a wicked policy problem, in reply to Sacha,
The more people advocating for this the better. Interesting how he is focussing on the ACC v MSD funding model here (so talking about adults) rather than ACC v Ministry of Health funding for disability support generally.
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Hard News: An interview with Ben Goldacre, in reply to Rebecca Gray,
That is a MoH consultation and provides some good although outdated info to base a new law on. A select committee is a much more political process with a changed law as an outcome. It is really easy to change a law if there is political will to do so. Nicky Hagar said the other day that NZ could stop being a tax haven with a short simple piece of legislation. So no reason why DTCA couldn't be stopped too. Kevin Hague probably has it on his very long to-do list when he is Minister.
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Ben Goldacre going to be interviewed by Kim Hill tomorrow
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Hard News: An interview with Ben Goldacre, in reply to Rebecca Gray,
We could pass a law to stop it. Governments pass laws all the time. The government could even follow best practice and send it to a select committee and all the drug companies and publishers could make submissions about why it is a good thing and all the public health researchers could tell them why it isn't. Then we could raise a bit of public awareness of the issue.
I was involved in a bit of research a few years ago on health literacy and where people get their medical information. Apart from the GPs and other clinicians many go to the chemist and others ask family and friends. But a worryingly large number believe the ads on TV and in magazines.
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Hard News: An interview with Ben Goldacre, in reply to Bart Janssen,
drug companies would be banned from making any media statement or advertising at all
Apologies if someone has already mentioned this, but I think NZ and the US are the only two countries which allow Direct to Consumer Advertising for pharmaceuticals. We could easily ban them again.
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Thank you for the Bob Channel - what a viewing treat. Why am I not surprised that school doesn't suit him? And I love Polly's narrative as she builds the stile.
David, your earthquake reports were very important for me, and I'm sure for many others, as they were so immediate and vivid and scary. So it is good to see the toddler under the floorboards and the baby in her cot having a nice life in the country now.
And apt that children of the earthquake have such practical building skills.
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Access: Fighting seclusion with…, in reply to Lucy Telfar Barnard,
The Human Rights Commission has previously taken some concerns under the Convention Against Torture against these seclusion cases, including, I think, Ashley's.