The Health and Disability Commissioner invites you to a …
Where? Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Auckland
When? 10am – 12.30pm Monday, 19 November 2012
What is the meeting about?
The meeting is to talk about …
To come to the meeting:
Call: 0800 11 22 33 (ask for Vanessa or Hemant); or
Email: seminar@hdc.org.nz
How NZ Treats People with Disabilities
In case anyone has missed this, here is a link to the full report launched last Wednesday 24 October.
http://www.dpa.org.nz/news/3-news/218-2012-monitoring-report-released
New UK domestic violence definition includes coercive control
The UK Home Office has announced it will expand the definition of domestic violence to include ‘coercive control’ and to cover people 16 years of age and older.
The change is to the official definition of domestic violence used across government not the legal definition.
The expansion of the definition to cover 16 and 17 year-olds came after the British Crime Survey 2009/10 found that 16-19 year-olds were the group most likely to suffer abuse from a partner.
Link to further info on the NZFV Clearinghouse website: http://www.nzfvc.org.nz/node/793
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Thanks to the North Shore Family Violence Prevention Network weekly E News for passing this information on. Sign up to receive their E-News directly by emailing fvpnns@gmail.com
A new project, Stigma Watch, is now up and running. Details are below. If you would like to join the Facebook group please let Katrina know at the email address below and she will send you an invitation.
Stigma Watch is a group which enables members of the public to access and respond to media articles or portrayals that may be stigmatising to those with experience of mental illness.
The Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand will disseminate potentially stigmatising articles to members of the group. Members can then respond directly to media outlets, in their capacity as either:
a) Individual members of the public; or
b) Spokespeople for their organisations*
* Spokespeople must check with their managers that they are allowed to speak on behalf of their organisation. Many organisations will have official communications departments who issue all statements. If in doubt, ask!
The Stigma Watch process
Anyone who is interested in keeping abreast of New Zealand media articles addressing mental health issues can join Stigma Watch. To be added to the database, just email NewsAlerts@mentalhealth.org.nz with the Subject: Join database.
Regular emails will be sent directly to your email address. You can also, should you wish, join the Stigma Watch Facebook group where you can discuss articles with other group members. These conversations will be private to the group.
If you feel that an article requires a response, you should respond directly to the media outlet.
Where Like Minds fits in
Stigma Watch is part of the Like Minds programme. However, please do not respond as Like Minds or as a Like Minds spokesperson. If you are a provider, you may refer to yourself as such, but any responses made will come from you or your organisation, not Like Minds.
Where the Mental Health Foundation fits in
The Mental Health Foundation will provide administrative support for the Stigma Watch database and Facebook page. Any responses to media articles from the Mental Health Foundation will come from the Chief Executive and will not be part of Stigma Watch.
Why won’t the Mental Health Foundation get involved in responses?
They do! The Mental Health Foundation sends many responses to media articles every year. But what Like Minds now needs is a bigger pool of responders who are speaking on their own behalf. The more responses an article gets, the more likely the media organisation is to sit up and take notice.
Mental Health Foundation communications team
The Mental Health Foundation communications team does not have the capacity to provide any services to those who wish to respond to articles (e.g. proof reading). The role of the Mental Health Foundation is purely administrative.
If you have any questions about Stigma Watch, please email Katrina: Katrina@mentalhealth.org.nz.
Paula Bennett has set out her latest proposals for changes to welfare benefits for consultation. These will mean changes to sickness and invalids benefits, the way disability allowance is paid, and the DPB CSI.
Auckland Disability Law invites you, your whanau and friends to a Community Hui to discuss the proposed changes and to learn how to make a submission.
The hui will look at these changes from a Rights based framework and will incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Government’s obligation under this convention.
Come and share your views and ideas.
Please let ADL know if you are coming and if you need and NZSL interpreter. Numbers limited
Full information about the select committee process can be found here: http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Legislation/Bills/5/2/a/00DBHOH_BILL11634_1-Social-Security-Benefit-Categories-and-Work-Focus.htm
Submissions are due Thursday 1 November.
Thursday 25 October 2012,
9.30am – 12pm (tea and coffee from 9-00am)
Mangere Community Law Centre, off Waddon Place, Mangere
The Ministry of Health is releasing for stakeholder consultation Rising to the Challenge: The Mental Health and Addiction Service Development Plan 2012 – 2017. The purpose of the Plan is to provide direction for mental health and addiction service delivery across the health sector over the next five years, and to clearly articulate Government expectations about what changes are needed to build on and enhance gains made in the delivery of mental health and addictions in recent years. The Plan incorporates key themes from Blueprint II and advances the Government’s focus on better performing public services. The plan has also been informed by input from preliminary sector consultations.
The consultation period will run from 8 October 2012 to 2 November 2012. Feedback closes on Friday 2 November 2012 at 5.00 pm. Please note that any feedback forms received after this time will not be included in the analysis of feedback.
How to respond
You can respond using the consultation response questionnaire attached to the consultation document. Email your local coordinator to request a consultation document and feedback form.
Attend a regional consultation workshop in your region during October.
You may already be aware of these meetings. If not, please email the contact person identified for further details if you wish to attend.
Your views and feedback are welcome and can be provided:
a) by email to: SDP@moh.govt.nz
b) in writing to: April-Mae Marshall, Mental Health Service Improvement Group, Ministry of Health, PO Box 5013, Wellington.
All feedback forms will be acknowledged by the Ministry of Health and a summary of feedback will be sent to all those who request a copy. We look forward to your feedback which will assist us to finalise this document.
In positive news, ADL handed over an open letter to Minister Collins at a National Party public meeting last Friday (August 24th). The Minister responded to our questions by confirming that she does not intend to close Auckland Disability Law. She also publicly acknowledged the need for disabled people across New Zealand to be able to have access to specialist legal services.
ADL had a very productive meeting with Minister Turia on Thursday, who is supportive of the need for the services of Auckland Disability Law.
Ongoing support has enabled ADL to demonstrate the clear need for specialist disability services and has kept this on the agenda, and ADL thank everyone for everything they have done to send that message to the Ministry and the Minster so far.
The next step is to meet with the Ministry of Justice to talk about the shape of those future services. We will keep you updated on those discussions, and will be calling for the Ministry to involve disability community in those discussions.
The latest media on the issue is this interview from One in Five on Sunday night: http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/oif/oif-20120826-1906-one_in_five_for_26_august_2012-048.mp3
New Resources from It’s not OK campaign focus on protecting children
A new series of posters, postcards and stickers focus on the role we all have to play in protecting children in our families and communities.
Research shows that violence in the home affects children whether they see it, hear it or just know about it.
Child abuse is most often linked to partner abuse. In 2010 70% of child abuse cases attended by Police were family violence related and half involved children being present.
All Black Liam Messam, Sports Broadcaster Jenny May Coffin and Comedian Ben Hurley feature on the new resources.
The new resources can be ordered from 1 August by any person or organisation from the It’s not OK website at http://www.areyouok.org.nz/.
Also, don’t forget to keep in touch with what’s happening around the country at www.facebook.com/ItsNotOK
Excluded Students are ‘Out of School, Out of Mind’
A report released on the 1st of August by YouthLaw Tino Rangatiratanga Taitamariki shows that students are regularly being suspended, excluded, and expelled without proper safeguards and that an Independent Education Review Tribunal is urgently required to provide an inclusive, timely, and accessible means by which school disciplinary decisions can be challenged.
The report, ‘Out of School, Out of Mind: The Need for an Independent Education Review Tribunal,’ is based upon current research literature and data obtained from the Ministry of Education under the Official Information Act.
Vanushi Walters, Managing Solicitor for YouthLaw, says that the Ministry needs to do more to ensure that decisions by principals to stand-down or suspend students, or boards of trustees to exclude or expel are correctly decided, both on their facts and the law.
The report found that 39 percent of students excluded from school were out of the formal education system for at least three months, with a further 13 percent being out for more than nine months. Those from lower-socioeconomic regions were most adversely impacted, with students from low-decile schools being nearly five times more likely to be excluded and twice as likely to be expelled as those from high-decile schools.
“Research shows us that students who are excluded from school are less likely to succeed in life than other young people, and are more prone to anti-social behaviour. We cannot condemn our most vulnerable to a life of failure,” she says. “Yet despite this, principals and boards are judge, jury and executioner over many of these children’s futures. Any decision is effectively final, with no accessible right of appeal or challenge.”
The report recommends the creation of an Independent Education Review Tribunal, based upon the Independent Appeal Panel process currently implemented in England. The Tribunal would provide an affordable, accessible means by which parents and students could challenge school decision-making, and would have the power to reverse unfair decisions.
Both the Report and Summary Document are available on the YouthLaw website.
Send queries to:
An update from Auckland Disability Law
Friday 10 August 2012
A successful hui was held last Monday, 30th July at Western Springs Community Hall. ADL had around 80 people attend to hear from our esteemed speakers. Huge thanks to everyone who attended and to Esther for filming and editing the highlights for us.
Some highlights from the hui click below for some video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5t152AQ9s8
See link below for the article Aucklander magazine
http://m.theaucklander.co.nz/news/uncertain-future-for-auckland-disability-law/1488478/
Article on 30 July talking about our public hui
Find out about our campaign in NZSL
Thank you Seeflow.co.nz
https://seeflow.co.nz/service/nzsl_letter/action/present/service_id/1695/
How to sign:
Email your name to info@adl.org.nz and we will add you as an email signatory to our list. If your organisation has not yet signed, ask them to support us.
Post it to us at Auckland Disability Law, PO Box 43 201, Mangere, Auckland
Fax it back to us on 09 275 4693 or scan it and email to info@adl.org.nz
Finally, you can print it out and post it directly to Minister of Justice, Judith Collins http://www.beehive.govt.nz/minister/judith-collins
If you are signing on behalf of an organisation, please be sure that you have authority to do so.
If you have already written to Justice Minister Judith Collins directly, thank you for the support. Please let us know if you have done this – we would like to add your name or organisation to the open letter with all the names and logos of our supporters that we will present to the Minister.
You can write your own letter to Minister of Justice Judith Collins http://www.beehive.govt.nz/minister/judith-collins or to the Minister for Disability Issues, Hon Tariana Turia
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/minister/biography/tariana-turia
Lobby your local MP, Councillor or Local Board
You can lobby, write to or talk to your Local MP. Click link below for list of MPs http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/MPP/MPs/MPs/
Click here to find your local board (Auckland Council): http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/AboutCouncil/representativesbodies/LocalBoards/Pages/Findyourwardandlocalboard.aspx
Let us know how your communications with them were received.
Write to the newspapers, or put out your own press release
Contact us for further information
Follow on Facebook
Search and click the ‘like’ button on the Auckland Disability Law Facebook page
A huge thanks to the more than one hundred individuals and all these groups and organisations that have signed so far (please let us know if you have signed and we have accidentally missed you off the list):
