PPlog

I watched the Lansley announcement on public health on Parliament live this afternoon. Not one mention of mental health in his statement or the subsequent questions. Yet the Department of Health says (and this is current): “Poor mental health and well-being can have an impact on every area of a person’s life; physical health, education, employment, family, relationships, and the effects can last a lifetime. It plays an important part of in contributing to and maintaining health and social inequalities. Good mental health and well-being are associated with improved outcomes for individuals including longevity, physical health, social connectedness, educational achievement, criminality, maintaining a home, employment status and productivity.” I think the DH quote is an excellent one with which I wholly agree. Applause to them. But it is at present fat wormy text - substance but squirming in no particular direction. Mental health, once again in sick repetition, has be...

“It’s a question of us prioritising.” James Bullion was quoted as telling us in the Eastern Daily Press yesterday. Mr Bullion is the Assistant Director of Community Services for Norfolk County Council. He was speaking about the proposed cuts at a meeting of the Norwich Older People’s Forum. I don’t know exactly what their priorities are; I suspect from their consultation document many are to facilitate financial profit for private agencies. But surely some of the things that come first in any public services context; in any humanitarian context are: preventing hardship alleviating pain reducing hunger and poverty facilitating and maximising recovery from illness offering disabled people some quality of life and preventing unnecessary deaths. We live in a society with mainly sick and twisted values.

The 'UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities' and the ‘Equality Act 2010’ are the core vehicles to protect vulnerable people’s rights in the face of the ConLib cuts. The Convention is ratified by the UK Parliament and has to be observed by the government of the day. The Equality Act 2010 at present (there is still bits to be amended by statutory order) contains powerful provisions for the promotion and installation of equality rights for persons with what they call ‘protected characteristics.’ These include for instance, race, gender, older persons, disability, etc. The Act is essentially a law to bring all the other laws relating to equality together under one roof (with some additions such as older people). So with regard to disability, it absorbs the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. The definition of disability for all practical purposes remains the same: a person who has a physical or mental impairment, and...

Definition: esqualisation is the making of a hooded statement which rationalises avoidance of equality law by equivocal and squalid words. For example:          “In line with its commitment to fairness and promoting social mobility, the Government         has looked closely at the impact of the Spending Review on different groups in society. In         particular, the Government has ensured that the potential impacts on the equality of men         and women, people from ethnic minorities and people with disabilities have been taken into         account as far as possible in decision making.         The majority of the decisions that have been made at this Spending Review concern         departmental budg...

There is important information about how mental health groups are responding to welfare cuts here: NSUN Bulletin: 14.9.10    Event: Art Exhibition   The Artists of 73a Centre invite you to Bexhill Museum for an exhibition of their digital and conventional art. 11 th October 2010 from 12.30pm For further information contact 01424 213099 email musicbeyondart@yahoo.co.uk     Event: National Coalition for Independent Action: Cuts: how do we respond?   The next NCIA Assembly meeting will be on Tuesday 26 th October from 1.30pm to 5pm at the Institute for Family Therapy, 24-32 Stephenson Way , London NW1 2HX (nearest tubes Euston or Euston Square) The subject will be cuts: how do we respond? The focus will be on people's experiences locally and what they are doing. We will start with tea, coffee, biscuits and introductions. We then have three speakers who will speak very briefly, followed by workshops exploring different ways of looking at the situa...

In earlier PPlog posts I have campaigned against discrimination against people with mental health problems by NCODP and the inexplicable collusion with it by CEO Mark Harrison (in all other aspects a hugely respected campaigner for disability equality and human rights). This time however, it’s unqualified praise for NCODP and Mark for their stand against the proposed government actions creating disability inequality. The NCODP paper is posted below: Norfolk’s disability community fights back against government’s cuts to services and unfair, discriminatory and regressive policies Background The Norfolk Coalition of Disabled People (NCODP) is a human-rights group controlled by disabled people and their organisations. NCODP organises and takes part in campaigns and run services that promote social equality and dignity for all disabled people. Introduction The new Coalition Government has taken a number of decisions that will negatively affect the life chances of disab...

...that’s what we are here in Norfolk (and Suffolk of course). When Whitehall mandarins draw up their plans for forays out of London into the mist ridden caverns of the outback that is the rest of England, they conveniently slice off the bulge so they don’t have to enter our cul-de-sac of a county. They also don’t bother because they know Norfolk is Tory-Verging-on-Feudal. People here still doff their hats and curtsey to their betters, kissing boots and nether extremities. Unfortunately, that extends to our county LINk, the public watchdog for health and social care (soon to be Local HealthWatch). What I see - and this is naturally denied by those who do it - is some LINk members, far too cosy with NHS trust and local authority managers; including some members and the chair of the “Strategy Group,” the now seven person Star Chamber which decides everything that happens in the whole of Norfolk. There was horror and consternation when I suggested in a di...