East or West even developed nations are not treating disability children as humans....
Noted in the video made by Disabilities Affairs producer (Ruth Clegg) https://www.bbc.com/news/disability-62513459 on BBC news of the orphanage situation in Ukraine, that severely disabilities children left behind in the orphanages while the workers fled with the mild disability children, are not even being treated as humans in this third world Eastern Bloc country. 90 percent of these children with disabilities in orphanages have families they could be with.
You might expect it in the East of undeveloped countries yet even in the West of material privilege and developed nations disability children are still treated the same way as if they are not humans, not valued not respected by those who think they are successful, in parliament, in the justice system, and in everyday society, attitudes need to change in our so called developed educated country. We are not supposed to be backward here in the West and yet continue to devalue those with disabilities wrongly. A medieval attitude toward those who are humans with feelings and emotions and minds like me and you.
I always say to my son’s support workers – James cant speak but he knows what you are saying… he also knows if they have a less than caring attitude toward him and God knows what he thought when he was hurt by them in the past. I don’t want my son to think people are allowed to hurt him and they should not be allowed to just like other humans he should have freedom from harm and justice. Yet this is not the case. When attacked the providers hide the situation and the worker from being found out only thinking of themselves and not the disability person at all. Cold hearted CEOs make apologies for abuse and neglect and even death of a vulnerable person, someones son, someone's daughter - after only being forced to by the Royal Commission investigations! The CEOs should be in prison for allowing death in their care since they do not have the support workers charged for neglect themselves - so clever these organizations at distancing themselves from their crimes.
This is the liberal influence that says everyone is equal but then does not give equality, that say everyone must have human rights upheld and then proceed to take any human rights from them. Not living up to the international agreements and Human Rights charters Australia has signed it proclaims itself as agreeing with Human rights. Not living up to the statements for equality the government makes not even for the people, and not for those children and people with disabilities – this is hypocrisy and wrong. Disability children are still abused and ignored and when parents complain of abuse of their children, it is ignored or played down regardless of the statements by NDIS saying they will not allow abuse, providers are not pulled up. The Quality and safety Commission allow this situation to continue without penalties to providers. The politicians call this a developed country and continue to ignore charges brought against workers who hurt our defenseless and nonverbal children in disabilities care and programs, no matter how much evidence or testimonies are presented in court. Shame on the judges for not caring enough. This is not equality of justice at all.
Those with disabilities are still excluded and not accepted by those who are more interested in money making, disabilities children and adults are not being respected but rather exploited even in Australia by the NDIS providers, and not treated as worthy of justice by the Police force which will not investigate incidents of harm properly thereby allowing those who hurt those with disabilities to get away with it. Hence the need for cctv cameras.
Turning disabilities in a business ‘market place’ with no regard to the complexities of disabilities is ludicrous even in its concept. It should be about care and helping disability children to thrive whilst supporting parents – not fighting parents to take their children’s funding for help and therapies off of them! As has happened by the NDIS in Australia – shame on them. While parents go to advocates or represent themselves in court to fight for their child’s need for support by an organization that was formed to support disabilities – then why the change?
The attitude in the West is still the same as the East who institutionalize those disability children making them appear less than other people and not letting them be treated as a person whereas with love and care these children can improve as well as therapies and people who accept them. Their mindset, the article states, is that children with disabilities need to be in institutions – when in fact disability children need their families and families need support. In a more recent article by the BBC news it was noted that when the Ukraine Russian War started those with more severe disabilities were left behind in the hundreds of orphanages in Ukraine while those with less disabilities were taken with fleeing Disability workers.
Ukraine has historically put children in orphanages who have disabilities even though they are not orphans and have families. Ukraine was told by the UN to shut down the orphanages which have abused, neglected and made money out of these children, also trafficking them. Ukraine pledged to shut them down and then said only half and then the war began with Russia invading.
BBC News (August 2022) “One of the experts, Gerard Quinn, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, said this was a problem that long predated the war - and it was time for Ukraine to press a "reset button to the future".
"All wars reveal historic wrongs in the heat of the moment, and institutionalisation is one of those," he said.
"It is time to act, to press a reset button to the future. In doing that we need a clear commitment from the Ukrainian government to end its system of institutionalisation."
He said that as Ukraine rebuilds, disabled people need to be a priority - and those countries and organisations which will help fund that need to put money into community support, and not into furthering the life of institutions.”
How awful when the state tries to rip families apart in the name of lack of support such as in Ukraine – instead by making money out of these children in residential care and not giving their own families support they need to look after them. These children have been and still are treated wrongly. We need to still respect and value a person or child with a disability no matter what their disability is. They are people with feelings and minds just like us all, and who understand they are worth nothing when they are treated as so. I always tell workers ‘my son cannot speak but he knows what you are saying’ he also knows when they are insulting and putting him down, or assaulting him.
The attitude in the East and West needs to change. None of us are perfect yet the West with their liberal values of success, money, business has started to devalued those who are older (take Canada encouraging euthanasia of over 65 year old people, feigning consent, and talking about letting children be euthanized without parents consent, not always terminal illness) – the mentally ill and those children with disabilities remain at risk then of be euthanized in future if this attitude continues that you are not of any value if you do not have a healthy perfect body, mind and money – encouraging the poor to take their lives – how nice. Tell me what is the difference between this and what the Nazis did? The hidden eugenics of capitalism and neo liberalism values is frightening.
We must fight for our disability children’s rights as human beings to have happiness and all the help they need in life. Not abuse and neglect by substandard workers that are cheap for providers to hire.
Some parents in this capitalist society cannot even accept their ‘normal’ children if they do not have the education, job or degree they think they should have. How middle class and delusional and what right has anyone to treat a child as if they should not be here? So many young people have ended up as drug addicts and alcoholics due to middle class parents’ lack of acceptance of them or time with them. Parents who will help their children the most are those with unconditional love and acceptance of their children no matter what they have achieved or not achieved. Why should a condition of love be being ‘perfect’ and according to whose standard the corporates and money makers?
Noted in the BBC article
“When Russia invaded in February, thousands of disabled people were removed from the institutions and sent back to their families.
The UN experts say that they were left without any appropriate support, putting them at risk of further abuse, a life on the streets or becoming victims to trafficking.
However, thousands are still living in Ukraine's vast network of nearly 700 institutions. Even though these places are called "orphanages", 90% of those who live there have families.
They are casualties of a Soviet-era system that encouraged parents to give their disabled child up to the state.
There was, and still is, a belief by many in Ukrainian society that disabled children receive better care in an institution.”
Parents even in the West also struggle to get the support they need for their disability children and with the advent of the NDIS it started off so hopeful and then proceeded a year later to cut funds off those who needed them. By having a business model they are less than helpful when it comes to the needs of those with disabilities and only thinking of economics when they themselves invented the NDIS it should be a health model not a business model at all. The standard of workers need to be lifted to deal with complexities and the ratio numbers in groups of workers to disability persons should be higher and one on one needs to occur properly not then using the workers for others. The organizations want to make their buck at the cost of our children not receiving proper care. If the providers are making us give them the exorbitant funds then we must demand what our child needs off of them as we are in effect their employer not the other way around since they want to run it like a cold hearted business.
Our children just want to be treated like a normal person – yet they are instead not even being treated as a human – they deserve better than that – all humans do.
All the best
Anndrea x
sign my petition to given our vulnerable and non verbal children in disabilities programs and care more protection and justice with cctv cameras for evidence and as a deterrent to workers who would harm them
change.org/disabilitycameras
#disabilitylivesmatteroz
#cameras4disabilit