Monday 14 February 2011

Project V - (In)Voluntary Work

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This will be me if they carry on like this i am so scared i will lose my home my child my pets and in the end my life i am scared so very scared why do they hate us fo rbeing disabledd

Peter said...

World paralympic body slams Laws' comments
NZPA February 15, 2011, 7:34 am

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Mayor Michael Laws

NZPA © Enlarge photo

The head of the world paralympic body has slammed comments made by radio host Michael Laws that disability sports are "ludicrous" saying he had stooped to a "pathetic low" and should be taken off the air.

During his talkback show on Friday, Laws said it was "crazy" that disabled sports people were able to compete for the Halberg Awards saying "If you have had your legs chopped off, you shouldn't be in there at all".

Laws was also critical of paralympian slalom skier Adam Hall who got up and won a gold medal after dramatically falling over at the Vancouver Paralympics last year.

"The fact the guy was able to fall down, get up again and still win, shows that really there wasn't a hell of a lot of competition in his field, was there?," he said.

International Paralympic Committee president Sir Philip Craven, said he was "utterly disgusted" by Laws' comments which were an insult to all paralympic competitors.

"His derogatory comments are an insult to all athletes within the paralympic movement who train for long hours each day to compete at the highest level," Sir Philip said.

"To say there is not a lot of competition in paralympic sport is pure ignorance."

Laws had stooped to "a new pathetic low" with his comments and listeners and advertisers should boycott his show, he said.

"What is equally disappointing is that his employers RadioWorks are standing by him claiming to have not received any complaints."

Sir Philip said he would be writing to RadioWorks and the New Zealand Broadcasting Authority to highlight his disgust at the comments and urged others to do the same.
"His comments have absolutely no place in society, and his employer should do the responsible thing and remove the platform they currently give him to air his archaic and mindless views," Sir Philip said.

Visually Impaired said...

Heres my story

I am saddened to say this happened to me.In december last year I was put with A4E. Despite knowing about my health and n particular my eyesight. I asked for large print on 14th Jan 2010 and was latertold by a ms Jenny Smith of dudley branch that she doesn'thae to provide me with anything. stuck to my guns and was called unco=operative by the DWP. 3 months down the line the penny finallydropped to A4E and I was sent tobeaconcentre for the blind. Beacon centre for the blind were a bit better but were bullying. A charity is bing paid money to take me and to provide results, sanctions, getting people to sign off. Well anyway I was told on numerous occasions by the DWP that I had to do a mandatory placement. OF 40 Hours I said I cant and stuck to my guns, time and time again I was told even by this chrity you don't like it nobody is telling you to sign on. December 2010 still sticking to my gunns with doctors and hospital appointment. I was then put with the NHS trust now to be defunct and eventually got it down to three daysa week. Tell this lady to stick to her guns and make sure her supervisors and everyone knows she is having a problem.. IF THIS IS DAVES BIG SOCIETY HE CAN STICK IT

And here is what the TUC onwelfare reform have to say

It is very likely that a high proportion of those forced on to workfare will be disabled and
other disadvantaged people, who will be more likely than non-disabled people to reach the end
of the flexible New Deal without having obtained a job; workfare, in addition to all its other
drawbacks, thus has the potential to be discriminatory in its impact.
It is an extreme form of exploitation to require someone to work without pay and the TUC is
fundamentally opposed to compulsory unpaid work experience for extended periods in jobs
that would otherwise be taken by workers paid the rate for the job. This would exploit

As Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind put it:
“We welcome the recognition that the voluntary sector has an important role to play in
helping people into employment, but our clients must always come first. Trust is one of the
voluntary sector's unique selling points. We can't betray people by getting involved in
compelling them into work before they are ready, or without the support they need.”