DISABILITY ACCESS NEWS 2001-JULY
disABILITY column for 31st July.
Lenore Evans from the Cairns Bicycle User's Group says: The Cairns City Council has $100,000 for bikeways which is 50/50 council/state funding. This is $50,000 out of a $39 million capital works budget and it is too low an amount. The bikeway budget will also pay for foot bridges and paths.
In the Road Ahead magazine there's a complaint from a man who uses a chair saying that he can not self-serve petrol for his car. Garages are missing a marketing opportunity here. Place a sign out to say you'll provide service for persons with a disability pass.
Applause to our petrol provider in Malanda. Eacham Services in the industrial estate is not only cheaper but always prompt with full driveway service.
Call for papers - Adaptable Housing. Adelaide will host the third national conference for about 1,000 delegates working in Home and Community Care from 20-22 February, 2002. As part of the program we hope to draw together a range of presenters who can highlight specific examples or general trends towards implementation of Adaptable Housing in Australia.
Minister for the Arts Matt Foley has announced that Queensland will host the 7th Asia Pacific Wataboshi Music Festival in 2003 at the Powerhouse Museum, 3-9 November, 2003 in Brisbane.
"About one in five Queenslanders have a disability so it is wonderful news that we can bring so many people with a disability together who have a common love of music," Mr Foley said.
"The festival will have many positive off-shoots - tourism with people with a disability and their carers travelling to the event; employment for artists with a disability; and collaboration with national and regional Queensland music groups," Mr Foley said.
Access Arts Executive Director Neal Price said the festival would attract up to 2000 people nationwide and from 12 Asia-Pacific countries to various performances and workshops.
"This project will allow Access Arts to work collaboratively with musicians with a disability from Indigenous, non-English speaking backgrounds and regional Queensland to demonstrate their vast contributions to Queensland culture," Mr Price said.
disABILITY column 24th July
We are working on forming a Re-evaluation Co-Counselling group on the Tablelands. Interested persons please phone 4096 5684.
I've had complaints about the new accident and emergency department of the Cairns Base Hospital regarding the appalling lack of access within this unit and the steel seats out the front. These seats are alternately freezing cold or hot enough to fry an egg. Not a very clever design.
The NSW Teachers Federation has announced that it will co-sponsor an "Independent Review into the Provision of Public Education in NSW". The Teachers' Federation writes that: "This review is a chance for people to be involved in groundbreaking, policy debate about the future of public education.. The last major review, the Wyndham Review, was conducted some forty years ago and took four years to complete. The Wyndham review only canvassed secondary education. It resulted in the introduction of the comprehensive high school model. A new review is long overdue. It is a disgrace that the Government has failed to engage in sound, long-term educational planning." Does anyone know if Qld is doing something similar? The United Nations undertook a world-wide evaluation of the progress of including students with disabilities in mainstream classes and Australia failed miserably. This would seem like a good time to develop an inclusive curriculum.
Tablelanders are embracing disability access and people are commenting on how much more is accessible and inclusive today than it was just a few years ago. Even the disability parking is being respected. A lady asked me if I knew I'd parked in a disability bay last week and I thanked her for her inquiry as people power is what will keep these bays available to those who need them.
The Big Cat and Primate Park is being built barrier-free I'm told by David Gill. So is the Tully King Ranch project and the Tully visitors centre. The Tully RSL has also been refurbished and there is a nice cemented walkway along the foreshore in Cardwell.
There's $250,000 been given to Cairns, Barron River and Mulgrave for wheelchair-accessible bus upgrades. While every step forward is applaudable, wouldn't it be sensible if the Cairns City Council provided accessible infrastructure to support accessible buses? If you can't get onto the curb or into the bus shelter, how do you access the bus?
Disability Column for July 3rd:
We all fear being "mentally ill", yet mental health is something we all have in varying degrees throughout our life.
I've been battling with bouts of severe depression since I was 16, and recently I've been losing the war.
Reading an article about writer Amy Tan (Joy Luck Club), who first remembers being depressed at the age of six, I was shocked to read, "Looking at an old photo of my grandmother with four other women from her family, I realized that everyone in the photo had committed suicide as a result of depression".
Depression can be a reaction to life's blows and it can also be physiological. That is, one's body has an inability to make a certain chemical that promotes feelings of wellbeing. Without this chemical our brain is unable to "recognise the good news".
The menopause is playing hell with my sense of wellbeing as hormone levels can also influence one's depression severity.
We may ask, "What have they got to be depressed about?" or we may see our own issues as "inconsequential in comparison to others", so we shut-up, "pull our socks up" and get on with it.
But do we? Why is there such stigma and fear attached to having depression?
People can be in such mental and emotional pain that they will commit suicide to escape it, yet they won't admit they are suffering because they feel such shame at their inability to cope with their life.
We often hear people say they won't take antidepressants, yet being a diabetic and having to take artificial insulin evokes understanding and sympathy.
These are tough times and the suicide rate on the Tablelands is staggering. I'm constantly being told of students who are talking suicide. It's time to ignore the stigma and "come out"!
I'm going to try Re-evaluation Co-counselling. This is a process whereby people of all ages and of all backgrounds can learn how to exchange effective help with each other.
The theory assumes that everyone is born with tremendous potential, natural zest, and lovingness, but that these qualities have become blocked and obscured in adults as the result of accumulated distress which begin in childhood.
The web address is http://www.rc.org/ and there is a group in Cairns. They might come up and do a course if there's enough interest.
Contact Robyn Gobert ando@cyberwizards.com.au if you would like to participate in such a group.
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