MY PLEDGE AGAINST AGEISM

On Ageism Awareness Day 2022, I have pledged with Every Age Counts and also here: I STAND FOR A WORLD WITHOUT AGEISM To promote awareness of violence, abuse and neglect in residential aged care in Australia (and globally, I also wish to share a blog posted this week on the Dementia Justice website, on the…

Reparation for Human Rights Violations in Institutional Care

Tina Minkowitz is a lawyer in the USA, who was involved in developing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Tina is also a survivor of psyiatric abuse, and a human rights lawyer, and interested in workign towards reparations for psychiatric violence, for example, for psychiatric institutionalization and abuses such as chemical…

Helping residents experiencing abused in nursing homes

“NursingHomesAbuse.org exists to inform families about the risks of nursing home abuse, and helps people take legal action if a loved one has been injured.” It is based in the United States, so let’s hope a similar organisation is soon set up in Australia, as the violence, abuse and neglect is still rampant in far…

The impact of lost hope for people with dementia

The summary below and a link to the full article titled “What Happens in the Brain When We Imagine the future” highlights to me, the impact of lost hope, after being Prescribed Disengagement when first diagnosed with dementia. Many years ago, I trademarked that term, after advice it would be plagiarised if I didn’t! Sadly,…

National Homelessness Week (1-7 August) Australia

What is Homelessness Week? In Australia there are over 116,000 people experiencing homelessness on any given night. Homelessness Week aims to raise awareness of the impact of homelessness on Australia via national and local community events, including providing information on the importance of housing as a solution and educating communities on how they can make…

“Making Voices Heard and Count: Inclusive data as a strategic tool for building back better after the pandemic”

This COSP15 side event “Making Voices Heard and Count: Inclusive data as a strategic tool for building back better after the pandemic”, took place on 12th of July. The event was jointly organised by the International Civil Society Centre on behalf of the Leave No One Behind partnership, and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), with…

Watch this COSP15 Side Event: Remedy and Reparation for Institutionalization

The 15th Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP CRPD) was held in New York at UN headquarters on 14th-16th June. My blog today highlights an excellent COSP15 Side Event on Remedy and Reparation for Institutionalization, moderated by colleague and friend Tina Minkowitz, who is President of…

Reparations for Harms Experienced in Residential Aged Care

By Dementia Justice researchers Linda Steele and Kate Swaffer Today, my blog is to share a newly published journal article I co-authored with my friend and colleague, Dr Linda Steele on the human rights case for reparations for people living in aged care, with a focus on people living with dementia: Reparations for Harms Experienced in…

Documentary: “A Secret in Plain Sight”

It is fabulous to be back here, as it has been a long time since I published anything! The next few days, I hope to have a few blogs, with news of different things I’ve been involved in, and todays is to share a documentary about dementia, by Renee Brack. The documentary, A Secret in…

It’s time to unlock the doors

The CRPD Committee has published its “Draft guidelines on Deinstitutionalization, including in emergencies” and calls for comments on them to be submitted, by June 30th the latest! (as usual in these processes, if earlier, much better!). You can find the draft (in English) and the requirements for written comments on the CRPD Committee website here. Soon, the draft will be available…

New Report: Access to Assisted Technology

This report is the 2022 Assistive Technology Report released by the WHO and UNICEF. CBM International also contibuted to this report. Some major points highlighted by the WHO include: Almost one billion children and adults with disabilities and older persons in need of assistive technology are denied access. Let’s not forget this figure includes more…

In search of truth

Over the last fourteen years, I have moved from the loss of hope and the desperation caused by the Prescribed Disengagement® given to me by everyone except my neurologist after the diagnosis of a rare younger onset dementia. Disturbingly, I’m acutely aware this prescription of disengaging from our pre diagnosis lives is still being handed…