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Disability - policy discussion

DU Andrew McPherson Public Seen by 338

As someone who has a disability (invisible), I know that it is time to restart the excellent disability policy discussions that our previous president Daniel Bertinshaw (Laserface) started.

We should push for equality of opportunity for all people would be a good start.

DS

Danyl Strype Fri 20 May 2016 7:17AM

As another member who lives with a fairly invisible long-term disability (chronic depression and social anxiety), I'd like to thank @andrewmcpherson for starting this discussion.

the excellent disability policy discussions that our previous president Daniel Bertinshaw (Laserface) started.

Is there any record of these discussions that we could use as a starting point?

@andrewreitemeyer

The term disabled is currently the word of choice in New Zealand. It is a matter of usage.

As you say, it does seem to be the "word of choice" at present, but I think @robertfrittmann makes a good argument that the assumptions it includes don't necessarily lead us to the best thinking on the topic. "Intellectual property" is also a commonly used phrase, but similarly, the assumptions it encourages people to make don't necessarily lead to the best thinking about copyright.

@robertfrittmann thanks for all the relevant links. Feel free to add them to the context box at the top of the discussion thread, to remind us to refer to them, and to indicate to any member coming into this discussion for the first time that they are important starting points for understanding the issues under discussion.

I think the Greens policy statement 'Removing the Barriers' is also worth examining for ideas we could adopt for a Pirate policy on disability/ diversity.

EDIT: a while back I discovered a host called DreamWidth (while looking for a new OpenID provider after the collapse of MyOpenID). They have a fantastic diversity statement that is well worth reading.