MONDAY IS HOPE DAY
One of the things I really like about my job is encountering positive people who are making he lives of people better.
Dr Rebekah Graham ( pictured) is such a person. She is a registered community psychologist who is currently working for Parents of Vision Impaired NZ, supporting families of blind, low vision deafblind, and vision impaired children. while also promoting human rights and societal inclusion for the disabled.
Talking with Rebeka last week was a joy because she is not afraid to speak her mind about what she sees as Health Minister Simeon Brown’s strategiy of “ stripping out anything for Māori, paving the way to deregulate the health workforce, removing cultural competencies from health, and hanging health staff out to dry if they don't achieve legislated targets.” All of which she says “has some really nasty implications for practice.”
I couldn’t agree more. I think Brown is taking our Health system down the road to privatisation - something we should all vehemently oppose.
One of the reasons I interview people like Rebekah, is to help give a voice to good organisations and people struggling to be heard in our austerity-driven economy..
But, truth to tell, I get just as much out of talking with advocates like Rebekah, because it reminds me that while there are some nasty people I the world, there are many more good folk trying to make the lives of people better.
There is a lot of what I call ”subversive goodness” permeating Aotearoa New Zealand (although you wouldn’t know it from the mainstream news) that gives me hope we can eventually put an end to the selfish ME society that is neoliberalism, and usher in a new WE society where we look out for one another.
You can find out about Parents of Vision Impaired NZ here:
www.pvi.org.nz
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