Reflecting today on how I won my High Court case against HSE, HSE west and Brothers of Charity. Though 'good news' what I read in the same paper is not 'good news'.
Ironically in the same edition of the Irish times Jan O'Sullivan's cutting of more benefits to the elderly is challenged in the letters page, a disabled woman sleeps downstairs whilst her husband sleeps upstairs, washes from a plastic basin, all for the need of 12,000e, (not much in the scheme of things) to make adaptations to her home, a care unit for troubled children is locked for 12 hours a day, and finally a man with intellectual disability in sheltered housing was found murdered yet no autopsy for two days, ostensibly due to no staff. I wonder! There would have been staff if he had had a higher status.
In other words the abuses against disabled people and elderly people is now open and visible and much of it caused by government policies, and attitudes towards the sick, elderly and disabled population of Ireland.
In January 2013 I started an on-line petition entitled 'stop the Irish Government assault on disability equality' It said "We demand the Irish Government roll back the cuts to all benefits and care packages that were beginning to create 'equality' for disabled, sick and elderly in Ireland'. By May there were 2,018 signatures on the petition, so I wrote to the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny asking if he would receive the petition. The letter I received on June 4th 2013 from his office read
:Dear Dr Kennedy, I refer to your recent request to present a petition; 'Stop the Irish government Assault on Disability Equality to the Taoiseach.
Unfortunately due to an extremely busy schedule, the Taoiseach is not in a position to meet with you.
he has however copied your e-mail to his colleagues, Ms Jan O'Sullivan T.D., Minister of Stateat ` the department of Environment and Local Government and Mr Alex White TD, Minister for State at the department for Heath for attention and Direct reply.
The Taoiseach extends his very best wishes.
His 'busy schedule' did not allow disabled people to hand him a petition. Too embarrassing for him perhaps.
Needless to say nothing came from Jan O'Sullivan's office or Alex White. Complete SILENCE.
On September 27th 2013 I informed The Taoiseach that neither Jan or Alex had the courtesy of contacting me...and added... 'I take this as a direct understanding of how this government treats disabled people.'
no reply.
Reflecting on my fight to be vindicated as an 'abuse' was perpetrated against me I ponder on how to fight the abuses perpetrated against disabled people, elderly people and ill people by the government in Ireland ... and in despair I can only acknowledge that the only abusers amongst us disabled elderly people whom we cannot 'call to account' are the elected representatives of the people in power in the Dail.
This is frightening. Here we have a government hammering the most vulnerable groups in society, in a way only Hitler did before. Hitler believed these groups were 'useless eaters', taking the resources from the state, leaching the coffers. He had a solution. The gas chambers of Hadamar where thousands of disabled, ill, elderly, homosexual, gypsy populations - the 'untermenschen' - 'sub-human, were killed.
The only messages the Irish population is getting from this Government is that we are the modern day 'useless eaters', a drain on resources, sub-human.
The cutbacks are designed to kill us by stealth. This is not fanciful. As a disabled woman, now perceived as 'elderly' fighting for a decent powered wheelchair for two years I can only say I have felt my 'useless eater' status. I and my twin sister have been at the end of continual HSE abuse for nearly 3 years. and abuse and harassment is the only description that can be applied.
The woman in todays Irish Times refused a grant so that she can have the dignity of a bath, a bed with her husband and a stair lift is being abused and humiliated and degraded and these are human rights violations.
But there is no way to call anyone to account. The complaints procedures have been arranged such that managers 'investigate' their workers and cannot/will not be objective in any shape or form '(see Your Service-Your Say'.)
So now I ask, how do we defeat the political abusers in our government?
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