So this is how social workers think, how revealing, good grief.

So tell us Steve, how should Social Workers think? Should we continue on the same path as now which is discriminatory?

You do know that if every politician suddenly woke to a family with people of disabilities, they would rework the laws instantly. Even if only for themselves.

I received a letter myself saying that I am expected to work soon, but what? My neurological illness affects my vision, ability to walk, to concentrate, judging distances, speech, concentration, involuntary limb movements - and unable to move limbs, etc.

I'm thinking of applying to be John Howard's Chaffeur.

Spider.

I read and then re read the article, to quote John Cleese it is stating the bleeding obvious.

The most I could glean is a need for differential treatment between brain injured and mentally ill. The verbose terminology reminded me of Govt. doublespeak.

I only have incurable leukaemia so social workers tend to run in another direction (my personal bias on display).

Stay well and take care.

The best of luck to the two contributors posting ahead of me. I particularly like the thought of Spider becoming John Howard's chauffeur, good on you.

My reaction was to wonder how many people like the article's authors there are out there compared to the number who are actually in the front line, doing the caring.

The combination of earnest management-speak with monotonous repetition of the bleedin' obvious, makes for excruciating reading.

Who writes this stuff for a living? How much of their time, and therefore our money, do they spend putting it all together? Who reads it? How many people read it, and what do they do once they have read it? Do they then start a research programme of their own to refute its findings? Do they then prepare it as a paper for a conference somewhere, and present it to a heap of other folk, who go away and prepare their own thoughts for another article that says the same thing in six months time?

How does this impact policy? Wouldn't it just get up the noses of the people who put together the previous policy - probably with equal enthusiasm for "doing the right thing" - and cause them to rush off to departmental meetings to discuss its implications on their work, and to prepare a defence when their department head asks them for a response that he can give the minister...

Or perhaps it is simply an elaborate job application.

Look at me, look at me.

Pericles and Madden, I am a full-time carer of a person with a disability and unfortunately your comments have contributed absolutely nothing to this important debate. The authors have attempted to state something which is NOT at all obvious because we still have different services for different disabilites. It is very hard for consumers and carers like myself.

Thank you for your unhelpful comments.

Pericles & Madden

I just wanted to add some reality and sense to the unhelpful rubbish you two were saying becuase without decent disabilities policy, consumers and carers (like myself) suffer. As per my last post, I felt your trite criticisms of the article itself only served to trivialize the experiences of people with disabilities and their carers, and yes, Madden, you did state you had a disability so a more useful contribution from you would have been expected.

Pericles, you ask, rhetorically I assume, "How does this (article) impact policy...?" If articles like this one were publicised more and debate around disabilities policy stimulated (especially in terms of the needs of consumers/carers) then hopefully we would eventually get better policies and services. Services which looked at the entire person and the support needs of the carers. Without carers, many of whom are F/T and effectively unpaid like myself,people with disabilities would by and large be left to fend for themselves because government funded dis services are too few and inadequate, including things like housing. We cant expect better services without someone kicking off the discussion and I, for one, think the authors did us all a great service.