Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Disabled poverty figures 'shameful'

Excerpt from: World News (click for full article)

 

A report by the Australian Council of Social Service shows people with disability are more than twice as likely as other Australians to be living in poverty.

The Australian Council of Social Service's report shows more than 620,000 people with disability live below the poverty line.

That's equivalent to more than a quarter of people with a disability surviving on less than $600 a week, which is half the median household income.

ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie says the figures are shocking.

"I think it's really troubling that despite 20 years of strong economic growth and the fact that we have overall relatively low rates of unemployment, we still have such significant levels of people living below the poverty line. We're one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It's absolutely shameful that this situation is allowed to continue."

Bono Embraces 'Inner Nerd' in Fight Against Poverty

Excerpt from: Rolling Stone (click for full article)

 

Bono put aside his rock stardom to focus on global poverty at a Ted talk in California yesterday, where he joked that he was giving up his "usual tricks" to focus instead on "evidence-based activism," the Los Angeles Times reports. 

"Forget the rock opera, forget the bombast, my usual tricks," said the U2 singer. "The only thing singing today will be the facts. I have truly embraced my inner nerd. Exit the rock star. Enter the evidence activist. The 'factivist.'"

While he's optimistic for the future, he said there's not as much time as there seems. "We can't get this done until we accept that we can get this done. Inertia is how we screw this up. Momentum is how we bend the arc of history down towards zero," he said, joking that 2030 is "only three Rolling Stones farewell concerts away."

"We're going to win because we don't understand politics," Bono said. "We're going to win because we don't play their dirty games. We're going to win because we don’t have an agenda. We're going to win because the tears that comes from our eyes actually come from our hearts. We're going to win because we have dreams. We're going to win because we are willing to stand up for our dreams."

In Wisconsin, Obamacare with a twist

Excerpt from: Politico (click for full article)

 

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, avowed Obamacare foe, proposed an ambitious plan Wednesday to cut his state’s uninsured population in half — by getting them covered through Obamacare.

The Republican announced that he is rejecting Medicaid expansion and the billions of federal dollars that would come with it. In fact, he’s proposing a net cut in the state Medicaid program.

Walker would take thousands of people currently on Wisconsin’s relatively generous Medicaid program — people who are above the federal poverty level — and move them into the Obamacare exchange instead, where they can get federally subsidized private insurance. Walker has already said he won’t run the exchange, requiring the federal government to take control instead.

Medicaid Long-Term Care Residents First To Go Into Managed Care

Excerpt from: wfsu (click for full article)

 

This week the federal government signed off on the first part of a plan steering three million low-income Floridians on Medicaid into a managed care or HMO system. The decision comes two years after state lawmakers approved the conversion in an attempt to control costs in the $22 billion program. When the measure was first approved, many people were skeptical about how it would work.

“For-profit companies have a fiduciary responsibility to do what? Make money. So they’re not going to manage their care, they’re going to ration their care,” said Joseph Flynn, a retiree living in the Central Florida community of the Villages, where Governor Rick Scott was holding his first budget signing ceremony at the time.

Homeless Man Given Boots By NYC Police Officer Chooses To Go Barefoot Again

Excerpt from: NPR (click for full article)

 

The New York Times this morning follows up on one of last week's most poignant stories. Its reporters found the barefoot homeless man who was given a pair of boots by New York City Police officer Lawrence DePrimo — an act of kindness that was captured on camera and afterward ricocheted around the Internet.

The Times says the man is Hillman, who has lived on the streets of the city for most of the past decade. And Hillman, who the Times writes "was by turns aggrieved, grateful and taken aback by all the attention that had come his way," tells the newspaper that he's walking around barefoot again because the boots are too valuable to wear all of the time.

"I could lose my life," he says. Someone might kill him for the footwear.

World Bank Must Become a Leader on Disability Rights

Excerpt from: Bank Information Center (click for full article)

 

The World Bank must take a stand on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities to become a leader in inclusive international development said the Disability and World Bank Safeguards Campaign, a partnership between the Lebanese Physical Handicapped Union and the Bank Information Center.

Disability and poverty are inextricably linked. Disability affects approximately one billion people around the world, a large majority of whom live in developing countries but have been systematically left out of development programs and policies.

“The exclusion of people with disabilities from development hinders their right and subsequent opportunities to benefit from national programs, including poverty reduction projects,” said Rachel Burton, Disability and World Bank Safeguards Campaign Program Associate from the Bank Information Center. “People with disabilities must be included in development programs, and the World Bank plays a pivotal role in ensuring inclusive development around the world.”