She Shoots ...

UPDATE II: If you belong to a disability group, please consider endorsing this letter to Premier Dexter.

UPDATE: Apparently I am not the only one who feels this way.

A second potential op-ed piece for your consideration:

It was with some surprise that I read about the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ report concerning the effect of the Department of Community Services’ tightened rules for “special need” allowances (“Minister Defends Welfare Rules”, Thursday, July 18).  But my surprise stemmed, not from the fact that the cuts were detrimental, but that it took this long for anyone to start talking about it.

I have a good memory; sometimes even a long one. And I clearly remember, shortly after the Canada Day weekend in 2011, hearing how DCS had backed off a “clandestine plan” to cut coverage for a wide range of medical benefits (including dental care, drugs, and medical supplies) for disabled Nova Scotians living in special care homes, hours before it was to take effect and shortly after the press had sought comment from the Minister on the issue.  I tried to take the news with a grain of salt, as politics being what it is, I tend to be a mite bit cynical, not just of the party in power, but equally of those associated with the opposition.

And yet I wasn’t entirely surprised a mere two months later to learn that the government had, indeed, changed  the regulations  with respect to what was covered under “special needs” allowances.  Couched as making it easier for “clients” to understand what special needs funding they could receive and to ensure funding decisions were consistent and fair province-wide, the Minister insisted that the Department was committed to meeting the needs of those with special needs. Still many were very unhappy.

Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer

Wow - my apologies! May 27th - it's hard to believe I've went this long without posting.

But (as usual) I do have a few excuses. Let's see ... where to begin?

• In early June, my husband and I were successful in obtaining guardianship of our oldest daughter. Not only is that, obviously, a significant event for our family but it had added import for me. You see, I've always been quite confident that the a family could use the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit to successfully apply for guardianship of a high-functioning adult. But now I have proof.
  
  The sample affidavits for a high-functioning adult in the Kit were based on my own daughter, who  at the time was only 16. When the time actually came to apply for guardianship of her (3 years later), I realized that I had to update those affidavits because she had made some significant progress in those three years. And yet, in spite of that progress, the Kit was still more than adequate to found a successful court application.
  
  Can the NS Legal Guardianship Kit be successfully used to obtain guardianship of a high-functioning adult?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  YES. YES IT CAN.
  
  

• In the middle of June, my daughters and I headed out to Manitoba for my niece's wedding. And to meet my brand new now two-year-old grand-niece.  Did we have a nice trip, you ask? Yes, yes we did. A lovely three-week trip it was.

• Ever a sucker for punishment, less than a week after our return home, I wrote rewrote the Bar Admission Examination. And, just for the record, an examination that took one day and was open book when I first wrote it, 20 + years ago is now a two-day exam. And, most definitely, NOT open book.
  
  That's right, I took the first, make that the second, step in that leap of faith we discussed last year. We won't receive our marks for a few months but I must say I do find the whole thing rather exciting. 

So there you have it. A brief synopsis of the first part of my summer.

But never fear, now that I'm back, we will start getting some content moving again on ye olde blawg.

In fact, I already have some ideas floating around my noggin, from discrimination regarding service animals to the right and ability of persons with intellectual disabilities to marry to the import (and importance) of confidentiality agreements when litigation (including human rights matters) is settled.

So stay tuned. I will be here. Unless, of course, this @%$!! heat completely does me in.

And I slowly m-e-l-t ... a-w-a-y ...