Tag Archives: disability

Sundance: Vancouver filmmaker bravely, honestly documents life with multiple sclerosis

Jason DaSilva’s When I Walk makes its debut this week at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

By Katherine Monk, Postmedia News January 21, 2013

Sundance: Vancouver filmmaker bravely, honestly documents life with multiple sclerosis

Jason DaSilva’s When I Walk makes its debut this week at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

PARK CITY, UTAH — Jason DaSilva always wanted to come back to the Sundance Film Festival, but he never thought he’d do it in a wheelchair.

A graduate of Vancouver’s Emily Carr University and a veteran director of short films, including Olivia’s Puzzle, which was invited to Sundance in 2003, DaSilva’s life took a turn for the tragic when he was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis in 2006.

“I was on holiday with my family and I couldn’t get up.”

We actually see this moment in the sand in his film, When I Walk, which will screen at Sundance as part of the documentary premieres section.

At the time, DaSilva was a 25-year-old man in the prime of his life. He had a string of pretty girlfriends, a promising career in movies and a cool apartment in Vancouver’s West Village.

But everything in his life changed. Very quickly.

Change in the law is needed to protect vulnerable people

Care workers also deserve better pay and training to prevent future cases of abuse and neglect

Paul Burstow

Paul Burstow MP has introduced a new bill to include a new offence of corporate neglect in the Health and Social Care Act 2008. Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian

Calls to press ahead with plans to hold corporate bodies – boards, directors and senior managers – to account for any abuse or neglect that is found to have taken place in care homes and hospitals are no surprise. However, all those who work in the sector will know that unlimited fines and criminal sanctions is not enough.

Speaking in parliament last week, Paul Burstow MP, the former care services minister, introduced a new bill to amend the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to include a new offence of corporate neglect. He said the “new law would act as a deterrent” and all health and social care professionals will be hoping this is true. They will also probably be pleased by the apparent pace of change, coming so soon after the findings of the Winterbourne View investigation were published.

As an abuse lawyer who regularly handles claims on behalf of children and vulnerable adults who have been resident in care homes or other institutions, I have heard too many accounts of abuse that for some reason or other have been unheeded by those in charge. This is unacceptable and a change in the law is urgently needed to address this.

Success of personal health budget following Norfolk pilot

Scheme will be rolled out across the country next year.

By Adam Gretton Saturday, January 19, 2013
6:30 AM

A scheme to give patients more control over their care has been hailed as a success by health chiefs and patients in Norfolk who trialled a NHS pilot.

NHS Norfolk and Waveney rolled out a personal health budget initiative two years ago, which is set to be made available across the country from next year.

The primary care trust (PCT) is pioneering the scheme in the east and allows patients with long-term, complex needs to have control over how money is spent on their care.