iLF
Involvement is dead
26/August/2009 03:10 PM Filed in: Social Care
I use the Independent Living Fund. Today I received a
letter dated only as August 2009.
It was telling me about ‘The Right to Control’ consultation about the future of social care.
As a trainer and consultant - it’s something I am already supporting other local authorities with - as a services user I may not have heard about it.
They have sent me a booklet with some answer boxes for SELECTED questions from the consultation which they believe are the most important to me.
I feel angry that someone else has decided which elements I might consider important in terms of the consultation.
I am frustrated that I am being signposted to the internet to read up about it before I make some comments because whilst I have internet access - many ILF users probably don’t.
I am angry that on August the 26th I am being told about consultation dates which began on August 25th.
Am an annoyed that my local consultation event is being held in 1 weeks time in London. For people with severe impairments, travelling to London of all places and with so little notice makes this pretty impossible.
I am annoyed because the ILF came to my house the other day and took the time to write down on my notes that I prefer to communicate via e-mail and that this is the most appropriate and accessible format for me. However, my consultation letter was sent in the mail as was the booklet which is no use.
The letter does not say that the pros and cons of this government change could be far reaching and are not explored on the web-site it signposts to. There is no signposting for people to find out more from organisation run by disabled people, only government documents which don’t tell the full story. How can consultation be anything more than tokenistic when there is so little information of opportunity to find out the facts of the proposals.
What happened to involvement?
It was telling me about ‘The Right to Control’ consultation about the future of social care.
As a trainer and consultant - it’s something I am already supporting other local authorities with - as a services user I may not have heard about it.
They have sent me a booklet with some answer boxes for SELECTED questions from the consultation which they believe are the most important to me.
Angry
I feel angry that someone else has decided which elements I might consider important in terms of the consultation.
I am frustrated that I am being signposted to the internet to read up about it before I make some comments because whilst I have internet access - many ILF users probably don’t.
I am angry that on August the 26th I am being told about consultation dates which began on August 25th.
Am an annoyed that my local consultation event is being held in 1 weeks time in London. For people with severe impairments, travelling to London of all places and with so little notice makes this pretty impossible.
I am annoyed because the ILF came to my house the other day and took the time to write down on my notes that I prefer to communicate via e-mail and that this is the most appropriate and accessible format for me. However, my consultation letter was sent in the mail as was the booklet which is no use.
The letter does not say that the pros and cons of this government change could be far reaching and are not explored on the web-site it signposts to. There is no signposting for people to find out more from organisation run by disabled people, only government documents which don’t tell the full story. How can consultation be anything more than tokenistic when there is so little information of opportunity to find out the facts of the proposals.
What happened to involvement?
