fiat_lux

My feed is filled with bad news, which is my fault for using the fediverse as a news feed, but it made me wonder: Which organisations, groups or individual people in the world are doing the most good for our world? I'm particularly interested in those who manage to do good on a larger impact scale (quantity or quality), but if the unknown person on your street who fosters kittens is a great example, I'd love to hear about them too.

Mr. Rogers told me to look for the helpers in times of trouble. Tell me about your favorite helpers!

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a new pact with the low-lying island country of Tuvalu, allowing residents facing displacement from climate change the ability resettle in Australia.

Key points:

• The deal is the first time Australia has offered residence or citizenship rights due to the threat posed by climate change
• The US and New Zealand have similar agreements with other Pacific countries
• Mr Albanese described it as the most significant agreement between Australia and a Pacific island nation ever

I think it's also worth noting that in return they're handing over their foreign policy / security decision autonomy, so colonialism once again manages to mar an otherwise humane decision. The IMF is getting their own policy pound of flesh too, they love a good bit of disaster capitalism.

Urine samples collected from wild chimpanzees in Uganda over decades have revealed older female chimps undergo hormonal changes much like those in menopausal humans.

Title changed from original for better internationalisation, because the ABC hates assuming you see their articles outside of their specific site categories.

Original linked article title:

"Pride, but also grief': Government to start taskforce following disability royal commission final report

Linked article lead paragraph:

After an inquiry lasting four and a half years, the royal commission makes 222 recommendations for change.

Some numbers from the Inquiry itself:

• 222 recommendations (mostly for federal government)
• 32 public hearings
• 7,944 submissions from the public received
• 17,824 Phone enquiries
• 1,785 Private sessions held

Some of the findings:

• There are around 4.4 million people with disability in Australia, or 18% of the total population. Reflecting that disability increases with age, the number of people with disability falls to 2.4 million when we look at people aged under 65 years. This is 12% of this age category.
• Around 35% of First Nations people under 65 had disability in 2018–19, nearly three times higher than the general population. Children accounted for 24% of all First Nations people with disability.
• As at 31 December 2022, there were 573,342 participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
• Across all age groups, people with disability experience considerably higher rates of violence than people without disability. People with disability also experience violence more frequently. This is unacceptable.
• Rates of violence are particularly high for: Women with psychological or intellectual disability, First Nations women with disability, young women with disability.
• Neglect of people with disability occurs in multiple forms and across different stages of their lives. We heard of many instances of people being deprived of necessities of life and assistance with daily activities. We also heard of systemic failures to provide an environment for each person to maximise their potential.
• The data on exploitation of people with disability is limited. However, people with disability shared with us experiences of both sexual and financial exploitation by other individuals.

Some of the recommendations (my summary):

• A new Australian Disability Rights Act
• Intersectionality, especially with First Nations peoples
• Legal obligation to prove 'unjustifiable hardship' as reason for not making accommodations for a person with disability
• Alter the migration act to prevent systemic disability discrimination, (amongst many other laws)
• Requiring the government to provide interpreters, both spoken language and sign language
• Transitioning to non-segregated education settings
• Transitioning to removal of 'group homes'
• Creating a National Disability Commission as an independent statutory body to monitor outcomes, with a majority leadership by people with disabilities
• Legal obligations for guardians to show they're attempting to act in the best interests of their guardee
• An extra $36 million in funding for disablity advocacy and insurance programs
• Making a number of restraint techniques and solitary confinement illegal in health, justice and education settings
• laws to prevent non-therapeutic permanent non-consensual sterilisation of people with disability
• Increased housing protections for tenants with disability
• teacher, police and healthcare worker training and requirements, especially around cognitive disabilities
• a registration system for disability support workers that defines their roles and requirements and gives them benefits like sick leave and retirement savings
• lots more data and reporting being published by the government
• way better complaints processes and investigations
• targets for disability employment at all levels of public service, including executives
• so many more.

Edited to add: A better breakdown of recommendations by category instead of my casual list

Victorian woman Kathryn Beaton says repeated, illegal denials of service from drivers refusing to allow her guide dog into their vehicles have left her effectively housebound.

Edited to add: "anxious and in tears" is some shit tier headline writing when the real problem is the loss of independence and freedom, and the hours she has had to spend waiting just to be actively discriminated against.