A thread on the Assessment of Need: the statutory process by which children whose parents have concerns about potential disability can be assessed.

The process has recently been changed by the HSE in a manner that is frankly appalling.

Explanation: (1/n)

Parents might apply for AoN for a child due to concerns about development- in my clinic, the commonest reason is queried autism.

Previously, the AoN involved a team (usually physio, OT, SLT, psychology) assessing a child to get insight into the nature of their difficulties (2/n)
The team conducted a series of assessments, usually taking several hours each, and produced a report giving a detailed analysis of how a child is doing, what the causes of their difficulties might be, suggesting a diagnosis if appropriate, and giving advice on next steps (3/n)
Based on this, a child might be entitled to additional support in the classroom or financial supports. Medical investigations for individual diagnoses could also be arranged.

Function is more important than diagnosis, but in our system diagnoses get you support.

(4/n)
Legally, the AoN must be completed within 6 months of referral.

In many parts of the country, including Dublin, this almost never happens.

91% of children do not get their assessments on time. (5/n)

https://t.co/LQseHEWj3u
The HSE get sued for this. A lot.

In Jan 2020, the HSE produced a new Standard Operating Procedure for AoN.

It reduces the previous assessment involving multiple professionals to a single assessment lasting a maximum of 90 minutes, regardless of the child's needs. (6/n)
The reports will indicate if a child has a disability or not, but due to the limited scope do not allow for any insight into diagnosis or next steps.

This is left for community disability teams, whose assessments are not subject to legal time limits (so the HSE cannot be sued).
In its current form, the SOP appears designed to reduce legal liability than out of any interest in meeting the needs of children. The HSE is aware of this, having been repeatedly told so, but has persisted with it anyway. (8/n)

https://t.co/zp5pgO0AHV
The correct course of action to tackle waiting lists is to resource disability appropriately.

Instead, the HSE have reduced the AoN to a meaningless box ticking exercise which children must go through before being moved to another waiting list with no legal time limit. (9/n)
This course of action is an open declaration of contempt for the rights of children with disabilities.

It is apparently more important that statutory obligations are "met" on paper than that children's needs are actually met in real life.

This is a State apology in waiting.
@AnneRabbitte @DonnellyStephen @rodericogorman @josephamadigan @psychpolis @GarNob #disability #earlyintervention #rehabilitation #paediatrics
@OCO_ireland

More from For later read

I’ve asked Byers to clarify, but as I read this tweet, it seems that Bret Stephens included an unredacted use of the n-word in his column this week to make a point, and the column got spiked—maybe as a result?


Four times. The column used the n-word (in the context of a quote) four times. https://t.co/14vPhQZktB


For context: In 2019, a Times reporter was reprimanded for several incidents of racial insensitivity on a trip with high school students, including one in which he used the n-word in a discussion of racial slurs.

That incident became public late last month, and late last week, after 150 Times employees complained about how it had been handled, the reporter in question resigned.

In the course of all that, the Times' executive editor said that the paper does not "tolerate racist language regardless of intent.” This was the quote that Bret Stephens was pushing back against in his column. (Which, again, was deep-sixed by the paper.)

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Recently, the @CNIL issued a decision regarding the GDPR compliance of an unknown French adtech company named "Vectaury". It may seem like small fry, but the decision has potential wide-ranging impacts for Google, the IAB framework, and today's adtech. It's thread time! 👇

It's all in French, but if you're up for it you can read:
• Their blog post (lacks the most interesting details):
https://t.co/PHkDcOT1hy
• Their high-level legal decision: https://t.co/hwpiEvjodt
• The full notification: https://t.co/QQB7rfynha

I've read it so you needn't!

Vectaury was collecting geolocation data in order to create profiles (eg. people who often go to this or that type of shop) so as to power ad targeting. They operate through embedded SDKs and ad bidding, making them invisible to users.

The @CNIL notes that profiling based off of geolocation presents particular risks since it reveals people's movements and habits. As risky, the processing requires consent — this will be the heart of their assessment.

Interesting point: they justify the decision in part because of how many people COULD be targeted in this way (rather than how many have — though they note that too). Because it's on a phone, and many have phones, it is considered large-scale processing no matter what.