PARTY GUIDE 2021

We in Løvemammaene have together created a party guide which deals with the most important issues for our organisation, both CRPD (human rights), universal design, BPA, spectacle support, child palliation etc. What the various parties say about other topics such as e.g. climate, you can find in the links to your party programs here in our guide.

The parties we have chosen to assess:

(Click on the party name to read the entire party program if you wish).

• AP (Labor Party)
• FRP (Progress Party)
• The Health Party
• Right
• KRF (Christian People's Party)
• MDG (Green Environmental Party)
• The Center party
• Red
• SP (Center Party)
• SV (Socialist Left Party)
• Left

Ratings in table:
Red cross = Against/have voted against
Yellow circle = Not mentioned in the party programme
Green tick = For/has put forward good proposals

CRPD

The CRPD is the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Incorporating the CRPD into Norwegian law will mean that our children and other functions in the country will be equal to everyone else. Løvemammaene believe that all children are equally valuable regardless of function (is there even anything to doubt?!) and that the CRPD must be incorporated into Norwegian law now!

It is worth mentioning that it only it was Rødt, MDG and SV who voted to incorporate the CRPD into Norwegian law in 2019, the same at a new vote in 2020. Since then, a few more parties have slowly followed suit, but we are really puzzled as to why they voted against it in the first place. It is true that KRF has set its program to incorporate the convention into Norwegian law now, but the party wants to investigate first and therefore cannot be placed under "for". They have, together with the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and the FRP, in all previous Storting proceedings, and most recently now in 2021, voted against incorporating the convention into Norwegian law and thus against what they have in their own party programme.

BPA

BPA stands for user-directed personal assistance and is an equality tool that aims to ensure the freedom of disabled people to live independent and equal lives. Although BPA was enshrined in rights in 2015, for many, especially children and young people, it has not worked as intended and is unfortunately very dependent on the municipalities' finances, competence and goodwill. Løvemammaene want BPA to be for everyone, that children should be able to have it at school and that health care must be included in the BPA scheme.

ASK

ASK stands for Alternative and supplementary communication, also called symbolic language. Some speak with their mouths, some speak with their hands, some with sounds and gestures, some with symbols and some with their eyes. All this is language! Løvemammaene believes that ASK must be recognized as a language in the Language Act, and that the ASK clause must be strengthened in the Education Act to ensure that all children can learn and participate in teaching.

UNIVERSAL DESIGN AND SIGN LANGUAGE

The fight for an accessible and equal society is about more than just wheelchair ramps and automatic door openers. Løvemammaene want the government to allocate enough financial resources for the universal design of the whole society and set a deadline for when this will be completed. We must have an investment in the country's schools, guide lines for the blind inside and outside, accessible beaches, accessible cultural attractions and public transport, telephone loops, noise reduction, play equipment for all children in playgrounds, make all public and older buildings accessible, large enough changing tables in the disabled toilets, digital aids and accessible websites, sign language on TV etc. This requires a major investment in universal design!

Ratings:
Pink with heart eyes = Tip top thumbs up
Orange smiley = Very good!
Blue smiley face = Totally ok.
Brown face = Dissatisfied…
Red angry face = No, no, no! Iron.

GLASS SUPPORT

In recent years, the government has cut the spectacle support scheme for children. This has resulted in large additional costs for families with children.
Løvemammaene believe that the cuts in the spectacle support scheme must be reversed. All children have the right to see!

PS: The Association for the Blind has made one more detailed overview about the parties' positions on children and glasses/sight.

THE AID SYSTEM, CULTURE AND LEISURE TIME

Løvemammaene believe that the aid scheme needs improvement - both more money and a better selection of aids.
We want all children and young people to be able to participate in leisure events, sports and cultural life, regardless of function. Unfortunately, much is unavailable and several places simply lack offers.

CARE BENEFIT AND COMPANION CERTIFICATE

If you have particularly burdensome nursing and caring duties, you can apply for care allowance from the municipality. Care allowance must compensate for the extra work and time spent, e.g. as a result of having a seriously ill or severely disabled child. The Løvemammaen are concerned that the care allowance is strengthened through enshrining rights in the legislation, clear guidelines/guidelines (regulations/circulars) and rates you can actually live on.
Accompanying certificates can be awarded to chronically ill/disabled persons, who must bring assistance with them, to ensure that they can participate in society, in leisure and cultural activities, holidays and public transport on an equal basis with others. Not everyone can stand in a queue for a long time, be without assistance at a museum, the bus or the cinema, and therefore they can bring a companion with them for free. Unfortunately, the practice is, as it is with care allowance, highly variable from municipality to municipality and affects unfairly. The majority of the country's municipalities practice a lower age limit for companion certificates of 8 years. Løvemammaene believe this discriminatory practice must end!

CHILD PALLIATION

It has been decided that every hospital that has a children's ward will have their own interdisciplinary pediatric palliation teams. These must consist of paediatricians, nurses, social worker, psychologist and possibly other professional groups (e.g. social worker/nutritionist). These must give advice to paediatricians, families and provide guidance to the municipality. So far, this offer is not in place at all children's departments. Løvemammaene have worked and are working hard to get the government to allocate earmarked funds for the creation and operation of these teams. In line with the national guidelines, the Løvemammaen want separate child palliation teams to be set up in each hospital that has a children's department. We are concerned that families should receive good help and support in the extremely tough situation they live in when they know their child is going to die. We firmly believe that it is important that you mainly get this help at home/locally.

MENTAL HEALTH

Perhaps the "easiest" point in the party guide.
All parties are keen to strengthen mental health services, especially for children and young people. What measures they want to take and how they will achieve their goals vary, but they share an intention to improve the mental health of children and young people. Some are of course better than others, so if you want more in-depth knowledge about party politics, you can check it out Mental Health's ranking.

CARE PAYMENT

The battle for care money in 2017-2019 will not be forgotten. Then the government (H, FRP, V, KRF) catastrophically cut the care allowance scheme in 2017, it would hit the very sickest and dying children hard. Løvemammaene worked around the clock for over a year and a half to reverse the cuts and at the same time improve the scheme further, and finally won through on 4 out of 4 points thanks to AP, SV, Rødt, SP and MDG, and finally KRF. However, it still remains to ensure that parents are not discriminated against when their child dies. In the current system, you receive care allowance for 3 months after the child's death if you have been a care allowance recipient for 3 years or more, but if you have received care allowance for less than 3 years, you only get care allowance for 6 weeks after the child's death. Løvemammaene believe that there is no difference in the grief these parents experience and that 3 months should be a minimum for anyone who loses their loved one! Here there are different opinions among the parties:

CAR BENEFITS AND HOUSING

For the Løvemammaene, it is important that everyone, regardless of function, gets the opportunity to live where and with whomever they want. It is particularly important that we get good enough arrangements in the Housing Bank so that families have the opportunity to arrange and universally design their homes. The lion mothers also believe that the politicians must step in to reintroduce the car subsidy scheme as it was. So what do the parties think about providing housing for everyone and reversing the government's cuts in the car subsidy scheme for the disabled? Hopefully you will be a little wiser here:

FOCUS ON PERFORMANCE POLICY

More and more parties understand that the fight for equality also includes the chronically ill and the disabled. We have investigated which of the parties have created their own committees that work specifically to improve the function policy in the country. We think this is an important measure to ensure that the rights and a better everyday life for the disabled and chronically ill are safeguarded in all policies that are pursued.