[nagdu] confidentiality

Sun Feb 6 17:50:54 UTC 2011

Julie,

Yeah, bringing in third party advocates -- at least in my limited but still
too much experience -- can be pretty risky.  Especially when they're
advocating for you (theoretically, anyway) against an established authority
of some sort.  If one is too rich for legal aid but too poor to hire an
attorney (often a result of needing advocacy against The Man in whatever
form), one has to hope for the best and hope the advocate will have a sense
of propriety and ethics.  /smile/  In my case, The Establishment just says
they did everything right, they tried so hard to help me and I suck (by now
in quite an astonishing number of ways) and that's that.  My offers of
outside documentation and the like to clear things up with information are
turned down forcefully.  I suck and that's that.

Every time you open yourself up like that, you are taking the risk of
finding out all sorts of people you associate with or may in the future
without having met them yet, know all about how awful you are and treat you
accordingly.  Since people who know me, have known me, have been long-time
co-workers, colleagues, friends and fellow volunteers all at the same time
still treat me like I'm not quite so horrible and may even be something like
the person I think I am, I can maintain my equilibrium when this does
happen, but it ain't fun.  Sigh.  And it can rob me of important contacts
and the like even before I can meet them or get much involved.

One does tread carefully and do some really careful decision-making in
choosing one's battles or even small sorties.  Sigh.  Until one is in a
position to have some positive effect, or to find an advocate who will use
existing third-party, more neutral information that reflects reality, one
tells one's story now and then, knowing what the results are likely to be.
When changes happen that I believe may give me a better chance or provide me
more credibility in future, I do take a stab at finding a reliable advocate,
just in case.  Here in Oregon, within the system involved, it has not been
pretty or worth the aggravation.  Sigh.  But since others cntinue to face
the same thing, I just have to keep poking around at it in case I can save
someone else from the same fate.  I sound like a conspiracy theorist with a
paladin complex now, don't I?  /lol/

Interesting hearing how that works with the guide dog programs, and in your
line of work.  I'm going to keep the additional confidentiality agreement in
mind for future reference, just in case.  /smile/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Julie J
Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2011 9:11 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] confidentiality

Jenine,

I've been thinking about this a lot.  I haven't come up with any brilliant 
insights.  I do think anyone should have total and unrestricted access to 
their own records from any facility, whether that is a guide dog program, 
mental health provider, doctor or educational institution.  I also believe 
that the person has the right to share those records with whomever they 
choose.  But that brings us to the sticky part.  I don't think that third 
party should be sharing that information with whomever and wherever they 
feel like it, without express permission.  But that's an ethical issue, I 
don't know what the legal answer would be.

At work when I have clients sign release of information forms, I specify 
what the information will be used for and what I can do with it.  Along with

that release of information is a confidentiality agreement that more clearly

spells out how information is shared.

Interesting stuff
Julie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jenine Stanley" <jeninems at wowway.com>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 3:10 PM
Subject: [nagdu] confidentiality

>I have a question for those wanting full disclosure of situations involving
> third parties to this list.
>
> If someone had an issue with a rehabilitation center, any rehabilitation
> center, but particularly one of the NFB centers, could he or she obtain 
> his
> or her own personal records, say to prove staff conflicts. Could a third
> party acting as advocate then pass details of those records along to 
> public
> email lists or hold other kinds of discussions about them without
> jeopardizing any legal action?
>
> I honestly do not know the answer to these questions so am posing them 
> here
> for the more learned minds. It would seem to me that regardless of the
> agency, you are asking, and by "you" I mean anyone who believe he or she 
> has
> the right to read someone else's records, with or without that person's
> permission, to have complete access to any personal records of anyone in
> question. Consider how you might feel if your own personal records with 
> any
> agency, guide dog school, rehabilitation center, mental health facility,
> medical facility, were leaked or otherwise made openly available.
>
> Yes, it might lead to some uncovering of poor policies, staff 
> inappropriate
> behavior, etc., but it could also lead to much sensitive information about
> individuals being aired publicly in a less than completely objective 
> manner
> to a less than objective audience.
>
> Just something to consider.
> Jenine Stanley
> jeninems at wowway.com
>
>
>
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