Human rights in an age of technology

A new blog from CEO Dr Donald Macaskill to commemorate Human Rights Day – 10th December 2018.

Every day you open the newspaper there seems to be a new story of technological invention. We are well and truly in the Fourth Industrial Revolution where the pace of technological change is breath taking. The world of Artificial Intelligence can seem remote and scary – the realm of Hollywood cinema or science fiction. But the future is in many senses already happening. As Christmas beckons there will be a rush to buy the latest smart technology whether that’s a smart toaster or microwave, TV or radio, lighting system or security devices. It is anticipated that home robots will be one of the best-selling high-end gifts this year.

From the phones we carry which can change our heating as we sit in the traffic jam on the way home to the heart devices we wear on our wrists which act as a deterrent for that extra mince pie – we are surrounded by a world full of smart technology.

All well and good. It would be foolish to try and resist the tide of progress which will make human life better, prevent health incidents and give people more control and independence. But should there be limits to this new age?

Today is Human Rights Day where we celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the 10th anniversary of the Scottish Human Rights Commission. The Declaration arose from a desire to never again witness the obscene inhumanity which had led to millions of people being killed in a war that had scarred the globe. It was never a set of utopian statements but a set of practical standards by which humanity should seek to live and conduct itself, by which the nations of the world would co-exist in peace. It is all about what it means to be human.

I will be joining many others in the Scottish Parliament today to acknowledge and celebrate both these events. I am sure the event and the debates and discussions will highlight what has been achieved but will also point us to the work that still needs to be done. I hope there will be a sense that human rights are the concern of all and not just a minority with a specialist interest. The challenge is increasingly to make human rights part and parcel of ordinary discourse, debate and priority especially in a context like Scotland where the challenge to basic human rights does not always appear so visible.

For the world does not stand still and as we celebrate human rights today we need to consider the challenges which are affecting our communities now. For me the biggest challenge to the embedding of the principles of human rights in Scotland is increasingly the role of technology. So what do human rights have to say to the use of technology?

In my work I see smart devices being used to positively predict the likelihood of someone falling and fracturing their bones, or to identify the risk of de-hydration and help people remain safely in their own homes if they are living with dementia. So there is much to be celebrating. But there are also dangers.

Scottish local authorities and Integrated Joint Boards are increasingly making decisions to replace human presence and support with technological solutions. There might be nothing wrong with that but we need to be clear why we are doing this and that it isn’t just because it’s a cheaper solution. Where is all the data which is being produced by the plethora of devices being installed in the homes of the elderly going? What is Alexa and her friends doing with your conversations? Does the citizen have access to their personal data?

Increasingly robots are being used in care homes across the world. Over 80% of care homes in Japan have at least one robot.  There is virtually nothing a care worker can do which a ‘care-bot’ cannot do. They are reliable devices, increase efficiency and reduce cost. But is that enough?

Yes a care-bot can care for me, it can help me to reminiscence and keep me independent. But can I feel the warmth of human touch through its metal? Do I want a machine to be my companion in my later days and in my last hours? Can it understand my fear and soothe my distress?

What are the limits of the new technologies? Do we want the care of some of the most vulnerable citizens to be undertaken by a machine because it is cheap? Are we developing a double standard which would frown at babies being cared for by a robot but would find it acceptable to sue robotics to care for the elderly? Is there a human right to have human care?

If human rights are to frame our society for the decades ahead then we need to start creating a set of principles around technology and its use in Scotland. The time has come as we move deeper into the technological age for us to create an ethical and human rights based framework so that the design, development and use of technology is advancing of human society and community rather than having the effect of diminishing it.

So that is why Scottish Care is calling for the creation of a Human Rights Charter for Technology and a Scottish Centre for Human Rights and Ethics in Technology.

Life is too important to be left to the machines.  Human rights need to speak to a technological age or they will increasingly become irrelevant.

Dr Donald Macaskill

@drdmacaskill

#HumanRightsDay

See a fuller exposition of this blog in ‘TechRights: Human rights, Technology and Social Care’:

https://www.scottishcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Tech-Rights-Booklet-PROOF.pdf

 

Scottish Care is delighted to launch our latest Care Cameo – the eighth in this series – in partnership with deafscotland.

The new Care Cameo has been written by Janis McDonald, CEO of deafscotland, and colleagues Carolyn Scott and Mandy Reid.

It focuses on the challenges facing individuals with various forms of hearing impairment, particularly when they access care and support services.  It challenges us all to better understand the experiences of these individuals and to positively adapt practice so that communication is fully inclusive.

The Care Cameo was launched today (29 November 2018) at Scottish Care and deafscotland’s ‘Right to be Heard’ event in Glasgow.

To read the Care Cameo, click here.

It is not distance that keeps people apart, it is the failure to hear and be heard.

Every minute of every day we are communicating. The texts we send, the words we speak, the looks we give, the touch we offer – all send messages to those we are linked with and in relationship to.

Imagine not being able to do that. Imagine that your words are misunderstood, your texts do not get sent but stay on your phone; your presence is resisted and your touch brushed off.

To be excluded because you cannot communicate, to be shut out because people do not understand, to be ignored because you are not valued and recognised … that must surely be real emptiness and abandonment.

Yet that is precisely what the day to day experience of tens of thousands of our fellow Scots feels like every single minute of every day. They are excluded because we have created a distance which separates them from us  and us from them. We have failed to hear and allow people to be heard and thus the distance has grown into a divide.

I have, to my shame, only recently become as fully aware of the enormous extent of hearing issues facing the population of Scotland. The fact that in Scotland 40% of the population over the age of forty, 60% over the age 60 and 75% over 75s experience some sort of hearing difficulties I was wholly unaware of.

For thousands of these individuals this means that they are excluded from any real and meaningful participation in society. It is not just that they miss out on snippets of conversation here and there it is to put it simply that they have a cloak of invisibility and absence even if they are physically present. Their contribution is not recognised, their voice is not heard.

We have for too long made hearing impairment and hearing difficulties the butt of humour. For too long we have presumed that hearing difficulties are just an inconvenience rather than accepting the reality of their exclusion and their immense impact on individual mental health and well-being. For too long we have considered issues of hearing loss to be the inevitable consequence of age and a condition to be accepted and tholed. For too long we have disabled those born deaf by failing to adequately change the fabric of our society to include, value and treat these individuals as citizens with equal rights and the same entitlements as any other.

On Thursday this week Scottish Care will be hosting a morning workshop with deafscotland to argue for greater priority in general to be given to these issues and for the importance of the care sector addressing the challenges and welcoming the opportunities which are brought by individuals who have hearing difficulties. This is a very real attempt to start a wider public discourse around how we better include and value people who are receiving care but whose hearing difficulties have served to further dis-able and exclude them from engagement, participation and involvement.

In essence this is a matter of individual rights and collective responsibility.

I hope you will come and join us on the day and begin to work with us and deafscotland as we challenge the societal barriers and lack of resource which continues to fail to hear the voice of those with a right to be heard.

Programme and booking details are available at: https://www.scottishcare.org/right-to-be-heard/

Dr Donald Macaskill

@DrDMacaskill

Web Design Glasgow

The CMA has published new advice so care homes understand their responsibilities under consumer law.

The advice has been published as part of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) ongoing consumer protection work into residential care homes and nursing homes for older people (over 65s) across the UK.

It follows the CMA’s examination of the sector last year, which found that some residents are at risk of being treated unfairly and recommended urgent action to reform the sector.

The CMA has also published an open letter to care homes, reminding them of their responsibilities under consumer law and urging them to review the advice immediately.  Care homes may need to make changes to their contract terms and business practices as a result.

Working with its partners such as Trading Standards, the CMA will be conducting a review in 12 months’ time to assess how well care homes are complying with consumer law. It may take further action before then if it finds care homes are treating residents and their families unfairly and breaking the law.

The new advice sets out what care homes across the UK need to do to ensure they are treating their residents fairly, including:

• What upfront information they should give to potential residents, their families or other representatives and when (through websites, over the phone and when people visit) to help them make informed choices. This includes giving an indication of the weekly fees charged to self-funders and highlighting any especially important or surprising terms and conditions that will apply (such as any requirement for residents to prove they can pay for their own care for a minimum period of time)
• How to make sure contract terms and the way residents and their representatives are treated is fair
• How to handle complaints fairly and ensure their complaints procedure is easy to find and use

The CMA has also published a short guide for care homes to accompany the full advice, as well as a short guide for residents and their families that explains their rights under consumer law.

Consumer law advice for providers

Short guide to consumer rights for residents

 

 

Scottish Care members in Angus, Perth & Kinross and Tayside should be aware that the Autumn Roadshow event scheduled for 22 November in Dundee will now take place on 19 December.

For the full details on this, including how to reserve your place please visit the relevant events page on our website.