8/9/2019 Disability Rights 40 Years On

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EMPLOYMENT

INCOME AND PREJUDICE

ACCOMMODATION

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Sources:NHSInformationCentreSocial Care& MentalHealthIndicators2008-9;Officefor NationalStatisticsLabourForce Survey2008

7.5% of adults with learningdisabilities known to socialservices were in paidemployment in England

3.4% of adults in contactwith secondary mentalhealth services were in paidemployment in England

48% of all disabled peopleare in employment

Source: Valuing People Now, 2009

50-55% of the populationof adults with learningdisabilities live withtheir families

30% of people withlearning disabilities livein residential care(33,000 people in England)

15% of people with learningdisabilities have a securelong-term tenancy orown their own home.

Source: Leonard Cheshire Disability, Disability Review 2009

42% of disabled peopleare finding it difficult orvery difficult to live ontheir present income.

55% of disabled peoplehave no savings

90% of disabled peoplebelieve there is prejudiceagainst disabled peoplein Britain

7.5% 3.4% 48%

50-55% 30% 15%

42% 55% 90%

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1996 act had muchmore impact for me

The 1970 act didnt do much for me, and Im

not sure it did a lot for many people with

learning disabilities either.

I was just 19 when it came out and

had already been locked up in a mental

institution called Calderstones in Lancashire

for over four years. There I was treated as a number, not

an individual. The act didnt change that.

Six years later my dad died and my mums health

got very bad. I just wanted to go home to be with her.

A woman told me that she had arranged for me to go

home. I jumped into the car and off we went, only to find

out that I was being taken to a hostel for the mentally

handicapped. I stayed there for the next five years.

Eventually I got a job and went home to look after

mum. After she died social services moved me into a

flat, I had no choice. The law that changed things for me

and some other people with learning disabilities was the

Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996. I got my

direct payment in 1998. I havent looked back since.

Andrew Barbour is vice-chair of Tameside People First

and trains on advocacy and disability awareness

Activists havebeen key

Disabled peoples

lives have broadly

improved. A key

change has been

about the part

disabled people have played

in their own emancipation.

Organisations were set up to

champion disabled peoples rights

www.communitycare.co.uk 13 May 2010

adults

special report: 40 years of disability rights

Battle for equality conti

Sources: Valuing People white paper, 2001;Valuing People Now delivery plan 2010-11, 2010

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HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED:

DECLINE OF LONG-STAY HOSPITALS

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Eligibility rules the next battleThere has been a shift in how the government understands,

promotes and offers social care to disabled people and

also how it thinks about the rights of disabled people. The

improvement in social care has given disabled people greater

choice, control and flexibility over the services provided by the

state. Equality laws have reduced some discriminatory practices towards

disabled people and increased their opportunities and life chances.

But far too many people are being let down by tight eligibility criteria

for care and charging. This has resulted in many disabled people surviving

without proper support structures, being forced to live in unacceptable

conditions and therefore becoming a burden on others.The diverse needs of disabled people continue to be poorly addressed by

many service providers, who categorise disabled people as a homogenous

group.

Disabled people still do not have equal participation in society. We

should have achieved this by now, 40 years after the passing of the act.

Michelle Daley is a former member of government advisory body Equality

2025 and is a freelance trainer and consultant on disability equality

Transport is much easier nowSince I just turned 40, my experience should measure the

impact of the act.

My parents understood that inclusive education was key to

my life chances. I went to one of the first secondary schools to

integrate disabled children, after attending a special school

that refused on moralgrounds to let pupils take exams.

At 18 I was off to university. As an alternative to funding the support I

needed to live on campus, the local social services director suggested that

someone like mewould be better off staying at home and studying with

the Open University.

However, disabled people are definitely out and about more these days.

The activist Dave Morris, who died recently, played a leading role in getting

every London bus made accessible. He described the opportunity to take

any bus as feeling like a kid in a sweet shop. The novelty hasnt worn off for

me either, and I still find myself going on unnecessary journeys just for that

warm feeling of inclusion.

The 1970 act played its part, but we now need far more robust rights to

independent living.

Nick Danagher is an independent consultant on disability equality issues

Businesses must do betterThere have been many key moments for people who are

deaf or hard of hearing over the past 40 years, including the

Disability Discrimination Act 1995, and the recognition of

British Sign Language as a language in its own right by the

government in 2003.

These advances, combined with growing social awareness and significant

technological and medical developments, have enabled greater e quality for

people who are deaf or hard of hearing and an increasing recognition of theskills and talent that would be otherwise lost to society.

However, most businesses and public services are neither deaf aware nor

prepared to make reasonable adjustments for staff or customers, whether

they use BSL or communicate in English. This attitude is something that we

must all challenge, but RNID recognises its special responsibility in this area.

We need to ensure all providers are educated in deaf awareness so that

deaf or hard of hearing people have full access to all of the same services as

the rest of the population, and that they are actively encouraged to seek all

the benefits, help and support that is available to them.

Caroline Cousins is a trustee for the RNID and is deaf

13 May 2010www.communitycare.co.uk

adults

via principles of independent living,

developed by disabled activists.

Locally this led to the

development of centres for

independent living and direct

payments schemes. Nationally this

led to the civil rights campaigns

resulting in the Disability

Discrimination Act 1995 and direct

payments legislation.

All government policy has been

influenced by the disabled peoples

movement, culminating in the

excellent Improving the Life Chances

of Disabled People report in 2005.

On the contrary side, increasing

rationing of social care and the rise

of poverty among non-working

disabled people have undermined

these aspirations.

Disabled people require a truly

national care service, free at the

point of use.

Andy Rickell is a member of

disability advisory body Equality

2025 and chief executive of the

Vassall Centre Trust

ues