Labour's Shocking Insensitivity!

Many things incense me and few things surprise me! Both these comments can apply to the information sent to me recently by a friend relating to a poster posted on The Labour Party website. She was so shocked that she rang her local Labour Party to complain and then contacted me.

Such was my rage that I needed several minutes to calm down from a raging storm to a heavy shower!

Over the years there have been many distasteful and ridiculous advertising misdemeanors but this one from The Labour Party must surely jump to the top of the list. Over the past months, the Labour Party has displayed pretty poor judgment but allowing such a poster to appear within their election campaign advertising is a disgrace. You cannot tell me that no-one within their marketing department raised the issue of just how offensive this poster would be to wheelchair users.

Following a number of complaints, The Labour Party has now removed it from their website but surely the question must be who in their right mind allowed it to be there in the first place?

As I deliberate who to vote for on May 6th, I will consider the attitudes of all the political parties towards disability issues and I must say that this certainly does not give me the impression that The Labour Party understands and comprehends the issues disabled people face on a day-to-day basis.

My blood is still boiling over at the insensitivity they have shown.

National Care Service could mean Disability Cuts!

The National Care Service being proposed by the Labour Government caused even more controversy with the publication of a white paper that revealed a possible £100m annual cut to disability benefits. Page 132 of the white paper contained an admission by the health department that spending on disability benefits will be cut in order to help pay for the free care pledge.

The Government, of course, have denied that they will effectively be waving a machete to the disability benefits to fund their proposed social care plans.

Andy Burnham, Health Secretary published the Government’s social care proposals yesterday and indicated that Labour aims to have the social care proposals in place by 2015 but investigations seem to point towards £100m being cut from the Attendance Allowance for disabled people in order to help pay for this policy.

Underhandedly, it should be noted that a draft of the white paper issued on Tuesday had the content of page 132 missing with a statement merely saying that “wording to be agreed by the treasury, No.10 and special advisers later today”.

The revelations of page 132 seems to negate the assurances given by the Labour Government that benefits would not be cut and their actions can only be viewed as sneaky and beyond belief.

Conservative Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley MP said that “Labour's health plans seemed to have fallen apart in disarray”

Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb, has said "Labour promised to protect disability benefits from any future cuts, but it looks like they're going to have to raid budgets to pay for their free care plans.”

It seems to me that not only were there huge potholes in the Budget figures recently but we are now seeing further evidence that financial planning by the Labour Government is awash with enormous black holes. Time after time they have failed to set out strategies that shows how their policies will be funded in the future and yet again disabled people are being seen as the easy targets. Shame on you Labour!

Gordon Brown says the national care service will be founded on labour's enduring belief in fairness and responsibility yet their actions do not demonstrate this ethos. Cutting budgets from those that are in desperate need of them is not fair and does not show a responsible attitude to their plight.

Care services minister Phil Hope pledged the creation of a national care service was "to provide care for people free, when they need it - and that includes adults with disabilities as well as older people”. He strongly denied that the government planned to change any of the rules affecting attendance allowance but their own white paper seems to indicate otherwise.

UK ratifies the UN Disability Convention

At long last the UK have finally ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

After much stalling on the part of our Government, Jonathan Shaw, Minister for Disabled People announced on 8th June 2009 that the convention had been ratified and that the government were fully committed to its full implementation. In a statement to the House of Commons, he said:

"I am delighted to announce that later today the UK will ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in New York. In addition, we aim to start the Parliamentary process for ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention shortly.

"There are an estimated 650 million disabled people in the world, including over 10m in the UK. The UN Convention is a powerful and explicit statement that they have – and must be able to enjoy on an equal basis – the same human rights as others. The Convention is therefore a very significant landmark, both for disabled people and for Government and society as whole.

"Ratification of the Convention is further demonstration of the Government’s commitment to equality of human rights for disabled people, and of our determination to achieve equality by 2025."

The Convention is a major landmark as it is the first human rights treaty of the 21st Century and will hopefully ensure equality for all 650 million disabled people across the world. The convention focuses on ensuring that all disabled people are able to enjoy fundamental human rights and thus participate fully in society.

It is my opinion that the UK government took far too long in agreeing this Convention and I wholeheartedly supported the criticism directed at them for seeking a number of opt-out clauses regarding immigration, education and the armed forces. It would now seem that by ratifying this Convention, the Government has accepted their legal obligation to ensure that all necessary laws are passed.

Implementation now looms and this will be a challenging process that must involve the disabled community as a whole. Their voices must be heard in ensuring that equality becomes a standard rather than a privilege.

Equality Bill 2009 & the Existence of Inequality

On 27th April this year, the current Government released the Equality Bill 2009 with the intention of simplifying and harmonizing existing legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act, Race Relations Act, the Sex Discrimination Act, the Equality Act 2006 and many other anti-discrimination legislation.

With so much equality legislation in force, it is sad to see that we still have an increase in terms of actual inequality.

Ronald Dworkin, a political theorist, based his theory of equality on the principle that “every person is entitled to equal concern and respect in the design of the structure of society” and “real equality of opportunity can only be measured by its success in creating equality of outcome”.

He further argues that if everyone, regardless of physical and mental ability, are to have genuine equal opportunities, then an equal opportunity must exist for all participants to end the race at the same time whether they need more considered or continued support or not.

The Disability Discrimination Act is currently the only equality legislation that requires anyone to invest financially into real equality of opportunity but this in reality is minimal as the Act states that only “reasonable” changes can be expected at a “proportionate” cost.

For many employers and service providers accessibility is considered low down on their list of priorities and even the simplest of adaptations such as ramps, induction loops etc are rarely considered.

Only time will tell whether the new Equality Bill will make significant changes to providing genuine equality of opportunity to people with disabilities but it is my belief that until fundamental changes are made to people’s perception of disability, we will not see true equality.