University defends display of disabled icon’s skeleton in glass case

May 16, 2012 – 9:00 am

A London university has defended its decision to continue to display the bones of one of the nineteenth century’s most iconic disabled figures in a private museum.

The skeleton of Joseph Merrick is kept in a glass exhibition case by Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL), more than 100 years after he died.

One disabled campaigner has called for him to be finally given the burial he deserves, only days after there were new calls for a permanent memorial to Merrick in his home town of Leicester.

Jeanette Sitton, the disabled founder of The Friends of Joseph Carey Merrick, said she believed Merrick’s body should be laid to rest, and added: “He is still on display for all the medical students to gawp at.”

Last December, there were similar calls for the skeleton of Charles Byrne, an Irish man who died in 1783 and was seven feet seven inches tall, to be removed from the Royal College of Surgeons’ (RCS) Hunterian museum in London, and given the burial at sea he had reportedly wanted.

Merrick spent his final years at the London Hospital, but after his funeral his body was handed to the hospital under the Anatomy Act, and was not reclaimed for burial by his family or friends.

It is believed that his organs and “remaining soft tissue” were buried in an unknown location, while his bones were eventually passed to QMUL following the university’s merger with London Hospital Medical College in 1995.

A QMUL spokeswoman said they understood from a book, The True Story of The Elephant Man, that Merrick was “expecting to be preserved after his death”, while she said the university “regularly consults” with his descendants over the care of his remains.

The skeleton is now kept in the Doniach Gallery, a teaching section of the pathology collection at QMUL’s Whitechapel campus, and is displayed alongside other medical “specimens”.

The QMUL spokeswoman said the gallery was “not accessible to the general public” and was open only to “supervised medical students and medical professionals by appointment only”, with each request considered by the curator.

She said: “The skeleton is displayed in a glass cabinet to allow medical students to view and understand the physical deformities resulting from Joseph Merrick’s condition. Those viewing the skeleton are also expected to consider Merrick’s feelings on his condition.”

She said the skeleton was “considered valuable for medical research”, the same reason given by the RCS for continuing to display the skeleton of Charles Byrne.

Merrick’s story was popularised by the Oscar-nominated film The Elephant Man, released more than 30 years ago.

This week, the mayor of Leicester – the city where Merrick was born and brought up – called for a new informative memorial, as part of a “Story of Leicester” project that aims to raise awareness of the city’s rich history.

The mayor, Peter Soulsby, said that Merrick “deserves to be remembered”, and added: “The story of Joseph Merrick is an important part of the history of Leicester and his story addresses important issues about society’s changing attitudes to disability.”

There is already a blue plaque, which has now been placed on the wall of a Leicester college, on the site of a workhouse where Merrick lived for four years, and which pays tribute to “a true model of bravery and dignity”.

Sitton said she would also like to see a more significant, permanent memorial to someone who demonstrated such “dignity and courage” and was “a great iconic person for people with disabilities”.

Merrick, who died in 1890, aged 27, had a condition that caused extensive growths on his face and body.

In his short autobiography, he describes running away from home two or three times following the death of his beloved mother – who was also disabled – and the remarriage of his father.

He left school at 11 or 12 but found it increasingly difficult to secure paid work as he became more disabled.

He wrote: “Being unable to get employment my father got me a pedlar’s license to hawk the town, but being deformed, people would not come to the door to buy my wares.

“In consequence of my ill luck my life was again made a misery to me, so that I again ran away and went hawking on my own account, but my deformity had grown to such an extent, so that I could not move about the town without having a crowd of people gather around me.”

He eventually spent four years in a workhouse, before contacting a Leicester entrepreneur to suggest that he be exhibited to the public.

He was nicknamed The Elephant Man and was reportedly well paid, touring in the Midlands and being exhibited in a shop in London.

After being robbed and abandoned while on a tour of Europe, he found his way back to London, where he was taken in by surgeon Frederick Treves and allowed to stay at the London Hospital (now the Royal London Hospital) until his death.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Disabled artist ‘in shock’ over treatment by London 2012

May 15, 2012 – 9:00 am

A disabled artist who has spent five years training young disabled people to perform in the Paralympics opening ceremony has spoken of the “disgraceful” way he has been treated by organisers of the London 2012 games.

Jean-Marie Akkerman founded Cirque Nova five years ago, with the aim of teaching young disabled people circus skills so they could take part in the London 2012 opening ceremonies.

He works unpaid for his charity, despite its constant struggle for funding, and has kept Cultural Olympiad bosses – who he says were supportive of his plans – updated on its progress.

Cirque Nova’s performances have become a highlight of London’s annual Liberty disability arts festival, drawing large crowds to their stunning displays of aerial and other circus skills.

But organisers of the Paralympics opening ceremony have now signed up six of the eight current Cirque Nova pupils who are over 18, as well as two of the company’s six teachers.

London 2012 has made it clear that there will be no recognition of the role Cirque Nova has played in training the performers, and has refused to work with Akkerman himself.

Because it has lost so many of its pupils and teachers to London 2012, Cirque Nova has already had to cancel two performances this summer, and is having to put many other activities on hold until after the Paralympics finishes in September.

Akkerman told Disability News Service he was “in shock” at the way he and his company had been treated by London 2012.

He said: “It is disgraceful. I have given up my heart and soul and not earned a penny over the last five years.

“I put in all my energy and a lot of hard work and I get nothing. I am very upset about the whole situation. It is a very unfair way of dealing with people.

“I was hoping that London 2012 would raise the profile of the company and allow us to get more funding in the future.”

He made it clear that he was not seeking money from London 2012, but simply recognition of the role Cirque Nova had played in training disabled performers.

The London 2012 organising committee LOCOG announced last week that circus skills – such as static trapeze, rope and pole work – would play a vital part in the Paralympics opening ceremony, with performers set to demonstrate their aerial skills on a 35-metre high rig.

The charity Circus Space also described how it was hosting an eight-week “boot camp” in circus skills for 50 disabled performers, before they joined rehearsals for the opening ceremony.

But six of those performers are already seasoned performers with Cirque Nova.

A LOCOG spokeswoman said: “Potential specialist performers were invited to audition for the London 2012 Paralympic opening ceremony through many different ways, including Team GB, Amputees in Action and various disability circus companies.

“One individual performer chose to audition through Cirque Nova and was successfully selected to learn new skills and be part of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

LOCOG declined to comment further.

It is believed that the other five Cirque Nova performers auditioned for London 2012 as individuals, rather than as members of the company.

And Akkerman made it clear that LOCOG had asked for the contact details of all of his over-18 pupils as part of its recruitment process.

He said he believed Cirque Nova was the UK’s only “disability circus company”.

In a further blow, Akkerman has also now learned that he is about to be evicted from his east London flat in order to allow his landlord to make thousands of pounds by renting it out to rich foreign tourists during the Olympics and Paralympics.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Exhibition pictures a world of sporting inspiration and inclusion

May 14, 2012 – 9:00 am

A new exhibition of photographs is showcasing the power of sport to inspire both disabled and non-disabled children, and highlighting the achievements of a key London 2012 international programme.

The exhibition in London shows how the International Inspiration “sports legacy” programme has used inclusive sport, play and physical education to address some of the issues that affect young people across the world, such as gang violence and gender inequality.

The Inspired by Sport exhibition includes pictures by famed photographer Rankin of leading athletes – both current and retired – such as Paralympian Baroness [Tanni] Grey-Thompson, Lord [Seb] Coe, Denise Lewis and Louise Hazel.

These pictures feature alongside others taken by international photographers of young people around the world who have taken part in International Inspiration.

The International Inspiration programme, supported by organisations including UNICEF, the British Council, UK Sport, and the British Paralympic Association, aims to “use the power of sport to enrich the lives of millions of children and young people of all abilities in schools and communities across the world”, particularly in developing countries.

London 2012 pledged that its programme would reach 12 million children in 20 countries – including Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Uganda – a target achieved in February.

Paralympians Baroness Grey-Thompson and Oscar Pistorius have both taken part in the programme.

Baroness Grey-Thompson visited a project in Jordan where disabled and non-disabled children took part together in inclusive sport and play, while Pistorius visited Tanzania.

In a video produced to mark the launch of the exhibition, Baroness Grey-Thompson tells how watching her daughter Carys win a race in her first school swimming championships “felt like it was an Olympic gold medal”, while Pistorius describes how he is inspired by watching women’s powerlifting.

The Inspired by Sport exhibition runs until 13 May at the Museum of London, and entry is free.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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DWP stays silent on DLA cuts advice from councils

May 13, 2012 – 9:00 am

The government has refused to say what advice it has received from local councils and the Department of Health (DH) about the wider impact of its sweeping cuts to spending on disability living allowance (DLA).

Concerns about the knock-on effects of the cuts, particularly on people’s ability to work, and their increased need for support from local councils and the NHS, were raised in a report by Disability Rights UK (DR UK) last month.

But the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has so far been unable to produce any evidence to show that it has analysed these knock-on effects, despite plans to cut spending on working-age DLA by 20 per cent, or £1.4 billion a year by 2015-16.

It insisted this week that DWP ministers and civil servants had held “numerous meetings” with colleagues in DH and local authorities, as part of planning for the replacement of working-age DLA with a new personal independence payment (PIP).

But it has so far been unable to produce any evidence to back-up its claim that councils and the NHS were not likely to see a rise in demand for their services as a result of the cuts, stating only that DWP was “working with Department of Health and local authorities to consider impacts”.

When asked what DH and councils had told DWP about the likely effects of the cuts on demand for their services, a DWP spokesman said: “We will continue to work with Department of Health and local authorities to consider impacts.”

And when asked again exactly what they had told DWP, he said: “We’ve got nothing further to add.”

Last week, the disabled Labour MP Dame Anne Begg raised concerns about the government’s failure to measure the wider impact of its cuts on disabled people.

Dame Anne said that those losing DLA might also be losing employment and support allowance and council-funded social care, and there was an “urgent” need to investigate the impact of all of the cuts on disabled people.

Questioned by the Green MP Caroline Lucas on whether DWP would assess the “cumulative effect” of planned reforms to benefits and services on disabled people, Maria Miller, the Conservative minister for disabled people, said this week that such an analysis would be too complex to undertake.

She said this was because of the “detailed information on individuals and families that is required to estimate the interactions of a number of different policy changes”, while many policy details were “still to be worked through”.

Meanwhile, members of the We Are Spartacus online community of disabled activists have submitted a detailed report to DWP as part of the latest government consultation on the proposed assessment criteria for PIP.

The report, which includes a foreword by the disabled peer Baroness [Tanni] Grey-Thompson, makes more than 100 recommendations for improvements to the PIP assessment, and is based on more than 600 responses to a survey. Most of the survey responses came from people who receive DLA.

We Are Spartacus describes itself as “an online information and peer support hub for an emerging movement of disabled and sick people brought together by unease over government reforms and popular discourse around disability”.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Self-advocacy pioneers still struggling for survival despite 21-year track record

May 13, 2012 – 9:00 am

A pioneering self-advocacy organisation this week celebrated the publication of a booklet that charts its 21-year history.

Central England People First (CEPF) – originally known as Northants People First – was set up in 1990, and has always been run and controlled by people with learning difficulties.

Ian Davies, one of its founders, said that working at CEPF had made a “big difference” to the lives of many members who had originally been forced to attend day services.

But he warned that CEPF – like many other self-advocacy organisations – still faces a financial struggle to survive, and said: “We just need to encourage the funders to get their hand in their pocket.”

He told an event in Kettering held to launch the booklet: “It has not been easy for groups like ours and we have had to work so hard to keep the organisation going.

“We hope that with help we will be here in another 21 years. We are not going to go backwards. We are looking to the future.

“It was good to do our history – it has helped us to think about our future.”

Craig Hart, the history project’s manager and another long-standing CEPF member, told the event: “We have done a lot of things together in the last 21 years and we have spoken about things that have affected us. We have got things changed.”

The booklet, 21 Years of Central England People First: A Journey and a Celebration, was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Over those 21 years, CEPF members have attended conferences in Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, USA, South Africa, Hungary, the Netherlands and Belgium.

CEPF worked on the first national survey of adults with learning difficulties, while two of its members – Ian Davies and Karen Spencer – were the first keynote speakers with learning difficulties to address the conference of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities, in Finland in 1996.

Jan Walmsley, chair of the project’s advisory group and visiting professor in the history of learning disabilities at the Open University, said: “It’s really important that we remember the pioneering work of organisations like this one.”

She added: “I think the project has been really important because self-advocacy groups like this one flourished 20 years ago.

“There was a lot of money from local authorities and it was a very positive time. People thought they could change the world.”

But she said the situation facing self-advocacy organisations was now not so positive.

In an introduction to the booklet, she warns: “As I have worked on this, I realise that my view is that independent self-advocacy controlled by people with learning difficulties – that CEPF have championed for 21 years – is in decline.”

She says there is little contact between self-advocacy groups, while many are struggling financially and leaders are “getting older”, with no sign that they are being replaced with younger activists.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Leveson inquiry ‘has sidelined disability’

May 12, 2012 – 9:00 am

Disabled activists who want to give evidence about newspapers that have stirred up hostility towards claimants of disability benefits appear to have been sidelined by the Leveson inquiry into press standards.

Disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) – including Inclusion London, the UK Disabled People’s Council and the Disability Hate Crime Network (DHCN) – told Disability News Service (DNS) last November that they wanted to give evidence to the inquiry, set up in the wake of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.

But although the inquiry has accepted their subsequent written statement, it appears to have ruled out any chance of disabled people giving evidence in person.

Inclusion London, and the other DPOs and activists who signed up to its witness statement, say there is strong evidence that disabled people are facing an increase in targeted hostility and hate crime as a result of stories that have been published in newspapers such as the Daily Mail, particularly on the subject of disability benefits.

They believe that headlines such as “Disabled Benefit? Just fill in a form” and “75% on sick are skiving” are leading to the “demonization” of disabled people, while “fair and accurate reporting, particularly in relation to disability benefit fraud, has gone out the window”.

But despite a joint written submission being accepted and published on the Leveson website, an inquiry spokesman told DNS that it was now too late to take evidence in person on the issue because the inquiry had moved on from discussing the relationship between the press and the public.

He said the inquiry team was “content” with the evidence it had been sent in written form, and added: “They are happy to work off written evidence and submissions and they think they have got enough of them.

“The inquiry is content that it will cover issues around the way the media has treated people with disabilities.”

He said the inquiry intended to publish “further submissions relating to disability issues shortly”.

Tracey Lazard, chief executive of Inclusion London, said they and other organisations and individuals would be writing to the inquiry to “strongly urge them to specifically address the issue of the portrayal of disabled people in the media” and to ask to be able to give oral evidence to the inquiry.

She said: “This issue is extremely important to disabled people and the impact of current grossly inaccurate reporting is directly linked to rising incidents of disability hate crime and hostility which in turn is causing disabled people to live in fear and anxiety.”

Stephen Brookes, a DHCN coordinator and the retiring joint chair of the National Union of Journalists’ disabled members council, said: “I am deeply dismayed that a real opportunity has been missed by Leveson and those submitting to its work in making the press as a whole take responsibility for creating an environment which is not just hostile to, but actually has created criminal hate towards, disabled people and other minority groups.

“It is of little surprise that disabled people and their organisations are at odds with the media in all its guises.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Sex, farmers and mobile phones mean success for seventh blogging day

May 12, 2012 – 9:00 am

Disabled bloggers have posted their views about topics as diverse as sex, special education, assistive technology and the barriers facing disabled farmers, as part of the seventh annual Blogging Against Disablism Day (BADD).

The annual event, which took place on 1 May, was the idea of the anonymous disabled activist who has been blogging at Diary of a Goldfish since 2005.

BADD allows disabled and non-disabled people across the world to blog about their “experiences, observations and thoughts about disability discrimination” and “raise awareness of inequality, promote equality and celebrate the progress we’ve made”.

This year’s BADD saw more than a hundred blogs, with subjects ranging from a global perspective on the impact of disablism on disabled people across the planet, to fire safety for deaf people, attitudes to self-harm, the importance of role models and how to fight disablism.

Others described the impact that discrimination has had on their lives, how they had learned to live with a chronic health condition or with chronic pain, or provided anecdotes that celebrated positive attitudes to disability.

Ruth Madison blogged about the non-existent divide between disabled and non-disabled people, while Indigo Jo Blogs called for versions of websites for mobile phones to be made accessible, and Laura Woodhouse blogged about disablist language.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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UN convention is ‘breathing life’ into international fight for rights

May 11, 2012 – 9:00 am

The UN disability convention is breathing new life into grassroots disabled people’s organisations across the world, leading Commonwealth figures have heard.

They were at a meeting in central London held to mark the fourth anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), and to discuss what progress had been made in implementing the treaty.

The meeting was organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth Disabled Peoples’ Forum (CDPF) and the Commonwealth Foundation.

Richard Rieser, chief executive of the disability equality consultancy World of Inclusion (WoI) and CDPF’s treasurer, told the meeting that the key issue with the convention was “how we make the transition from the words on the paper to changing people’s lives”.

Jaspal Dhani, chief executive of the UK Disabled People’s Council (UKDPC), who chaired the event, said: “What is clear is that disabled people’s oppression is universal. The convention gives us a tool, a vehicle, to promote our rights and to realise our rights.

“Another thing that is also very clear is the need to invest in training and awareness-raising in the Commonwealth. This empowers individuals to advocate for themselves and for others.”

Lucy Mason, a youth trainer with WoI, described their work last year on a UKDPC project – funded by the Commonwealth Foundation – to build the capacity of disabled leaders in the south Pacific to use the convention to fight for their rights.

She said she believed that the convention had given disability a “political context” at the grassroots level, and that more organisations representing young people were now including disabled young people.

She said: “I think it has galvanised a new generation of disabled people under a particular banner.

“It has given us a space to have a dialogue that we haven’t had for quite a long time, but there is more, a lot more, to be done.”

Rachel Kachaje, CDPF’s interim chair, said she believed that disabled activists “are all talking about the convention”.

She said: “The convention has brought a change in people’s thinking that at least people with disabilities are also [the same] as any other human being.”

But she added: “We are looking for more… when it comes to implementing the convention itself.

“That is why we are calling on all the countries in the Commonwealth to make sure they ratify the convention. And not just ratify, to implement.”

Abia Akram, global coordinator for young disabled people for the Disabled Peoples’ International network, suggested there was a need for the UNCRPD to be produced in a more accessible form.

She said: “The language itself is very difficult to communicate on the grassroots level.”

The Commonwealth is the association of 54 countries – with a total population of more than two billion people – which grew out of the gradual crumbling of the British Empire. So far, 28 Commonwealth countries have ratified the UNCRPD.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Paralympian fears Sun damage at London 2012, after ‘appalling’ headline

May 11, 2012 – 9:00 am

One of Britain’s leading Paralympians has led fierce criticism of the Sun newspaper for running front-page headlines that mocked the speech difficulty of the new England football manager, Roy Hodgson.

Reaction to the story – and particularly the headline, “Bwing on the Euwos! (We’ll see you in Ukwaine against Fwance)” – drew widespread criticism from disabled activists, footballers and fans, with several pointing out that Hodgson speaks five languages, while the Sun “struggles to write in one”.

The Press Complaints Commission has so far received more than 1,000 complaints about the article from members of the public, although Hodgson has said he does not want to lodge a complaint himself.

One of those who reacted on Twitter was David Clarke, who is set to captain Britain’s blind football team at this summer’s Paralympic Games in London, and wrote: “The Sun yet again reaches an all-time low in headlines! God help us when you report the Paralympics!”

He told Disability News Service: “It was appalling. I felt it was wholly inappropriate, but I was completely unsurprised given its source.

“If that is the best they can come up with on the appointment of a new England manager, god help us when we start to see people with some serious disabilities in the summer.”

Stephen Brookes, a coordinator of the Disability Hate Crime Network and the retiring chair of the National Union of Journalists’ disabled members council, said the Sun’s front page showed why “disabled people feel that the press are targeting them”.

He added: “What a disgraceful way to report a key story. If anyone can find an excuse I would like to see what it is.”

The Sun has refused to comment on its treatment of the Hodgson story.

I CAN, the children’s communication charity, said the coverage was “disappointing”.

Virginia Beardshaw, I CAN’s chief executive, said Hodgson was “a great role model for all young people with communication difficulties”.

She said: “We know that children with communication difficulties are often at risk of bullying. Therefore it is disappointing to see that Roy Hodgson’s speech has been singled out in the mainstream media for entertainment value.”

The Sun front page appeared only hours after Rupert Murdoch – who heads the Sun’s parent company – was described in a Commons culture, media and sport committee report as “not a fit person” to be running a major international company.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Tens of thousands lose their ESA as welfare reforms begin to bite

May 10, 2012 – 9:00 am

Tens of thousands of disabled people have lost all of their out-of-work disability benefits this week, thanks to new rules brought in by the government through its controversial Welfare Reform Act.

The act introduced a new one-year time limit on claiming the contributory form of employment and support allowance (ESA) for those disabled people expected to move gradually towards work.

The new time limit was introduced retrospectively, which meant that claimants began to have their ESA removed on 30 April, even though the act only became law two months ago.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) confirmed that it expects 40,000 people from this work-related activity group (WRAG) to lose all of their ESA this week, with a further 60,000 losing their contributory ESA but becoming eligible for at least some ESA on the grounds of low income.

Those disabled people with higher support needs, who have been placed in the ESA support group, are not affected by the time limit.

The one-year limit was one of the most controversial aspects of the act, with the disabled peer Lord [Colin] Low telling the government earlier this year that the measure would be “not only unfair but downright cruel”.

Disability Rights UK (DR UK) said this week that the time limit would increase the number of disabled people living in poverty, with some losing more than £90 a week.

Neil Coyle, DR UK’s director of policy and campaigns, said the new measure would only penalise disabled people who have worked in the past, as only those who have made national insurance contributions qualify for contributory ESA.

He called on the government to monitor the impact of the new time limit closely.

In its own equality impact assessment (EIA) of the measure last October, DWP conceded that the policy would affect about 700,000 people by 2015-16, with about 280,000 of them losing all of their ESA.

DWP estimates suggest that disabled people hitting the one-year time limit will lose an average £32 per week for men, and £43 for women.

A DWP spokeswoman said: “The welfare system must support those with the most need.

“ESA for people who could be expected to get back into work was never intended to be a long-term benefit and the time limit of one year strikes the best balance between recognising that some people need extra help to enter the workplace and that the taxpayer cannot afford to support people indefinitely who could return to employment.”

She added: “Although a person’s ESA has ended they may be entitled to other help such as housing benefit, council tax benefit or working tax credits.”

She said DWP would monitor the impact of the time limit through its “frontline operation” and by “making sure people know what other benefits may be available to them”.

She added: “In terms of helping people, even if you are not eligible for benefit you can continue to claim national insurance credits and be eligible for all the support to help you get closer to the labour market, such as the Work Programme.”

She said this was another way for DWP to “stay in touch” with former claimants.

For more information on ESA, visit the government’s benefits adviser online service.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Paralympic Games opening ceremony: Enlightenment, circus spectacle and a fly-past

May 9, 2012 – 9:00 am

The first tantalising details of what promises to be a stunning Paralympic Games opening ceremony have been revealed by its two disabled artistic directors.

Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings announced that the theme of the ceremony – to be held in the Olympic Stadium in east London on 29 August – would be “Enlightenment”.

The ambition, said Hemmings, was to “transform the perception of disabled people in this country and beyond this country” with a show that was “both spectacular and deeply human”, while Sealey said they wanted to “to tell a universal narrative about what it is to be human”.

Sealey is artistic director of the disabled-led theatre company Graeae, while Hemmings is director of the Greenwich+Docklands International Festival and also curates and produces Liberty, London’s annual disability arts festival.

Although they were keen to keep many of their plans secret, they did reveal that circus skills – such as static trapeze, rope and pole work – would play a vital part, with disabled performers set to demonstrate their aerial skills during the ceremony on a 35-metre high rig.

The press briefing was held at Circus Space, a former Victorian power station which houses the charity running the UK’s only degree in circus arts.

Circus Space is now hosting an eight-week “boot camp” in circus skills for 50 disabled performers – including dancers, actors, Paralympians and injured members of the armed services – before they join the rehearsals for the opening ceremony.

Another detail revealed in the briefing was that the ceremony would open with a fly-past by Aerobility, a charity which teaches disabled people to fly aeroplanes.

Mike Miller-Smith, the disabled chief executive of the charity, told Disability News Service later that Aerobility was “really, really excited” to be a “key part” of the opening ceremony.

He said he hoped the fly-past would add some “spine-tingling moments” to the event and “showcase what disabled people are capable of”, but that he was “under strict instructions to keep the details under wraps”.

Another major thread running through the ceremony will be the idea of a homecoming, with the Paralympics returning to its spiritual home in the UK.

Hemmings said: “This is the moment when the Paralympics comes home. We all know that homecoming brings tears to the eyes.”

Sealey said the ceremony would describe a journey “towards freedom, democracy and enlightenment”.

The Enlightenment theme links to a period in history – the so-called Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries – when intellectuals began to challenge superstition and intolerance and emphasise the importance of reason.

Hemmings said “Enlightenment” was a “story about empowerment”, and suggested parallels between the fight for American independence, the French revolution, the abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage… and the modern-day Disability Discrimination Act.

But he said: “It is not just a history lesson. We are very interested in enlightenment as a process of transforming perception.”

Stephen Daldry, the Oscar-winning film and theatre director and executive producer of the four London 2012 ceremonies, said the intention was to make the opening and closing ceremonies “something the Paralympics have never seen before”.

Lord [Seb] Coe, chair of the London 2012 organising committee LOCOG, announced that, from 19 May, performers and volunteers taking part in all four of the ceremonies – the Olympic and Paralympic opening and closing ceremonies – would be rehearsing on a 44-acre site that was formerly part of the Ford car plant in Dagenham, and will be designed to replicate the performance space in the Olympic Stadium.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Paralympic Games opening ceremony: Directors pledge to showcase inclusion

May 8, 2012 – 9:00 am

One of the two disabled artistic directors of this summer’s Paralympic Games opening ceremony has spoken of the need to produce an “exquisite” demonstration of the talents of disabled artists and performers.

Jenny Sealey, artistic director of the disabled-led theatre company Graeae, was speaking at a media briefing on the opening ceremony, which will be watched by a huge worldwide TV audience on 29 August.

Sealey was joined by her fellow artistic director, Bradley Hemmings, curator and producer of Liberty, London’s annual disability arts festival, and director of the Greenwich+Docklands International Festival.

She spoke of their “shared responsibility” to make sure that the ceremony – to be called “Enlightenment” – is “exquisite”, so they can puncture perceptions of what disabled people can achieve.

It will be the first time that a Paralympics ceremony has been led by disabled directors.

Sealey said: “We don’t want pity. This is not what our show is about. This is about the visibility of us all and our rights to be there.

“We have the right to be good at what we do. We don’t want [it to be] pants. Our ambition is for all of us to be stonking.”

But she also spoke of how she and Hemmings would use the ceremony to showcase their inclusive ways of working.

Sealey said they wanted to bring inclusive practice, equality and empowerment onto the stage in the Olympic Stadium, and that the performance would “profile the excellent deaf, disabled and non-disabled people all working together at exploring what real access means”.

Sealey has become known in her work with Graeae for incorporating accessibility – for example for deaf or blind audience members – into a show, rather than seeing it as an add-on, but she said that she and Hemmings would still be working “out of our comfort zone” while this accessibility must also have “theatrical quality”.

She said: “It is about exploring how I have worked at Graeae, layering accessibility throughout the whole show. It is very much how we both work.”

And she added: “We are working with people who have never worked with deaf and disabled people. All of us are on a learning curve.”

They are also building teams of access workers to support their disabled performers, although she pointed out that accessibility would be “everyone’s responsibility”.

She said: “Nobody is going to be ‘helped’. The important thing is we show real empowering and inclusive support.”

The ceremony will feature more than 3,000 adult volunteers and more than 100 child volunteers.

About three-quarters of the professional cast – those being paid – of more than 100 are disabled people, although LOCOG, the London 2012 organising committee, has not yet been able to say how many of the volunteers are disabled.

Sealey also responded to concerns about the sponsorship of London 2012 by Atos, the company that makes millions of pounds by carrying out “fitness for work” tests on disabled people.

She told Disability News Service (DNS) after the briefing: “We are so aware of the political minefield and I think our way of addressing it is by creating a show where there is visible evidence of what we do, and what we do best is addressing politics with theatre.”

Sealey said she and other members of the team were acutely aware of the controversy surrounding Atos.

She said: “We talk, we are not stupid, and we are just… it is a difficult, difficult question.”

Sealey’s views had been mirrored earlier in the week by a disabled performer who is set to feature in the opening ceremony.

She told DNS: “At least if disabled people are participating at the event, then we definitely have a presence and opportunity to have our voices heard.

“We need to take ownership of these games, to show what disabled people – including those with high support needs – achieve when appropriately and adequately supported (the antithesis of what ATOS is doing).”

She made it clear that other disabled artists set to perform in the opening ceremony had also discussed their concerns about Atos.

Another leading disabled artist said he was unable to comment because of “serious contractual restrictions”, but accepted that it was “an important issue”.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Transport challenge sets standard for transport companies

May 7, 2012 – 9:00 am

Four young people have spent four days travelling more than 800 miles around Wales on public transport, to raise awareness of the barriers they and other disabled people face.

The “All Aboard” Transport Challenge was part of the 40th birthday celebrations of Disability Wales, the leading disabled people’s organisation in Wales.

Although there were few major problems, the event had been sponsored by the transport company Arriva, so its staff were aware in advance of the route.

But the four travellers were still able to highlight a number of areas where access could be improved.

The four young people, all members of Pembrokeshire Young Voices for Choices, started their four-day challenge in Haverfordwest on Tuesday 17 April, and visited towns such as Shrewsbury, Wrexham, Bangor, Aberystwyth and Carmarthen, before returning to Haverfordwest.

There was also an unscheduled trip between Carmarthen and Swansea, which again passed off without major problems.

One of the four, Sian Jones, a wheelchair-user from Goodwick, said the four days had gone better than expected, with helpful staff, but she said she had hoped for “more of a challenge”.

Among problems she encountered, she twice experienced train staff addressing her personal assistant (PA) rather than talking to her directly, while there was often luggage blocking the wheelchair spaces on both trains and buses, train toilets were not big enough for both her and her PA, and bus timetables were hard to read and understand.

Jones stressed that the comparatively problem-free four days did not mean there were no improvements needed to access on public transport.

She said: “I have thought [on previous occasions] that I was going to be stuck on the train because they had forgotten about me. They have forgotten to book me in and forgotten to put the ramp out for me to get off.”

Rhian Davies, chief executive of Disability Wales, said: “Overall, it was a positive experience but they have previously had difficult experiences travelling on public transport, or have even avoided using it altogether.”

She added: “We ended with a celebratory event at Haverfordwest and a representative from Arriva Trains Wales was there taking notes.

“There has been quite a big investment in the infrastructure and train and station improvements but he recognised that there was still work to be done on staff attitudes and staff training.

“It was good that they had a good experience because it shows that it can be done and doesn’t take a huge amount of effort to get it right.

“If it can be done for these four then it should be done for any disabled person travelling any time anywhere by public transport.”

Disability Wales will now meet with Arriva Trains Wales to discuss issues that arose from the event, and also hopes to meet with Carl Sargeant, the Welsh government minister for local government and communities, and members of the National Assembly’s new cross-party group on disability.

As another part of its 40th anniversary celebrations, Disability Wales is producing The Story at 40, a film funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund that will record the experiences of Welsh disabled people who were born in 1972.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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DWP questioned over DLA analysis failings

May 6, 2012 – 9:00 am

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been unable to produce any evidence to show that it has analysed the knock-on effects of its huge cuts to spending on disability living allowance (DLA).

Last week, a Disability Rights UK (DR UK) report, Impact Assessing the Abolition of Working Age DLA, said the government had ignored the effects on disabled people’s lives of cutting working-age DLA spending by 20 per cent, or £1.4 billion a year by 2015-16.

DR UK accused the government of an “irresponsible” failure to carry out a proper analysis of these knock-on effects, particularly on people’s ability to work, and their increased need for support from local councils and the NHS.

Both DR UK and the disabled Labour MP Dame Anne Begg – who chairs the Commons work and pensions committee – raised further concerns this week about the government’s failure to measure the wider impact of its programme of cuts.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) insisted that it did not agree with the findings of the report, or the methodology used by DR UK to produce its figures, which focus on DWP plans to cut spending and replace working-age DLA with a new personal independence payment (PIP).

A DWP spokesman argued that it could not yet say how many current DLA recipients would lose or gain from the reforms because this would “depend in part on where the benefit rates are set”, while he said that a higher proportion of claimants would probably receive the highest rates of PIP than under DLA.

But DWP has so far been unable to point to a single piece of evidence that it has assessed the wider impact of its DLA/PIP spending cuts.

Neil Coyle, DR UK’s director of policy and campaigns, questioned Maria Miller, the minister for disabled people, about these failings at this week’s meeting of the all-party parliamentary disability group.

Miller said: “If [disabled people] are in fear of losing work then perhaps they should be looking to Access to Work (AtW) to give them support as well.”

And she said that the government would always produce “impact assessments” of its policies but that they had to be “about the impact that you can measure”.

Coyle said later that this was “quite a frank admission” by Miller that her government was not examining disabled people’s “equality of opportunity”.

He said Miller was “ignoring the real risk to disabled people in work”, and that there was no chance that the AtW budget could cope with the thousands of disabled people set to lose their DLA support.

Dame Anne – who is recovering in hospital in Scotland from a serious accident – said the government needed to look at the wider impact of its cuts, not just to DLA but also to spending on social care, employment and support allowance (ESA) and the Independent Living Fund.

She said that those losing DLA might also be losing ESA and council-funded social care, and there was an “urgent” need to investigate the impact of all of the cuts on disabled people.

Dame Anne added: “I think it is quite urgent that the government starts to quantify that because it could be that for some individuals and households all of the money they were depending on to allow them to live an independent life has been taken away because they lose all the different packages of support they were getting.”

Asked whether DWP could point to any evidence that it had assessed the knock-on effects of the DLA cuts, the DWP spokesman said only that PIP was “intended to go to those disabled people who are least able to live independently and need the most support” and that it does not expect an increased need for NHS or local authority support.

He added: “We will continue to work with the Department of Health and local authorities to understand the impacts and ensure that disabled people continue to have access to relevant support.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Billy seeks a path to redemption after his 20-year prison hell

May 6, 2012 – 9:00 am

A thalidomide survivor has been released from prison in the Philippines after serving nearly 20 years, thanks to a campaign led by a disabled activist and fellow survivor.

Billy Burton spoke this week to Disability News Service (DNS) of his daily struggle to survive in prison and his determination to now “redeem” himself for the crime he committed.

He was handed a life sentence after being caught trying to smuggle more than five kilogrammes of cannabis out of the country in 1992.

But the time he had to serve before being eligible for parole was increased from eight to 20 years, then 30 years and then 40 years as the government increased sentences for drugs offenders.

If the president of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino, had not listened to the pleas for clemency, and granted him a pardon – on condition that he paid a small fine, agreed to be deported and never returned to the Philippines – he would not have been due for release until 2032, when he will be 70.

Burton was finally granted a pardon and released from prison on Boxing Day last year, but was held in a detention centre for three months before finally being allowed to fly home this month.

He is now back in the UK, and staying in Harrogate, near his home town of Wetherby, west Yorkshire. His release is mainly thanks to the tireless work of Guy Tweedy, a fellow thalidomide survivor who spearheaded the campaign for his release, even though they had never met.

Burton was also supported by Dr Martin Johnson, director of The Thalidomide Trust, which administers the compensation paid to UK thalidomide survivors, who visited him at the prison near Manila two years ago.

DNS reported last year how Liberal Democrat Foreign Office minister Jeremy Browne had written to Benigno Aquino, asking for clemency.

Browne told DNS this week that he had then raised the issue in a meeting with Aquino, and pointed out to him that Burton had served a far longer sentence than he would have done in the UK, while there were also “compassionate grounds” for releasing him.

He said: “I have never met him but I am very pleased that he has been released. It seems to me that there was a compelling case for releasing him.

“I think they were receptive. I don’t think I was pushing on a closed door. I think I probably made a difference in terms of accelerating the release.”

Burton spoke this week of the constant threat of beatings or killings within the disease-ridden New Bilibad prison.

“A chicken was worth more than a man, because you can sell it or eat it,” he said. “That would be the thing I remember most – the lack of humanity, and how cruel people can be to each other.”

His position was even more precarious as a disabled person. “There is no compassion or sympathy. You are easier prey, so you don’t get any favours at all.

“I acted as if I was stupid, then people would just ignore me and lose interest. You have to find a way to survive. I just became inconsequential, unimportant, and eventually people left me alone.”

More than 15,000 prisoners are kept in huge dormitories in the prison – Burton says they are more like overcrowded “cowsheds”.

Burton paid the price of two pigs a year for the right to build his own living area and secure protection from the gang that ran his dormitory. His gang was known as BSL 22, and he still bears the gang’s “membership” marks on his body.

He constructed his own living area in a 10 feet by eight feet space, complete with a toilet, kitchen and living area on the ground-floor, and a sleeping area upstairs where he stored his clothes and possessions.

Burton devised his own adaptations, including extra wide steps up to the sleeping area, and paid a fellow prisoner who was a carpenter to build a high table that he could use comfortably with his shorter arms.

He found two young prisoners to carry his water from the standpipe, and to cook and do his laundry, and in exchange they shared the food that he paid for and was brought into the prison five days a week by his Filipino partner, Mafe.

He also had to bribe guards to ensure they didn’t move him to a new part of the prison, forcing him to build his living quarters again from scratch.

There were constant attempts to extort money from him, both by guards and other prisoners. As a disabled person, and the only European prisoner, he was even more open to extortion and threats than his fellow inmates.

Medical facilities were basic, and the medical staff had no idea about how to treat him as a thalidomide survivor.

But he believes that coping with the barriers he faced growing up with his impairment helped him survive his ordeal.

He was also helped by the support of friends in the UK, who sent him gifts to keep his spirits up, including news on Leeds United, the football team he has supported since he was a boy, books and CDs, and even a Leeds United shirt.

He appears to be adapting well to life back in the UK – although he notices the cold, the sky-high prices, and the “scruffy” teenagers – but is still devastated by the death of his mother, who wrote to him in prison throughout his sentence, but died in 2010 before she could see him released.

He has already turned down offers from newspapers to buy his story, and says he is not interested in exploiting his experiences for money. Before he even considers writing his story, he says, he wants to “redeem” himself.

Every day in prison, he told himself how stupid he had been, but also questioned how he could have “done something so morally wrong”.

He says: “There is absolutely no excuse and I have never tried to make an excuse. The only thing I am trying to do now is to redeem myself.”

He plans to campaign against drug use and visit schools in the Wetherby area with the Conservative MP Alec Shelbrooke – who supported the campaign for clemency – particularly focusing on students who might be travelling abroad on a gap year.

“If we can turn one person away from doing what I did, some good will have come from it,” he says.

Although he does not try to excuse his crime, Burton points out that he would have been handed a sentence of just five years in the UK, and would have been released on probation even sooner. He was eventually released from prison 19 years to the day after he began his sentence.

“Right now I am having my health checked and trying to get better, with possibly some surgery. I have a lot of health issues,” he says.

“The conditions were so bad there. While I was in there, I didn’t think it was so bad, but when I came out to the immigration detention centre it was like 10,000 tonnes had been lifted off my shoulders.”

Now 49, Burton says he is still institutionalised as a result of his years in prison: he stands at doors waiting for them to be unlocked, and asks permission to use the toilet.

Even so, the euphoria of freedom has yet to wear off, and he adds: “I feel like I am on holiday. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet.”

He already appears to have built up a strong bond with Tweedy, and is clearly in awe of the campaign he ran. “I only met Guy when I came back. For him to have spent two-and-a-half years working for someone he had never even met is absolutely amazing. As a humanitarian, he has no peers.

“He started the campaign, he fought it and he finished it.”

Burton thinks Tweedy eventually wore down the Filipino authorities. One senior figure came to see him in prison, and said: “He’s not going to stop, is he?”

Burton replied: “No, he’s not, he’s only warming up.”

He is now hoping that Mafe, a freelance writer who coordinated the campaign from the Philippines, sending and receiving messages to and from the UK, will fly over to visit him in July.

Tweedy, who also played a major role in the successful campaign to secure a government apology and increased support for thalidomide survivors, wrote a string of letters to senior figures in the Philippines.

He also wrote to the UK Foreign Office, Britain’s ambassador to the Philippines, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Chief Rabbi, and even the Pope, all appealing for help in securing clemency for Burton.

“I just kept battling and battling and battling,” he says.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Miller defends firms queuing up to deliver PIP assessments

May 5, 2012 – 9:00 am

The minister for disabled people has defended plans that will see huge private sector companies fighting over contracts to carry out the new medical assessments that will determine disabled people’s eligibility for vital benefits.

Maria Miller was speaking at a meeting of the all-party parliamentary group on disability (APPDG), just four days after the Department for Work and Pensions published a list of the companies that are set to be approved to bid for the contracts.

Although the companies that have been approved will not be confirmed until 30 April, the preliminary list does include Atos Origin, which has faced widespread and angry criticism from disabled people over its delivery of “fitness for work” tests for the government.

The contracts to carry out the new assessment for the personal independence payment (PIP) – the replacement for working-age disability living allowance – have been split into four regional “lots”, with a fifth covering the whole of the UK.

Seven or eight companies are set to be approved to bid for each of the five contracts.

The companies include private sector outsourcing giants such as G4S – which sent its head of public affairs to the APPDG meeting as an observer, and is better known for providing security services – Capita, Vertex and Serco.

But Rahel Geffen, chief executive of Disability Action in Islington, warned Miller of the “horrific experiences” disabled people had had with Atos, and said she was shocked that the government was now giving the go-ahead to companies like G4S and Vertex.

She said: “I don’t care how good an occupational therapist is, if they are employed by these companies, I really think I have a problem telling service-users they are safe in the hands of their PIP assessors.”

Miller insisted that the use of such companies was “quite a usual way of doing things” and that “the only people who will carry out the assessments are people who are qualified and have the right training”.

She said that many of the companies that have “put themselves forward as part of the procurement process” already provide services in the health sector.

Geffen said after the meeting that she feared the process of contracting different providers would make it harder to hold companies to account for their performance in delivering the assessments.

Anne McGuire MP, Labour’s co-chair of the APPDG, had led a minute’s silence at the meeting in memory of Lord [Jack] Ashley, who died on Friday. Jack Ashley set up the group in 1969 when a Labour MP, and was its chair for 40 years.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Grayling silent on further fall in ‘fit for work’ figures

May 5, 2012 – 9:00 am

New figures show the proportion of disabled people found eligible for unconditional support under the much-criticised “fitness for work” regime is continuing to rise.

The figures suggest that improvements to the work capability assessment (WCA) – which tests eligibility for employment and support allowance (ESA), the replacement for incapacity benefit – are beginning to take effect.

Rather than focusing on the improvements, the Conservative employment minister Chris Grayling said the figures showed “the majority of new claimants to sickness benefits are in fact able to do some work”.

But the figures show that Grayling may not be able to continue making that claim for much longer.

From June to August last year, about 27 per cent of new claimants were placed in the support group, for those with limited capability for work-related activity, with another 19 per cent placed in the work-related activity group, for those with lower support needs who are expected to move gradually towards work. Both groups receive ESA.

The other 54 per cent of those whose WCAs had been completed were found fit for work.

The number found fit for work is likely to fall even further once the results of appeals have been included.

When the WCA was first introduced, just 11 per cent of new claimants were placed in the support group, with 65 per cent found fit for work.

The figures provide fresh evidence of the unfairness of the original WCA, introduced in 2008 by the Labour government.

Disabled activists believe the WCA is still inflexible and unfair, despite the changes aimed at improving the test, many of them as a result of independent reviews by Professor Malcolm Harrington.

The report itself suggests the “downward trend” in claimants assessed as fit for work could be due to the improvements made to the test.

But no-one from DWP was available to say whether Grayling welcomed the rise in the number of disabled people being found not fit for work.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Disabled minority ethnic communities ‘face disaster’

May 4, 2012 – 9:00 am

Black and minority ethnic (BME) disabled people face a “disaster”, with deteriorating health, increased poverty, and lower life expectancy, if nothing is done to deal with their unmet needs, according to a leading disabled activist.

The warning comes as a new report warns that BME disabled people face “wide-ranging, subtle and complex” forms of discrimination, and have “considerable” unmet needs.

The report, Over-looked Communities, Over-due Change, says many BME disabled people – particularly women, migrants and carers – face social isolation.

Many of those who took part in research for the report struggle with inaccessible services, and have experienced stigma within their own communities because of their impairments.

Recent migrants and older people frequently felt their limited spoken English was a barrier to obtaining the services they needed, the report says.

Although there was little evidence of direct racism in service provision, the researchers did find examples of discrimination based on ethnicity and disability, such as care workers who refused to take their shoes off when visiting a disabled woman’s house and other such cases of a “failure to adapt working practices to cultural preferences”.

The research was carried out by Equalities National Council (ENC), a BME disabled people’s organisation, and the disability charity Scope.

Julie Jaye Charles, ENC’s chief executive, said she was not surprised that the report revealed deprivation “right across the board”, including in housing, education, employment and health, as well as a clear need for more advocacy support.

She said: “There is a huge need out there that cannot be ignored anymore. There must be resources allocated to it.”

She warned that if nothing was done, there would be “a disaster” for disabled BME communities.

She said: “People are going to be dying younger, people’s health is going to be deteriorating quickly, there will be a rise in mental health difficulties, people will lack trust in government and I also think the housing needs of individuals will get worse.”

But she also said that parts of the disability movement itself were guilty of “blatant discrimination”.

She said: “BME disabled voices are not heard in the mainstream disability movement. I have always said that it needs to have a better understanding of the needs of BME disabled people and it needs to act on it. They should be fighting for us to get the resources, to turn this around.”

But she also called on the big, non-user-led disability charities to start working with smaller organisations of disabled people, particularly the few BME, user-led organisations.

She hopes eventually to see a series of social enterprise “hubs” across the country that mirror ENC’s provision of advocacy and mentoring in London, to help BME disabled people access services and improve their lives.

The report says there are an estimated one million BME disabled people in the UK, and nearly half live in households in poverty (44 per cent, compared with 32 per cent of all disabled people, and 17 per cent of non-disabled people), although the true levels of poverty are likely to be even higher once disability-related costs are taken into account.

And even though employment rates for BME disabled people are also lower, with about half of all working-age disabled adults in employment, compared with only three in ten Pakistani or Bangladeshi disabled people, BME disabled people are less likely to be receiving benefits than other disabled people.

The report contains a number of other recommendations for local and national government and service providers, including a call for more person-centred services and information in other languages than English.

It suggests that local councils run targeted information campaigns to raise awareness of services, and that they improve their knowledge of BME disabled people’s needs.

The report also calls on the government to ensure that BME disabled people’s needs and views are included in both its upcoming disability strategy and a new race equality strategy, with an implementation plan linking the two strategies, and ensure that BME disabled people are considered when assessing the equality impact of its policies.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Letter calls for movement to rally behind Remploy workers

May 3, 2012 – 9:00 am

A leading disabled people’s organisation (DPO) has called on the disability movement to rally behind Remploy workers and fight the government’s planned closures of at least 36 factories, and the loss of more than 1,500 disabled people’s jobs.

Inclusion London is calling on other DPOs, disabled people and activists in London to sign a letter opposing the planned closures.

The letter – which will be used for campaigning purposes – was due to be read out at a meeting organised this evening (Thursday) by Remploy workers in central London.

Inclusion London says in the letter that the closures “will effectively put these disabled workers on the scrapheap”, because of the recession and government cuts to benefits and other support for disabled people.

The letter – which will soon be posted on Inclusion London’s website – warns that up to 40 people are chasing every job in some Remploy factory areas, while Inclusion London is hearing of “increasing numbers of disabled people who in despair are taking their own lives after loss of benefits”.

The letter calls for the necessary investment and support to turn the factories into viable user-led social enterprises, as well as more government investment in Access to Work and other employment support, a commitment to tackling workplace discrimination and the right to inclusive education and training.

It adds: “We reject the view that the way to respond to discrimination and exclusion in the workplace is through segregated employment but we also reject the view that if we are against segregation we must go along with these job cuts and closures.

“We say no to any cuts that will push even more disabled people into poverty and isolation.”

Since the government announced the closures early last month, some DPOs have backed its plans, arguing that it was not right to continue to fund sheltered, segregated workplaces.

But Tracey Lazard, chief executive of Inclusion London, said: “This is a cut. It isn’t about inclusion. We shouldn’t let the government justify this in the name of inclusion.

“You can be against all segregation and also oppose these cuts and job losses.”

She accepted that the disability movement has been divided on whether to support the closures, but she said: “What we need is a dialogue. This is us putting an alternative view forward which hopefully will get a debate going. That’s what we need.”

The planned closures were part of the government’s response to a consultation on last year’s review of employment support by Liz Sayce, chief executive of Disability Rights UK.

Meanwhile, the government announced today (26 April) that it was offering up to £10,000 worth of “expert support” to Remploy workers who want to put together business plans to take over their factories.

Maria Miller, the Conservative minister for disabled people, said: “We want to encourage as many employees to come forward as possible. This money will help support employees to put together credible bids to safeguard the jobs of disabled people.”

But Les Woodward, Remploy convenor for the GMB union, dismissed the offer as part of “the government’s propaganda machine”, and said the money would merely benefit solicitors, consultants and financial experts, rather than Remploy workers.

On Friday (20 April), hundreds of disabled Remploy workers and other campaigners took part in demonstrations over the closures, organised by the Remploy unions GMB and Unite.

The protests took place outside Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) offices in Sheffield and London, and the offices of the secretary of state for Scotland in Edinburgh.

Linda Menzies, a union rep at Remploy’s Cowdenbeath factory, attended the Edinburgh demonstration.

She said: “People are never going to work again [if the factories close]. They have worked their life at Remploy and don’t know anything else. They won’t have the support they have at Remploy.

“It’s their life. They don’t speak to anybody outside Remploy. If they send them on holiday for a week they don’t speak to a single soul.

“What’s going to happen to these people? Are they going to be completely forgotten about?”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Access to Work figures plunge again

May 2, 2012 – 9:00 am

New figures show the number of disabled people granted funds to make their workplaces more accessible has fallen sharply again.

The number of “new customers helped” through the Access to Work (AtW) scheme has been falling steadily since the general election in 2010, apart from a small rise in the second quarter of 2011-12.

But the latest figures appear to show that that increase was just a blip, with the number of new customers helped falling from 2,660 in the second quarter of 2011-12 to just 2,390 in the third quarter, a drop of more than 10 per cent.

If this trend continues, the number of disabled people helped for the first time through the scheme is set to dip below 10,000 in 2011-12, compared with a peak of 16,540 in 2009-10.

The new figures were released on the same day that Maria Miller, the minister for disabled people, told the all-party parliamentary disability group that disabled people whose jobs were at risk because of losing their disability living allowance through the government’s cuts and reforms should think of applying for AtW instead.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman suggested that the fall in new AtW customers helped was likely to reflect an increase in the contributions many employers now have to make towards funding lower-cost adaptations.

And he said the number of existing customers continuing to receive AtW support was still rising, while the government had spent £105 million on AtW in 2010-11, £6 million more than in 2009-10.

He said there had also been a rise in the number of new customers with mental health conditions and learning difficulties.

The latest figures follow a series of concerns about the coalition’s commitment to the scheme – which provides funding for adaptations, equipment and ongoing support at work – since it came to power.

In August last year, Disability News Service revealed that disabled people receiving AtW were being sent “hostile” and “threatening” letters by DWP, giving them just a week to confirm they still needed their funding before it was withdrawn.

Last June, Liz Sayce, chief executive of Disability Rights UK, published a review of employment support for the government and focused strongly on the need to expand and improve AtW.

But the government’s response to her review made several references to concerns that her AtW recommendations could put “additional pressure on funding at a time when resources are limited”.

And in 2010, the government backtracked on a high-profile pledge to allow disabled people to secure AtW funding before they applied for a job.

The coalition also quietly introduced new rules which mean employers or disabled employees themselves now have to fund equipment such as basic versions of voice-activated software, most adapted chairs, and satellite navigation devices, rather than having them funded through AtW.

For information on AtW, visit the government’s Directgov website.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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