DDB 98 Lindsay Carter
Submission
by Lindsay Carter to the Joint
Committee
on the Draft Disability Discrimination Bill
IN RESPONSE
TO THE PROPOSED GOVERNMENT DISABILITY BILL 3 points
In a fair and
decent society all disabled people, regardless of impairment,
should have the choice and the resources to live in the community.
The government must act in a positive way to create the structures
and systems required so that everyone has that choice. Disabled
people have been locked away and segregated in institutions too
long and it is time for this practice to stop. Disabled people
should have the right to full inclusion in this society.
SOCIAL MODEL
OF DISABILITY
The new legislation
fails to take the Social Model approach, instead it is building
on the medical/individual model approach taken by the Conservatives
under the DDA in 1995.Under this approach (medical Model) the
reforms the government are proposing are piecemeal and not joined
up. There is no evidence of strategy or cross government thinking
or a change in the way that the government is committed to tackle
the long-term problems.
CONSULTATION
Disabled people
were prepared to work with this government to develop policy but
this government has deliberately ignored disabled people working
to the social model. Major charities, run by non-disabled people
,which run the institutions that disabled people want to close,
have been closely advising the government on the new legislation.
Talking to non-disabled people on disability issues is not the
way to create a learning government or radical policy. It is
like talking to white 'experts' on black issues, or male 'experts'
on women's issues.
THE SEVEN ACTION
STEPS TO INDEPENDENT LIVING
A Social Model
approach would adopt the 7 action steps to independent Living
as a template for developing policy. This has not been done. Below
are steps to see what the government could have done and what
they are proposing. Birmingham City Council has demonstrated that
a political body (i.e. the
Council) can
adopt the Social Model and begin to plan and review services around
the 7 action steps.
WHAT DISABLED
PEOPLE WERE LOOKING FOR
The Seven steps
to Independent Living devised by ken and Maggie Davies in the
1970's remain a useful template for looking at the services required
to get people' and keep people' out of institutions. Below is
a description of each step what the government could do to strengthen
policy and practice in this area and a commentary on what it is
proposing.
1........ Information.
Disabled people
need information at the right time in accessible formats about
services, processes and procedures that promote independent living
so they can make good decisions about their lives. The best information
disabled people receive is still within the voluntary sector.
The experience of disabled people is that there are too many places
to go for different bits of the jigsaw. The government could have
announced a duty on Local Authorities and Health Care Trusts to
work together to create one-stop-shops led by disabled people
in the voluntary sector where all the information they need is
contained in one place with a dedicated phone or minicom line.
The government could have recognized and supported the tremendous
work disabled people are doing in the voluntary sector. They haven't.
2..........
Peer Support and Advocacy
Often when the
information is confusing, disabled people find it helpful to talk
to and learn from other disabled people. Disabled people may feel
more comfortable, or really need an advocate to work with them
when making choices about independent living. When the system
is failing them they may need an advocacy group to campaign to
challenge and change the system. Disabled people call on the
government to create Independent Living Centres throughout the
country and to place a duty on Local Authorities to develop, fund
and support these vital pieces of the jigsaw. IL Centres are controlled
and run by disabled people who are in the best position to be
peer counsellors and effective advocates. The government should
recognise and support, through funding, BCODP and the National
Centre for Independent Living. These are the expert organisations
that government should work with in developing and implementing
this policy.
The government
has done little, and understands even less, the principles of
peer support and advocacy. Furthermore BCODP and NCIL continue
to struggle for the level of funding they need to achieve their
mission. 96p in every pound the government gives to the voluntary
sector goes to organisations not controlled by disabled people.
These organisations are impairment-specific and not based on the
Social Model. In return for this funding these organisations,
including those running the institutions disabled people are against,
rubberstamp the government's new proposals. . Until the government
accepts the principals of self-help, self-empowerment, self-representation
and accountability disabled people will be disempowered and discriminated
against.
3...............
Housing
Disabled people
need affordable accessible and safe housing which is not linked
to the services they need around personal assistance. The chronic
lack of this kind of housing in this country means inevitably
disabled people and elderly people will be segregated from their
families, and forced into institutions. The main cause of impairment
is age and we are all living longer. Improvements in our health
care will as a consequence create more people who survive trauma
and become disabled people. In 2020 the baby boomers will reach
65 and the number of people with impairments requiring housing
will soar. This country is heading for a major crisis in housing,
pensions and health care. All new housing should be built to
lifetime homes standards. The new legislation does little if
anything to accomplish this and certainly couldn't be seen as
a long-term strategy to avert this crisis. Encouraging private
landlords to make a few adaptations is not enough. The government
should urgently engage in across the board talks with all concerned,
including disabled people, and publish long term sustainable
plans to avert this crisis that disabled people are already at
the sharp end of.
4...........
Aids and Adaptations.
Some disabled
people need aids and adaptations to live independently or to reduce
the time that they need personal support. There should be a duty
on Local Authorities and Health Care trusts to reduce the waiting
time and to simplify and de-'professionalise' the assessment process.
Disabled people should not be means tested for equipment, which
they use to get out of bed or into a house, or to cook meals without
relying on someone else. These basic needs should be free of charge.
. There is nothing in the government's new legislation that tackles
this.
5................
Personal Assistance
Even with the
other steps in place some disabled people need personal assistance
to live independently. This could be assistance with household
tasks, money management, support in emotional crisis, or help
with childcare. Direct payments which mean that disabled people
can hire, direct and fire their own assistants are vital, however
there has been little funding to promote and market this service.
Independent Living Centres pro rata throughout the country, could
develop these services. Disabled people in sheltered housing
or residential care homes should have choice and control over
who undresses them, what time they go to bed etc. There should
be a marked increase in the rate of pay for Personal Assistants
working within the current direct payments schemes, to reflect
the importance and responsibility of the job. Every disabled person
currently living in residential care should be offered the opportunity
and the resources to return to the community. The new Bill does
not address these concerns in any way whatsoever.
6................
Transport
The timescales
for trains to be accessible is too long. There are no plans to
make the Underground stations accessible in this Bill. The government's
taxi policy should be extended to private hire companies, to make
all new private hire vehicles accessible by law. This could be
easily and cheaply done and would offer greater choice for disabled
people in all areas. A Taxicard option should be compared to
Ring and Ride/ Dial a ride services , it may be cheaper and more
convenient for disabled people .
7......................
Access to the environment.
Disabled people
need to have access to the environment; both the built environment
and accessible information so they can achieve full participation
and equality. The DDA of 95 and the new proposals that this government
is bringing in seem to address this, except that without giving
the legislation real teeth, little is going to changed and certainly
not at the pace that disabled people want and need. Less than
30% of Local Authority buildings are accessible despite the DDA
law being on the statute book for 8 years. The key problem is
that individual disabled people have to bring and prove the charge
against well-organised and well-briefed opposition. Disabled people
have called for legislation so that disabled people can bring
class action suits against those that are still breaking the law.
This would then act as a substantial deterrent to non-compliance
and maybe increase the pace of change.
Lindsay Carter
Disabled person
about to be let down by this bill
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