A new Magna Carta

We need a UK bill of rights, says Andy Rickell, but it has to be one that makes a real difference to the lives of disabled people

The government’s proposal to introduce a UK bill of rights is very welcome.

It is about time that the benefits a UK citizen or resident might expect are laid out in simple terms, where they can be claimed and added to. Such an approach can only help
the poorest and most disadvantaged among us, including us disabled people.

The absence of such clarity has meant that rights have gone to the powerful, the wealthy, and the informed. Rights should be the privilege of all, not the few.

However, it is possible to write a bill of rights which makes little difference to the most disadvantaged, and we need to make it clear to government that the rights of disabled people need to be fully acknowledged in each basic right.

For instance, one basic right would be freedom of speech. This is usually thought of as having a right not to be stopped from speaking your views (except when speaking them is threatening). This right assumes you can communicate already, and therefore will cost the state nothing to provide.

However, for disability equality, this needs re-thinking. Freedom of speech needs to be a positive right – it needs to also include the right to get the support to speak or otherwise communicate. This will cost the state more than it currently pays, given the number of disabled people who do not yet have the communication support they need.

Another instance would be the right to freedom of movement. This is usually thought of as having a right not to be prevented from getting yourself from one place to another, including moving house.

This right assumes you already have the personal mobility or access to transport and the wherewithal to obtain housing where you choose, and again therefore will cost the state nothing to provide.

Again, for the sake of disability equality, this needs re-thinking.

Freedom of movement needs to also include the positive rights to personal mobility aids, accessible and affordable transport, and an approach to living choices which provides both accessible housing and the right of access to state funding to pay for the costs of social support – housing, welfare benefits and social care – wherever someone chooses to live.

This is a far cry from the inaccessible housing stock, limited funding, and administrative barriers that disabled people currently face.

And in a democracy, based on the rule of law, the right to equality before the law and access to justice are very important. Yet the route for a disabled person to enforce their legal rights depends on money that disabled people generally don’t have, and the limited punishments for discriminatory behaviour are even laughed off by some. Worse, too many disabled people get a rough deal as the victims of crime or as defendants, particularly those with learning difficulties, and their testimony is not accepted or believed. Worse still, prisons and the justice system are too full of people with mental health and learning impairments who are failed by our social “care” system.

It would be great to finish what the Magna Carta started. But this bill of rights must be for the 21st century, not the 13th!

• Andy Rickell is a disability rights campaigner