A farewell to the old politics

After six months as a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and chair of its disability committee, Baroness Campbell tells Ian Macrae it’s time to go beyond the old identity politics

Things have changed in the equality landscape, says Baroness [Jane] Campbell of Surbiton. Of the fledgling EHRC she says: “It’s not going to be like the old ones, it’s going to be very different. And we either go with it or we reject it.”

She argues that now is the time to take a broader, more integrated approach to the battle for equality.

“I think we’ve gone as far as we can with the single identity group. We need to bring others along with us. If we create a bigger voice, the government’s going to respond to it.”

The impetus for this change comes not just from a new approach to regulating equality but from what’s happened to us as a group.

“We’re a significant group. Many of us have a much stronger identity, a sense of who we are and our right to rights. There are far more young people now who expect to go to the night-club and cinema and will not put up with being debarred.”

Yet another reason for change comes from what Baronness Campbell perceives as a threat not just to disabled people but to a wider constituency.

“There’s a nagging under­current of the retreat in public services that is our threat. With lack of public service support we should join with others who’re also going to lose out, like older people. If we come together and say we want our life chances we’ll be a much stronger force. It’ll be like the independent living move­ment but five times bigger.”

Not surprisingly, Baroness Campbell sees disabled people as very much the active element in such partnerships with something unique of our own to bring to the table.

“We’ve made significant strides over the past two decades. So instead of responding to things, we ought to go ahead and give leadership, using the social model construct as a tool to bring others with us.”

Coalescing with other disenfranchised groups and individuals will mean that we as disabled people will bring benefits to them, she believes. “That’s why we have to identify with a single mother living in poverty who may also have significant mental health problems. We have to reach out and listen and learn and find solutions which touch her life. The equality agenda can help us to do that.”