Bigger, broader, better

Those of us in in the disability movement should be having a bigger, broader impact.

Carers’ organisations are working with government on their carers’ strategy. Older people’s bodies are lobbying on social care funding. Imagine what we could achieve if we all pulled together to make the principle of social services, based on independent living principles, the hottest issue for the next general election, with policies that work for disabled and older people and our families and friends. And anyway, how many of us fit into several of those categories?

I wanted to join the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) disability committee, working with Jane Campbell and others, because I could see opportunities to increase impact by working on wider equalities agendas.

There are also real risks – that disability experience could be watered down and that the momentum of the DRC’s few years could be lost. That is why I’ll be urging the EHRC to do three things in the next few months:

1 Show its teeth and influence, using enforcement and other pressure to tackle major injustices – for example, the exclusion of people with learning disabilities from the Paralympics and the ongoing failure of some public sector bodies to get anywhere near complying with the disability equality duty.

2 Plan concertedly to make a long-term difference to the disadvantages of disabled people. This means not only removing the more obvious access barriers but also tackling things like low pay, low skills and poverty. We hear so much from government about closing gender pay gaps and breaking through glass ceilings – but when it comes to disability, getting a million more disabled people “into work” (any work?) seems like the height of our aspirations. When a third of British people with no qualifications are disabled; when disabled people are the only group for whom poverty has worsened in the last decade; and when acquiring a health condition or impairment means life chances plummeting, we need a much more serious approach to ­reducing poverty.

3 Become an example of good practice in employing, serving and engaging disabled people (in a meaningful and ongoing way).

We will be watching as the EHRC develops. Some will be getting involved at national and local levels. We also need to join forces with allies where we can increase our impact.

There are many energetic campaigns and coalitions. Some are age or impairment specific – like Every Disabled Child Matters or Stand to Reason (which aims for rights for people with mental health problems in employment and leadership). Some are topic specific, like the Disability Benefits Consortium or Our Lives Our Choices.

If we harness that energy and extend our range of partners we will magnify our impact. RADAR plans to do just that.