Time to get real on rights

If you listen to the words and policies that are coming from the government on disability issues you would think that Britain was well on the way to becoming Shangri-La for disabled people. We have the Disability Discrimination Act, the Human Rights Act and the Life Chances report, with its acceptance of the social model of disability and promotion of independent living. We have direct payments and personalised budgets and even the Treasury talks about people having choice and control over their lives. The UK was one of the first countries to sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Equality 2025 has started its work of advising all government departments on the views, needs and rights of all disabled people, supported by our own mini-department of the Office for Disability Issues. And the disability equality duty requires local authorities, as well as central government, to work with disabled people’s organisations and ensure that we’re not discriminated against.

Reality for disabled people is something different. Despite the fact that there are at least 11.5 million of us, we are not seen as a political power. And we have no enforcement mechanisms. The Disability Rights Commission has been disbanded and the new Equalities and Human Rights Commission is focussing on education and awareness – not enforcement. Disabled people are among the poorest in the country and cannot afford to take cases to law. As individuals, we just have to put up with benefits that keep us in poverty and support services that can put our lives at risk, at worst, or just sustain life, at best.

There is nobody to ensure buildings and public places are accessible and no-one to police our services properly. Access, support and inclusion are still a postcode lottery.

The government may listen to us and bring out good policies but it does not expect to pay for us. Social service and benefit budgets are slashed and disabled people stigmatised as scroungers. The government thinks it is all right to sign up to human rights agendas but then decides that some rights cannot be implemented because they are either too expensive or contrary to traditional ways of doing things – such as enforced institutionalisation or segregated education. The government is also wedded to devolving powers to local authorities – as long as it doesn’t have to give them ring-fenced money to implement those powers.

Britain is one of the richest countries in the world: it must be able to afford to give its 11.5 million disabled citizens and their families a decent life. It is a question of political will and political priorities. And it is a question of humanity. Not to implement our rights properly is to declare us as less than human – something we are not.