In it to win it

Disabled people with political aspirations are as likely as anyone else to have their eye on the main prize, a seat in Parliament. But what barriers, physical and attitudinal, do they face in getting there? Sunil Peck investigates

Paul Maynard’s campaign to win the marginal seat of Blackpool North and Cleveleys for the Conservatives at the general election has been running at full tilt since he was selected as a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) in December 2006. He works for Wirral Council three days a week and spends the rest of his time dealing with a workload which he says is similar to that of an MP.

“Today I’ve had meetings to do with transport policy, I had to meet my constituency chairman, I had to go through the latest political research to do with my campaign and I wrote letters to rail companies to see if any of them would be interested in running services to Blackpool.”

Paul needs a swing of just over three per cent to win the seat from Labour.

“This is one of the key battle-ground seats in the country, so I always say that if there was an election tomorrow and I fail to win it, I probably ought to be shot. But you can never tell what’s around the corner.”

Paul, who has cerebral palsy, used to advise Liam Fox MP on health issues. He is bidding to become an MP for the second time. He was beaten by Vince Cable and the Liberal Democrats in Twickenham in the 2005 election. Past experience tells him that he will be campaigning for fifteen hours a day once the date of the election has been announced.

“My legs do tire quicker than most people’s do, but you’ve got to keep ploughing on. During the last general election, I found that I got really exhausted towards the end because it’s such a punishing schedule, so I’ve been trying to keep myself in shape.”

Apart from the canvassing and door-knocking, Paul says that his disability has not posed any access barriers or provoked negative attitudes among Conservative party officials. But his protruding ears have earned him the nickname Wingnut.

Abigail Lock, Head of Campaigns and Advocacy at disability charity Scope, thinks that Paul has been luckier than other disabled people with ambitions of getting to Westminster.

She knows of talented disabled people who decided not to seek selection as PPCs after being faced with discriminatory attitudes.

“I know of a couple of candidates who used Augmentative and Alternative equipment to support their communication needs. Some of the barriers they have found have been immense. The crux has been that an MP’s role is about communication and if you can’t communicate verbally, you wouldn’t be able to be an MP.”

But such prejudices could soon be a thing of the past. The main party leaders have given their backing to a Scope campaign to increase the number of disabled MPs.

Also, a committee of MPs, the Speakers Conference, has been looking at what political parties can do to make the selection process more accessible to disabled candidates and members of minority communities.

It published its interim report in July and called on the main parties to ensure that a significantly greater proportion of disabled candidates are selected than at the 2005 election, and urged them to appoint someone to support the access requirements of disabled candidates.

But the process of becoming a candidate can take several years. So even if Paul Maynard becomes an MP, it will be at least the next election before there are many more disabled MPs joining him in the Commons.

Marie Pye, a former Head of Policy at the Disability Rights Commission, hopes to be one of them. Elected as a councillor in Waltham Forest in 2005, she made it onto the shortlist to become Labour’s candidate in Walthamstow in 2007.

But the process of trying to drum up support among party members responsible for the final nomination took its toll on her.

“You have to knock on every Labour Party member’s door, put out literature, talk branch chairs and secretaries into nominating you, and talk to trade unions. You really have to sell yourself.”

Marie does not drive. Her experience of campaigning and trudging around the streets has led her to conclude that the process would be much easier for candidates if parties staged events for them to meet constituency members and officials.

“It was knackering. I don’t drive, other party members and my dad would drive me around and around and around. I had to get out of the car, walk up people’s steps, they weren’t in. In the end, I had someone with me who would walk up steps and ring the doorbell.”

She did set up a website, phoned party members and used email as part of her campaign strategy, but she says that those tactics are no substitute for getting out and talking to people face to face.

She also faced a dilemma about whether to appear in front of the selection panel with her walking stick which she thought might make her look vulnerable.

“I was about to walk through the door with it, but I left it by the door. I bottled it.”

Inside the hall, she asked the selection panel if she could make her speech from the floor to avoid having to climb up the four steps to the podium. Officials refused, and instead spent several minutes helping her up the steps.

“It was really embarrassing. Then, I thought I was going to fall off because you had to stand with your feet together in a tiny little space.”

Although Marie gave a “rocking good speech” to the selection panel, she was not selected. But she says that it was her militant politics rather than her disability that counted against her.

The members of the selection panel who chose Adrian Berrill-Cox as the PPC for Islington North had concerns about his disability.

“When I was up for selection, they phoned up one of my friends and asked ‘do you think Adrian will be able to be a decent candidate given that he’s disabled?’ and his response was ‘David Blunkett has managed it’.”

But Adrian was able to allay their concerns by explaining the limitations his disability placed on him.

“I can’t knock on doors but I can shout at people from the street when somebody else knocks on the door. I’m not great with delivering leaflets, so that’s something I’m going to be looking for help with.”

A barrister, Adrian joined the student wing of the Conservative Party at university. He was selected as a PPC in April this year and now spends a couple of evenings after work and a day at the weekend campaigning.

Adrian plans his campaigning so that he can go out at the same time as other members of his party who help him deliver leaflets and canvas. But he also attends community events and has a stall outside shopping centres so he can meet potential voters and community leaders.

But however hard he campaigns, Adrian is unlikely to be elected because he is going to need a swing of about 40 per cent to oust the Labour candidate.

Juliet Williams, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Brighton Kemptown, has problems using her hands and chose the constituency because she knew that she could get about there without having to drive.

She will need a swing of around 28 per cent to get elected at the next general election.
Juliet became more active in local politics when her disability meant she had difficulties handling the law reference books she used to edit. The books were sometimes three thousand pages thick.

She says that the decision to seek selection as a PPC was a natural progression. The first step of the selection process was tricky because it involved filling in lots of forms. But after explaining the situation to party officials, they “fell over themselves” to discuss and make reasonable adjustments for her disability.

“In the next stage of the process, there was a task which involved writing a press release with a time limit. I was finding that I wrote quite slowly so I suggested a break to rest my hands, or maybe I could give dictation to someone or I could bring my laptop to dictate into voice recognition software.”

But Juliet knows disabled people whose experiences during the selection process have not been so positive. She suspects that she had an easier time because she has low support needs and requires fairly small adjustments.

“I’ve only come across one person being negative about my disability. She suggested that I might not be able to function as a PPC if I wasn’t able to drive.”

Juliet lacks the stamina to go out door-knocking and delivering leaflets on consecutive days. But although this can be awkward during the early stages of the selection process, Juliet says that this is not an issue once someone becomes a PPC.

“At national level, you shouldn’t be having to do much leafleting. You should be aiming to recruit and motivate other people to do these sorts of tasks. If delivering is a big issue, that suggests that you’ve got a weak membership who aren’t very active.”

Abigail Lock says that one way to eliminate barriers for disabled PPCs would be to establish a fund equivalent to the Access to Work scheme, to pay for support like accessible transport and accommodation, or a support worker to help with canvassing and leafleting.

She says that this would be important because of the high costs associated with standing as an MP.

A survey carried out by the ConservativeHome.com website found that the average cost of becoming an approved candidate, campaigning to be nominated and standing in an election is around £40,000.

Paul Maynard, Marie Pye, Adrian Berrill-Cox and Juliet Williams could thrive as MPs. But there are aspects of the current parliamentary system that would prevent other disabled people thriving in the Commons.

For one thing, legislation needs to be enacted to repeal section 141 of the Mental Health Act which states that an MP can be removed from their seat if detained under the Act for a period of more than six months.

Anyone with a communication impairment would also struggle in the Commons too. Abigail Lock says that the democratic process will need to be transformed to enable people with communication impairments to speak in the House and participate in debates.

She says that remote electronic voting should be considered for people who lack the stamina to spend long hours in the Commons.

These changes, she says, would not undermine the quality of debate or the role of the Commons.

“We need to look at how our democracy is working and drag it into this century. Allowing real diversity means making some adjustments.”