'Party should help more disabled people into politics'

Liberal Democrats should help more disabled people get involved in the political process, the Liberal Democrat Disability Association (LDDA) meeting heard yesterday (Monday).

Abigail Lock, parliamentary officer for the disability charity Scope, said that disabled people face barriers to voting and becoming elected representatives.

Ms Lock said the Liberal Democrats, in particular the LDDA, should encourage local parties to make adjustments so that more disabled people could stand for election.

And a fund should be set up to cover the “prohibitive expense” of campaigning, she said.

She added that people were being stopped from running for local government due to their impairments, because they were not able to canvas door-to-door, for example.

“There are ways around this,” she said. “A candidate could make telephone calls, speak at meetings to large groups of people, or go door-to-door with someone else – these options should be explored.”

Issan Ghazni, national diversity advisor for the Liberal Democrats, said the party had just launched a diversity engagement group, to be chaired by shadow chancellor Vince Cable.

The group was introduced at the start of the conference, alongside a report about achieving diversity within the party, and will gather evidence on all underrepresented groups, including disabled people, before considering what “positive action” to take.

Meanwhile, Robert Adamson, LDDA member and chair of the conference access group, said access at the conference venue in Bournemouth was “not perfect, but has come a long way”. He said the “next hurdle” was ensuring that induction loops, PA systems and sign language interpreters for all meetings were advertised in the conference guide.