International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2016

This year, as part of the events for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2016, the United Nations (UN) wants to look, amongst other areas, at the success or otherwise of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD, which I shall abbreviate to UNCRPD).

If you have been following my blog, you are probably aware that the UN decided to investigate the United Kingdom for "grave and systematic violations" of UNCRPD, which they upheld.

According to the BBC:

UK welfare reforms have led to "grave and systematic violations" of disabled people's rights, a UN inquiry has said. [Link is to 22-page report from the UN's Committee in pdf format]

Changes to benefits "disproportionately affected" disabled people, the UN Committee on the Rights of Disabled Persons (CRPD) found. [7th November 2016]

The UK is the only country to have been investigated thus far, as the threshold for investigation is set very high and huge amounts of data and reports have to be amassed prior to any investigation even being considered. UK charities, think-tanks and disabled persons' organisations (DPOs), inter alia, submitted the required information, and continue to submit same for matters continue to pejorate for those of us with disabilities here in the UK. The UN's CRPD committee made several recommendations to the UK government. Lamentably, the Conservative, often referred to as Tory, government refused point-blank to accept a single one of them. The committee apparently will be reviewing the UK government's response in March 2017 at a meeting in Geneva.

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 [Image description: © AltrinchamHQ's own image of the cobbles]

Another area the UN wants to look at this year is the accessibility or otherwise of the built environment, specifically in towns and cities. In the past couple of years my lovely hometown of Altrincham has undergone many changes to the built environment. Prior to commencing the works, residents and users of the town's facilities were asked to comment on planned changes. As a disabled person I put my concerns to the researchers and to the councillor-in-charge and enquired as to what account had been taken of disabled and/or elderly folks' needs, etc. The councillor failed to see any need to look into how all this might effect disabled folk (thus completely ignoring the requirements of UK disability legislation). I can no longer frequent one of my favourite eateries, The House Restaurant & Wine Bar as the ability to park close by has been removed (a loss of amenity). Despite making two freedom of information (FOI) requests, I never heard a dicky-bird. Alas I have long bouts of illness, which means I could not and cannot currently pursue this failure.

One of Altrincham's major stores is Marks & Spencer (M&S). The Council decided to remove the paving in front of the shop and along much of the main pedestrianised street and replace with a cobbled surface. Whilst not the traditional smooth-stoned cobbles, which can be lethal to traverse, they are small, rough-textured oblongs (see image above). I had to wait until this past Summer to try to walk on them, as much of the year I have to use my wheelchair. I find it very difficult to raise my legs when I "walk", rather I shuffle like many an elderly person. Alas, it is impossible to shuffle across the new cobbles. I can now no longer enter M&S under my own steam and independently. I actually moved from my former home in Sale to Altrincham to get away from a cobbled street upon which I kept falling. I wonder how many other disabled or elderly folk have reduced or stopped visiting the town?

 [Image description: screen-shot from AltrinchamHQ's faceboo page]

The organisation in charge of Altrincham's town-centre PR, AltrinchamHQ, could not even be bothered to respond to my comments (see above), despite replying to many others. This is the same town-centre with a multi-storey car-park with allocated disabled bays (fantastic) close by to the lifts (elevators) that transport one to the shopping level. Fabulous one might think? Except, between the parking-bays and the lifts are manually operated doors - not electric with a push-button to open them. So, one has to await an able-bodied person to come along to let one in. In short, tokenism towards those with impairments.

A further example of poor planning are pedestrian islands in the centre of roads built to such a stupid design that a person in a wheelchair or mobility-scooter cannot safely pass someone with a pram and similar.

In a nearby town, Knutsford, a recently constructed café was built without a lift to enable disabled or infirm or elderly folk to access the actual facilities, despite the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) having been passed in 1995! (This was replaced in 2010 by the Equality Act.)

No-one seems to ever bother to check real-world usage.

The UK planning system does not in fact expect local authorities to consider the needs and requirements of disabled folk. Rather, it is expected that disabled folk will take legal action once any building has been constructed. This to any sensible-minded person is farcical. However, the authorities rely on folk not taking legal action/s. Such has become much more difficult due to Legal Aid changes introduced by the former Conservative-led and current Conservative governments.

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From my perspective, as a disabled person born and residing in England, the United Kingdom as a whole, is not currently a great place to be a person with disability. Great strides were taken in opening access to society prior to 2010, but since then the deterioration has been shockingly rapid.

The Centre for Welfare Reform attempted to do a cumulative impact assessment (cia) using all available data. They discovered:

For political reasons, the costs of this debt is primarily being paid by people in poverty, by disabled people and by other vulnerable groups. As we have explained:

People in poverty are targeted 5 times more than most other citizens

Disabled people are targeted 9 times more

 

People with the severest needs are targeted 19 times more

In other words the attacks by government on disabled folk are deliberate. And they continue…

International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2015

Today is the United Nation's International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD2015).


United Nation's Perspective 

According to the UN's webpage:

Theme for 2015: Inclusion matters: access and empowerment for people of all abilities

The estimated one billion people living with disabilities worldwide face many barriers to inclusion in many key aspects of society. As a result, people with disabilities do not enjoy access to society on an equal basis with others, which includes areas of transportation, employment, and education as well as social and political participation.

The right to participate in public life is essential to create stable democracies, active citizenship and reduce inequalities in society.

By promoting empowerment, real opportunities for people are created. This enhances their own capacities and supports them in setting their own priorities. Empowerment involves investing in people - in jobs, health, nutrition, education, and social protection. When people are empowered they are better prepared to take advantage of opportunities, they become agents of change and can more readily embrace their civic responsibilities.

The sub-themes for the 2015 observance of the International Day are:

• Making cities inclusive and accessible for all
• Improving disability data and statistics
• Including persons with invisible disabilities in society and development

More information about the International Day and the UN Enable programme is available at UN Enable.

Retrogression of Rights

Wonderful aspirations to be sure. After the United Kingdom signed up to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and in the preceding few years, matters were ameliorating little by little. Unfortunately since the ConDem co-alition from 2010-2015 and the Conservative government elected this year until 2020, our gains have been disappearing at an alarming rate. Search my blog or the internet for fuller details. However, I list a few examples below:

* The restriction in the number of benefit awards via tightening of eligibility criteria as people are re-assessed for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which is replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for adults, and Employment & Support Allowance (ESA), which replaces Incapacity Benefit (IB).

* The introduction of a "Bedroom Tax", the Under-Occupancy Penalty, which massively & disproportionately effects families with a disabled member - two-thirds of those effected!

* The reduction in local councils' budgets has had a concomitant knock-on effect in the amount spent on social care, with many more folk unable to access help with toileting, bathing, cooking, etc. The English Law has even ruled that care can be removed from individuals as long as they are placed into adult nappies, whether or not the individual concerned is in/continent!

* The reduction in access to Motability vehicles, due to the reduction in the amount of disability benefits paid out, the benefits that were handed over to the charity in exchange for the lease of a car or motorised wheelchair. This effects tens of thousand of disabled people, some of whom have thus had to give up working!

* The reduction in access to justice in the jurisprudence system via Legal Aid, due to drastic cuts to its budget and eligibility criteria.

* The closure of the vast majority of Remploy factories, places where disabled workers could work in a supported environment. At last count most of the employees had not found alternative employment despite government's promises of every assistance being made available.

* The removal of part of ESA benefit to those classified as NOT being fit for work, but able to work in the future, so that they are paid the same as job-seekers - this group includes groups with cancer, degenerative diseases, fluctuating conditions and even folk with issues such as cystic fibrosis - which will NEVER go away nor ameliorate, save for a miracle or wonder-drug!

* The reduction of Access to Work grants, despite government insisting that they want and that disabled folk ought to work.

* The abolition of the Independent Living Fund (ILF) which supported the most severely disabled to live &/or work as independently as possible.

* The removal of the obligation to conduct impact assessments, which determine whether a proposed or planned action will be advantageous/neutral/detrimental to various groupings, one of which is people with disabilities.

* The removal of assistance to support prospective, disabled MPs, in order to increase the woefully tiny number of MPs with disabilities.

Cumulative Impact Assessment

There have been so many changes that disabled people and their carers & supporters gained over one-hundred-thousand signatures for the WoWPetition to request a cumulative impact assessment (cia) of all the cuts and changes. The government refuses to do so, despite other organisations having done the best they could without access to governmental data. One of those is the Centre for Welfare Reform. In the following four-minute video, "Counting the Cuts", Dr. Simon Duffy gives a brief overview.

Localism

In a single example of how the changes in the UK have effected me this year, my local town ran a survey to determine residents, workers & visitors' attitudes and desires for the run-down town-centre, nationally embarrassed in the media for same. I replied as a disabled person, expressing concerns for others like myself and also for the elderly with whom there is a commonality of needs, such as seating and toilets. I also contacted my local council and requested under FOI for details of what account, if any, had been taken of the disabled/elderly needs & requirements. Despite two requests they refused to respond. Alterations have gone ahead, including the removal of parking, and replacing conventional paving with cobbles. I now can no longer visit parts of the town centre due to my inability to walk very far. I, and presumably those in a similar position to myself, have lost amenities. Only yesterday I read that Southampton is planning on removing ALL its disabled-parking spaces. Ay - overt disability discrimination!

Legal Perspective

The UK Parliament's Human Rights Joint Committee, in their report "Implementation of the Right of Disabled People to Independent Living", stated:

The impact of current reforms

While we recognise the exceptional economic circumstances facing the UK, we conclude that there is a risk of retrogression of the UK's obligations under Article 19 as a result of the cumulative impact of spending cuts and reforms. There has been particular concern about the effects of reductions in funding for local authorities, changes to Disability Living Allowance under the Welfare Reform Bill, caps on housing benefit and the closure of the Independent Living Fund, and the way in which these might interact to restrict enjoyment of the right to independent living.

Many local authorities are restricting eligibility criteria for social care support. We argue that this risks breach of Article 19. We recommend that the Government's forthcoming Disability Strategy includes measures to monitor the impact of restrictions on eligibility for adult social care on disabled people's access to independent living.

Since the aforementioned report, matters have pejorated for those of us with disabilities.

Governmental Attitude to IDPD2015

The government seems not to care, but obdurately continues steadfastly with its dogma of permanent austerity. It is therefore unsurprising to view the government's disdain for even acknowledging IDPD2015. Today is the United Nation's International Day of Persons with Disabilities Day. I shall iterate, as they cannot be bothered. The UK government, as per previous years (see relevant blog-posts), appears to be ignoring it as per usual. Below is today's page from the Office for Disability Issues (ODI):

Apparently broad issues for folk with disabilities on access & empowerment across all levels and areas of society are of no concern to the agency supposedly looking out for disabled people interests.

Is it any wonder that the UN is investigating the UK for serious breaches of UNCRPD?

What's Wrong with the BBC's Disability Coverage?

Since the ConDems formed their coalition and thus the Government of the UK some two-and-a-half years ago, disabled and chronically sick folk have been living in abject fear as one policy after another is enacted and rolled out. (I personally have had to start taking anti-anxiety medication again.) Each successive action takes a little more independence and/or a little more care and/or a little more support away from us - actually a lot more. Before the ConDems started their 'welfare reform programme', the Office for Disability Issues (ODI) statistics confirm that we were more likely to be living in poverty than healthy or non-impaired individuals. There are some eleven million Brits with a disability (the latter figure from the ODI) or approximately one in eight of the population. That's a heck of a lot of individuals being negatively effected.

Report after report demonstrates the damage being done. These reports are often from respected organisations, such as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, MIND, The Centre for Welfare Reform; but also from activists (often the tongue-in-cheek named bedtivists!) like WeAreSpartacus. Despite all this information and lobbying; despite facebook timelines, twitterfeeds and other social media outlets filling with the voices of disabled/chronically sick folk crying out, pleading, begging; despite both national and local press covering stories of deprivation, death, even of suicides (inter alia see for example Calum's List) directly related to ConDem actions; despite all this, the BBC News has failed to cover the issues regularly, except to permit the 'propaganda' of the approved government line of benefit fraudsters (disability benefit fraud is less than 1% of total disability benefits and is massively dwarfed by the billions lost in tax avoidance and evasion), scroungers and skivers. The exception being one Panorama programme.

This week there was a parliamentary debate to discuss ATOS, the French IT company, that assesses the sick/disabled benefit recipients to determine whether such folk are 'fit for work'. The debate was opened by Michael Meacher who was followed by twenty-six MPs from Labour, Liberal Democrat, Plaid Cymru, Green, SNP and even Conservative party members who all echoed the hundreds of deaths, the catalogues of thousands of folk who have been incorrectly assessed and some absolute horror stories. The only voice that unconditionally supported the minister was a vice chair of the Tory party. Even the latter noted their was "universal condemnation" of ATOS in the House of Commons (column 1063 of Hansard). [For non-UK readers, Hansard is the official record of the UK Parliament.]

Despite this non-partisan, near unanimity; despite the details of mistreatment, statistics on deaths from the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP); despite social media being filled with comments on the proceedings (on twitter read the #esaSOS or #ATOSdebate feeds); despite The Guardian, The Independent, the Daily Express, The Star, the Morning Star, The Week and the London Evening Standard all covering the deaths; despite all this, once again, BBC News failed to cover the story on the BBC News channel, the BBC's television news bulletins nor on their website.

At this point one has to ask why such a debate with obvious newsworthiness and of interest to many of the 11,000,000 disabled Brits and their carers was not covered by the BBC. The BBC is supposedly impartial: but surely it is showing partiality in favour of the government's viewpoints by failing to report.

Yesterday, I tweeted about this to the BBC Trust (@bbctrust on twitter, but just insert bbctrust with no hashtag to see the comments submitted) and asked others to do likewise, and dozens did just that. So far no response - but it was a snowy day, perhaps the relevant employees did not make it into the office. Should a reply be forthcoming, I shall of course post an update.

However, one has to ask why should the BBC fail to report on stories. It occurs to me that there are several possibilities: not knowing; negligence; wilfulness; under orders; squeamishness. The Beeb cannot say they do not know because many of us tweet and email information to the organisation. Negligence might be conceivable if it were just once or twice, but not very likely for two-and-a-half years. Wilfuness: is the BBC really so determined to quash disabled voices and, if so, why? Could it be that Aunty has been told that they cannot broadcast non-approved viewpoints. If this is the case, who or what is giving such orders? Yesterday a fellow twitterer suggested that the BBC is just squeamish about disability issues. However, given their unwillingness to cover the Paralympics such a perspective seems a distinct possibility.

Many disabled and chronically sick folk no longer trust the British Broadcasting Corporation to represent us or our standpoints fairly. We have switched to alternative sources of information and news. In the long term the exclusion of voices will necessarily militate against the justification for the licence-fee. Indeed, it has even been suggested that all disabled/chronically sick licence-fee payers should refuse to do so in future.

The BBC is supposed to have a public-service and an educational remit. Such obviously extends to the sick and disabled viewers and their families and carers. It's time the BBC became accountable to the public who pay for its existence. It's time the Beeb put its house in order. The time is now.

[Image description: WOW codee for smart-phones.]

If you want to help the cause: please sign the WOWpetition which can be followed on facebook or twitter (@wowpetition & @wowpetitionchat) or join us on www.wowpetitionforum.co.uk; additionally why not contact the BBC Trust at the link above and tell them what you think.



For update see: BBC Trust Refuses to Answer Complaints