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| TX: 14.02.07 - Disability Rights Commission PRESENTERS: SHEILA MCCLENNON AND CAROLYN ATKINSON |
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| THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE BBC CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. MCCLENNON Buses are increasingly accessible, more disabled people are in employment, even reality TV has caught on and Big Brother's had a winner who's disabled. So can we say we've cracked disability discrimination? Well seven years on, since the formation of the Disability Rights Commission, the DRC is today launching a disability agenda outlining the top 10 priorities for the next 10 years. And our disability reporter, Carolyn Atkinson, is at the event in London. Carolyn. ATKINSON Yes I'm at the QE2 Centre in London in the shadow of Westminster and there are live satellite links from this conference to Cardiff and to Edinburgh, bringing together hundreds of people for today's launch - disabled people, public sector workers, employers, teachers, politicians, police - you name it, everyone is here and of course charities and disability organisations themselves. They're here for this launch of the DRC's disability agenda, which if you like is setting out the master plan for the next 10 years. Now you can hear behind me it's still going on and it's been a very positive conference in many ways. The message is a lot has changed over the past decade and changed for the good - more disabled people are working, new legislation for housing and transport is in place, information's more accessible, even things like going for a meal or going to the cinema; particularly for wheelchair users, is much easier, disabled students have the right to education and overall disability awareness is better; just think of the statue of the disabled woman Alison Lapper which is gracing Trafalgar Square in London on the famous fourth plinth. And of course politicians too are talking about their personal experiences of disability in a way they never have before. It's no longer a taboo subject, much has improved over the past 10 years. MCCLENNON So Carolyn why is the DRC launching its new disability agenda if, as you say, such progress is being made and continues to be made? ATKINSON Well they're certainly saying for some people things are getting better and improving but they're warning that all these new rights and this sense of belonging are in danger of slipping and for some disabled people things are getting worse not better. They say unless public services are reformed and fully funded then disabled people will not benefit from all of these new opportunities that have been opening up. So, for example, getting a job - getting a job is one thing but if suitable transport and social care support needed to help a person get up and get out of the house onto that transport then if that doesn't happen then the opportunity is lost altogether. At today's conference some of the problems have been highlighted - child carers who don't get any help themselves until they're aged eight because the law says that can't happen; families of disabled children who need short breaks, people are really struggling they're at breaking point and some people are still living in institutions when they don't want to. Now I've been speaking to Neil Crowther, who's the head of policy at the Disability Rights Commission and he goes much, much further, he says disability has to be at the core of all the government's big ideas. CROWTHER There's a whole series of key government objectives that just cannot be met unless disability issues are put at their heart. The one in three children in poverty, who have a disabled parent, the fact there are six million unpaid carers filling the gaps in threadbare social care services, most of whom are women. So we may find we're not able to achieve our goals in relation to gender equality. About a third of all people without qualifications in Britain today are disabled, so the aspirations of the Chancellor to achieve a knowledge economy, a well skilled competitive economy, are unlikely to be achieved unless we put disability at the heart. And last but not least the objective of an 80% employment rate really can't be achieved when so many people who are disabled - people with mental health conditions, people with learning disabilities for example - are outside the workforce. So this agenda is absolutely critical, not just to the rights and opportunities of disabled people and their families but to a whole raft of key goals that the government has which it assesses are in the best interests of Britain's future. MCCLENNON So how do some of Neil Crowther's points there, Carolyn, relate to what disabled people are experiencing? ATKINSON Well it basically is all coming down to poverty and that's certainly borne out by a woman I've been speaking to called Jane, she's blind, she's a single mother of three children, two of whom are visually impaired themselves, and she says she is struggling to live on less money than the government itself actually defines as the poverty line. JANE The financial constraints that we face, being on benefits, is very difficult for anybody but I really do think that despite the misconception many people have that disabled people get lots of money but in reality we don't. And one of the best examples which I can give you would be that as a disabled parent, and again there are big issues and people question the fact that no disabled person should have children, is to take my children to St. John's cadets it costs me between £17 and £19 to get them there and back because as a visually impaired person I will never be able to drive. Now there are occasions when I can get my personal assistant to do that but if she's working for somebody else on those hours then that could be extremely difficult. And my DLA obviously - Disability Living Allowance - i.e. as a blind person I'm only allowed to apply for the lower rate. So I do think that many people, many disabled people, are living in poverty because the financial support to meet the additional needs, our additional needs, are not met. MCCLENNON Carolyn, what can the DRC actually do because it's alright shouting from the roof tops but they've got almost as little political life left as Tony Blair has really, haven't they - not long to go? ATKINSON Perhaps a little bit longer than Tony Blair arguably. But anyway they were formed in 2000 and they will cease to exist in October when the Commission for Equality and Human Rights take over the Disability Rights Commission, they also take over the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Commission for Racial Equality. Now there has been a lot of concern that disability could be seen as the poor relation of this new body. Trevor Phillips is the head of the new body, the CEHR, and he is here today, I think he's just speaking on the platform behind me, and he's certainly addressed this point today because there's a lot of concern about this and he has said categorically there will be no sell out for disabled people. The DRC certainly will hope that he's listening hard, that he'll keep the pressure on the government and the launch of this disability agenda today is the DRC's way of saying - this is what you must do, now go and do it. MCCLENNON Well Carolyn thank you. And we did ask everyone from Tony Blair right down, and Anne McGuire the minister for disabled people as well, to come on to the programme today but they couldn't. However, the minister's office told us in a statement: "This government is committed to equality for disabled people and while there have been significant improvements in civil right services and public awareness in recent years we're not complacent about the scale of the challenge that remains." And they go on to add: "Today the minister is launching a consultation with disabled people about their priorities which will help to find out how we should measure progress in achieving equality." Back to the You and Yours homepage The BBC is not responsible for external websites |
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