Why this Local Election matters to Deaf and Disabled People

Download Why this Local Election Matters to Deaf and Disabled People: Why This Local Election Matters to Deaf and Disabled People

Download our Local Election Toolkit: Local election toolkit 2018 

On Thursday 3 May Londoners will choose who will run their Local Council for the next 4 years.

Who wins control of Local Councils and all the services Councils provide will make a huge difference to the 1.2 million Disabled people living in this city. Since 2010 Government policies have taken away essential support from hundreds of thousands of Disabled people and our families, often through huge cuts to Local Council funding.

• The UK is now the first state in the world to be found guilty by the United Nations of “grave and systematic violations” of Disabled people’s rights caused by the impact of the Government’s welfare reform programme which the Chair of the UN Disability Committee has described as a “human catastrophe”.
• Though less than 20% of the population Disabled people, or families with a Disabled member, now make up half of all people in poverty
• PIP assessment process and the roll out of Universal Credit continue the fundamentally flawed and punitive welfare reform agenda that is disproportionally impacting on Disabled people and pushing so many of us further into poverty.
• Hundreds of thousands of Disabled Londoners are routinely denied equal access to goods and services
• Huge cuts to social care and independent living support are undermining Disabled people’s human rights, dignity, well-being and ability to participate in and contribute to society
• The employment gap between Disabled Londoners and non-disabled Londoners is 28.6% while only 14% of people with mental health support needs and 15% of people with learning difficulties are in paid employment.
• People with learning difficulties & people with Mental Health conditions die on average 12-20 years earlier than non-disabled people

Questions for local candidates

Key Question:

Will you commit to carrying out a cumulative impact assessment of welfare and tax changes and public spending cuts implemented since 2010 on residents of this borough? The Equality and Human Rights Commissions promotes CIAs as good practice. Without assessing the cumulative picture, equality impact assessments of individual policy measures are limited in accuracy.^[1]

Additional suggested questions:

• What will you do to increase the volume of genuinely affordable and accessible social housing in this Borough and will you ensure the Disabled Facilities Grant is increased to reflect rise costs since 2008?
• How will you support Disabled residents left with no income as a result of benefit changes, delays, and sanctions?
• What measures will you put in place to ensure that there is enough local advice and information available for benefit claimants impacted by the roll out of Universal credit and that this is accessible to Deaf and Disabled people with a range of communication support needs?
• Charging for social care is a tax on Disabled people that is forcing more and more Disabled people to go without essential support. Hammersmith &Fulham Council has stopped this unfair charge – will you do the same?
• Cuts to social care funding are undermining Disabled people’s dignity, independence, choice and control. How will you ensure social care support needs of local Disabled people are met?
• What will you do to increase the provision of Changing Places toilets to increase Disabled people’s access to the community?^[2]
• How will you tackle hate crime and harassment experienced by Deaf and Disabled people in this borough?
• How will you ensure all mainstream schools within the LA area are fully inclusive and do not discriminate against Disabled pupils and students?
• How will you ensure that local transport planning takes into account the needs and views of local Deaf and Disabled people?
• How will you improve Council engagement with Deaf and Disabled people, ensuring that consultations and council meetings are accessible to us?
• How will you work with and support the work of local Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations (DDPOs)? DDPOs are organisations that are fully run and controlled by Deaf and Disabled people.

Notes:

[1] Liverpool City Council published interim findings of the CIA they are undertaking: http://liverpool.gov.uk/media/1356086/liverpool-welfare-reform-cumulative-impact-analysis_interim-report_final-versionweb.pdf

The Equality and Human Rights Commission published their cumulative impact assessment of welfare and tax reforms in March 2018: http://liverpool.gov.uk/media/1356086/liverpool-welfare-reform-cumulative-impact-analysis_interim-report_final-versionweb.pdf

[2] For more information about Changing Places toilets, see: http://www.changing-places.org/the_campaign/what_are_changing_places_toilets_.aspx