EHRC consultation on its strategic plan 2019-2022: Inclusion London’s response

EHRC consultation on its strategic plan 2019-2022 – Inclusion London’s response

Inclusion London responded to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s consultation on their strategic plan for 2019 – 2022.  Below is one of the strategic approaches we recommended:

Specific and targeted focus needed on Deaf and Disabled people

Deaf and Disabled people are still experiencing disadvantage across all areas of their lives. The EHRC’s ‘Is Britain Fairer? (2018) report highlighted that: poverty is particularly prevalent amongst Disabled people and homelessness is rising amongst Disabled; Disabled people are one of the three groups most affected by the government’s tax and welfare reforms; the right to inclusive education is not being fulfilled and the disability employment gap persists; the percentage of disabled people who experience rape, domestic violence or abuse is higher than for non-disabled people and confidence in the justice system is lower than for non-disabled people.

The EHRC report says, ‘There should be an acute focus on improving life in Britain for disabled people. We agree with this and recommend that specific targeted work is undertaken under each of EHRC’s goals to address Deaf and Disabled people’s specific issues across all public spending as well as ensuring all EHRC work reflects and addresses the needs of Deaf and Disabled people.  Recommendations from the UN Committee on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) is an ideal framework EHRC should use for this work as well as a functioning as a guide to monitoring the implementation of the convention.  The EHRC also needs to ensure that Section 1 of the Equality Act 2010 is enforced.

Our full response is available to download. Inclusion London response EHRC Strategic plan consultation 2018