Recent Entries in Equality
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Personalisation and young disabled people
I'm involved in a really interesting bit of work at the moment, working with folks at OPM. I've written here a lot before about adult social care and the personalisation agenda. Working age adults, and particularly people over 65, have been the focus for reforms in the social care world. But we know that personalisation will be a significant driver in children and young people's services in the future, too. This is both in traditional...
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Linking rules, IB & ESA and the removal of transitional protection
It used to be that there were rules called "linking rules" for people in receipt of Incapacity Benefit (IB), which has been updated to become Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Put simply, if someone stopped claiming IB or ESA but found that they needed to start claiming again within a certain period of time, then their "new" benefit would simply be linked back to the "old" benefit they received - they were "linked". If someone...
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HealthWatch: Good in principle, worrying in practice
This was posted as a guest blog on the always insightful Health Policy Insight, run by the always amusing (in a good way) @HPIAndyCowper, who has kindly allowed me to re-post it here. Criticisms of the reforms of the health system have focused primarily on shifting £80bn of public expenditure to GP commissioning consortia. Much less attention has been paid to the issue of patient/user voice and representation in the reformed system, something this post...
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Incapacity Benefit linking rules being stopped for disabled people
Benefits and Work are reporting that the "linking rules" for disabled people, which provides some security for those who take up employment but are unsure what the impact may be on their health/impairment, are being stopped: Linking rules which allow incapacity benefit (IB) claimants to return to their previous rate of benefits if they try work and have to stop again on health grounds are to be scrapped from 31 January. From that date onwards...
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LINks annual reports 2009/10
The annual reports of Local Involvement Networks (LINks) for 2009/10 makes for interesting reading. This is particularly in light of the fact LINks will become local HealthWatches under the proposed reforms of the government's White Paper, and will be the major vehicle through which patient/user representation will be secured. LINks are membership organisations which empower people in the community to have their say or influence local health and social care services. In 2009/10 there were...
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Telling the truth, #ombh
This is a guest post by a friend who would like to remain anonymous, as part of One Month Before Heartbreak 'Vegetables' don't always lie in hospital beds, with tubes and wires wrapped around unconscious shells. Zombies are shells, in fiction. A mind which loops, locked onto a word or phrase or guttural sound, no cognitive function left, simply passing through the world on some pre-defined path, choice and personality removed, incapable of interaction or...
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Reflecting on HealthWatch in the Health White Paper melee (updated)
Whilst the pandemonium about various changes proposed by the Health White Paper continue (rightly so, by the way), the issue of patient and user voice remains as high up the agenda as it usually does. That is, not at all. I've focused on this area in two previous posts - one on patient voice in the White Paper and another on the question of democratic accountability. I have to confess I've not had chance to...
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One Month Before Heartbreak: please read one story
Today is the start of One Month Before Heartbreak - a blogswarm to try and raise awareness of the many negative changes that are being made to various disability benefits, particularly Disability Living Allowance. You can find links to everyone who has posted during One Month Before Heartbreak on the website itself plus some on Benefit Scrounging Scum. You can also follow all posts and debate about it using the Twitter hashtag #ombh. I know...
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The poverty premium, disabled people and "austere times"
I was taken with Save the Children's excellent report on UK poverty rip-off. In their continually good work on the poverty premium, Save the Children has shown that the typical low income family paid an extra £1,280 in 2010 than wealthier families. In particular, low income families pay: £598 a year for car insurance, compared to £310 average for wealthier families £99 for home insurance, compared to £67 £1,134 for gas and electricity, compared to...
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Access to Work survey - share your experiences
In the last few days, I've posted some thoughts on Access to Work (see here and links therein), which feels like it is experiencing a cut in practice if not in name. The organisation I work for (ecdp) is undertaking a survey to understand (a) the role and support that Access to Work currently provides for disabled people seeking or in employment; and (b) what the good and not-so-good bits about Access to Work are....
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Access to Work and reasonable adjustments
I blogged twice last week on the issue of Access to Work. In my post on Access to Work in general, I noted that the DWP has issued unannounced, updated guidance on Access to Work which reduces the amount of support that was previously available to disabled people in securing employment. Furthermore, this has been done before an announced review of Access to Work has been published. In my post on the numbers behind Access...
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More on the possible cuts to Access to Work
I blogged yesterday on the question of whether cuts are being made to Access to Work. In summary, the DWP has issued unannounced, updated guidance on Access to Work which reduces the amount of support that was previously available to disabled people in securing employment. Furthermore, this has been done before an announced review of Access to Work has been published. Let's look a little more into what Access to Work (AtW) is and the...
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Are cuts being made to Access to Work?
New and unannounced guidance issued at the end of 2010 by the Department for Work in Pensions has subtly changed what can and can't be met by Access to Work. Since Access to Work is a dedicated resource that provides practical advice to overcome issues arising from disability in the workplace, and can pay towards any extra employment costs associated with disability, it is a crucial part of the government's drive to get (disabled) people...
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ILF announcement couldn't be timed any worse
(Note: This is a personal post) As an aside to today's announcement that the ILF is to be closed from 2015 onwards, it's worth pointing out the timing couldn't be any worse, because today is the day that the Right to Control is launched in Trailblazers across the country. (It's also the day on which the government has announced that those organisations which will most likely become responsible for ILF users post-2015 - local Councils...
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Independent Living Fund (ILF) to close (updated)
A Written Ministerial Statement is being published today. It states that the Independent Living Fund (ILF) will be closed in 2015 (link to follow once it's on the Parliament website). This has been coming (and it appears the Sundar Mirror yesterday was right). I blogged back in June that the ILF was essentially closed for business. But that doesn't make today less of a shock. Others will highlight what a disaster this will be for...
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Life Opportunities Survey
The Office for Disability Issues last week published the fascinating Life Opportunities Survey. The purpose of the survey is to compare how disabled and non-disabled people participate in a number of areas, including work, education, transport and use of public services. There is a huge amount of incredibly valuable information in this survey across a very wide range of areas. I don't think I could do it justice without a week in a quiet room...
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The case for DLA reform is shaky
Beyond misuse of statistics, sloppy presentation of data and lack of evidence, there are further points to be queried. In a well-argued post on Benefit Scrounging Scum, Rhydian Fôn James has highlighted several major issues with the government's methodology in making the case for DLA reform. It's a great read, and required for anyone who believes in evidence-based policy and disability equality. (For anyone interested in the issues with the case the government has constructed...
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Andrew Lansley on the value of disability benefits
People use the attendance allowance and disability living allowance to help them, under their own control, to create a quality of life for themselves that helps them to remain independent. That is precisely in line with the policy we are all trying to pursue. It is clear that if one narrowly focuses only on care needs, we will miss out much that goes to constitute well-being, and there is no health without well-being, and there...
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Full DLA reform consultation document
Yesterday, I blogged on the government's proposed reforms to Disability Living Allowance. Just in case people haven't seen the consultation document or don't know where to access it, I have uploaded it to Scribd. A copy is embedded below. You can also access the document from the DWP's website. DLA Reform Consultation...
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Previous Tory views on disability benefits
The government yesterday launched its consultation on reforms to Disability Living Allowance. I blogged extensively on it yesterday. One of the huge - and, as far as I can see, new - announcements was that the government is considering rolling out the cuts to DLA not just to the 1.8m of working age in receipt of DLA, but also those under 16 and those over 65. Given this, I thought it was timely to recall...
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DLA reform consultation: Great Expectations, Worst Apprehensions
The coalition government today published its consultation on the reform of Disability Living Allowance (DLA). The headline is that DLA is going to be replaced by a "Personal Independence Payment" (PIP) from 2013/14. DLA has been in the news a considerable amount since the emergency budget in June this year, primarily because it has been the main disability-focused benefit the government has looked to cut. I've blogged quite a lot on the topic: see here,...
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Disability hate crime: why an increase should be welcomed
The Association of Chief Police Officers should be congratulated for publishing data on hate crime across England in 2009. A copy of the data, broken down by constabulary area, is included as a Scribd document at the end of this post. The data shows the following number of hate crimes, by type: Race - 43,426 Religion/Faith - 2,083 Sexual Orientation - 4,805 Transgender - 312 Disability - 1,402 Total - 52,028 Antisemitic (included in previous...
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Public's opinion on #DLA reforms
I blogged yesterday on the public's support for out-of-work benefit reforms. Bizarrely enough the same survey included a question on Disability Living Allowance (DLA), even though DLA isn't an out-of-work benefit. Leaving this point and what it represents to one side (aside from one implication, which I'll highlight below), the results were as follows: 69% of people support more stringent testing for people receiving Disability Living Allowance Broken down by voting intention, 86% of Tories...
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The Telegraph's #DLA ignorance
I could hardly believe my eyes when I read this, in an article titled (without apparent irony) "To cut with principle is the right approach": There will certainly be other cuts to the welfare budget. The guiding principle behind them seems to be the reintroduction of the distinction between the “deserving” and the “undeserving” poor. This is not meant to be an absolute distinction, still less one which damns those on the wrong side of...
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Osborne: Welfare cheats are "like burglars"
A welfare cheat is like a mugger who robs you on the street That was George Osborne in yesterday's News of the World (behind a paywall) talking about welfare cheats. It's churlish to note the use of his language, though that's not going to stop me, because it was David Cameron who said that We will be challenging lobby groups that are making inflammatory arguments. We will take their claims on. We will highlight when...
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Social Care Funding Commission - FOI results
As you will have noted from previous posts (see here, here, here and here), I have a strong interest in the Department of Health’s Commission on the Funding of Care and Support. The Commission was announced by Andrew Lansley on 20 July 2010 and said it would report back within 2 months on the criteria it would use to judge the proposals it develops. That deadline passed 9 days ago, with no criteria published. Indeed,...
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Doing coproduction properly
This article on coproduction in the consistently excellent Guardian Public is well worth a read. The standout passage: The challenge will be when people come to fully understand how coproduction alters the relationships between commissioners, providers and users[:] it challenges our view of who the customer is. Rather than identifying, codifying and making the case for resources to meet 'needs' and then looking to get these needs purchased by a third party (the commissioner who...
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The Daily Mail's deserving few (scroungers not welcome)
This post also appears on the excellent Where's the Benefit? blog, which is keeping tracks of the budget cuts and the impact on (disability) benefits I'd love to know what it's like being someone with the mindset of a Daily Mail reader. It must be fascinating to be outraged by something today that is the exact opposite of the thing you were outraged by yesterday. The subject of benefits is ripe ground for this: on...
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Cuts to support packages: stories needed
I know many readers (well, both of you) are interested in social care and how the new coalition government's approach to it, as well as the general cuts agenda, may affect service users and service provision. A colleague is currently looking for firm evidence that councils are cutting back on support packages, i.e. not just changing eligibility but evidence that the number of hours being offered to individual disabled people is being reduced. If you...
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Right to Control Trailblazer: Public agencies working together and the implications for staff
This post is the last in a series of reflections on the Right to Control Trailblazer work in Essex over the last few months. For an overview of the work, an introduction to this post and links to all previous posts in the series, please see the opening post of this series. Bringing together 3 local public agencies, and different teams from within those agencies, is bound to throw up a number of interesting points...
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Right to Control Trailblazer: Money, outcomes and money again
This post is one of a series of reflections on the Right to Control Trailblazer work in Essex over the last few months. For an overview of the work, and an introduction to this post, please see the opening post of this series. In the present climate, one of the drivers for this work has got to be understanding how joining up the work makes it more effective, both in terms of service user outcomes...
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Right to Control Trailblazer: Policy 'versus' process
This post is one of a series of reflections on the Right to Control Trailblazer work in Essex over the last few months. For an overview of the work, and an introduction to this post, please see the opening post of this series. I've been surprised throughout the Trailblazer process by how little policy is spoken of. My perception is that people delivering services 'on the ground' think of policy happening elsewhere; in some cases,...
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Right to Control Trailblazer: Legislation and Regulations
This post is one of a series of reflections on the Right to Control Trailblazer work in Essex over the last few months. For an overview of the work, and an introduction to this post, please see the opening post of this series. The Right to Control Trailblazer learnt from one of the significant problems with the Individual Budget pilots and is looking to ensure there is a solid regulatory basis for the Trailblazers to...
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Right to Control Trailblazer: Scale and knowing your numbers
This post is one of a series of reflections on the Right to Control Trailblazer work in Essex over the last few months. For an overview of the work, and an introduction to this post, please see the opening post of this series. Essex is a big local authority area. There are approximately 17,500 new social care assessments each year and there are currently over 33,000 current social care users. All staff in agencies touched...
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Right to Control Trailblazer update: overview
In my professional life I have spent a considerable proportion of time over the last few months working on the Right to Control Trailblazer in Essex, focusing on service design and reform. My initial thoughts on the Right to Control Trailblazer, posted after the launch event, can be found here. This post updates those thoughts after 5 months of significant work and progress. First, an overview. We're seeking to achieve 3 aims with the Trailblazer....
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RADAR's report on sustainable careers for disabled people
Just catching up on RADAR's report on what disabled people need to support sustainable careers (report here, pdf). As ever, the report provides an excellent overview of the issues affecting disabled people in the area of employment, and brings a useful and progressive focus on what can practically be done to address these issues, in the form of 10 propositions. There are two messages that particularly stand out for me from the report. The first...
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Just Plain Sense interview with Gerald Kaufman
My friend and occasional contributor to arbitrary constant Christine Burns has an authoritative and excellent equality and diversity podcast called Just Plain Sense. Christine has just published a fascinating interview with Gerald Kaufman. Having been around for many, many years, Kaufman undoubtedly divides opinion, but it's worth listening to Christine's interview with him, which is embedded in two parts below. Part 1: Powered by Podbean.com Part 2: Powered by Podbean.com...
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The Health White Paper and social care
Following up my post on patient voice in the Health White Paper, here's one capturing my confusion over how health relates to social care. It is baffling to me that a White Paper entitled "Liberating the NHS" makes so many references to social care. Indeed, the White Paper may be liberating the NHS, but it feels like it's making a landgrab for social care. The direction of travel all seems to be from social care...
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Discrimination against people with learning disabilities still rife
Fucking hell, this is depressing: Discrimination against people with learning disabilities and misconceptions about their lives is still widespread in the UK, despite a string of high profile hate crime cases, a poll reveals today. A third of Britons think those with such disabilities cannot live independently or do jobs, while almost a quarter imagined they would be living in care homes. Nearly one in ten (8%) expected them to be cared for in a...
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Early learning from Personal Health Budgets
For those of you so inclined, this makes for fascinating reading: Personal health budget pilot sites have faced early challenges in funding personalised care packages for patients, a national evaluation has found. Pilot leads in primary care trusts said they were struggling both to calculate the value of budgets and to find money to resource them. The key issues in introducing Personal Budgets in health seem to be: PCTs can't calculate the value of budgets...
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Where's all the "Equity" when the NHS has been "Liberated"?
This is a guest post by Christine Burns MBE, an Equality and Diversity consultant currently embedded in the NHS war zone. Since Andrew Lansley’s NHS White Paper was published last week, most of the public commentary has inevitably centred on the alleged savings to be achieved and the open door which the plans will create for privatisation. The White Paper, “Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS”, proposes to remove two tiers of regional and local...
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"Looking after the poorest": the financial reality
An excellent survey by Contact A Family has revealed that families with disabled children are struggling with basic household costs and that this has been made worse by the economic downturn. Key findings included: 23% of families had to turn off their heating to save money 14% are going without food 73% said they had to forego leisure activities and days out 68% are not taking any holidays I'm afraid that the situation isn't going...
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"Time to reflect and pray"
The Anglican church continues to cover itself in glory over how it treats women. Having rejected a compromise position put forward by the Archibishops of Canterbury and York over women bishops, members of the Synod apparently pleaded for "time to reflect and pray" on the vote. I wonder what God told them when they prayed? Carry on, chaps: you're doing a great job of providing moral leadership and showing yourselves to be modern and progressive...
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Notts City Council and gay blood donation
This is disappointing: Labour controlled Nottingham City Council made the shocking decision this week to remove references to gay and bisexual men from a motion celebrating World Blood Donor Day. I've blogged before on blood donation by gay people (original post and follow-up) and concluded that the ban is ridiculous....
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Two US perspectives on welfare / workfare
Lawrence M Mead: In 1986, Mead's big idea was to push welfare recipients into jobs - an approach that came to be known as "workfare". Unlike those on the left who wanted to change capitalism, Mead wanted to change the poor. The academic argued that disorder stemming from the actions of the inner-city poor, rather than a lack of opportunity, lay at the collapse of their communities. What was needed, he argued, was to "enforce...
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Report the DWP for harassment
Close readers of this blog will know I try to cover broad disability-based issues. This reflects both a personal and professional interest, as well as my belief that how politics and policy addresses disability equality issues is essentially a proxy for how they treat people as a whole. In the last week or so, I've highlighted the coalition government's potential position with regard to Disability Living Allowance, covered the implications of introducing medical assessments for...
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The Budget and DLA: initial reactions
From a disability perspective, the big announcement in today’s Budget was the introduction of medical assessments for all DLA claimants from 2013-14. The relevant paragraph is the following from the Budget document: 1.103 The Government will reform the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to ensure support is targeted on those with the highest medical need. The Government will introduce the use of objective medical assessments for all DLA claimants from 2013-14 to ensure payments are only...
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Independent Living Fund essentially closed for business
The Independent Living Fund (ILF) - which provides financial support to disabled people with high support needs to support the cost of their personal assistance, and is separate to social care funding - is essentially closed for business. It's shut. Due to budget restrictions, the ILF first said that it would only support ILF applications from disabled people working over 16 hours a week. Before this decision, there was no such requirement, which in itself...
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Everyday lives on #DLA
Following on from my long and detailed analysis of the coalition government's potential position with regard to Disability Living Allowance (DLA), I urge you to read @BendyGirl's post on what DLA means to her. It's an exceptional post, and highlights just one case of thousands relating the difference DLA makes in everyday lives. Here's an excerpt, though I urge you to read the rest: So, as someone who can't even sneeze without dislocating a rib...
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EHRC calls for disability hate crime evidence
Several months back, I wrote a series of posts covering the topic of disability hate crime. These were prompted by the Equality & Human Rights Commission's report into "Promoting the Safety and Security of Disabled People", which noted that: Disabled people are 4 times more likely to be victims of crime compared to non-disabled people 47 per cent of disabled people had either experienced physical abuse or had witnessed physical abuse of a disabled companion...
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All on board the new London bus?
The excellent Boris Watch picks up on whether or not disabled people were engaged up front in the design of the new London bus. The answer? No....
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We Are Enabled By Design event
I'm really looking forward to the "We Are Enabled By Design" event next week. The purpose of the event is to reframe the ageing/disability debate by looking at how universal design can help support independent (and stylish!) living. Thinking well beyond the day-to-day requirements that many disabled and older people have simply to meet their care and support needs, Enabled by Design rightly takes the principles of Independent Living and continually makes the case that...
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More on disabled people and 'dependency'
Following my lengthy post on the new coalition government's report on Poverty, Welfare and Dependency, I thought I'd point you to the United Kingdom Disabled People's Council response to the report. It picks up on many of the same points I made in my post, and very usefully goes further by pointing out where the coalition government's report fails to mention many other issues relating to disabled people. These include young disabled people, not distinguishing...
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Liverpool Councillor takes the piss out of disabled people
This is nice: A Liverpool councillor is facing calls to resign after a picture mocking [disabled people] was posted on her Facebook page. The picture, of a group of physically disabled adults, appeared on Liberal Democrat member Sharon Green’s site, with text underneath comparing them to the council’s Labour group. I don't know what's worse: the fact that Cllr Green did it in the first place, the fact she thought it was funny, the fact...
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Poverty, worklessness... and #DLA?
The new coalition government published its "State of the Nation" report on "Poverty, Worklessness and Welfare Dependency" last week. This is clearly an important document since it sets out the perspective from which a key department will operate in a vital area over the coming parliament and, as the document itself notes, provides an overview that "will be used to inform policy decisions" (p6). This posts notes some key themes of and issues with the...
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Radio 4 and the social model of disability
It was disappointing to hear on last Friday night's 7pm news bulletin on Radio 4 someone described as "severely handicapped". The term used should have been "severely disabled". I am by no means the PC police and I recognise an institution like the BBC (and particularly Radio 4) probably doesn't want another ticking off by anybody about its use of language. But in this case (and you knew there was a 'but' coming), what flows...
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"Depression is neither new nor trendy"
Good to see Alastair Campbell take Janet Street Porter to task for her poor article on depression last week (which I blogged about here. It's worth reading it all, but here's a good extract: Depression is neither new nor trendy. It just is. Street-Porter's article is inconsistent, contradictory and very badly argued. It is the kind of journalism that merely serves to strengthen the damaging stereotypes around mental health problems that stop people with very...
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Service user involvement in commissioning
Through the excellent Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Age Concern London yesterday published an interesting paper on involving users in commissioning. (I've covered previous JRF publications in this area here and here.) For anyone who is interested in user engagement or user-led work, Age Concern's report is well worth a read. Partly to support the launch, I gave a talk about Community Care Live today on this topic, the text of which is below. The main point...
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Disabled people (not) as MPs in Parliament
Following on from my post on women (not) in Cabinet or Parliament, I've been trying to find the equivalent statistics for disabled people as Members of Parliament following the General Election. I can't find them, and I know my way around that particular shop pretty well. As RADAR noted in its submission to last year's Speakers Conference on Parliamentary Representation: Numbers of disabled MPs are unknown. Numbers of [known] disabled MPs are very low compared...
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Janet Street Porter and depression
Here was Janet Street Porter writing about depression at the weekend: There's a big black cloud hanging over parts of the UK, and it's not going away. Not volcanic ash - but depression. This relatively new ailment appeared on my radar a couple of years ago, when I discovered that more and more women were claiming they suffered from 'stress'. The misery movement has rapidly gathered momentum and in recent months it's become apparent that...
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Cuts to disability benefits already being planned?
I have pledged to myself to not comment on any policy-based issue until the Queen's Speech and Budget outlines the coalition government's clear policy programme for the coming year. This is only fair. I have thus adopted the general position of "hmm" over the next few weeks, though am obviously keeping track of policy issues being discussed and debated in the first weeks of the coalition government. To this end, below are extracts from two...
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Women (not) in Parliament / Cabinet
Here's a great post from Pippa Norris on women in - or rather not in - the Cabinet or Parliament. Key statistics are as follows: Four women sit in the new cabinet (14%)[.] The British cabinet lags far behind many European countries; Spain has 53% women in its Cabinet, while Germany has 37% and France 33% Overall 139 female MPs were elected to Westminster (21.5%) - more than one in five of the total members...
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David Cameron not being very Prime Ministerial, part 76
If you want to be Prime Minister, you have to act like a Prime Minister. That's the fairly obvious view I take. There are plenty of examples of David Cameron not fulfilling this basic requirement - my last post includes a few of them. But I've only just seen a further example of it via AutismWales on Twitter now (the event actually took place in June 2009) in which he called the BNP: retarded racists....
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Blogging Against Disablism Day 2010
Yesterday was Blogging Against Disablism Day 2010. It's the day when: all around the world, disabled and non-disabled people will blog about their experiences, observations and thoughts about disability discrimination. In this way, we hope to raise awareness of inequality, promote equality and celebrate the progress we've made. I believe it's coordinated by the excellent Diary of a Goldfish, and you can find all of the posts from the day here. Do please read whatever...
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Down with the kids
Today Michael Caine supported the new tory policy of national citizen service for 16 year olds - will it really help the broken youth of britain?
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Inside Chris Grayling's mind: what a terrible thought
I did enjoy this post from Alix at the People's Republic of Mortimer. It nicely brings together the substantive debate that could be had about anti-discrimination law and the insubstantive nature of Chris Grayling's intellectual capabilities, in light of his recent comments: Either Chris Grayling was effectively calling for a review of the entire purpose of anti-discrimination law, or he is a numpty of zero understanding. There is no middle ground (and the answer, by...
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The Tories, Chris Grayling and gay people
Despite making a huge gaffe when it came to gay rights recently (as covered here), David Cameron has claimed his party now has a good record on gay rights. Well. Step forward Chris Grayling: The Tories were embroiled in a furious row over lesbian and gay rightson Saturday after the shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, was secretly taped suggesting that people who ran bed and breakfasts in their homes should "have the right" to turn...
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The social care bus
Typical: you wait for one paper to determine the future policy shape of adult social care and three come along at once. First, the King's Fund publish their follow up to the Wanless Review on 2006; then the Health Select Committee publish the findings of its Inquiry into Social Care; and then (the biggie) the government publishes its White Paper on Building the National Care Service. I fully intend to get my thoughts down on...
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What Cameron's gay rights gaffe means
There was, rightly, a good deal of coverage of David Cameron's floundering during an interview with the Gay Times. The video below includes the key parts, if you didn't see it first time around: In a thoughtful post on the topic, Paul Sagar at Liberal Conspiracy notes: What’s especially significant here is both that the story is being widely covered, and that Cameron is being widely criticised. Not just for his indecision, but also for...
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Tom Shakespeare on disability hate crime
Following my recent post on the Fiona Pilkington case, please do read this article by Tom Shakespeare (a well-respected disability academic) on the topic of disability hate crime. It is more powerful because Tom was previously skeptical about the specific issue of disability hate crime: David Askew's tragedy follows the deaths of Raymond Atherton, Rikki Judkins, Steven Hoskin, Barrie-John Horrell. Kevin Davies, Fiona Pilkington, Christine Lakinski and Christopher Foulkes over the last few years. Each...
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JRF's two-tier Care Levy
In their customary thoughtful way, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has proposed a two-track Care Levy which sees each generation pay its own social care costs. (See also the JRF's contribution to the social care debate here). It works on the principle that each generation contributes to the costs of its own care in later life and works like this: part one of the so-called Care Levy recognises that Today's older people have not put aside...
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Where the hypocritical church leads, some people follow
Unfortunately, though the church is clearly a hypocritical, sexist, homophobic institution which doesn't have any credibility, let alone moral authority, there are still some people who think it's lead is worth following. The stories below demonstrate as much. First, pharmacists: Pharmacists across the UK have been told they can continue to refuse to prescribe items that might clash with their personal religious beliefs.A revised code of conduct from the new industry regulator will allow staff...
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Service user voices in social care reform
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published a useful Viewpoint on what some users of social care make of the impending social care reforms. The pamphlet is a useful contribution to the debate (all of my posts on this topic are linked to in this social care summary). It rightly draws attention not only to the issues of process and service delivery, but also the values base on which social care reform is being built. I...
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IPCC investigates the Pilkington case
As much as anyone can be pleased with anything to do with this case, I am pleased to see that officers from Leicestershire police are being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission over the tragic Fiona Pilkington case. I don't say this because I take comfort in any individual being hauled over the coals for what they have or haven't done, though I understand this is likely to be an outcome of the investigation....
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Church still pronouncing on morality
They keep trying, don’t they, those religious folk? Take this from yesterday's Today programme: A group of British churches are issuing guidance on the morality of pay, fearing that the pay levels enjoyed by many senior executives in business and industry threaten to alienate them from the rest of society. I don’t know about you, and as I’ve mentioned before, I tend not to look to sexists and homophobes for any form of moral guidance...
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Right to Control Trailblazer launch
I enjoyed attending the launch of the Right to Control Trailblazer yesterday. I attended as a representative of a user-led organisation in Essex - one of eight successful Trailblazer areas. The Right to Control represents an innovative project that seeks to bring together a whole range of funding streams so that disabled people have more choice and control over how they use the funding they're eligible for. It's actually really easy to get into the...
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Equality matters
Two issues of equality to cover today. 1. Kathryn Bigelow has become the first female director to win the Best Director Oscar. For all you men out there who think women don't face any sort of institutional or societal barriers, I'll just re-emphasize that Bigelow is the first female director ever to win, in nearly 80 years of the awards. 2. The Vatican has been hit by a gay sex scandal, with a chorister there...
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Customer journey mapping
Customer journey mapping (CJM) looks to be a fruitful area of work for public service delivery. It's surprising it hasn't cropped up before, isn't it?
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Disabled people not welcome in Australia
I recently applauded the US for lifting its ban on people with HIV travelling to the States. But for every gain, there are plenty of examples of discriminatory, backward and short-sighted thinking. Take this from Australia: Under the Migration Act, people with impairments have their disability taken into consideration in meeting the health criteria as a condition of entry. The Disability Discrimination Act is suspended for the purposes of the Migration Act. As a result,...
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Your social care reader (for now)
The three main protagonists in the social care 'debates' today clashed on the Politics Show. You can see the crux of that discussion here. The key point made was this: Why do we have a debate where we need to rule out options before we get to the table? I have been covering the issue of social care reform on arbitrary constant since the publication of the Social Care Green Paper back in November. Thus,...
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The church: failing in respect, doing people violence
I presume Archbishop Vincent Nichols has a good sense of humour. Talking about compassion towards people in most need of care and protection, the Archbishop said: Even the most restricted of lives is lived in transcendence by virtue of being human... If we fail to see this and honour it, then we not only fail to respect a person: we do that person violence. This from the same people who continually bring us homophobia and...
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Social care blog round up (updated)
I'm just catching up on the blog reaction to the social care 'debates' over the last few days (for more from me on this topic, see here: 1, 2, 3, 4). Here's a round up of those reactions from the blogs I follow which covered this vital topic. You'll note primarily focus on the posters rather than, you know, the policy content. Ho hum. — Events, Dear Boy, Events: Oops! Another Cameron fail: The Tory...
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Social care: how would the Conservatives pay for it?
The very issue I wrote about yesterday was raised as part of the 'debate' at Prime Minister's Questions yesterday, and in various exchanges played out in the media. David Cameron asked Gordon Brown to rule out a levy of £20,000 on people to pay for their social care. He also asked the question "Where is the money coming from?" and noted that various people (local Councils of all political persuasions amongst them) had asked questions...
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Social care 'death duty': C4 fact check
Following on from my post yesterday, Channel 4's Fact Check has picked up on the issue of the social care 'death duty', as mentioned by David Cameron during Prime Minister's Questions. You can read their analysis here, the conclusion of which is in line with my findings yesterday. Fact Check concludes: We'll have to wait for the government white paper to know for certain. But for now, compulsory insurance of some sort remains firmly on...
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The £20K 'death duty'
I've noted here before that the future of social care is going to be a key election issue. This will be the case both in terms of the debate on the quality and delivery of a national care service and, inevitably, how it is paid for. To recap, the government published a substantial Green Paper in November 2009 on this topic, which started a genuine debate on what social care should look like, particularly the...
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Enabled by Design / @enabledby
For a while now, I have been following and impressed by Enabled by Design. The basic question that Enabled by Design asks is why should anybody who requires any form of assistive equipment to support them to live independently have to put up with stuff that looks like crappy hospital equipment? The wider question that Enabeld by Design poses, of course, is one that relates to disability as a whole: why is disability — as...
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A welcome apology from David Cameron
I've only just caught up this week with a repeat of David Cameron's apology for voting against the repeal of Section 28. This is a welcome apology from the Conservative leader (though I have concerns about the party he leads, and their views on topics such as their voting record on gay rights). There's another point here, though: I welcome the opportunity for any politician, but particularly a party leader, to note they were wrong...
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Watching #ukgc10 from afar
I have followed with interested the UK Government Camp (#ukgc10) unconference, which was held last Saturday, and after which there has been an avalanche of quality blogging and comment. For an overview of what #ukgc10 is and for links on where to go read more about it, I’d recommend its organizer, Dave Briggs. One of the best posts I've seen summarizing the day (and there are a lot) is that on Social by Social by...
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Gok Wan presents disability issues in a microcosm
I enjoyed the debate between some valued friends on Twitter today regarding Gok Wan's new series, How to Look Good Naked... With a Difference — the difference being that the women involved are disabled. [This post of course extends my general interest in fashion, which I know both of my readers appreciate my insights on, me being such a fashionista and all — ed]. @katiekatetweets, @enabledby, GeorgeJulian and @thehappysalmon (plus many others) all had some...
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Mental illness and school governors
Earlier this week, Rethink launched a campaign to stop the ridiculous and discriminatory practice that stops people with mental health conditions being able to undertake jury service. In my post supporting the campaign, I noted an update that a similar position may apply to people with mental health conditions becoming school governors. I'm pleased to note that this isn't actually the case. In the Social Exclusion Unit's 2004 report on Mental Health and Social Exclusion...
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Jury service for people with mental illness (updated)
I've blogged on the ridiculous, short-sighted and discriminatory practice of preventing gay men from donating blood (1, 2). I'm afraid this post is about an even more ridiculous, even more short-sighted, and even more discriminatory practice, that prevents people with mental health conditions undertaking jury service. Let's be clear: there are circumstances and cases in which people with a mental health condition should not undertake jury service. However, to widen those cases to a blanket...
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United States lifts HIV travel ban
That's what I'm talking about: Beginning today, the United States' decades-old HIV Travel and Immigration Ban will be a relic of the past, and the stigma and discrimination it has engendered around the world will, with any luck, begin to fade, too. Good word, Obama: The President also announced today the elimination of the HIV entry ban. Since 1987, HIV-positive travelers and immigrants have been banned from entering or traveling through the United States without...
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Peer support for parents of disabled children
This is a welcome announcement: Local authorities are to recruit parents of disabled children to help other mothers and fathers in similar situations under a government scheme to improve access to childcare announced today. Funding of £12.5m will also pay for specialist training for childminders and nursery staff to enable them to work with disabled children. By far the most important element of the announcement is the peer support that parents of disabled children will...
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On gay men donating blood - a follow up
At the weekend, I posted on the topic of gay men being disallowed from donating blood. This is by means of a brief follow up. The key issue is the higher proportional risk that gay men with HIV/AIDS pose than the rest of the population. I understand the perspective of the National Blood Service, who wish to minimise the risk of transmitting any infections to patients. But the risk can never be zero. It is...
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On gay men and blood donation
Spurred on by a tweet from 2pallas today, I have become far more aware of the issue of gay men donating blood or, rather, their being banned from being able to give blood. Before looking into the topic, the ban struck me as ridiculous. Having looked into the topic, it still strikes me as ridiculous. The reason for the National Blood Service's position on disallowing gay men to donate blood is the NBS's public duty...
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Does disability language matter?
My good friend, ex-colleague at the Disability Rights Commission, and lover of most things Japanese, Natalie Salmon has written a brilliant post about the language of disability and why it matters. Her conclusion is second to none: Language is important because it is used so subtly but profoundly as a tool to disempower or empower The language of disability is complex and evolving The social model of disability needs to be more widely understood If...
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On the disability reality show Cast Offs
I'll admit to feeling some trepidation about the first in the series of Cast Offs — a "darkly comic drama series telling the story of six disabled characters sent to a remote British island for a fictional reality TV show" — tonight. As someone whose day-to-day business is disability equality, it's obviously excellent that a series like this, which is receiving so much attention, is about to be broadcast. Of course, it's also slightly wearying...
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Adult social care: at least politics means focus
I recently expressed some concern that politics had entered the difficult world of the future of adult social care. Fortunately, there are other, eminently more qualified people than me who are more positive about the political focus: — Jenny Owen, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services: [N]obody should be too surprised that the social care content of the Queen’s Speech this week gave rise to mutual recriminations from all the leading...
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Excellent DDA victory
This is excellent news: The Royal Bank of Scotland has been ordered to carry out £200,000 of work to improve wheelchair access at one of its branches after senior judges ruled that it had breached disability laws. In a test case three Court of Appeal judges ruled that the bank had failed to cater for the needs of a disabled teenager, David Allen, 18, who was awarded £6,500 damages. Mr Allen, who has muscular dystrophy,...
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Adult social care: politics makes its entrance (updated)
As I hoped it wouldn't, politics has entered the future of adult social care. I'm not talking politics in terms of compromise, reasoned debate and the idea that someone's values and ideology can inform a principled policy position. I'm talking politics in terms of he-said, she-said. And that's what we got today: first, the Conservatives claimed 2 million people would be worse off as a result of the government's social care plans. In this case,...
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The reality of a care home
With the focus on adult social care in the Queen's speech yesterday, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published some timely research on the experiences and, most importantly, the aspirations of older people living in residential and nursing home care. In the first place, the report rightly notes that people should live in their own homes for as long as possible. But the factors that often lead people into residential / nursing care — bereavement, health...
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Adult social care: Queen's speech, people's futures
I wrote recently about the options available for the future funding of social care. Today's Queen's Speech contained one important legislative priority: the funding of care for older and disabled people, as follows: Around 280,000 of the neediest people in England will get free personal care in their own homes, as Gordon Brown announced at the Labour party conference in September. That will cover basic, everyday living tasks such as getting up, dressing, washing and...
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Spending cuts aimed at 'easy' targets
Via the excellent lilwatchergirl came the news today that the Freedom Pass — which enables older and disabled people who live in London to travel free on London's public transport network. — may have its central government funding pulled: The future of the Freedom Pass was plunged into doubt this week after the government suggested it may slash funding for the free travel scheme enjoyed by tens of thousands of elderly and disabled Londoners. Minister...
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Capabilities
There has been a lot made of the capabilities approach to equality and fairness (see, for example, James Purnell's move to Demos). It has a relatively long heritage, most notably through Amartya Sen (though see this Prospect debate for some other authors and critiques of the main works). In the UK, the Equalities Review of 2007 set out a new single equality concept, rather than one that talked of equality of opportunity or of outcome....
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Volunteering and disabled people
A recent Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled that disabled people who volunteer cannot claim disability discrimination under the Disability Discrimination Act. So far as I understand the ruling of the case, it relates to the employment status of the individual involved rather than their impairment — it's thus the applicability of the Disability Discrimination Act, rather than the discrimination itself that's in question. This news comes at the same time as Volunteering England has announced it...
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Boris loses another adviser
To lose one is forgivable. To lose two careless. Three, a serious issue. To lose six key advisers, however — as Boris Johnson has done — belies fundamental and serious issues with the way he runs his administration. The latest adviser to go is from the London Development Agency, for using the n-word in a meeting. As if this wasn't bad enough, the adviser, Nick Hoare, defended himself saying: My boss, Sarah Ebanja, she is...
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Mother figures
Following father figures comes something for mothers or, more specifically, mothers-to-be. A recent study by the National Childbirth Trust revealed that only 4.7% of all pregnant women are offered a choice of where to have their baby. Despite there being 3 options for where a woman can have her baby — in hospital, at a birth centre, or at home — only 11.2% of women live in areas where at least 5% of births happen...
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The end of entitlement (for poor people)
A lot of people on the right, such as the Spectator, were excited by Reform's report "The end of entitlement" (pdf) which identifies the costs of 'middle class benefits' to be £31bn and suggests their abolition, providing savings/cuts of £14bn. The benefits include Child Benefit, Child and Working Tax Credits, Retirement Pension, the Winter Fuel Allowance and Statutory Maternity Pay. Reform also goes further to suggest benefit rules and operations should be outsourced to social...
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Doing Seniority Differently: leadership and disabled people
RADAR has recently published an excellent report, called Doing Seniority Differently, which looks not just the inclusion of disabled people in the workplace, but at the issues of disabled people’s career progression and ensuring there are disabled people in senior positions in a range of organisations. We know that there is a focus (rightly) on gender equality in the workplace, both in terms of pay and ensuring equal representation of women at senior levels across...
