by Simon HengThere was a moment during the last Labour government when things were beginning to look up for service users, and disabled people in general. Service user organisations were being financially pump primed, and local authorities were encouraged to involve their service users at increasingly higher levels of service planning, monitoring and decision-making. Quangos like the Commission for Care Services Inspection recognised the value of service user involvement.
Central government adopted the UN declaration on Human Rights for
disabled people, and placed someone with responsibility for
co-ordinating the interests of people with disabilities in the prime
minister's office. With No Secrets, and Improving the Life Chances of
Disabled People in place, disability issues were placed firmly on the
agenda.
Then came the economic crisis. Funding for service user organisations had already started to dry up, at least from local authorities, whose understandable priority has been frontline services. As with most recessions, the effect on the public services has come about a year after its full effect hit the private sector - only this time, it has coincided with a change of government, whose first duty is to balance the books. After that, coalition government means a negotiated political agenda, which has already shown unexpected consequences.
As we all know, David Cameron and his wife had a son with disabilities, who, sadly, died. More than most politicians, this must have given him some insight into what it's like for families to live with disability. We can only hope that whatever lessons he learned from this don't fade with time, and colour his decision-making now that his party is in office.
What these are for people with disabilities is, at the time of writing, anyone's guess. The Big Society is an idea with practical consequences that are only slowly emerging, with perhaps unintended consequences for minorities like ours.
And as for cuts in public spending, whether this is to the benefit system, health care or social care, those of us who depend on all three can only wait in a mixture of hope and trepidation that it won't affect our lives too much; it would be too much to expect that things will improve for us in the short term. Service user organisations certainly don't have the resources or the political clout to do much effective lobbying.
As I heard it put recently, I feel like we're a bunch of statues, with the pigeons circling overhead, wondering where the inevitable deposits will land.
Simon Heng is a disability writer and activist
Then came the economic crisis. Funding for service user organisations had already started to dry up, at least from local authorities, whose understandable priority has been frontline services. As with most recessions, the effect on the public services has come about a year after its full effect hit the private sector - only this time, it has coincided with a change of government, whose first duty is to balance the books. After that, coalition government means a negotiated political agenda, which has already shown unexpected consequences.
As we all know, David Cameron and his wife had a son with disabilities, who, sadly, died. More than most politicians, this must have given him some insight into what it's like for families to live with disability. We can only hope that whatever lessons he learned from this don't fade with time, and colour his decision-making now that his party is in office.
What these are for people with disabilities is, at the time of writing, anyone's guess. The Big Society is an idea with practical consequences that are only slowly emerging, with perhaps unintended consequences for minorities like ours.
And as for cuts in public spending, whether this is to the benefit system, health care or social care, those of us who depend on all three can only wait in a mixture of hope and trepidation that it won't affect our lives too much; it would be too much to expect that things will improve for us in the short term. Service user organisations certainly don't have the resources or the political clout to do much effective lobbying.
As I heard it put recently, I feel like we're a bunch of statues, with the pigeons circling overhead, wondering where the inevitable deposits will land.
Simon Heng is a disability writer and activist
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