by Jonathan Shaw, Minister for Disabled People I am now well into my week of visits to disability organisations across Britain to learn about the experiences of disabled people.
While in Wales yesterday, I visited a Bridging the Gap project run by Scope. It develops volunteering opportunities for older and disabled people from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities to help prepare for work. People volunteer at organisations and projects across Wales. This is a wonderful project which has real results. One of the volunteering programmes involves regular singing groups to increase confidence, and I was lucky enough to join in the singing led by one of the volunteers. I even led one of the songs myself!
This morning I went to the Blackpool Centre for Independent Living. The centre is looking at ways to encourage people to report disability hate crime and I was grateful for the opportunity to learn more about this project and hear personal experiences of disabled people. The centre provides an important service - enabling disabled people to report incidents in a comfortable environment. Government is working with organisations and disabled people to tackle the cause of hostility and prejudice towards disabled people.
I am now off to the Change organisation in Leeds. This offers support, including education and training, to people with learning disabilities. The organisation promotes equal rights and choices for people with learning disabilities. People with learning disabilities work and volunteer at Change, and I look forward to chatting with them about their experiences. I will tell you more about the visit in tomorrow's blog.
Please keep checking my blog updates tomorrow and for the rest of the week.
I am now off to the Change organisation in Leeds. This offers support, including education and training, to people with learning disabilities. The organisation promotes equal rights and choices for people with learning disabilities. People with learning disabilities work and volunteer at Change, and I look forward to chatting with them about their experiences. I will tell you more about the visit in tomorrow's blog.
Please keep checking my blog updates tomorrow and for the rest of the week.
The Minister for Disabled People refers above to encouraging disabled people to report hate crime.
I believe that just as 'racism' has been described as involving 'prejudice and power', it is important to consider these issues with regard to disability hate crime. Further, it is helpful to consider 'Allport's Scale of Prejudice'.
I believe that the imbalances of bargaining power and the predominance of threats and sanctions against claimants within market-driven government result in legally sanctioned hate crime. As Frances Kelly has reported in a comment relating to the Minister's Monday blog post, the rights of people with severe mental health conditions are being trampled on in the cost-cutting drive behind Employment & Support Allowance legislation.
What sanctions will he enact against Atos Medical Services 'Examining Medical Practitioners' who are found to make decisions detrimental to a claimant's wellbeing?
For the rest of us, including long-term genuine jobseekers with disabilities who have been working-life long volunteers, under-capacity following huge job cuts within the DWP amounts to loss of bargaining power with or without the increasing penalties. How will we know at the end of this week whether he really is willing to learn from disabled people about our experiences?
PS: In an Monday post, I accidentally referred to 'Professor Clegg. Of course I meant 'Professor Gregg'.
MR Shaw, you state that in order to "learn about the experiences of disabled people" you are visiting "disability organisations?
So what is wrong with visiting disabled people themselves? Why do you feel it's better to get a second hand view of matters from some charity or group of 'do-gooders'? You won't get the view of the ',am at large' and this is just another example of a Minister out of touch with the public.
I issue you with an invitation to visit my disabled wife and I (her only/main carer) to get an actual real-life version of matters. Will you accept this invitation or will you brush it aside because, lets face it, that is what your party/government has done since it's been in power. I have given you a genuine invitation and I would like an answer.
Visit us in the winter so you can experience what it's like to visit a home that has to limit it's heating because the allowances force us to choose when we have our heating on then tell us that your party are helpnig disabled people and their carers. This blog setup stores email addresses so please use mine to reply
Well I've not heard from MR Shaw so it's safe to assume he doesn't frequent here. If he does then he doesn't give a stuff about the general public and their views of him