‘Hidden in plain sight’, the final report of the EHRC inquiry into disability-related harassment was published on 12th September.
The report unsurprisingly concludes that harassment is a commonplace experience for disabled people, and at the same time institutions like police, housing and councils often dont believe harassment is taking place or don’t tackle it effectively.

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Disabled People Against the Cuts are holding a demonstration in Birmingham on

Sunday 18th September

Assemble at 11am Granville Street, B1 1JW  Continue Reading

From London Disabled People’s Advisory committee

The Supreme Court has ruled in support of Kensington and Chelsea council’s withdrawal of overnight care to Elaine McDonald to save money. This will mean she will have no choice but to wear pads, although this is undignified and against her express wishes. Male judges are undermining a woman’s right to choose how she is helped with personal care.

The ruling has accepted that reviewing care plans can be treated as a reassessment of need. Therefore any contact with social services, even a phone call, could lead to detrimental changes to a disabled person’s care package.

The idea that privacy and independence can best be facilitated by dispensing with personal assistants or care workers at night was also supported by the Supreme Court. This is contrary to the government’s Independent Living Strategy, and undermines everything we have fought for as a disabled people’s movement for the last forty years. Personal assistance is vital to many disabled people’s independence and safety. Disabled people with complex health and social care needs who cannot move unaided should never be left alone at night in case of a fire or a sudden deterioration in their condition.

Disabled people, family carers, personal assistants, women, pensioners, community activists and trade unionists should come to the lobby to support Elaine and oppose this disgraceful ruling. Elaine’s overnight care should be restored immediately. A defeat for Elaine is a defeat for us all.

Contact ADKC on 0208 960 8888 or at pbsupport@adkc.org.uk

Contact HAFCAC on 07899 752 877 or at hafcac@hotmail.co.uk

Contact DPAC at mail@dpac.uk.net or visit our web site at www.dpac.uk.net

Contact WinVisible on 0207 482 2496 (voice & minicom) or at win@winvisible.org

We have all had difficulty with the buses or trains or shops or buildings at some point, because a service or venue isn’t set up in an accessible way.

But now you can be part of some research to show how bad the problem is – or how much its improved!

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The excellent people who brought us www.theyworkforyou.com, the website that tells you what MPs have been saying and writing, have set up a website called “what do they know?” that helps you to make or explore freedom of informations requests to public bodies like the Government or your local council.

You can use their site to make the freedom of information request, or to read what other reqests have been made.

You choose the public authority that you would like information from, then write a brief note describing what you want to know. We then send your request to the public authority. Any response they make is automatically published on the website for you and anyone else to find and read.

the public body has to reply either giving you an answer or giving you a valid legal reason why the information is confidential.

The site is called what do they know

One Voice member Ann Mathews has a petition of interest to disabled people on the Government petitions website here:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/FreeDisabledSwim/

The petition reads:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to extend the
free swim programme to include disabled people.

Disabled people have various kinds of problems that can limit
their mobility, however swimming or simply being in the water
can be enjoyed by everyone. It is a great fitness tool and can
change people’s mood. However it is very expensive which can
stop disabled people from being able to join in, so by
extending the free swim program we can make life a little
easier for disabled people and their carers.

If you agree, go to the link above and sign the petition!