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COMMISSION FOR EQUALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS: STAKEHOLDER EVENTS IN Members of the Brecknock Access Group unfortunately are unable to attend any of the meetings in mid- and West Wales organised to discuss the issues raised by the creation of the CEHR and the demise of the various issue specific bodies such as the CRE and DRC. Accordingly I have been asked to forward a short statement on behalf of the Access Group. It is necessary to say at the outset that we do not welcome this development. While we accept the decision taken at Westminster is irrevocable we fear that the issues relating to disability will be subsumed in the general concept of ‘rights’ which, in our experience, bears little relation to the day-to-day existence and concerns of disabled people. In brief, these concerns can be summarised as follows:- 1] experience at local level seems to show that where local authorities which used to employ a designated ‘access officer’, and which now have an equalities unit dealing with race, gender and Welsh language etc, the issues of disability are only raised where there is a strong and active access group – and not many areas are in such an enviable position. Individual disabled people are thus disempowered by virtue of ill health, lack of transport and access to information and services and the resulting lack of will to become involved at that level: 2] the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act is no doubt a well-meaning piece of legislation which, in reality, allows disabled people no realistic remedy for breaches of the Act. The legislation requires the Courts to decide whether or not a service provider has been ‘reasonable’ in not providing access to its building and/or services. As a consequence no disabled person will risk possibly heavy financial loss by taking businesses to court, and are thus powerless to achieve even the satisfaction of making a case. Thus far the Disability Rights Commission has supported some ‘landmark’ cases on behalf of individuals but now seems less willing to do even this, no doubt because they will cease to exist in the near future. We have yet to be persuaded that a body such as the CEHR will champion disabled people at this level. 3] as an organisation we represent people with a variety of physical and sensory impairments and with no impairments at all – such as the frail and elderly and mothers with young children. Our main concerns are access to buildings, services, transport and to a safe environment. In terms of meaningful engagement with the body politic we campaign against the discriminatory aspects of the planning and licensing systems, the lack of enforcement by the local authority and police on illegal parking on pavements and across dropped kerbs, the dangerous and anti-social use of A-frames and pavement goods, as well as the general ignorance of and sometimes outright hostility to the problems encountered by disabled people on a daily basis. We need either a person or a body to champion these mundane causes – a champion with clout, authority and a practical awareness of these problems, which only disability groups can appreciate. We therefore take the view that whatever form the CEHR will adopt in People with impairments represent some 16% of the population. Their multifarious problems will not be solved by the grandiose concept of ‘human rights’ but serious attention to the small and un-glamorous issues which really affect their daily lives. We would be grateful to have an acknowledgement of the receipt of this statement and an indication that the points raised will be taken account of in the Transition Team’s deliberations. John Phillips [on behalf of the Brecknock Access Group} 30/06/06 |