- Conference
- 2021 National Disabled Members' Conference
- Date
- 9 July 2021
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference is concerned to hear that a forum established by Justin Tomlinson, the Minister for Disabled People, to ‘bring the voices and expertise of disabled people into the heart of government policy making’ appears to have been shut down amid concerns that the government will launch their long awaited Disability Strategy without any meaningful consultation with disabled people.
And this isn’t the only example of the government failing to meet their UN Convention on the Rights of Persons’ with Disabilities obligation to engage with disabled people.
A Disability Unit consultation on the Disability Strategy has been condemned as disrespectful as all but four of the questions were multiple choice included a question that asked non-disabled people if they would be happy to have a physical relationship with a disabled person. The government are now facing legal action after claims that the survey didn’t give disabled people the chance to say what they felt should be in the strategy.
Conference over the last decade disabled people’s rights have been rolled back, our support has been eroded and we’ve been demonised by successive Tory governments.
During the pandemic the government ignored disabled people, implemented policies that discriminated against us and left us to fend for ourselves. Their failure to hear what we had to say cost lives.
Conference we can’t allow this to continue. We can’t let their inability to listen prevent us from speaking out, their lack of consultation to stop our voices being heard or their failure to engage to silence us.
With around 200,000 Disabled Members UNISON is one of, if not the, largest disabled people’s organisation in the country, it is vital the government hear what we have got to say and we must take steps to make them listen.
Conference calls on National Disabled Members Committee to work with the NEC and Labour Link to:
1. Launch a media campaign to highlight the failure of the government to engage with disabled people
2. Send a message of support for the action against the government’s Disability Unit relating to the failure to engage
3. Write to the Equality and Human Rights Commission to request they carry out an investigation into the government’s failure to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty