Freedom Drive Finalises Its Demands

On 16 Sep 09, 3 delegates from SCIL will join more than 400 Freedom Drivers from more than 20 countries as they march through Strasbourg to the EU Parliament. Regardless of their impairment, they are unified by one goal: Independent Living.

They will hand over the following demands to the President of the EU Parliament. 

1. We call on the European Community to ensure that Independent Living is central in the disability policies of the European Union, as expressed in the EU Disability Strategy, the Disability Action Plan and Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol.

2. We encourage the European Community to continue to assist the development of community-based services to achieve de-institutionalization across Europe.

3. We call for the implementation of our human right to a personal assistance service, fundamental to guarantee the enjoyment of Independent Living.

4. We call for the opportunity to equally enjoy the right to freedom of movement with the portability of personal assistance services.

5. We call for an earmarking of 5% of EU development funding to go to the development of Independent Living programs in developing countries.

6. We call on the European Community to fully ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to sign and ratify its Optional Protocol and for its articles to be implemented in EU legislation and policy. Incumbent in this is the application of pressure by the Institutions and representatives on member states to transpose the convention into law domestically as soon as possible

7. We call for a disability specific directive to uphold and protect the full rights and entitlements of people with disabilities across Europe.

8. Disabled people and our organisations must be decisively involved at all levels of policy-making including planning, producing and implementation.

Whilst in Strasbourg, the Freedom Drive participants will be meeting with many MEPs who have an interest in this area to look at how we can all work together to ensure these demands are taken seriously.

You can read more about the Freedom Drive on our blog over the coming weeks.                                           

 

Get Ready for SCIL’s 25th Anniversary

 

On the 6th November 2009 Southampton Centre for Independent Living celebrates its 25th Birthday.

 

The early 1980’s were momentous times for Disabled People in the UK with the formation of the first organisations which were run and controlled by Disabled People.

 

Southampton CIL developed quickly; enabling Disabled People to collectively gain empowerment and for the first time become a political force to be reckoned with.

 

Ever since, we have sought to support those who wanted a lifestyle that would enable them to attain or restore choice and control over their lives.

 

SCIL is at the early stages of planning events and activities to celebrate this milestone and we want all Disabled People in Southampton & Hampshire to celebrate our collective achievements. More information will be published soon.

 

SCIL Announce Landmark Conference

SCIL are pleased to announce an important conference for Disabled People regarding their human and legal rights.

Date:         Tuesday 28 October 2008

Time:        10.30am – 4.00pm

Venue:      Unity 12, 9-19 Rose Road, Southampton, SO14 6TE

The keynote speaker will be Luke Clements who is a Professor at Cardiff Law School and is renowned for his academic research and litigation work around the rights of people who experience social exclusion such as Disabled People, Carers and Travellers.

Luke Clements

The aims of the conference are to:

• Understand Disabled People’s rights to Independent Living

• Understand the impact of UK & European legislation

• Understand where the new United Nations Convention on the rights of Disabled People might help

 In afternoon workshops you will have an opportunity to:

• Discuss individual issues with Luke Clements

• Discuss how involvement with Skills for Care may assist in the improvement of services (with other service users)

• Discuss how working with SCIL and other organisations run by Disabled People could make our collective voice stronger

The conference for Disabled People ONLY will be held in our new fully accessible conference suite at Unity 12. More information and a booking form are downloadable below but demand for places are expected to be high so please return the booking form as soon as possible.

conference-booking-form1

Top Blog Articles of 2006

As we say goodbye to 2006, and beckon in the new year, I thought it was an apt time to reveal the most viewed articles on the SCIL blog for 2006. 

1. Anti Discrimination Laws in the Workplace
2. We don’t do that sort of thing…do we?
3. We Know Inclusion Works
4. I’m with Stupid (but I’m not Laughing)
5. Active Euthanasia for Disabled Babies Being Considered
6. Welcome to the SCIL Blog
7. Is Disability the new Reality TV Gimmick?
8. Shock as Hampshire Split Direct Payments Contract

Hopefully, there will be lots more interesting articles on the SCIL blog in the coming year so stayed tuned. Happy New Year from all at SCIL. 

UN Convention Adopted To Protect Equality Of Disabled People

Yesterday, The United Nations General Assembly adopted a landmark disability convention, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities the first human rights treaty of the twenty-first century and one that United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said represents the “dawn of a new era” for around 650 million Disabled People worldwide.

‘Today promises to be the dawn of a new era – an era in which Disabled People will no longer have to endure the discriminatory practices and attitudes that have been permitted to prevail for all too long. This Convention is a remarkable and forward-looking document,” Mr. Annan said in a speech read out by Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown.

The convention sets out in detail the rights of disabled people. It covers civil and political rights, accessibility, participation and inclusion, education, health, employment and social protection.
The convention also recognises that attitudes need to change if disabled people are to achieve equality.  It will be open for signature and ratification on 30 March 2007, and will enter into force after it has been ratified by 20 countries. 

The convention recognises the social model’s definition of disability. It states that ‘disability is an evolving concept and that disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others’. Despite this, the convention continually uses ‘people with disabilities’ rather than the term ‘Disabled People’  

The convention runs to fifty articles although article 19 may be of particular interest to blog readers as it is entitled ‘Living independently and being included in the community’. It says:

‘States Parties to this Convention recognize the equal right of all persons with disabilities to live in the community, with choices equal to others, and shall take effective and appropriate measures to facilitate full enjoyment by persons with disabilities of this right and their full inclusion and participation in the community, including by ensuring that:

(a) Persons with disabilities have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement;

(b) Persons with disabilities have access to a range of in-home, residential and other community support services, including personal assistance necessary to support living and inclusion in the community, and to prevent isolation or segregation from the community;

(c) Community services and facilities for the general population are available on an equal basis to persons with disabilities and are responsive to their needs.’

Article 24 covers Education and emphasises that Disabled People should be able to ‘access an inclusive, quality and free primary education and secondary education on an equal basis with others in the communities in which they live.’, and that they ‘receive the support required, within the general education system, to facilitate their effective education;’

The convention as a whole makes interesting reading and of further interest will be how quickly countries ratify the convention and what effect it will have, around the world, to protect Disabled People’s human rights. 

Has The Disability Movement Lost Its Way?

Sometimes you set out to write an article based on something you read, and half way through you realise that you are not contributing any more to the debate than the source material you read. Therefore, I am simply recommending that people read Peter Beresford’s article in the Guardian last week.

In the article, Peter describes some of the current issues faced by the Disability Movement in the UK. He describes how despite many advances in government policy that can be traced back to the efforts of the Disability Movement, there is no time for complacency.

He writes ‘Ensuring the equal involvement of all people demands changes in understanding and culture. It also requires resources to reach out and support such inclusion – a hard job for disability organisations unremittingly strapped for cash…..Tackling the issue of diversity doesn’t detract from solidarity, as is sometimes suggested. Instead, it reinforces it as policy makers find it more difficult to divide different groups and set them against each other.’.

He also sees one of the solutions being an inclusive education system as it ‘…enables all children to learn alongside each other, with whatever support they need, so that the kind of divisions between disabled and non-disabled people that Shakespeare condemns are no longer routine.’.

Read the complete article and let us know your views on whether the Disability Movement has lost its way and is focussing on all the wrong issues.

Will Disability Issues Become A Family Affair For Next PM?

A possible turning point occurred this week in terms of the fight for Disability Equality in the United Kingdom. It wasn’t a new piece of legislation, it wasn’t the launch of a new Commission, it was the fact that we became aware that two of the most powerful figures in the UK political arena have Disabled Children.

David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, has a Disabled son who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy and this week it was revealed that Gordon Brown’s four month old son has cystic fibrosis. We are therefore in a possibly unique position where who ever is the next Prime Minister will have hopefully a greater understanding of Disabled People and the discrimination and barriers that are faced by Disabled people every day.

Now, I am not suggesting that David and Gordon will naturally support all the aims and objectives of the Disability Movement and our fight is far from won. For example David Cameron feels special schools should stay open as a way to preserve “parental choice”. However, hopefully now Disability issues will be seen as important and not seen just as a good opportunity for a nice photo shoot with a bunch of crips.

This is not about nepotism either. It is just human nature that if you have personal experience of something, that you are more likely to have an opinion, and less likely to let ill-informed advisers tell you that there’s no problem.

Whoever becomes the next Prime Minister, it will be interesting to see whether in five years, Gordon and David’s personal experiences with their children will have influenced their policy making regarding disability issues.

Government responds to Select Committee’s report on SEN

Following on from our series of articles on Inclusion, the government has just published its response to the Education and Skills Select Committee’s report into Special Educational Needs.

There was widespread media coverage when Baroness Warnock stated the policy of inclusion had left a ‘disastrous legacy’ which prompted many of us in the inclusion movement to worry that the government may be considering a review of its inclusion policy.

However in their response, the Government has restated its commitment to inclusion. The response states: ‘The Government shares the Committee’s view that inclusion is about the quality of a child’s experience and providing access to a high quality education which enables them to make progress in their learning and participate fully in the activities of their school and community…we want local authorities and schools to work together to build provision in mainstream schools so that over time a mainstream place is a viable option for all parents who wish their children to be taught in such a setting.’

Unfortunately the Government’s response does give a mixed message as it also states ‘ the Government sees a vital and continuing role for special schools as part of an inclusive education system,’

This response from the Government will do nothing to allay the fears of either the inclusion movement nor the ‘special schools’ lobby. This debate looks set to run and run.

Inclusive Education is about Equality

In the third article on Inclusion, Berni Vincent, a Senior Direct Payments Support Worker at SCIL outlines her views on the ‘Special’ Education System.

 Inclusive Education is about Equality!  It should be about a level starting point and about children and young adults, regardless of their impairment, and the amount of support they need, social class or intellectual ability feeling valued enough to contribute and take their place in society as they grow into responsible adults. Equality in education invests in the belief that all children are precious and have a right to learn, and develop as free spirits.

So does the Special Education System provide equality?  My segregated education was from age 4 – 22. I frequently questioned why I could not be educated in the same school as my brother and sister, why I travelled to school in a ambulance, (after all I wasn’t ill?) when I could have gone to school with my brother and sister who only had to walk ten minutes down the road to school.

 I was bullied in my local community for going to a ‘Spastic School’ and as a consequence made a point of lying down on the seat of the school bus to avoid anyone from home seeing me.  My sister and her mates came to the rescue by supporting me on a visit to the bullies house to inform them that if they didn’t leave me alone we would be sending my brother and his mates around to deal with them!

So I left school wondering how I was ever going to manage life in the big bad world, I had no qualifications – but I could write a book about therapies of various kinds, I had learned that if I went to the school nurse complaining of a headache or backache, I could get out off ‘classroom work’ and have a lie down for as long as I wanted. I became a Brownie but was confused about why the club was only for kids at my school and was held on the school premises in the middle of the afternoon.

‘Normality’ came with a friend who like me was a bit of a rebel; together we smoked fags in the girl’s toilets, got drunk at her Mum’s birthday party and discussed our feelings about dealing with the outside world.    My segregated education experience was soon to come full circle with an offer of segregated special college when leaving school, followed by the promise of a place at a rehabilitation centre where I could be trained for work in a sheltered workshop.  I was sorted!Thankfully years later, through meeting other Disabled People who had also experienced the adversity of segregation and its lasting effects, I rebelled and began to fight back.  It’s for the thousands of Disabled People like me and future generations of Disabled People that we must continue to campaign for Inclusion in Education.  We need to focus on learning from schools where Inclusion is working.  It’s a very big challenge, and something that needs to be a long term strategy, but while society is pouring money into a Segregated Education System it will never happen.The education system needs to invest in a new approach that is non bureaucratic for children who need support in the class room and learn to celebrate achievement and learning at all levels.

We need to remember that education should have everything to do with equality of opportunity and nothing to do with being Special!     

To Include Or Not To Include? That is the Question

In the second article of our series about inclusion, John Browning gives his personal view on inclusion. John is the Chair of Governors at a school for children with learning difficulties and works at SCIL as a Direct Payments Support Worker…..

 The debate about whether, or not, to include children with moderate learning difficulties (MLD) in Mainstream Schools is one that has exercised a wide variety of minds. From educational psychologists to parents, from teachers to people who work within the disability movement all have asked if is it better to include these pupils in  main stream education or in special education.

One of the reasons this has become such a hot debate is that people in favour of including these children in mainstream schools tend to add a rider to their view. They say that given the appropriate facilities and money to make it viable it would be the appropriate way to educate kids who are currently educated in Special Schools. However such a view could be used to support virtually any point of view. The status quo is what schools have to work with. If the debate is that more money should be made available to make inclusion viable then that is a different position. But until the necessary resources are made available, if ever, it is not an appropriate way to educate those pupils who after all have special, or as I would prefer to call them individual educational needs, I am totally opposed.

I would not wish to see kids with Autism, or one of the other impairments that cause learning difficulty, placed in schools that would cause them to feel different to the others kids with whom they were educated. From past experience it is almost certain that this would result in them being, at best outcast, or worse bullied. 

To seek to include children in mainstream schools with the system as it now would create enormous difficulties. It is almost certainly the case that both those with, and without learning difficulties would be disadvantaged by an attempt to educate them all together.

Those children educated in Special Schools benefit from a much lower staff pupil ratio than those in mainstream. Those teachers are specifically trained in providing the appropriate teaching methods to enable young people with learning impairments to achieve their potential in a more conducive environment. In addition all classes have trained learning support assistants.  

The truth is that the required level of funding to make inclusion viable is very unlikely ever to be provided, and without it inclusion is not a desirable proposition. Those who support including children with learning impairments in mainstream schools are unlikely ever to see that come about because it would not be a priority for any government.

So the answer to the question, “To include or not to include?” Is that until sufficient funds are made available, inclusion is not viable